** spoiler alert ** Nina is a thirty something year old woman who has a lot going on in her life. She was an English teacher and left her job to become an author. She successful wrote her first cookbook which was a great success. Her second book is close to being released. She has two great friends and they have complicated relationships. Her beloved father's health is declining and she has a complicated relationship with her mother who is struggling to deal with her husband's health decline.

The only thing really missing from Nina's life is a relationship. So Nina decides to join a dating app and her friend Lola is the voice of experience in this area. Nina meets a man and it appears that they hit it off right away. He tells her on the first date that he is going to marry her. Their relationship goes at breakneck speed. But then suddenly without an reason, Max ghosts Nina. He complexly disappears. He won't respond to Nina's pleads for response, her calls, or her texts.

After several months, Nina works to move on and heal her broken heart despite all the heaviness she has going on with her father and her friendship with Katherine fracturing. Then Max walks back in to Nina's life with a list of excuses for his ghosting. Without much pushback, Nina takes him back. Of course the readers know where this is going. Max again walks out without a word never to be seen again. At this point in the story, I really didn't have any sympathy for Nina's loss at this point in the story.

The redeeming part of this story is Nina's relationship with her parents and the storyline of dealing with the health of a parent.

I had not read any of Alderton's previous works so I have nothing to compare it to.
2.5 stars rounded up to 3 due to the parental storyline.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. An apology to NetGalley and the publisher for the late review. I am not sure how this ARC fell through the cracks.

Thank you to the publisher for my review copy. All opinions are my own.

Ummmmm, heller. Who thought it would be a good idea to describe this title as a Romcom? No. Sorry. No. This book was sad and depressing. I'm not saying that is a bad thing. I didn't Not enjoy it...I did however find it strange to blurb it as a Romcom. Solid read.

Know when going in, this title will make you a little sad...no matter the stage of life you are in.

GHOSTS, by Dolly Alderton, is so relatable—a story that centers around family, friendship, and love interests—the only specter within are the heart-breaking shadows of the latter that may remain.

Nina Dean, the main character, is single in search of love when she meets Max on a dating app., who seems perfect in every way… and then, a few months later, he ghosts her.

As she struggles to understand why, ‘Nina is forced to deal with everything she's been trying so hard to ignore: her father's dementia is getting worse, and so is her mother's denial of it; her editor hates her new book idea, and her best friend from childhood is icing her out.’

My Heart! This snippet is from Nina talking about her father's dementia:

‘As I watched him surrender to the silly, untameable joy of hysterical giggles, I realized that while the future might strip him of his self, something mightier remained. His soul would always exist somewhere separate and safe. No one and nothing—no disease, no years of ageing—could take that away from him. His soul was indestructible.’

Thank You, NetGalley and Alfred A. Knopf Publishing (Penguin Random House LLC), for providing me with an eBook of GHOSTS at the request of an honest review.

I don’t knowwww. This was just okay for me. Thankful I’m not dating now lol. Thank you for my gifted egalley

I loved this book from the first page! First time reading this author and will read more of their work in the future. The characters were great and I loved the story line

I really struggled to get into this book and then it flew by. I really like how the ending was NOT what I expected, and it made me even happier than what I had predicted it might be (it was NOT cliched thankfully).

I first picked up GHOSTS because I was hoping for a few good laughs, something different from other books I had recently read. While Dolly Alderton delivered on the humor, I was not prepared for how emotional and cathartic this book would be.

The characters that Alderton created in Nina and her friends Lola, Katherine, and Joe, were all so relatable. I saw bits of myself and my closest friends in these characters, which made for an interesting reading experience. It also made me more invested in Nina’s story and the difficult situations she has to navigate as a 32 year old woman.

Through humor and several tears, GHOSTS portrays what it’s like to be a single woman in todays dating world and the balancing act many women experience trying to have a success career, strong relationships with friends and family, and the search for a person to spend your life with. This book highlights what it’s often like to be the single friend in a group of women and how exhausting that can truly be. On the flip side, Alderton also shows what’s it like to be the wife and mother through her portrayal of Nina’s mum and her oldest friend, Katherine.

I truly loved this book and all the feelings it evoked in me while reading. I felt for each of these characters and enjoyed seeing how Nina’s relationships changed and evolved, especially as she came to terms with her father’s failing health. It was an emotional read at times, but I also found myself laughing out loud throughout, which made it that much more relatable. I highly recommend reading GHOSTS if you haven’t already!

Funny great LOL story!

Description
INTERNATIONAL BEST SELLER • A smart, sexy, laugh-out-loud romantic comedy about ex-boyfriends, imperfect parents, friends with kids, and a man who disappears the moment he says "I love you."

“An absolute knock-out. Wickedly funny and, at turns, both cynical and sincere… feels like your very favorite friend.” —Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of Malibu Rising

Nina Dean is not especially bothered that she's single. She owns her own apartment, she's about to publish her second book, she has a great relationship with her ex-boyfriend, and enough friends to keep her social calendar full and her hangovers plentiful. And when she downloads a dating app, she does the seemingly impossible: She meets a great guy on her first date. Max is handsome and built like a lumberjack; he has floppy blond hair and a stable job. But more surprising than anything else, Nina and Max have chemistry. Their conversations are witty and ironic, they both hate sports, they dance together like fools, they happily dig deep into the nuances of crappy music, and they create an entire universe of private jokes and chemical bliss.

