Nina has just bought her own flat in London, she is enjoying her life as a good author and about to start writing her third cook book, one night she downloads a dating app and after a few weeks meets Max, things are going well until Max starts ignoring Nina.

A good book that kept me interested.

Ghosts is the story of a year in the life of Nina Dean, a 32 year old food writer from London. Nina is at <i>that</I> age where most of her friends are married, having babies and leaving London for leafy commuter towns with bigger houses and better schools. Nina on the other hand has just joined a dating app on the recommendation of her Only Single Friend Lola. And here begins what she describes as the strangest year of her life.

I enjoyed this book far more than I expected to after reading the first chapter. At first it seemed like Nina was just a stereotype of a single woman in her early thirties. To some extent she is, and plenty of the usual cliches about millennials are on display here, but as the book went on Nina became a far more interesting and developed character and I found myself really hoping that things would work out well for her. The subplot involving her mum and dad was touching and I loved the exploration of the different relationships Nina had with each parent.

The book is enjoyable and easy to read, I’d say it’s a perfect beach read but given the current state of the world I imagine there’s not much call for holiday reading. One little complaint is that I really disliked the resolution of the plot involving Angelo. It wasn’t believable in the slightest and I actually felt very uncomfortable with the idea that a woman would suddenly find a man who had been intimidating and threatening her for months to be irresistible.

I read another of Dolly’s books a few months ago, "Everything I Know About Love", and enjoyed it despite being slightly too old and not in the ‘single and ready to mingle’ demographic she seems to target. That didn’t sound like the compliment I thought it would, if I’m honest.

“Ghosts” is her first fiction novel, and we meet the main character on the first page – Nina George Dean. The plot has echoes of "Olive" in that, like Olive, Nina and her long term boyfriend have just separated and all her friends seem to have paired off and settled down, except one. For me, this is where the similarity ends – Nina is warm and relatable, she never berates her friends for having children but instead asks that her friends treat her life with respect and realise that she is tired too, she also needs a vent sometimes and actually, it is okay not to be perfect all of the time.

Nina is looking for someone to date, to have fun with, but she’s also dealing with some large life admin stuff too – writing her new cookbook, her aging parents and the realisation that as an only child, she really doesn’t have much in the way of family.

Ghosts felt like nostalgia, for me. A lot of the book was about visiting familiar places and going to memories – favourite desserts, school trips – endless summer days where all you do is play and climb trees and no adults ever seemed to miss you or wonder what you were doing. I think the best books, without trying to be narcissistic but perhaps failing, are ones which make you think about yourself in that position. What would you do, faced with a whale that wouldn’t leave you alone? What if you were a monstrous creation that terrified everyone but had more heart than all of them put together? What would I do if I were Nina? Would I pursue the ghost of the man who’s already moved on but is sweetly trying to include me in his new life? The matches on dating apps that come to nothing, that fizzle out after the first “I like pizza too” exchange of pleasantries? I mean, who doesn’t like pizza?

I liked all of the characters – they were well thought out and most crucially for me, distinct from one another. I could tell when Katherine was talking or if it was Lola. Nina’s inner monologue was recognisable – calm, sensible and still human and friendly. She looks out for people and gets annoyed when her neighbour is being anti-social. She talks about her problems with her friends and listens to theirs.
I’d go for a drink with Nina, and her friends too.

It’s out October 15th – recommended as an easy read with some thoughtful weight behind it.

Thanks for the ARC as usual, Fig Tree/Penguin and Netgalley.

I've read a few books like this recently and this is probably the best of the lot. It follows Nina, a 32 year old food writer who lives in London. She's really successful and has a book published and one that's about to be. She even bought her own flat in London which is kinda awesome. So you can see why I wasn't particularly sympathetic to her single-ness.

What did evoke empathy was Nina's father who was slowly losing his memories. Alzheimer's is awful and I think Dolly did a really good job at describing the effects it can have on a family -particularly Dolly and her Mum. The family relationships and growth was done really well and I kinda wish this had been the focus of the book.

The dating side did make me laugh in places. The themes are generally around men being hopeless, ghosting women, and still being kids in their thirties. For me, there weren't any solid friendships in Nina's life (her friend Katherine is self-absorbed, her friend Lola ditches her for a new boyfriend immediately). It didn't really have a satisfying ending either.

Glad I read this book, but starting to realise that these books about middle class white women with practically no diversity are not my thing. I love that feminism is so prominent in fiction now, but I also wish it was more inter-sectional.

I’m just going to say it. I LOVED GHOSTS.

Now with that out of the way let me tell you why. Ghosts by Dolly Alderton is a story of modern dating. The trials and tribulations, the changes that have taken place over the past few years, the advancement of online dating. But it is also much more than that. It is a story of changing relationships - how life can come between even the best friends. It is the developing and every changing story of family dynamics. But, again, it is much more than that. It is a story of independence.

It was so multilayered and all in 336 pages.

