The way this book was formatted may deter you within the very first pages. If you can push past the format, the story outlined in a series of lists are very clever, witty and an interesting element to the story. Admittedly, I skipped through some lists (guns and song lyrics) that didn’t add to the story. The meat and bones of the story was interesting and I appreciated the self deprecating nature of the main character. 3.5 stars.

Mushy, farcical, fast paced, TOTAL was one fun list filled book. Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for this review copy.

Coming at y’all in November this year, make sure to grab your copies. Because, even through the lists you can feel all the feels and the musings, the worries, the hopes of our protagonist. Had fun reading this.

Book 2 of The Reading Rush! #trr19

I LOVED this book. It is written in "list" form and it is fantastic. I, too, like so many other reviewers, was able to read this in one sitting. There are several "laugh out loud" moments!

Many thanks to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for this advanced readers copy. The release date for this book is set for November 2019.

I was very doubtful how writing a novel entirely in lists would work, but I was pleasantly surprised. His thoughts and deeds show a man struggling in life, making bad decisions and coming to learn what is really important to him. Funny and poignant.

I didn’t mind the story in lists format at all. I just completely hated the main character from start to finish. He was pathetic and made ridiculous choices. 6 months of him running out of money and instead of just getting a job.. he plots to rob a bingo hall? The climax was utterly absurd. Not for me.

We lie most often to the people we love. Time passes, lies multiply, and arguably a situation worsens. Case in point, Dan Mayrock's expenses which are outpacing his income at the bookstore he opened after leaving teaching. Jill, his pregnant wife, is being kept in the dark, led to believe the bookstore is profitable. Financial disaster is looming on the horizon.

Dan is overwhelmed and anxiety ridden. His former therapist suggested that he "log" his feelings. Dan does so in the form of "obsessive lists". Everything, even the minutest occurrence, is on some detailed list. Dan and Jill met at a school faculty meeting. He thought Jill to be the most competent teacher ever. He didn't think he was skilled as an educator. Leaving teaching behind, he opened a bookstore. Realistically, Dan found it difficult to turn a profit. "Watching great books go unread and terrible books sell like hotcakes" was disheartening.

Dan could not believe that Jill "blindly accepts me for exactly who I am". Jill was a widow when they met. "There will always be a part of Jill's life that will remain a secret to me because you can only tell your second husband so much about your previous life with your dead husband...I feel...so insecure." Will he ever measure up to Peter? Desperate times call for desperate measures. Reading through Dan's lists, it is clear that he waffled while creating a ridiculously, outlandish plan to procure money quickly.

"Twenty-One Truths About Love" by Matthew Dicks was written in a unique style. Read the lists and discover Dan's resolutions. Dan's anxieties, feelings of abandonment, failure and desperation are palpable. I enjoyed meeting Bill at the Bingo Hall and Clarence, the labradoodle. Dan's outlook was changing, but, in what ways?

Thank you St. Martin's Press and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "Twenty-One Truths About Love".

This was a very different kind of book, but I loved it! The whole book is comprised of lists, but somehow the author manages to build relatable characters and a storyline through just these lists. Some of the lists seemed pointless and didn’t help move the story along, but most of them helped the reader to understand and empathize. And I loved the humor in the lists - I wanted to read parts out loud to someone - and I found the teacher “comments” to be very accurate and relatable, too!
This is a fast and fun read that I think a lot of my friends will enjoy. Thank you so much to NetGalley for providing this ARC!!

In "Twenty-one Truths About Love," Matthew Dicks gives us a novel made up entirely of lists. Don't make that face. It works. We've got plot, dialog, even emotion. And we care about Daniel even as we curse his stupidity as he hatches a ridiculous plan to deal with his financial woes.

Daniel quit his teaching job to open a bookshop (Bookstores are pretentious). Writing lists is a leftover from therapy and is a way to deal with stress (OK. The lists ensure he doesn't disappear from the world). Within the text of his lists, we learn about his marriage, his feelings about his long-estranged father and his weird habit of accidentally wearing two pairs of underwear.

It's a strange way to write a book, but I liked it.

(Review shared to Goodreads, Facebook and The Book Club Girls and 52 Books groups on Facebook.)

