I literally couldn’t put this book down from the moment I picked it up. Twenty first dates. It was definitely awkward to read at times. Sad. Heartbreaking. I had to take a second at one point even, connecting so much with the author. But this book is a much read. I was laughing out loud and equally appalled at the things that people will do (males in this case) to get a date or to get laid). Absolutely hands down gold. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I didn't know what to expect reading this book but i certainly didn't expect to laugh, cry and relate to Lindsay's dating experience plus i love her writing. How it feels like I'm catching up with a friend
I really really loved this book and would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for their next read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of Swipe Write:
“A sometimes hilarious, sometimes sad, always brutally honest account of 20 online dates with 20 different men.”
by Lindsay Taylor Dellinger.

This review contains spoilers.

I will start with the fact that I loved this book. I could not put it down. I devoured every date detail, every emotion, every muse about what it - using technology to find human love and connection/ online dating for IRL love - all meant.

That stated, the title is not factual as Lindsay only completed 19 online dates, number 20 being someone she knew from her past.

That she experiences a happy ending made me thrill for her because the last breakup in all of its honest detail was heart-wrenching. I felt the author’s pain as real as if it were happening to me, which of course it has in life.
It is a completely relatable narrative even aside from online dating.

I wanted to know when choosing this book if online dating made love easier to find simply by sheer availability of choices in partners. The answer I came away with, with a shudder for her experiences, is absolutely not. It would seem that the more (online) choices one has, the less risk felt when rejecting potential partners. The author commendably dared to be emotionally open on these dates, whereas the men showed a typical fear of commitment.

That her happy ending came from an organic relationship and not from an online date left the premise of the book feeling unfinished to me. What are we really to learn about online dating except for her summation that, “Technology may change the process, but we’re still participating in a relationship that requires human-to-human contact at the end of the day. After that initial swipe right, one must get out from behind the cell phone screen and conduct themselves in a functioning society full of human interaction”?

Still, for Lindsay’s journalistic and personal honesty, descriptive writing, and vulnerability worn while trying to find connection and intimacy through an app that has people swiping in seconds to meet or reject one another, I give this book five stars.

Swipe Write is about our author's experience going on 20 dates with 20 different men. I've read books of a similar theme but I was a little confused by this one. The author tends to jump around with their timelines, but not in a way that lends itself to good storytelling.

There were unfortunately too many chapters that I was left with a "what's the point?" when it was over. Some of it felt like cliff notes versions of the events but I didn't see the significance of these stories.

I think to make a book like this work you can't write about all 20 men as if they are all important. Pick and choose the ones that left a meaningful impression. Also didn't love the nicknames for the men. Some had a pseudonym while other had a "Mr. East Coast" that feels immature, like how I'd talk to my friends in my late teens. But this is just a personal preference.

Organization and heavy editing (omitting the odd one/two night stands that didn't even have a mention of great sex so why write about it) would have made this a much more entertaining read.