I loved this book. It is well written and thoroughly enjoyable. When I started reading it I thought it was simply great fun. As it went on I found it to be so much more. As a woman of a certain age, with a daughter, I found I was able to relate to the experiences both from my own youth and that of my daughter.

I loved the way struggles of a young woman were documented with wit and sometimes graphic detail. The desire to be liked and loved, the trying to be the person you think others want you to be and the mistakes along the way. More importantly, it is so insightful into the friendships between women. The pain of being ousted in friendship by the boyfriend and how to find your way back. How these change and develop over time - Dolly you will need another book as these friendships become even more important and more fun as we get older.

Well, what can I say about Dolly and everything she knows about love. Finally, finally we have a memoir that a twenty-something can relate to. There’s talk of MSN Messenger, of life before iPhones and the frustration at the current housing crisis. Love, jealousy and most importantly, friendship are all woven throughout the pages of this book in equal parts. I wanted to laugh and cry throughout.

I’ll be honest, in the first few chapters, I wondered if I would connect with Dolly. She talks about the suburban life, her boarding school , living with girlfriends etc. Not exactly things I relate to but, as she grows I could see myself and, at the moment in my life this was the book I needed. Nothing is off limits and while, in the beginning, I was frustrated that Dolly seemed to gloss over problems, this was only for a short period, by the end of the book I was rooting for her, I saw myself in her and her friends.

While the title is all Dolly know’s about love, she doesn’t clarify what kind of love. This isn’t a self-help book, this is how a young woman has navigated the relationships in her life whether that be with partners, her friends or herself, each is mentioned. Of course there are hilarious stories of bad dates, strange men and questionable antics it’s not just a ‘look what a crazy single girl’ type book. It has heart, and that’s the most important.

The best part though? The humour. Dolly writes satirically about when friends grow up, the expectations for hen dos, baby showers and the like. About the feeling of loss and insecurity when your friends are moving faster than you are. About trying to work yourself out in your twenties and having no idea where to start.

In short, this was a brilliant book. I’ve given it 4 out of 5 stars, I only do so for two reasons, one there were recipes kind of randomly placed throughout the book and two, I wish some parts had gone more in depth but understand that Dolly may not have felt she could. I 100% recommend this for anyone in there twenties who needs a pick me up!

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and author who gave me an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I received an e-ARC of Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton from NetGalley in return for review consideration. The novel will be published by Penguin in the UK on 1st February 2018.

Dolly Alderton is a journalist and former dating columnist for The Sunday Times, and Everything I Know About Love recounts her childhood, school and university years, and her stepping out into the adult world. She relates tales of success, failure, and hilarity (Rod Stewart-themed house party, anyone?) as she and her friends learn what it means to come of age in the new millennium, faced with challenges and opportunities their parents could never have conceived of.

I enjoyed this memoir a lot. Alderton writes well, with a friendly and casual style that draws you in and allows her to move from light, happy sections to more intense, sometimes deeply sad passages without becoming overwrought. It has the feeling of a very longform personal essay, the kind that I personally enjoy reading, but I know is not to everyone’s taste. I think, however, that Alderton does a good job of balancing the funny stories with personal insight.

The book is divided nicely into sections, bookended by chapters entitled ‘Everything I Knew About Love as a Teenager/At Twenty-One/At Twenty-Five’, with ‘Everything I Know About Love at Twenty-Eight’ providing the final chapter. These short chapters list out the truths Alderton held dear at those ages, and I found myself reading down these lists and going ‘yes, yes, yes’ to so many of the points. Particularly in the ‘as a Teenager’ section, there were points which made me shake my head in memory of Past Me, certain that she knew All The Important Things when really, nothing was further from the truth.

Alderton and I are almost the same age (I’m a year or so older) so there were a lot of elements of her book which really resonated with me, such as growing up as the internet became a ‘thing’, using instant messenger and mobile phones to constantly talk with friends you’d seen at school mere hours early, much to the consternation of your parents. Her university experience, however, was definitely not like mine, though probably much more reflective of what most students expect – making friends, drinking too much, and occasionally attending a lecture or two – and it definitely reminded me of some of my friends.

There were some deeply touching moments within the memoir, particularly as Alderton learns to deal with loss and the ever changing nature of friendship and life. My favourite part of the book was probably the last quarter. I don’t wish to spoil it for anyone, so I will say only that Alderton has some realisations about her life, what she wants to get out of it, and what she might need to do to make that happen. I came out of the book with a lot of respect for her.

All in all, this was a witty and moving book that I would recommend to anyone looking for a well-written, satisfying memoir about love, friendship, and growing up in the nineties and noughties.

If you’ve ever read articles about love and dating, chances are you’ve already come across Dolly Alderton.

She’s a popular London-based columnist, journalist, director, podcaster and now author of her memoir, Everything I Know About Love.

