Nina has been happy being single but now her ex boyfriend is getting married and her friends are all having babies, she is starting to feel alone. She downloads a dating app and is lucky to find someone special on her first date. While she starts to tell her family and friends about Max, her new beau, he suddenly ghosts her. As she is dealing with the drama of that, her Father is starting to fail more with his Alzheimer's and her Mother is having a hard time dealing with it. This story is a true to life story that makes you think about life.

I completely wish this was a Female/Female romance between Nina and Lola but like whatever I guess. A depressing book that's well written. Not much else to say.

This one was so hyped, but didn’t entirely live up for me. The writing and story itself - while I could see what they set out to do and understand what type of reader might enjoy them - just weren’t for me. If you like a heavily character-focused novel that digs into modern relationships in a very indie-movie way, pick this one up!

I was not the target audience for this book. I thought it sounded like a light read about a girl trying to find a match using dating apps. I expected high jinx and silliness. The book never really delivered. I also found myself annoyed with Nina when she complained about her friend, Katherine. Of course you are going to have different interests than your married with kids friends. It is not easy being a parent to young children. And if you want those children to be functioning members of society they are your main focus for awhile. It is hard to balance social relationships, marriage, kids, and work. I know it's also hard to be single and watch your friend circle change. Being a human is hard.

End tirade. Anyway, it was all moving too slow for me and I stopped reading at 30% in. I only kept going to that point because I do like Dolly Alderlon's writing style. I will check out more of her work in the future.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

This book was a slow start for me, but once I got into it??? oh man. I related to Nina on a levels I didn’t know I could. Give it a chance. I think you’ll enjoy!

Nina George Dean, just celebrating her thirty-second birthday, is trying to find her way forward as she watches most of her friends settle down now that they are all in their thirties. Nina is single but she’s ready to settle down
Two years later, she is more aware. She’s writing a book called Taste, was a cookbook inspired by her personal life.
Nina feels she is finally ready to date once again. She is content with her life and in a good place to start again.

, Nina meets Max online and he seems almost too good to be true. Nina easily falls into old habits, and soon Max is basically her boyfriend.
Max is a beast of a man who looks like a Viking warrior. His age shows, and questions about his past intrigue Nina even more. He signed up for Linx six months earlier, his first try at a dating app. He is an accountant but dresses casually. Max is more calm in nature, more serious. He is a dreamer. Hes felt uncertain about the direction of his life over the past few years. Max is a bit of a puzzle, full of contradictions. When he declares his certainty that he will marry Nina at the end of their first date, Nina is over the moon.
Nina’s story is fully engrossing, capturing your attention from the very beginning.
Nina’s story is wonderfully written. I rate this book five stars.

What is it with the plethora of books coming out about women in their 30's that can't find a man, and are on dating websites to fix this "problem."

I feel like these books are a dime a dozen anymore. If you have read one then you have read them all.

I started this book on the way to Mexico City and finished it on our airbnb's balcony about a day later because I couldn't put it down. The story follows Nina, who is using dating apps for the first time after an amicable break-up with a long-term boyfriend and also dealing with her aging father's dementia. The book is a meditation on aging, the gendered double standard of the biological clock, and an ode to female friendship. I felt like I was talking to a friend, and even though I haven't experienced a lot of what Nina goes through in the book, it all felt relatable.

Alderton is a well known and award winning journalist and author (her memoir won the National Book Award) so her debut novel comes with quite a bit of hype. It is pitched as a romance or rom-com but I really wasn’t interested in that part of the book (Nina is ghosted by a man she meets through a dating app). The stronger parts of the book for me were the relationship between Nina and her parents as they navigate the unknown of her dad’s dementia diagnosis and her female friendships changing over time. Although I think she leans a bit too heavily on stereotypes the book conveys the sometimes tricky dynamics of friendship once marriage and kids are in the mix.

I struggled with the first half of the book; I think mostly because it wasn’t what I was expecting (a cheesy romance) but the second half picked up. It’s character driven and pretty quirky at times (the part with the downstairs neighbor!?) but fans of Sally Rooney might find it appealing. It is also reminiscent of #Ghosted, which has a similar premise.

Thank you to @aaknopf for the #gifted copy!

This is my first book by Dolly Alderton and I really enjoyed it!!! A realistic story on life and the way things can and do work out. Such a funny, romantic comedy!!! I look forward to reading more by this author!!! Read and enjoy!!!

