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

Dolly Alderton wrote such a great story. Nina's character goes through some major issues when she gets ghosted by Max. I really enjoyed her character and this story. I loved how Dolly Alderton created each character so uniquely, and still relatable. The storyline kept me throughly entertained and hooked.

Ghosts is a glimpse into what it is like to be single and in your 30s. A world where everyone seems to have it figured out but you and all anyone wants to know if when you are going to get married and start having babies.

Nina has a great career, good friends, and a full life. She sees that her friends are pretty much all paired off and moving to the suburbs and starts to think a dating app might be just what she needs to follow in their footsteps. I found Nina to be an interesting character with enough depth to make me care about her and what happens to her. While this is a fun read it is also an excellent commentary on the world we live in and how it still treats women who are unmarried and child-free differently.

Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5

For the past few years, Nina Dean has enjoyed her single life. She's living in a beautiful flat, she's the author of a successful cooking book, with another about to release, and at work on yet another one. She has wonderful friends - including her ex - and family. But on her 32nd birthday, Nina begins to feel like maybe she's missing out on something by being single. Most of her friends are married and have children, she sees them less and less. She does want to have a family of her own and she does want to find love someday. It's just tough figuring out when someday will be. So Nina decides to give online dating a try and signs up for a new dating app called Linx. Not long into it, Nina meets Max and they hit it off. Soon they're seeing each most every day, staying over at each other's houses. Nina even begins to open up to Max about her father who is in the early stages of dementia. Max is there through it all....until he's not.

One day Max is just not there. He won't answer Nina's calls or texts. He's, essentially, become a Ghost.

This makes Nina stop and begin to really look at the other relationships in her life and where they've been where they're going.

Ghosting is a relatively new phrase for what happens when the person you're seeing just disappears and severs all contact. For some reason, I'm really drawn to the idea behind why people choose to take this course when ending a relationship. Why can there not just be some communication. So the premise for Ghosts really piqued my interest.

The bad thing about putting all that info out there already is the fact that I wasn't drawn into the Max and Nina relationship. I didn't suffer the gut-punch that Nina suffered when he disappeared because I already knew it was going to happen. So the first part of the book involves the reader sitting back and watching this unfold. The thing is, I wish the story had pulled me into these moments.

After the fact, what drove the story forward for me, was wondering if Nina would get any kind of closure. That I will not spoil for you.

In the meantime, I thought that Dolly Alderton had some really insightful views on what goes through someone's mind after they're on the receiving end of ghosting. How the doubts and questions creep up on you, how you're basically stuck with no recourse because to do that would brand you "crazy". Also some really good points about the divide between married people and single people, those with children and those without children.

As Max is not the only relationship that is floundering in Nina's life we do get some insight into the latter two categories. More and more Nina finds it tough to schedule time with her best friend Katherine whom with a toddler and another baby on the way barely has time to ask how Nina is doing on a regular basis.

Then there's her father whose memory is getting worse by the day. For me, this was the most heartbreaking relationship. The one that is slowly being erased through no fault of anyones. This is the one that is the most precious because you can kind of see time dwindling down.

While there are many poignant moments within the story, I felt like there was a slight lack of certainty that Nina has about her life. While I do understand that life is always uncertain and unpredictable when I'm reading it's my preference to have a little more of it. Maybe that's the thing I need to take away from the story, being ok with uncertainty.

We encounter many ghosts in a lifetime. Not the ghosts like Casper or those that Ghostbusters zapped into submission. This is about people ghost who ghost others, like the friends and relatives that seeming drop off the planet. No phone calls, no text messages and certainly no face-to-face communication. These are the type of ghosts that haunt Nina George Dean in Dolly Alderton’s debut novel.

Nina is a single woman fairly satisfied with her life. At 32, she owns her flat and loves her job. She is a published author of a cookbook and has an advance for the second. Her love of writing and cooking have blended into the perfect career. The only thing missing in her life is someone special. So begins her quest to find someone to share her life with via an online dating service.

To her surprise, she meets a man that she can see herself spending her life with. Up until the moment he ghosts her. Shattered, she attempts to spend time with her best friend. Unfortunately, her friend is now married and a mother. Nina isn’t really sure of how to proceed with this friendship because their lives have nothing in common except their past. As if being ghosted by her lover as well as her best friend isn’t enough, Nina is slowly losing her father to dementia. Her mother is in denial, leaving Nina to contend with the ghost that used to be her father.

