It’s so nice to read a book whereby the character isn’t a 22 year old falling in love for the first time. Nina is in her early 30’s, she is sarcastic, clever and has some great opinions that only come with age. The first few chapters are hilarious - and very relatable! :
“I ran a bath and put on a long loved iTunes playlist that was called ‘Pre-lash’ in my twenties, which I’d renamed ‘Good Times’ in recent years”.

Nina’s childhood best friends are on different timelines in their life, having young children and moving to the suburbs. Meanwhile, she’s busy trying online dating, which leaves her thinking.. ‘why ARE there so many graphic designers on dating apps but you’ve reached 32 and are yet to meet one in real life?’. But there is no hint of desperation or anxiety for finding a relationship - She is an independent single woman that’s actually enjoying her time before she meets the right guy - one that won’t ‘ghost’ her.

The writing for best friend Lola deserves an award in itself, best supporting book bestie. She is lovable, wacky and you get a whole other sub-plot related to her own story which I’d love to read more of. I screenshot a few paragraphs to send to my own best friend with the message “read this and tell me this isn’t a conversation that we’d have”.

I really had a love hate relationship with this book. I loved it, but it was difficult to read because of how honest it was about how alzheimers can affect a family. I found myself wanting to give her character a hug, after a particularly emotional run in with her father - by this point I was emotionally invested in the character from the first few chapters of wanting to be her best friend. It isn’t a ‘fluffy’ chick flick read by all means - but it’s brilliant.

The only flaw in my opinion is that Nina is most definitely not the typical millennial working a 9-5 job, her life of friendship dates and daytime dating app jaunts can be hard to relate to. I didn’t actually read about her doing all that much work - it just seemed to be mentioned whenever someone ‘asked’ about it that she had written four new chapters. But the basis of her new cook book is ‘Nostalgia’ and to be fair, this theme is explored well in Ghosts.

All in all, it’s a great read - I’ve already recommended it to three friends the day after finishing it and it’ll have you talking about its topics for days.

I really enjoyed this one. A lot of books in this genre with a single, female lead character in her thirties mainly deal with her relationships with a variety of suitable and unsuitable men. This book was different as it explored a wide variety of the relationships in Nina’s life in a meaningful way. Humorous and heart-wrenching in equal measure.

I loved Dolly Alderton’s memoir so I was really excited to read her debut novel. It did not disappoint. I really warmed to the main character Nina and her other single friend Lola. While I was reading this, and although it’s not written in diary format, I felt like I was reading the new Bridget Jones because this book shows what today’s generation of 30 something singles go through. I think this is going to be a massive bestseller. It certainly deserves to be. I adored it.

I absolutely ripped through this book- after reading Dolly’s memoir I was intrigued as to her approach to fiction- but it was just as funny, whip smart and well observed as her first book. The Complicated relationships between the main character and her mother who is going through a identity crisis, and her poor dad, so loved but fading away to dementia contrasted against the infuriating and oh so common trials and tribulations of dating in 2019/2020 where men-children are incapable of honest communication and knowing what the want from a relationship, a conversation I have with my friends repeatedly. A must read for every young woman wanting a funny, emotional and accurate escape into a shared experience of many London millennials.

I loved Dolly's first book and was very excited to be able to get an early copy of Ghosts. If you love reading about the highs, lows and below the low of lows of dating and relationships, you'll eat this book alive and not come up for air. Dolly has captured the hope and anticipation that the swiping of online profiles brings, as well as the frustration and resignation that follows. There's the undercurrent of meditation on the main character Nina's relationship with her parents. Her mum who is entering a new phase with a zest for reinventing herself and her life whilst Nina's dad is losing his grip on his. There's all the confusion and widening gulf of interests in Nina's friendships as her friends find love and begin making families. There's a rich web of friends and lovers, past and current as well as an ongoing unwelcome dispute with a heartbroken neighbour. This is an insight into the stories that cloak our lives today and the humour, sadness and nostalgia that unites us all. I kept looking forward to when I could pick it up again and read some more and am a bit miffed now it's finished.

This is a funny and poignant tale of the challenges facing a young independent woman.

Nina is in her 30s, owns a flat in London and is making her name as a food writer. But her friends are getting married with babies, her father is sinking further into his dementia, and she is battling dating apps.

She thinks she's finally found 'the one' in Max, but things don't turn out as she had hoped, nor how she'd been led to believe.

This was a hypnotising read! First I thought the love story was going to get me down, and the thirty-something lifestyle no longer one I was relating to, but the ups and downs of Nina's story were compelling. Her tender attention to her father in his illness was particularly appealing and enlightening, and the conclusion to her emotional rollercoaster didn't disappoint.

An enjoyable read!