The novel went from happy to sad back to happy in warp speed. You are really taken on a journey with protagonist Nina Dean. For me, the most heartwarming and heartbreaking moments were the scenes with her father. The love and respect that she has for him seemed to be paralleled in the desire to find a partner who lived up to his standard.

Ghosts by Dolly Alderton was such a joy to read. It is one of my favourite reads of 2020 and I cannot wait to see what Alderton produces next.

Ghosts by Dolly Alderton is available now.

For more information regarding Dolly Alderton (@dollyalderton) please visit linkt.ree/dollyalderton.

For more information regarding Penguin (@PenguinUKBooks) please visit www.penguin.co.uk.

I, like many, am a big fan of Dolly’s writing (and everything else she does) so I was super excited to get to read an Advanced Readers Copy.

Dolly’s first novel explores modern day relationships, nostalgia and the importance of friendship.
In Ghosts we follow Nina, a thirty something food writer who just bought her own flat and is pretty content with her life. When she starts online dating after being single for a while she meets Max who tells her he’s going to marry her on their first date.
Pretty promising, right? That’s until Max ghosts her and completely disappears.

Dolly’s writing is, as always, exquisite, relatable and charming – she perfectly observes what it’s like to be a millennial in todays world and puts it onto paper. Unfortunately her writing was one of the only things that stood out to me in this book which pains me to say. The plot and ending was average and lacked depth in my eyes. Saying that, I did really enjoy the story line following Nina’s father who struggles with dementia. It’s not something I’ve ever read about and you can tell a lot of research has gone into portraying the topic properly.
Although this particular book wasn’t my favourite I will continue to read absolutely everything she puts out in the future – still love u Dolly!

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Fig Tree for the arc!

When emmie realised her balloon with secret message in side she never expected lucas to find but emmie like lucas but all not well things with her and lucas.

Thanks so much for letting me having the early release and read this book.

Excellent read, i thoroughly enjoyed this book the storyline can be so relatable as ghosting happens regularly in a younger persons life particularly (speaking from experience). I felt they could of been more to the ending with regards to what happened to the blokes who ghosted the women.

Thank you NetGalley for my ARC. I am a big fan of Dolly Alderton, listening to her podcasts over lockdown saved my sanity. I liked how real and in tune with life this narrative is, Nina, a thirty something year old, navigates life as relationships and people change around her. Nina’s father has dementia, her mother is reinventing herself, and for me, this was the most poignant relationship, the relationship between a daughter and her parents, Dolly Alderton allows humour to shine within these moments and shares Nina’s past and present love life,

I really enjoyed this book!

The central character is Nina, who I liked (despite being significantly older than her and with very different life experiences).  The book looks at her romantic entanglements - but also her relationships with others, her friends, parents, neighbours - and how they all intertwine. 

I almost feel like the relationships were dealt with in pairs:

Nina's Mum (Nancy / Mandy) and her Dad:  it was clear Nina was a Daddy's girl, and her relationship with her Mum is more 'complicated' and I liked how this progressed during the book.  Nina's Dad's dementia gets worse and worse - but was well written and true to life experiences of this horrible disease. 

Katherine and Lola: these are Nina's friends - but from different life stages.  Katherine is a smug married, whilst Lola is on a permanent quest for love.  Their personal circumstances bring different strains to their relationships with Nina - and I think were written really well.

Max and Joe: Max is Nina's new boyfriend and the 'leading man' of the book - whilst Joe is her long term ex who is still a best friend.  The first interaction between them was cringingly well written!  And Nina on Joe's new fiancée's hen weekend was also painfully good. 

Her upstairs and downstairs neighbours:  Lovely, slightly deaf older lady up above; grumpy, aggressive, scary Italian man down below. 

Whilst the 'Ghosts' of the title could be the current vocab of romantic partners who suddenly cut you off with no explanation, it's clear Nina's Dad is also encountering his own ghosts as he suffers with dementia.

Nina is quick witted, smart, sassy and independent and a great leading lady - and the book was a rollercoaster of emotions - sometimes I was laughing out loud, other  times having a little weep. 

A huge thank you to Netgalley and Penguin for my advance review copy.  Ghosts is out in October 2020 and can be pre ordered now.

Super grateful for Penguin Fig Tree for letting me have a preview copy of this book!

I, like many, love the work of Dolly Alderton so was absolutely thrilled to be allowed to review it before publication day. I presumed, wrongly but so beautifully, that this would be a standard chick-lit, rom-com book that i would adore but alas, it was much more. With a beautiful, authentic lead character i could get to grips with and root for from the get go, as well as a variety of multiple narratives intertwined and including a varirety of other characters who i was engaged with, Ghosts was a heartwarming, emotionally raw read about dating as you grow up and in the modern digitally focused world. The quirky writing style combined with the honesty really made me feel for many of the characters all while having a good build up to the second part of the book where I feel i could really relate to the conversations that Nina had with Max. I did really enjoy this read, but i wish the ending had more clarity, as i just felt a lot happened in the last 50 pages that almost were unexplained or unnecessary (such as the Angelo shift in storyline) but i can forgive that for the rest of the book i thoroughly enjoyed and would definitely recommend

It was easy to 'buy into' the central character, who I became very protective of. I wanted it to all work out for her, and at times I wanted to shake her. She was believable, someone we all know, maybe our younger selves. The title has multiple meanings. We all have ghosts in our lives - people who used to be part of our lives but no longer are, loved relatives who have passed away, then there are those who through illness are slipping away from us, and there is the modern phenomenon of 'ghosting' someone. All these meanings have their place in this tale of relationships.
I received an advance copy in return for an honest review, which this is.