A heartfelt tribute to marriage, parenthood and self acceptance. This book is a little on the quirky side - it’s not written in a traditional story format. Instead the entire thing is written as daily entries in list format. If you’re a list person, I think you’ll find a certain charm in this book. Parts of it shine - others are easily glossed over. Overall a witty and charming read.

I enjoyed this book! I think it was a unique set-up being written entirely in lists. I had never read a story in this format before but Matthew Dicks managed to include lots of detail and emotion within the lists. The format also made it a quick read which I appreciated. The author really was able to grasp some of the quirks that make being a human interesting and I found it readable because of the writing style. I will admit the plot itself didn't go much of anywhere for me but somehow I still became invested in the main character's life and wanted to know what happened in the end.

I was provided an eARC of this book from NetGalley & the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I love this cover and that’s what originally attracted me to this book. I’m also a sucker for books about love. This is the story of a man who decides to quit his teaching job to open a bookstore. His pregnant wife is very supportive but he finds himself lying to her about the store’s success (or lack of). As he keeps draining his savings to stay afloat, he writes down money making schemes that include writing to billionaires, a no thank you note service, bingo at the VFW Hall. The book is written in list form, over the course of 9 months. He has a new list of things for nearly every day of his wife’s pregnancy. Clouding this is his problematic relationship with his father, and his wife’s late husband. 
Despite how short this book really is (due to everything written as lists), it took me a while to plod through it. I didn’t like the main character at first and found him rather annoying. As he gets more desperate, he gets more interesting. It’s not terrible, but not great. Maybe I just don’t like male writers? Also near the end, there’s a twist in the last two chapters which made me think there was an error in the advance copy, but really it was just a clever way to get you thinking and wondering what happened. For full disclosure, I received an advance copy from Netgalley in exchange for this unbiased review.

This book was so good!

The format of the book is a series of lists that Dan makes to help him get his thoughts out, and as an alternative to journaling because he thinks journaling is stupid. Through these lists, we follow Dan as he struggles with his insecurities in his marriage to a widow, his lack of desire to be a father, and his failing business.

This book was funny, heartfelt, and kept me reading. I loved it!

Quirky and fin. Awkward at first but then I grew to love the way it was written.. I'm happy authors are being so creative these days.

A srory about Dan and Jill, a normal married couple with problems and who oen a bookstore. At first I liked the different format of lists, titles and date entries, but it got old real quick. I didnt finish reading because of this.

The titular list was indeed the best.

This was very sweet. A gimmick, indeed, but a gimmick that was well planned out and thought through. If you don't like gimmicks, don't read this. If you're open though, this is quite a delight.

I adored how Jill and Daniel's relationship evolved throughout this book. Daniel's employees were the absolute worst in the most hilarious way.

While the premise of a story told through lists seems fresh and intriguing, it is difficult for the reader to connect to the narrator bc of the natural disjointedness of lists. A master storyteller may have been able to pull it off, but I finished the book feeling as though a very real and promising character got shortchanged through the method of storytelling.

I really enjoyed the format of this book being completely in lists. I was a little hesitant at first because I didn’t know if that would cause me not to be able to connect with the character but to be honest it helped me understand the character more! There were certain things in this book that I didn’t particularly enjoy just out of personal preference but overall I think a lot of people will enjoy this book!

The endless list making format would have worked better in a short story. It gets wearing.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

I am a list maker so I loved reading a book completely through lists. It's a technique you don't see often and Matthew Dicks nailed it. You gain enough information through each list to draw inferences about the characters, their feelings and their lives.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest and fair review.

I've been a fan of Matthew Dicks since I stumbled across Something Missing on BookBub. I've read most of his books and recommend them often. He excels at quirky, flawed characters and looking at things from a different perspective (check out Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend). This book did not disappoint.

Written entirely in list format from the perspective of Dan Mayrock, a former teacher and bookstore owner. Dan's bookstore is failing and he is plagued with anxiety and self-doubt. He writes lists to unburden himself from all of his worries.

This story is brutally honest - in a sweet and funny way - about the day to day stuff that gets to everyone. And it illustrates that things are usually not as bad when you let someone help you.