This one slipped past me last year. It isn't a badly written book by any means, but the plot is trying to do too much and nothing that hasn't been done before all at once. The writing style and presentation are fine, and I admire Alderton for trying to combine a comedic "30s something woman doesn't need a man but wants a man" and the struggle of helping a loved one with mental decline and such a brutal disease. I simply couldn't relate to Nina enough to care about anything she was facing.
I can see why others, particularly fans of the romantic comedy genre would love this book, and while I consider myself a casual fan of the genre, even after buying this and pushing myself to finish it, this one just didn't hit it out of the park for me.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for an eGalley of this work in exchange for my honest review.

Putting pronouns in one's bio, even as a cis person, is helpful because it normalizes this practice and helps to reduce the stigma. I hope this mention was entirely corrected before publication.

I finally got around to reading this one while scrolling through my kindle for a romance, but a deeper romance with more conflict and serious themes. I’m so conflicted on this one; on one hand, I loved Nina and everything she was and stood for (expect Max; he’s disgusting!!!). On the other, I found this to move very slow and the plot a little boring. This book brought up some memories of dating and it reminded me of how scary, toxic, and absolutely WEIRD dating can be. This book had good parts but ultimately it fell a little flat for me.

While this is not your typical love story, it has some cute moments as well as some funny moments. I did find it pretty slow in parts though. ⭐⭐⭐

Thank you Knopf and NetGalley for the gifted ebook of Ghosts! All opinions in this review are my own.

Ghosts took me a little while to get into at first, but eventually I came to really care for Nina. I feel like this is a pretty accurate account for any women trying to date men in their late 20s or early 30s, or even for women who are not on the marriage/baby track.

While I didn't agree with all of her decisions, I still enjoyed Nina's escapades traversing the dating world.

Thank you for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review:

To whoever said this was "laugh out loud funny" I suppose our sense of humor is different.

I was intrigued by the premise of this book. A 30-year-old female is missing something in life: love.

There were hints of romance, hints of humor, but those were both elements that are forgettable. What isn't is Alderton's look at the human experience. Fans of Sally Rooney will appreciate this book and all that it contains.

This book was so gorgeous and completely engrossing. A great voice and really compelling look at modern dating, your early 30s and the what it feels like to almost fall in love. A great read for fans of Sally Rooney.

I expected a sort of rom com with this one, but it's truly much deeper. Getting into relationships of all sorts. Of the trauma of being "ghosted" to self awareness, to aging parents. This is a reflection on a year in a life of love and growth. A deeply thought provoking novel.

Effortless reading made this book a very quick and absorbing story to inhale and enjoy over a weekend. Smart, clever and serious, witty and wicked.

Sweet romance story that shows how true love can come through no matter what takes place in their lives and how love brings them together whether they are “ghosted” or not.

There’s a particularly heinous level of hell reserved exclusively for single women in their thirties. If you’ve visited it yourself, you know. And if you haven’t, Dolly Alderton has written a book to give you a tour.

Wow! There is a lot of story here. I enjoyed Nina and how she handled all the things happening in her life. The writing is wonderful and I hope you will too.

I did so identify with the main character of this novel. She uses a dating app and locates what seems to be Mr. Right. Everything is perfect until he "ghosts" her. He disappears without a word. Her life has collapsed. I, too, have a bit of experience with a dating app. There was the funny guy who forgot to mention that he had a still-married current wife who was not well in an upstairs bedroom. He thought I would be content as his side chick. Me? You have got to be from another planet. And then there was the man/boy who was still trolling around as fanboy of a 60's elderly rock group. Let's move into the current century, please. So, yes, this book was familiar. It's a fast read and fun. My thanks to the author and NetGalley for a complimentary copy.

A very eventful life in the year of Nina Dean sees her loose touch with long time friends and grow closer to others. Nina has spent the last several years in a relationship that ended amicably and now this food writer/cookbook writer has her life in order and is looking for a new relationship. So on her birthday she listens to her chronically "dating" friend and signs up for a dating app. Very quickly Nina meets Max and things move very fast. All of sudden, a few months into dating, Max ghosts Nina and at the same time other parts of her life start to fall apart. First, her father is getting more ill. Then, her best friend all her life moves away. And finally, her downstairs neighbor is causing a war to brew.

This is definitely a story about how life can sometimes hit you all at once with good and then bad but we can all find out ways through it and be better as a result. I was not sure what to expect going into this book but I definitely enjoyed it.

** 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).