Ghosts is a work of fiction that is easy to read, yet reaches into your thoughts. The characters and storyline will keep you thinking about it long after the last pages are read. Everyone has been ghosted by someone that they have cared about. The truths wrapped in this novel are haunting – much like the ghosts in our pasts. I highly recommend it.

Dolly Alderton is a journalist, author and podcaster. Ghosts is her debut novel. She is a Sunday Times best-selling author with her memoir, Everything I know About Love. The memoir has garnered several awards, including a National Book Award, a British Book Award and has been translated into 25 languages. Additionally, it was nominated for the Waterstones Book of the Year Award. Ms. Alderton is one to watch, I can’t wait to read her next novel. If you like Jennifer Weiner’s novels, you will love Ghosts.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: I have a material connection because I received a review copy for free from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. Copyright © 2021 Laura Hartman

I am voluntarily posting an honest review after reading an advance reader copy of this story.

I tried to like this book, I really did. It took me forever to finish it, put it down and pick it back up again and again. In some ways I could be Nina with the stereotypical men in her life. That's part of the problem, they all happened almost back to back. The ex who immediately gets married, the disappearing non- jerk comital. I've had them come back around too but the Peter Pan's always leave again. The neighbor you have sex with is kinda strange, only once and you still talk to each other, weird. There are the usual arrangement of friends and they are all someone you know. Reading about a woman leading the kind of life I had as a single woman wasn't interesting or entertaining.

Well this was an interesting story about a thirty-something and her Love life, Family and friendships drama.
I found it slow and too detailed where it didn't need to be. Also had to look up a lot of British words to understand what was meant in different scenarios. But all in all a decent read.
Thank you to Netgalley, Knopf Doubleday publishing group, and the Author Dolly Alderton for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

GHOSTS is a very well written commentary on various relationships in your 30's, from dating to friendships to family.

It's being marketed as a romantic comedy, however, as an avid rom-com reader, I felt that it was much more women's fiction than rom-com. Yes, there are a few romantic relationships in the story, but they weren't the main focus. Nina's changing relationship with her childhood best friend and dealing with her father's illness were the highlights for me.

The (in my opinion) incorrect marketing of this as a rom-com impacted my enjoyment of the story.

I think those who are looking for women's fiction will really enjoy GHOSTS and women in their 30s will relate to Nina's struggles to figure out her career path and how to navigate friendships as people enter different stages of life.

4 Stars
It was only a matter of time when someone would come up with an interesting take on the new way to hurt someone's feelings after dating them and seeming like the one...It is called ghosting and it can be brutal.

But what if there was a reason or mistake in the way it happened...

What a whipsmart, funny, feeling book. I came in expecting a summer froth about ghosting, I got a hard look at dating in the modern day.

Nina is a 32-year-old single successful woman with great friends including her ex-boyfriend. After her birthday, she decides to download a dating app and meets the amazing Max right off the bat. Their relationship appears perfect until he ghosts her after professing his love for the first time. This story isn't just about Max ghosting her, it's about how many different types of ghosting are happening to Nina at the same time-she's losing a childhood friend, her father has dementia, her mother is rebranding herself, her neighbor is harassing her and then not talking to her, etc. Through it all, Nina's narration is sharp and witty albeit a little harsh in her assessment of men. There were some laugh out loud moments and also some really poignant moments. My favorite secondary character was her best friend Lola. Everyone can use a friend like Lola who personifies the word "character".
Thanks to Knopf Doubleday and NetGalley for the ARC in return for my honest review.

Ghosts is the story of Nina, a writer in her thirties. The novel is her journey being single, a daughter dealing with her dad's dementia, her mom's refusal to acknowledge this condition and being a friend to her married girlfriends. Ghosts was a very confusing read for me. I picked up this book thinking that it was a romantic comedy but didn't see any humor in it. There are so many different storylines and relationships in this novel but didn't find that even one was sorted or tied up nicely at the end. I didn't like Nina's character much. Don't want add too many spoilers but she is opinionated about lot of stuff but she doesn't like when others have a preconceived notion. The only thing which I kind of liked in the novel was her relationship with her dad. This novel was not my cup of tea in all honesty. I really wanted to like it but unfortunately it was just an ok read for me.