A good book, featuring discussions around what it is to be single and date in your 30s, and how friendships and relationships change.

As one of the many women who's mildly obsessed with Dolly Alderton, I knew I'd enjoy Ghosts but I had no idea how much. I wrongly expected something more chick-litty but was so mistaken. If it had been the light hearted jaunt I'd expected I think I'd still have enjoyed it but loved it all the more for it's depth and its richness. It was one of those rare books that managed to exactly explain how I've felt at times in my life and I love that it challenged the trope that as women we're mad and usually to blame for the way we're treated. I also loved that the author explores tricky relationships with parents and how the illness or death of a mother or father can impact a family. It was incredibly moving in places. I've not stopped talking about it and can absolutely see myself reading it again.

I wasn’t sure about this when I started; it seemed that was going to be very basic chick lit about a thirty-something single woman on a dating app. But it was much more than that and I became engrossed and moved by the story as it unfolded.

Nina is a very (and I hate this word when it’s used to justify something, but it works here) authentic character with all the fears and doubts and joys and achievements I can identify with as a female human. I raced through the second half of the story and was really impressed with the lucid prose and likeable characters.

Very enjoyable read about how we all have to follow our own path in life and a great story of love and friendships in your 30's.

Ghost was such an unexpected love for me and I’m so glad I decided to pick it up. I was expecting an easy summer-esque read but this book was so much more than that. It was grief, it was friendship, it was love, it was loss, it was adulthood.

There were elements of grief throughout the book both with her slowly losing her father and immediately losing Max. I thought this was a really great comparison running in parallel and it was so interesting to see how Nina coped with them both in different ways despite neither of the situations being the typical examples of grief we might see. It was also interesting to me to see how immediately my perceptions of Max changed, matching Nina’s and how much I didn’t want her to go back to him when he did eventually return. I really empathised with Nina a lot and I think her character was so well written.

I loved the author’s descriptions of adulthood and how none of us are coping all that well by falling back on nostalgia. There were so many examples of this and I loved every one, especially as Nina progressed through her 30s and even then was learning more and more about herself.

I really didn’t enjoy Nina’s relationship with her mother and how Nina just seemed to be brushed off every time she tried to help or mention how something was unusual. Especially with Nancy’s treatment of Bill and not trying to adapt to him being ill. Understandably it must have been very hard on her having grown old with him and starting to see him deteriorate, but still it seemed that she didn’t even want to try and change anything when Nina suggested it, until this was explained when the two were at the hospital. I don’t necessarily think this was a flaw of the book as there are obviously characters like that in our real lives but it was a point I had to mention. Nancy was such a real character and as hard as it was to read about, it was very easy to see why she did what she did after it was explored further and she finally opened up.

I loved both the scene where Nina finally said everything she wanted to to Katherine and the scene where Nina confronted Angelo. It was perfect after such a build up of tension in both relationships throughout the book and it felt like it absolutely needed to be said, especially given what follows with Angelo. I really ended up loving their friendship following this huge understanding and found it very endearing.

Overall, I think this was a book about distractions. Finding them and using them to forget about our real problems, making them feel like our real problems even if we don’t realise it. Nina says this herself and it made me realise it so much after this and I totally agree. Such a great book and I loved it.

Thank you to NetGalley for very kindly sending me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book. A year in the life of Nina George Dean, a food writer living in London who is just starting to date again, a few years after her last serious relationship ended. When she meets Max, it feels like everything is changing for the better. This is their story.

This is such a brilliant book, so funny and moving and sharply observed. I highlighted so many sections because they were just too stunningly true and they spoke to me so clearly. This book is filled with the impotent grief of watching a loved one descend into dementia, the giddy highs of new love and the tricky terrain of negotiating friendships when one half of the pair has married and had children. It's also filled with a quiet determined feminist fury, underlying all interactions and discussions. I loved it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed reading about the characters, their family/friendship setups and dating journeys in this book. I also felt Nina’s dads dementia was well written however for me the book didn’t flow particularly well and I felt it stopped and started and plodded along in places. It took me a week to read which is slow for me as I wasn’t excited to pick it up.

This story follows Nina a 30 something year old woman and the realistic look on the online dating world as well as discussing some deeper topics as her father is currently suffering with dementia.

There was parts of this book I did like because I believe it did give a very real look at what dating is actually like online however at times some of the character chooses bothered me. I felt deeply for Nina and what she was dealing with and the emotional struggle that came with dealing with her fathers dementia. I would read more by this author in the future as I did enjoy her writing enough to want me to seek out more of her work.