Obsession in the age social media. Ana moved across Australia for a fresh start and unmoored by her lack of contact with family, finds herself over the top about Evan, who she met in a bar. Is he as perfect as he seems? Well, Ana goes down the rabbit hole of social media, finding things she doesn't understand. How did his ex die? No spoilers from me. Ana's spiraling will likely feel familiar to many who've similarly found themselves in the depths of the internet. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

My attempt to finish this did not go well. There was something missing with the character development and pacing that made it difficult to get into. This was a dnf for me.

After her recent breakup, Ana moved to a new city to get away. When she meets Evan, the two quickly hit it off. When she does a deep dive on his socials however, she finds that his ex girlfriend of several years had died. Evan never mentions her, so Ana has to take it upon herself to find out more about Emily and their relationship.

Oh man, did I enjoy this book? Yes and no. I did enjoy it, but also its drove me nuts. We have Mr. emotionally detached and unavailable, and we we have some very stalkerish behavior, not to mention a ton of games when it comes to who reaches out first texting. I think everyone does a bit of a social media deep dive when they start dating someone, but this took it to a new level. Evan not even being able to hear Emily’s name though certainly didn’t help the cause. Basically this was a toxic relationship and I just found myself wanting them both to walk away.

After a breakup, Ana moves from Perth to Melbourne to start afresh working at a startup in an uninspiring job. She meets Evan and begins a relationship with him. At first, she resists doing an internet search to find out more about him. When she succumbs, she discovers his last partner, Emily, died in a bike accident almost a year ago, but Evan never mentions her and is resistant to any discussion about her. Soon Ana finds herself obsessed with all things Emily.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and The Dial Press for this e-arc.*

3.5 Stars
A dark and realistic portrayal into dating today and misogyny in the workplace... and elsewhere. The pacing was slower than I expected and a lot of the book I wanted to shake Ana and ask her "WHY?"! Evan wasn't very likeable, either, but we stayed pretty surface level on their relationship - which was maybe the point towards the end.
Speaking of the end, the last chapters really made the book worth it. All of the character growth in those last few pages were enough to make me glad that I read this book!

Thank you, NetGalley and Random House for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

Search History is about a 30 year old woman who is trying to find herself in romantic relationships. She has just ended a long-term relationship with a boyfriend who is failing to launch and makes a dramatic move from Perth to Melbourne, Australia. Early on, she meets Evan, a promising love interest with a mysterious past. We learn that Evan has an ex-girlfriend who passed away a year before. Ana goes down the rabbit hole to discover who his ex was and why they broke up since she receives radio silence about it from Evan.

Throughout the novel, we are mired in Ana's perspective and obsession with Evan's ex and Evan. Search History reminded me of Sally Rooney's writing, but wasn't as literary. Ana and Evan were frustrating characters with a complete inability to be honest and thoughtfully engage with each other. It's very Millennial. I found it fascinating to consider how dating has changed with so much personal information being easily available to us on the internet. Despite having access to more information, we can be more distant than ever, unwilling to truly connect and engage with others.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

Ana is reeling from her most recent break-up, moving to a new city, her dysfunctional familial dynamics, and distance from her best friend when she meets Evan. Evan is good-looking and seems to have his life together. His ex-girlfriend Emily seems like she was the perfect woman with a gorgeously curated social media presence that Ana can't get enough of. Ana spends most of the book searching though the highlights of other people's lives because she's so unhappy with her own. Her journey made me cringe, but was so well written that I wound up rooting for her. She reminded me a lot of myself in my 20s, searching for the beauty of other people's lives that I could not find in my own. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for permitting me to read this book prior to its release.

Dating in the world of social media, where it is not difficult to find information, both good and bad about just about anyone. Was Ana insecure, curious, or just trying to protect herself? At any rate, this was a well written story about Ana’s relationships and how the past and social media can affect both members of a relationship. It dragged on a bit for me, but in the end, I found it timely, interesting, and enjoyable. Thank you NetGalley for providing the ARC.

I think that for the right type of reader, this is going to be a total win. I am very thankful that I am the right type of reader, because I absolutely loved this.