But when Max ghosts her, Nina is forced to deal with everything she's been trying so hard to ignore: her father's dementia is getting worse, and so is her mother's denial of it; her editor hates her new book idea; and her best friend from childhood is icing her out. Funny, tender, and eminently, movingly relatable, Ghosts is a whip-smart tale of relationships and modern life.

GHOST made Dolly an auto buy author for me! Easily, easily a five star read IMO and a story that I know has buried itself in my heart.

I found Nina the MC so incredibly relatable— forever longing to find her person, to throw caution to the wind, to sink her trust into an unsteady relationship with dizzying social clues. (In today’s world who has time to consider who texts who first?) While I very much enjoyed the journey between Nina and Max, the most tender part of the book was how Nina worked out her dad’s struggle with dementia. I’ve honestly never read an author who quite captured the bittersweet experience a daughters’ bond with her father the way Alderton did. The memories become hazy, the love remains stead fast. Ultimately this book is about coming of age, and how the relationships in our lives ebb and flow with time.

I read this book with my bookclub and we all took away something unique. It felt like an excellent pick!

Intrigued by the premise, I really wanted to like this book much more than I did. Sadly, it ended up missing the mark for me.

Being a 30-something female, who loves a good rom com and a Fan of Nora Ephron, I went into this book very excited thinking I would probably relate to Nina, love the story and it would be a favorite.

Overall this book had good bones, but I felt like the story fell a little flat. The only thing that we really knew about Nina was the relationship she lacked romantically and the struggle she faced with her parents. There was no depth to anything else.

I just wanted more for Nina, other than feeling like her life wasn’t complete because she was not in a relationship. I will say it did feel accurate in how others in relationships often see and talk to their single friends.

So I feel torn. Overall it was good. I wanted to see how the story ended for Nina, but I still was left just wanting more.

Tried picking this up several times but I couldn't connect to the characters especially the main character as her narration goes throughout the book. So sad that I had to DNF

An emotional, realistic look at what life as a single woman in her thirties is like. Nina is an easy narrator to root for, and her struggles are so relatable, whether it's the titular ghosting or falling out with a childhood friend.

This book ended up not being for me at the times that I've sat down to read it; I hope to get to it again at a later time!

What a quirky, fun, & relatable read! Honestly all the feels. As a single woman in my late twenties I was laughing and cringing right along with Nina in this era of online dating. This one's a great contemporary romance read for anyone who has been ghosted or who has *gasp* ghosted someone else. You'll love to hate some of these characters.

I really enjoyed this book, which had a lot of smart insights about relationships and life. Nina is a successful food writer in her 30s, who is also single - but it seems like things are on the upswing when she meets Max and on their first date, he declares he's going to marry her. But then he suddenly and inexplicably ghosts her right after they both say "I love you." The book as a whole explores how relationships change (dating, friendships, and family), and I really liked how it alternated between an interesting story and keen observations on society - I had a lot of highlights in this! However, it was also a bit depressing, and for a fiction novel, I wanted things tied up a bit more neatly with a bow at the end.

Upon hitting her thirties, Nina Dean decides it is time to give romance a try. She's already accomplished quite a bit on her own (purchasing her own apartment and working as a successful food writer to name a few), but feels that she's ready to get out there in the dating world once again. At the encouragement of her best friend and fellow single lady, Lola, Nina tries her hand at a popular dating app,. Her first in-person interaction with Max is an instant success. They get on great and things seem to be going very well. Until suddenly they aren't.

Dolly Alderton's novel Ghosts is an exceptionally written story about one woman's journey in dating, family, friends, and settling into true adulthood. It may not be the most fast paced read you'll pick up, but it is one of the most true and authentic. As readers we follow Nina through the highs and lows of being adult children, having friends in different stages of life, and trying to find someone to love.

I enjoyed this book, but I did not love it. It was a little disjointed at times. Moments of it felt very much like an early 2000s' romcom, and then other moments felt like a moody Indie film. Of course, life is often very disjointed, which reflects the trueness of this story. I think the best part of this book is the relationship Nina has with her parents and that particular storyline. This was the portion of the book that I most related to, as I was so infuriated with Nina's mother and then sympathized so much with her at the end.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Publishing for my copy of this e-Book!

Nina is such a relatable character I was fully invested in her life and story and was sad when it ended. Fresh and modern especially for millennials

Single girl Nina has watched most of her friends match up and start families of their own. She realizes it's time to move on from her childhood sweetheart when he proposes to his girlfriend. A chance encounter with her newest match has Nina believing she's met the "one". Except a few months into their relationship he's disappeared off the face of the earth.
I didn't find this book particularly funny, even though it's marketed this way, but it did resonate with me. I couldn't help but want to give Nina a hug and console her, particularly with her familial hardships. There was a scene that had me yelling, "NOOOOOOOO!", but, ultimately, it ended exactly how it should've.
Thank you to Knopf Doubleday and NetGalley for the e-arc. All thoughts in this review are my own.

Nina is 32 and looking for love. Unfortunately for her, looking for love in your thirties means that you end up with what is left at the bottom of the barrel. I feel that this book had some profound views on modern dating and grief, but I thought some of the situations were a bit off. For example, I wasn't really into when Nina slept with her neighbor after they fought, that was kind of a head-scratch moment for me. Like he seemed super suspicious, she literally thought he was a murderer. Then she just sleeps with him without clarification??? I also didn't understand how a book about someone who writes cookbooks for a living, didn't have cooking in it???? Girl also went on a rant about how Lola wants to live a traditional life with marriage and kids. It is totally cool if Nina does not want to do that, but why is she so offended that another person wants that for themselves???