DNF at 20%. I can enjoy a cynical look at life and love but to me the main character Nina takes it too far. It ends up reading that all she’s doing is criticizing and picking apart everyone in her life - even her supposed “friends”. Maybe she is supposed to be unlikable. Maybe she will show growth and change through the book - but ultimately I don’t want to spend more time with her in my head. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free review copy.

First thing I did after I finished this book was seek out other works of Dolly Alderton.
Nina Dean is a successful food writer buying her first home who’s navigating the changes in the important relationships in her life. She’s single, friends with her ex, and trying dating via apps for the first time.
This book is very clever and I loved the explanation of why dating can be so difficult. I’ve never read anything like it.
I can already say that that this is one I will be revisiting.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for offering me the chance to read this fantastic book.

I’m judging the L.A. Times 2020 and 2021 fiction contest. It’d be generous to call what I’m doing upon my first cursory glance—reading. I also don’t take this task lightly. As a fellow writer and lover of words and books, I took this position—in hopes of being a good literary citizen. My heart aches for all the writers who have a debut at this time. What I can share now is the thing that held my attention and got this book from the perspective pile into the read further pile.

Witty… in a Gilmore Girls sort of way… “But like all abnormalities and embarrassments of childhood, adulthood recalibrated them into a fascinating identity CV.”

Everyone who knows me knows that I’m not a contemporary romance gooey type of person, but what they may not know is that I LOVE British chick lit. It’s been awhile since I read any, but it’s definitely a guilty pleasure even though I’ve never had to go through the phase of being single and being in my late 20s or 30s. I’ve been married forever, but I love reading about the adventures of those who still haven’t found their happy ever after (and don’t always find it in the book).

I really enjoyed Ghosts. I loved that Nina grew as a character and discovered that maybe she wasn’t as happy or carefree as she thought. I can’t imagine dating in today’s society or dealing with being ghosted or be at the whim of some immature guys who are afraid of commitment. Even though I couldn’t relate, I could relate to being friends with people who have kids who make it a problem. Sometimes, it’s totally fine and it’s a non issue (as it should be because it doesn’t have to change anything!) But some friends make it so ridiculously difficult to remain friends, like they just try to make it into this thing that creates a gap in the friendship.

Ghosts was quirky and off the wall in some areas, but overall, I enjoyed the story and would definitely pick up more books from the author.

Although written about women in their 30s, this story feels relevant for women of any age in their pursuit of love while dealing with friendship, motherhood, parents and loss. For the men who appear and then disappear, I wanted to point out that they are missing out on these fabulous women and for the men who appear and remain committed to their relationships bravo. I thoroughly enjoyed every page, it's a great romantic comedy!

**Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the prepublication copy**

I wanted to love this book, but I had trouble really getting into it. I think it's because I just couldn't relate to the characters. I can see why others love it. It's well written and as some fun bits, it just wasn't my thing.

This book lived up to every bit of its praise. I found myself totally immersed in Nina’s life - in her everyday activities, emotions, heartaches, and triumphs. Dolly Alderton has such a way with words - I admit that I actually picked out passages to re-read; to savour later and marvel at their perfection. Ghosts is an utterly fantastic escape.

Ghosts was well-written, had quirky characters, and a plot line many can relate to. Unfortunately, this book just didn’t click with me. Many people raved about it and I did think the book was well-done, it’s just...sometimes the happy ever after for the book and the reader just isn’t meant to be. Something that contributed to this disconnect of sorts was that I couldn’t fully appreciate the story at this stage in my life. I think this book would greatly appeal to women in their late twenties and thirties. Overall, good book, just not for me.

I can not recommend this book enough! I read Ghosts in one day. This book is one of best books of 2021.. I appreciate net gallery and selected publishers for this early copy

I had previously read Dolly's memoir Everything I Know About Love so I was excited to read Ghosts. As I started reading it I was nervous it would be just another men bashing book about women in their 30s struggling to find love, but found that the theme of Ghosts spread to so much more than shitty men doing a silent legger.

Alderton looks at the various stages we all go through in life, as individuals, in friendships and in couples and how little ghosts can pop up to haunt us all along the way within each of these dynamics. Struggles we thought we had dealt with, friends and friendships changing over time, parents growing older and becoming unwell and indeed the asshole act of ghosting itself.

Sure, some bits of the book are better than others. The whole scenario with the neighbour especially the ending just had me cringing. Whereas, Nina's relationship with her father and his illness was handled so beautifully and had me welling up at times.

An enjoyable book for someone looking for an easy summer read with a little bit of depth to it.

3.5 stars rounded to 4/5