I saw it compared to Fleabag, and thought that that was the perfect comparison. So it’s not a surprise that Fleabag is my favourite show, and I loved this book. There were many times that choices Ana made reminded me of something Fleabag would do or think. I’ve seen other reviews that mention the way this book starts and its view on sex and dating. Again, similar to Fleabag - both start with a bold sexual scene.

Ana is a woman in her 20s dealing with a lot regarding sex, relationships, family, friends, work, and working on herself. The way she thought and worked through everything felt very accurate to me. While there is a lot of sex in this, it’s not done in a romantic or steamy way. This was a book that involved a romance, but it wasn’t a romance book.

I love the look into a person's real life and the way they portray their life online. Are they just portraying their best self, or are they not showing what's real at all? Can you really know someone just based on what you see online? This truly just felt so real to me. People don’t want to admit that they follow others lives online, but many do. It’s hard to not follow along and compare yourself. This was a unique, interesting look into that.

I’m very glad I read this, and will absolutely be picking up a physical copy for rereads. I would probably be mindful about who I recommend this to since I don’t think it’s for everyone, but I really do hope it finds its reader and others love it as much as I do. The last chapter wrapped up the story perfectly, and solidified this as a 5/5 for me.

Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this book! I voluntarily read this book, and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Search History is set in Australia, about a young woman, recently single, who moves to Melbourne and starts dating someone, and becomes obsessed with his former girlfriend, who died. I started out feeling sorry for Ana, but liked her less and less as the book went on, although it did show where she was coming from. Evan was similar, he seemed perfect at first and then became very unlikable. This book made me want to stop using the internet and also never date again!

As I read this book, I began to wonder if I'm not the intended age demographic for a book that relies so heavily upon the thoughts and feelings that social media plays in the dating world. However, I came to discover that going down that rabbit hole of "investigating" another person online is universal to a lot of situations. I feel that the author provided the backdrop for society as a whole in the present day. We often take what is seen online at face value until we are told otherwise. Ana wasn't told "any information" to allow her to form her own conclusions outside of the social media feed of the dead girlfriend of her current boyfriend. Neither one of them were very open and the book made their relationship seem even more obscure by not giving us any of their personal conversations. Maybe that was to make a point. She wasn't open with him and neither was he but how is it that they felt they were falling for each other. Red flag! I appreciated Ana's growth in the end and also that she learned some really good lessons the hard way (which many of us have to learn them that way). There were times I had planned to give this book a 3 star rating and then it jumped up for me a bit more and that ending sealed the 4 stars that I finally bestowed upon this book. Kudos to the authors debut. I think Ana represents a lot of 20-30 somethings today and I would recommend checking this out. Thanks NetGalley for the advance copy.

Thank you netgalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to get a chance to read this book early. I personally am young but the start of this book was just a lot. I didn't like the take and how it was all focused on sex and how the dating was portrayed. I hope this book finds the right audience but it wasn't for me.

This review will only be posted on net galley!

Search History was just fine for me. It wasn’t bad, but I didn’t really enjoy reading it. Maybe I’m not the demographic the book is aimed for and that’s okay! We dove in really quickly to a scary sexual encounter and from there I was just…put off. I’m no prude, it just felt weird for me after that. There were a couple bits that I found interesting, but overall this isn’t a book I would rave about to patrons.

It gets a 3/5 from me. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this title. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Early into this book I realized I was not the target audience. Being a 50 year old with adult children I am far beyond the late twenties of the characters and their casual sex mentality and obsession with self-care and introspection is not something I can relate to. However, it was very well written and intelligent. I wouldn’t be surprised if Amy Taylor has some psychology background or she is an expert in self-help books and podcasts.
I did skim over all the internal therapy Ava the main character did to get back into the storyline which was entertaining and heartbreaking. Dating for any age group is grueling and uncomfortable, yet Taylor interspersed this with optimism and comic relief.
Yes, there is definitely too much information out there for anyone to go into a relationship without preconceived ideas of who they are dating. This novel shows the downfall of having that information at your fingertips if you don’t communicate in the present with the person.
If you are in your twenties and dating, you should read this book. If you are in a relationship, read this book and then spoil your other half and don’t be afraid to be open with your feelings.
Thanks Netgalley for the ARC.