I’m always intrigued by people who write a memoir before they have even hit 30 – it has always seemed a bit self-indulgent in the past - but Dolly has plenty of life experience to share - and she does so in an open, warm, funny, often heartbreaking, style that, in my opinion, crosses generational boundaries.

Once I started reading, it felt a bit like I’d fallen down the rabbit hole into a world very different from my own but one that was completely immersive (and hard to get out of).

Told in a mixture of stories and anecdotes, lists and vignettes, at times I found her style a bit chaotic – maybe a reflection of her life at that time? – and the inclusion of recipes felt a bit random; like she was simply jumping on the bandwagon.

There was definitely a story arc, of sorts. I won’t say ‘coming of age’ because that seems patronising but as Dolly shares her many and varied experiences with love, sex, friendship, family, alcohol, drugs, work and play, life lessons seem to be learned - although perhaps not immediately.

It is something of a rollercoaster read – and when she dipped I felt genuinely sad for her – but her empowering final chapter left me feeling really positive about her journey.

This is just so brilliant. You relate to it whether you like it or not. I actually freaked out when Dolly started talking about dates at the National Theatre bar because that was me just before Christmas!

I really wanted to give this book a higher score but I just couldn't. When I first started reading it I liked the brisk, chatty style and I guess it was my fault for not reading the blurb properly but I thought it was a story I was reading and not someone's real life thoughts and opinions. However, I soon understood what I was reading and read on with enthusiasm.

Now, the reason I could only give it 3 stars was this. For me the book is too drug and drink heavy and I wasn't totally sure if the author was giving a warning about the dangers of drugs or was advocating their wide and varied use. It's a personal thing but I didn't like the strong use of drugs, the detailed explanations of nights spent so drunk that they didn't know what they were doing, and the wild behavior - don't get me wrong, I am not boring or a prude but it just isn't my cup of tea in a book.

Thankfully I was able to give 3 stars at the end because I loved the last chapter - the more reflective tone in the writing is interesting and engaging and I just wish the rest of the book had been the same. I am sure that many people will love this and give it 5 stars so please don't be put off by this review.

Thanks to Net Galley for the preview copy in exchange for an honest review.

Dolly Alderton, was a favourite writer of mine in the Sunday Times. Her dating column was interesting and a bit too vivid but I enjoyed it. However this book is rather like a crash. There is a point that information is too much and what is shared is cringe making. I am not British but this diary shows a middle class girl of her own volution sharing her use of alcohol to have meaningless sex. I would hate for her parents to read this.

Bring back the Dolly who wrote movingly about the death of her best friend's sister in this book, who also wrote about her attempts at surfing in Portugal in the newspaper but the logorrhea of days drinking and shagging has got to stop.

I confess that I didn't know who Dolly Alderton before I read this book but you really don't need to. It's mostly a memoir about her dating history and its equally tragic and hilarious. It's quite a silly book but there's actually a lot of really poignant stuff within the silly. I'm assuming I'm around the same age as the author as the cultural references were really relevant to me and that definitely enhanced my enjoyment of the book.

Having been a fan of Alderton's journalism for a few years I had high hopes for this book, thankfully I was not disappointed. A series of interwoven essays chronicling everything from romantic love, to navigating adolescence to loss to the greatest love of all - the love of good friends. I was happy to spend time in Dolly's inner circle and look forward to trying out the recipes peppered throughout. I laughed, I cried, I winced and I can't wait to read what Alderton does next.

Everything I Know About Love charts Dolly Alderton’s teens and twenties through love – unrequited love, messy love, short-term love, all-encompassing love – and takes the reader along for the ride as she comes to realise that she, alone, is enough.

What really stayed with me after I’d put the book down, though, was Dolly’s portrayal of the love of female friendships, from the high school friends that never leave us, to the friendships cemented over one too many drinks in university pubs. It was refreshing to read about a love that is often relegated to last place in public, left in the shadows in favour of the more romantic kind.

I laughed, I cried, and smiled my way through the book, nodding in recognition here and there, and immediately recommending it to all my friends when I was finished. The magical thing about Everything I Know About Love is that while on the one hand it’s about Dolly’s personal journey of growing up, it could just as easily be about any of our journeys to adulthood, too: women of all ages will be able to relate to the book, and will nod along, I’m sure, just like I did.

I don’t know how I first came across Dolly Alderton, but I’m glad I did. Her podcast The High Low, with Pandora Sykes, is one of my favourites. Everything I Know About Love* treats us to a deep-dive into Alderton’s experiences with romantic love, love in its other forms, drugs and alcohol, growing up or not growing up, as the case may be, finding the right work-life balance and figuring out how to be, well, herself.

If you enjoy memoirs of smart and funny women add Everything I Know About Love to your to-read list.

I rarely read books at the right time in my life but this was truly brilliant. Can’t put into words how much I enjoyed it but will be recommending to everyone.