I love love loved this book! Dolly's writing is impeccable and she is very good at creating characters with lots of depth. Any woman who has used a dating app has had the experience of being ghosted and Dolly captures the feelings of this outrageous new trend perfectly. MUST READ!

This book did not download properly so I couldn’t read it to review it. I would love for you to send me this again if you can.

This is exactly what I wanted from Dolly’s first foray into fiction. I had to keep reminding myself that the protagonist was Nina though, and not Dolly herself 🙈
There are so many wry observations which will ring true to every 30-something woman across the land. ‘Ghosts’ felt like reading an email from an old pal who knows you inside out. <3 I liked it a lot.

Having never heard of this author before I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this book but the synopsis sounded good so thought would give it a try.

It tells the story of 32 year old Nina Dean, a successful food writer but whose personal life is falling apart. Surrounded by smug married friends she feels she is getting left behind and, along with her one loyal single friend, she joins a dating app, only to become the victim of ghosting for the first time.

Mix in thinking’s about her biological clock ticking and age being ever prominent the story proceeds to go through the various stages of her dating experience, including attending her ex-boyfriends wedding. All this along with the worry of her dad and his demise into dementia.

The father and daughter relationship is the best part of this book and is beautifully described, highlighting the decline of her father right before her eyes to the horrible disease that is dementia. Unfortunately I failed to engage with the rest of the book as it just didn’t flow or seem believable, the writing was a little all over the place which found it hard to truly get absorbed in the story too. This may have been the advance copy text layout and may well be changed for the final published copy but at present there seems to be something missing to get everything together.

It wasn’t my cup of tea and overall I just felt that nothing really happened, there was nothing I could take away from the book and unfortunately did struggle to motivate myself to finish this which was a shame.

A lovely debut novel from Dolly Alderton, focusing on Nina Dean, a 30-something in London looking for love. Witty, intelligent and, at times, quite sad, Ghosts was a joy to read.

The ending was lovely and surprised me which is always the sign of a great book!

The only reason not for 5* was after reading Dolly's Everything I Know About Love, I felt like some aspects of the novel were slightly too similar and I struggled to picture Nina as anyone but Dolly. Although I loved EIKAL, I felt I couldn't give Ghosts 5*.

Nina George Dean is my new heroine. I loved this witty, tender and beautiful book, another heartbreaker but packed with hope and love and friendship, and a beautiful relationship between father and daughter (And being a certain age all the cultural references littered throughout the book are hardwired into me!) Dolly Alderton writes like a dream, I cannot wait for all the excitement when this comes out... you're going to see it everywhere. Thank you @netgalley for the arc, perfect read for a sunny Sunday afternoon.

This isn’t usually a genre that I read but I have heard so much about Dolly Alderton, I was curious about her work. I did struggle with the first half of the book as I found the characters laboured and two dimensional at times. However, I was glad I persevered as the relationship between Nina and her father is very moving. The heartbreak portrayed over the gradual loss of a parent to dementia feels real and it is deftly handled by Alderton. Nina and her mum react differently to the idea of becoming carers and Alderton shows that this is both normal and natural. I also appreciated that the term ‘ghosting’ did not just refer to Nina’s romantic relationships and it could also be applied to her father’s fading memories, or the deterioration of childhood friendships. I was less convinced by Nina’s love life, but overall this was an enjoyable read from a debut fiction book.

I haven’t read anything by this author before, and I knew this was her first fictional book so wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. It wasn’t exactly as I expected but I still enjoyed it. The characters came to life and the book flowed and was a very pleasant lockdown read.

Having read (and loved!) Dolly's non-fiction debut 'Everything I Know About Love', this, her fiction debut, was high on my most looking forward to reads of 2020. I really wasn't disappointed. Dolly has an astute eye when it comes to the intricacies of socialising and dating, and a dry observational style when it comes to utilising these tropes to scathing effect. 32-year-old Nina is a food writer on the rise, her successful blog allowed her to leave teaching and write full-time. She has the kind of life that looks great from a distance, through the illuminated screen of a phone, but is falling apart in reality. Having taken a break from dating, after a mutually decided break-up with her boyfriend of many years, she decides to give dating apps a try. But the dramas that arise from there, her father's worsening health, her worsening relationship with her mother and her splintering friendships are beginning to consume her.
Because of Dolly's shifting from memoir to fiction, it took me a little while to acclimatise to 'Ghosts'. Nina is very different physically and her romantic history, based on what Dolly recounts in EIKAL is vastly different from Nina's. Once I'd adjusted, I became consumed by Nina's immensely relatable story. I'm slightly younger than Nina, being in my late 20s, but reading this felt like I was seeing both my present life and prophesied future in one-go. Having already felt the divide between my single self and coupled-up friends beginning to take a toll, there was something compelling, hypnotic and mildly terrifying at seeing it presented here. Also, as someone who has had encounters like the romance within this novel, it all felt vaguely reassuring - that I am not alone in my experiences of the car crash existence that is a third-life crisis.
As with EIKAL, there were regularly chunks of Dolly's prose that I would highlight and make notes off - such was their extent of aching poignancy and reliability. This is a novel that is often funny, regularly bittersweet and .totally engrossing.