📱BOOK REVIEW📱

Thank you @prhaudio and @thedialpress for the gifted copies!

Search History - Amy Taylor
Rating: 4.5/5

“Curious about a new guy, Ana falls into a social media sinkhole when she sees her predecessor: gorgeous, blonde, and dead. . . . This propulsive debut will give you chills.”—People

This one was extremely introspective, darkly funny at times and an accurate, depressing look at modern dating. As someone who has found myself analyzing my life after a few major breakups in adulthood, I really related to Ana’s insight, self doubt, reflections and people pleasing (but maybe not so much the social media stalking though!)

I felt this book did a great job navigating how past trauma can make an appearance in our current relationships. Ana, by assuming certain interactions are manipulation. And Evan, by trying to keep the past in the past. I also enjoyed the light this shown onto modern womanhood and the pitfalls of social media.

Recommend if you like:
- Sad girl novels
- Self-discovery
- Millennial, social media culture
- Laughing at how absurd modern dating can be

A love story for the modern age wherein technology is the ultimate cock block. Ana falls down the rabbit hole of cyber-stalking her new love interest to the point she becomes completely obsessed with his dead ex-girlfriend.

Except, this isn’t a love story at all. In fact, it reminded me a lot of a less-nuanced Adelaide // Genevieve Wheeler. It’s much more about Ana figuring out herself, her baggage, and what she can and cannot tolerate from a relationship - all with a wit and humor that lets the pages fly by. And I’ll always cheer on those types of stories!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for allowing me to read an ARC of Search History by Amy Taylor in exchange for my honest review.

This book was well written, relatable and thought-provoking. Who hasn't searched (researched?) someone online, and found themselves down the rabbit hole?

It's almost too easy to fall into the trap of social media. To interpret photos and words, snapshots of moments, with our own, often unintended, tone or perspective, based on how we are feeling in the moment.

"Silence is rejection in slow motion. It’s an injury sustained from a blow that was never dealt. There is, in theory, nothing to recover from."

I look forward to reading more from this author.

Search History was a very fun read. This is a very modern book with modern problems but I don't think that would make it unenjoyable to someone who doesn't use social media or dating apps. I think we can still sympathize with the plight of searching for love even if we - hopefully - would not take the same steps as our MC. It had some unexpected twists and turns that made it a little more than just a mad cap, funny romance. I'm usually not one who reads a lot of this genre but I thoroughly enjoy it and would definitely recommend it to romance and women's literature readers. Thank you to Netgalley and The Dial Press for an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

Ana, our relatable protagonist, finds herself in Melbourne after a breakup, navigating life with an unfulfilling job at a tech start-up and a questionable dating app experience. But then she meets Evan, a charming and responsible guy who seems like a breath of fresh air compared to her previous dating misadventures.

However, Ana can't resist the temptation to delve into Evan's online presence, leading to a journey of self-discovery and doubt. She discovers Evan's previous relationship with Emily, who tragically passed away in a hit-and-run accident. Ana begins to wonder if she's living in the shadow of Evan's lost love, and her obsessive online investigations into Emily's life raise questions about the true nature of their connection.

Search History is a perceptive and original exploration of the contradictions and uncertainties of 21st-century romance. Taylor skillfully balances pathos and humor, making Ana's journey both relatable and thought-provoking. The story raises a fundamental question: Which version of ourselves is our "true" self—the one we present online, or the one we keep to ourselves?

In a world where digital footprints reveal so much about our lives, Search History serves as a compelling reminder of the complexities of modern relationships. Taylor's storytelling keeps you engaged, and Ana's quest for self-discovery resonates with the experiences of many in today's dating landscape.

If you're looking for a contemporary and thought-provoking exploration of love, self-discovery, and the impact of our online personas, "Search History" is a worthwhile read.

Thank you to the Publisher for sending this e-arc my way!


Is it bad that i expected this to be creepy? but it ended up being super relatable, we follow Ana as she navigates a new relationship and moving to a new place. I will admit the idea of stalking your boyfriends ex online was super creepy but as you read on, you start to empathize with Ana and realize she just needs a hug.