I really liked this. But ignore the synopsis that calls it a romantic comedy. It’s not that. It’s much more a story of a modern millennial life, of friendships, of the perils of dating, money vs passion in your career, and of aging parents. It was sharp, funny and yes a bit generic at times, but also really enjoyable.
It’s got a very British vibe, a real London story, making it incredibly relatable for me despite being a generation older than Nina. She’s flawed, sometimes behaves badly, but in the most believable and relatable ways. I’ve seen her called immature and unlikeable. To me, she’s just a young-ish woman, dealing with her stuff imperfectly. It makes me feel sad, that if as readers we can’t be empathetic to an imperfect human, even a fictional one, then we are all somehow doomed!
The ‘ghosts’ of the title are men who disappear, but it also refers to the heartbreaking story of her father’s progressive dementia. And it’s this part of story I sadly found most relatable. The author handles this part of the story so perfectly. She’s also great on the bits about single and/or childless women, and how this can affect female friendship, on how it feels when friendships change, as we take different paths at different speeds. Sometimes feelings get hurt, and that’s ok.
I hate the description Chic-Lit (and hate “Women’s Fiction even more) but if this it, then it’s a really good example of it.

A cute story of friends, family and love drama, especially the type of women nowadays get to experience: ghosting. This was quite an insightful read for me. Even though I consider knowing men pretty well, the book offered me a new theory on the act of ghosting and generally men in their thirties and forties who break relationships off because they are not ready to settle. Pieces of shit and a waste of any woman’s time if you ask me.
Fun, multi-faceted characters who grow on you.

Thank you Net Galley and the publisher for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

After reading this book, I'm so happy I'm not single. I'm sure this story will be very relatable to thirty-something single women. I did enjoy the book very much. I found it witty and in parts sad mostly because of what the dementia was doing to Nina George Dean's dad. That was emotional for me having had a parent with Alzheimer's. I did think the story was very well written and I did like Nina and her friend Lola. Everyone needs a friend like Lola. Max, the man Nina meets on a dating app, seemed perfect for her but after dating for awhile, he ghosts her and that made me not like him so much. I liked Nina's strength and how she tackled the difficult issues of family, friendship and love that came her way.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy.

Ghosts is the debut novel by author Dolly Alderston, a London-based pop culture writer. It’s impossible to talk about this book without making inevitable comparison’s to my beloved Bridget Jones’ Diary – it’s a story a young woman, who like Bridget is a young singleton in London who finds herself surrounded by friends pairing up, marrying and having babies. Like Bridget it’s a very witty story that I think a lot of people will find super relatable. The Bridget in this case is Nina Dean, a cookbook author who is unbothered by being single, but her always single and hopelessly romantic BFF Lola convinces her to give dating apps a try, and she does the seemingly impossible: She meets a great guy on her first date. But with a title like “Ghosts” you can guess what happens, she gets ghosted along the way but finds herself haunted by relationships past, including the one with her aging parents. I loved this book. It’s the kind of book that stays with you, and the kind of character like Nina you feel like, is actually a friend in real life. Five out of five floating dots in messenger from me!

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for the advanced reader's copy.

This was my first experience reading Dolly Alderton's work, and I am a huge fan now! This book has it all-family relationships, friendship stories, and a modern take on dating in your 30s. I can't wait to recommend this to everyone!

I'd like to thank Netgalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Nina George Dean a successful writer of food books arrives into her 30's as a single woman. This book takes you through the horrors of being single in your 30's where all of your friends are settling down and starting families and moving to the suburbs. That doesn't stop Nina from trying to find true love and that one person for her. She even resorts to downloading dating apps to find her match. Nina thinks she finds the one when all of a sudden he disappears from her life without a word...hence the name GHOSTS.

I know this is marketed as a romantic comedy but I don't think that fits this book. I really felt for the character with the struggles that Nina went through - not only with dating but also the struggles with watching her friends start their own lives and she's not in the picture as much and also her aging parents and her dads onset with dementia. Ughhh I felt so sorry for her and couldn't find the comedy. Also Angelo... I'm not sure what I feel about that whole affair.

That being said I really enjoyed this book and couldn't put it down. I kept rooting for Nina to find the love of her life. I loved the writing! I thought it was well written and the topic is certainly relatable to those dating today, dealing with aging parents and the levity of having a falling out with a best childhood friend and being ghosted by someone you are in love with. I believe the author made her characters real and people can relate to her.

Congratulations on your book release.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this novel. This just wasn't for me and I won't be leaving a full review.

I loved Ghosts! I enjoyed Dolly’s memoir so, so much, so I was really looking forward to this work of fiction. I loved Nina—her friends, her family, her work, and her life in London was just so lovingly described. I laughed out loud multiple times at the dialogue, particularly between her and Lola, and my heart ached for her situation with Max. I loved that Nina was an unconventional heroine, and I rooted so hard for her. I also appreciated the way that the author described Nina’s situation with her aging father—it was so beautiful. I loved this, and am so grateful to NetGalley for this ARC!