Having read 'Everything I Know About Love', Dolly Alderton's memoir, I didn't quite know what to expect from her debut novel.

The characters are likable and relatable, and their storylines weave through the book with ease and humour. The relationships between characters feel incredibly real and I was engaged by them from the first page. The friendships and familial relationships have a great deal of depth, sensitively exploring the topics of love, friendship and parenthood at all of its various stages.

As a woman in my mid twenties, I felt engulfed by Nina's world and Alderton's brilliant writing. The novel made me smile, laugh, feel deep sadness and also really surprised me in places.

'Ghosts' is sensitive, beautiful but also hilarious, taking you on a journey with Nina and slowly revealing the different forms of ghosts and ghosting that affect her life. Since reading 'Everything I Know About Love', I had been patiently anticipating Alderton's next book and this is a triumph. I will read it again and it has proven her talent and skill as a storyteller and writer.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in return for an honest review.

This book was such a quick read, the words flowed so well, I couldn’t put it down. I could really relate to the main character and shared a lot of her core beliefs - I guess that’s why I enjoyed it so much. I think many women go through the same issues this book deals with, fair or unfair - it’s all about life and is written so honestly. Who wouldn’t live this book?

Nina George Dean (and the George is important) is a 32 year old food writer, who starts dating using online apps for the first time, after the end of a long relationship. As the title would suggest, she is ghosted after the passionate start of a relationship with Max, and at the same time, other aspects of her life start to unravel, as friendships change with marriage and babies, and her parents deal with her father’s dementia.

There has been a glut of recent excellent books about navigating the territory of your thirties, and Ghosts does cover similar thematic ground to Expectation by Anna Hope, Adults by Emma Jane Unsworth, and Pretending by Holly Bourne, but that is not a criticism. Alderton brings her own psychological insights, wisdom and her brand of high-low cultural references to the subject matter.

The relationships between all the characters are well depicted, and Alderton succeeds in creating older characters that don’t succumb to ‘humorous’ stereotypes. The dementia storyline is clearly well researched and sensitively handled. In fact, my only criticism of the book would be perhaps that this is where Alderton’s obvious research shows through the writing with occasional clunkiness. But it’s no less enjoyable for it.

Alderton has been compared to Nora Ephron, who if you listen to her podcasts, is clearly one of her influences. This shone through for me, in the evocation of place, the depiction of the heady hopefulness of the start of a love affair, while still managing to retain a cynical sense of humour which had me laughing out loud. Relatable and emotional, topped off with a bittersweet and satisfying ending which is entirely fitting, I loved this novel and can’t wait to discuss it with my friends.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin for the opportunity to read and review what surely must be the most hotly anticipated debut novel of 2020.

I hadn't read anything by Dolly Alderton before but I'd heard great things about 'Everything I Know About Love' so when I heard about her fiction debut I knew I needed to try it! I love Dolly's voice, it's so wonderfully British which as someone who reads so much American based fiction was refreshing. There was quite a lot of heavy swearing so if that's not your thing be wary (but that's what you get for being British I guess). I loved the different aspects of ghosting that were covered from dating, to friendships fading, and to dementia and the ghosting of memories. It was such a poignant read. I enjoyed this book immensely but I just couldn't get invested, it took me quite a while to get through as I only found myself reading a chapter at a time so hence the reason for my lower rating but I think I'm slightly younger than the target audience for this book so that's potentially why but I'd say if you are older and single you'll definitely see a lot of yourself here, I'm young and single and I definitely did. It made made me think a lot about the future.

I absolutely loved this novel. Joining Nina as she navigated her way through life in her early 30's felt so relatable.

Nina is a successful food writer but is struggling in other parts of her life and what the landscape of her life looks like in her early 30's. Initially it seems as though the main plot line will be about her struggle with dating and using dating apps, however as you read on more threads are introduced such as the change of friendships over time as peoples lives accelerate at different speeds, her relationship with her mother as they try and cope with her fathers worsening dementia, her relationship with her father as he starts to deteriorate and eventually starts to forget who she is.

I thought this book was beautifully written, it's heartfelt, sensitive and the characters have a depth to them that make you really care. I felt like I went on a real journey with Nina as she worked out what was most important to her and how she needed to shift her focus to appreciate everything she maybe had all along.

I love the title and as you move through the book finding out how many different types of ghost/ghosting Nina endures/ discovers.

I would highly recommend this to all of my friends and am a bit sad I finished it so quickly! Dolly Alderton has been a favourite writer of mine for a while and this has firmly cemented her at the top of my list.