I must firstly apologise for the amount of time it has taken me to provide a review of this book, my health was rather bad for quite some time, something that had me in hospital on numerous occasions and simply didnt leave me with the time I once had to do what I love most.

Unfortunately that does mean I have missed the archive date for many of these books, so It would feel unjust throwing any review together without being able to pay attention to each novel properly.

However, I am now back to reading as before and look forward to sharing my honest reviews as always going forward. I thank you f0r the patience and understanding throughout x

Interesting that this book that is written entirely in lists! A fun and effective way to tell the story – bookshop owner Dan is in financial trouble, regrets leaving teaching & is trying not to get wife Jill pregnant. Funny & heart-warming.

I love this author but I didn't relish the layout of this book, quirky though it was. It's great to differ, but I couldn't connect with the characters or story as much as I'd have liked. Thanks though, Netgalley, author and publisher.

Daniel Mayrock's life is at a crossroads:
1. His bookshop is failing.
2. He's sick of feeling useless.
3. His wife, Jill, is ready to start a family.
4. She has no idea about 1 and 2.

Dan is scared.

Then Jill gets pregnant.

And now all Dan knows is:
5. Dan loves Jill.

Brimming with Dan's hilarious sense of humour and unique world-view, his obsessive list-making paints a picture of a man who's willing to do just about anything for the love (and soon-to-be new love) of his life...
This was a unique read and utterly brilliant!

This has some rave reviews, and I’m grateful to NetGalley for allowing me to read it before publication but I think I just have to say it wasn’t really for me.
Our focus is Dan, married to teacher Jill. He used to teach but now runs a bookshop. Things are not going well, but he can’t admit to his worries. Jill wants a child, and he does all he can to avoid it initially.
The whole book is written as a series of lists. This lent a somewhat repetitive structure to the book and - much as I hate to admit it - stopped me from really engaging with the character. It just felt superficial and we got very little detail that I was interested in.

A story about Dan and his wife Jill, as they're going through financial troubles, disagreements and trying for a child. All of Dan's thoughts are reflected in lists, from his interactions with shoppers at his bookshop, to the things he doesn't say during arguments, to his conversations with his kind of dysfunctional family.

This book reminded me of Matt Haig's writing and characters. While I enjoyed reading the book, I didn't really relate to Dan, his struggles and his approach to dealing with people and resolving his problems. I found it very passive, woe-is-me as it came across in the text. I thought the take on writing the novel through lists was interesting but didn't give me too strong a grasp on supporting characters. But all in all, there was some good character development by the end of it, though it felt like the book just stopped abruptly without a satisfying conclusion and with a lot of loose strings left at the end. Considering that it was originally published in 2019, the story feels a little outdated now.

Overall, I thought it was a good book aimed at 30-somethings or 40-somethings, likely based in America, as it is very location and region-specific.

10 things about Twenty-One Truths About Love
1. Dan is a bit of an awkward, self-conscious, and insecure guy (but also very sweet)
2. He writes lists about pretty much everything
3. He quit his job as a teacher to open a bookshop
4. It’s not going well
5. He hasn’t told his wife, Jill
6. He really loves his wife
7. Jill wants to have a baby, but Dan thinks it’s not the right time (see #4)
8. But he can’t bring himself to tell Jill that (see #1 and #5)
9. So Jill gets pregnant
10. Now Dan has a lot to figure out

Also about this book
* Yes, this book is entirely made of lists
* It may sound a bit crazy, but it’s actually brilliant
* Matthew Green proved that one can write an engaging story in this format
* And funny
* And sweet
* Don’t just take my word for it: read this book!

I love a list and, apparently after finishing this book, I also quite enjoy reading about lists! This book is entirely told in lists. Sounds bonkers, well it is actually, but also quite ingenious!
And it works, it really blooming does. Well it did for me anyway.
Dan writes a kind of diary, all in list format, where he details his life, problems and regrets. He lists books of the month, days since he did stuff and income/expenditure. Sounds a bit mundane and repetitive but it surprisingly wasn't. Mainly cos it was all delivered with some great humour and emotion. It catalogues the big things and the little ones. The funny and the tragic. His relationship with his wife, his bookshop, and his new obsession with bingo!
It's light and easy to read and, probably well assisted by the format, gets on with itself very well. It was easy to connect with Dan and empathise with him and his changing life. There is a proper story contained within all the lists too and, even though you might not realise it as you are reading, once you get to the end you might be surprised how substantial it all feels once done.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

This book was written entirely by lists, which is definitely a quirky writing style and I was impressed that the author did manage to tell the full story in this way. Light-hearted and funny at times, however the list format of the story telling just wasn’t for me, it unfortunately made me loose focus at times.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.