I love reading brilliantly funny books by amazing women. I hadn't actually read anything previously by Dolly but as soon as I heard about the book and saw the cover I knew I had to read it. This reminds me of How to Murder your Life by Cat Marnell which was my favourite book last year. I loved the way Everything I Know about Love was laid out and how it could take you from laughing out loud to feeling such sorrow about the world. There was such a variety of stories in here but it told the story of the ups and downs of Dolly's life in just the right amount of detail. I'll definitely be looking out for more from her in the future.

Everything I Know About Love was a quick read - it is episodic and the supporting cast flies in and out Dolly's door quite quickly, in general. Dolly writes about her leisure world of booze and sex, a bit like Caitlin Moran, but not so accomplished a cultural critic, While work (writing, performing) is important to her, the details of work life is not even sketched in, leaving a hole at the centre.
Addictive and tell-all (though not a celeb in sight) I am sure anyone interested in reading about a London party girl and her friends and dates circa 2004-2015 will enjoy this book. A good insight into a definite personality type and reflection on a certain kind of education.

An engrossing and sparkling exploration of what it's like to learn about love, feel love and reflect on love.

I was already familiar with Dolly's work as a journalist, writer and broadcaster, but 'Everything I Know About Love' gave me a fresh appreciation. It's wry, witty and utterly immersive. Dolly's style is conversational and confessional, but never self indulgent.

It works as a coming of age memoir, but it's not restricted to that. It's thought provoking for any reader at any stage in their life. Anyone can pick I it up and find themselves nodding, laughing and crying as they whip through the chapters. It's infused with reflection, insight and an overwhelming sense of perceptiveness.

It's not overly focused on romantic love with a partner- it takes in much more than that. I can see myself buying copies of this to give as gifts, because this is one to be treasured.

Raw, truthful and – crucially – completely effortless to read, journalist and podcaster Dolly Alderton‘s memoir is an eloquent, witty, insightful book that just feels like you’re talking to a friend. Personally, I could relate to so much of what Dolly was saying, so I looked forward to dipping into it every time I had a spare minute.

This memoir sees Dolly delve into her mind-set towards love at different stages in her life. She recounts stories from her teenage years (hello, MSN Messenger) and through her twenties, including drunken university exploits that resulted in life-long friendships with wonderful women, fixating on the wrong men and fixating on alcohol to keep up her reputation as the ultimate party girl. She also discusses her quest to work out who exactly she is and her struggles with an eating disorder and anxiety (even these serious issues are so eloquently expressed, ‘this overwhelming anxiety had been in the post for a while and it had finally arrived.’) I especially enjoyed how she described her enduring love for her female friends and how these friendships developed through the years and shaped her adult life, ‘little did I know how much work it takes to sustain that kind of intimacy with a friend as you get older – it doesn’t just stick around coincidentally.’

She also peppers her memoir with recipes (this might seem random but makes sense within the context of the book!), anecdotes of bad dates, hilarious letters about the life events that all women seem to find themselves invited to and (whether they want to or not) partaking in (e.g. extortionate hen-dos, ridiculous baby showers and the ever more elaborate weddings), lists of what she has learnt at each stage in her life, including random facts that had me thinking, ‘yes, that’s exactly what I would consider a crucial life lesson.’ Example: ‘If you press shift and F3, it makes something either all capitals or all lowercase.’ I CANNOT tell you how happy I was when I also discovered this.

Overall, this is an enlightening, heart-warming book that made me feel great after reading due to its wonderful celebration of one of the most important types of love – female friendships. So many of my friends flitted through my mind while reading, and I’ll definitely be recommending this to them. Dolly’s writing is the perfect blend of caring sarcasm, if that isn’t too much of an oxymoron! I laughed, I cried, I was happy when she made her breakthroughs and could relate to her irrational take on certain situations. Hopefully, this is the first of many memoirs as I immensely enjoyed Dolly’s company. In short: I loved this book.

This is book is a gorgeously funny and occasionally heartbreaking memoir of love and friendship and what it was like to come of age in the new millennium. It is full of Dolly Alderton’s signiture wit and wisdom. A love letter to the people who shape us most - our friends.

It was a fun read, I liked that its an autobiography and liked the witty and humorous writing style. I can relate a lot of the MSN use in the days before wifi and the close knit circle that girls have growing up, thinking that time will never end. I lost a bit of patience around her jealousy when her best friend started her serious relationship, but I think we all did it! Maybe I am just a bit too old to find this book to be an entertaining read. I liked the book overall and found it to be clever and funny, I just didn't love it.

I have enjoyed Dolly’s dating column in the Sunday Times Style magazine and expected the book to be as fluffy as these articles. Dolly’s writing style is very easy to read but some of the subjects she deals with in this book are far from fluffy. As she had written a dating column, I thought the title of the book referred to romantic love, but the foundation of the book is the love between Dolly and her best friend. I have been left feeling quite maternal towards Dolly, perhaps because I am older than her, when I see tweets about drinking or partying I get concerned for her and hope she’s wrapped up warm enough and has someone to give her a lift home!