Wednesday 6 February 2019

Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton Book Review

After so many fiction novels over the last 12 months, I felt it was time for something a little bit different and Everything I Know About Love was the perfect choice. It had been on my radar for a while so when I last placed a little book order, it was the first book I had in mind.
stack of books in the background with a pink fluffy pillow, nail polish on the left side, Dolly Alderton Everything I Know About Love book at the front with rose petals on the right side scattered
'When it comes to the trials and triumphs of becoming a grown up, journalist and former Sunday Times dating columnist Dolly Alderton has seen and tried it all. She vividly recounts falling in love, wrestling with self-sabotage, finding a job, throwing a socially disastrous Rod-Stewart themed house party, getting drunk, getting dumped, realising that Ivan from the corner shop is the only man you've ever been able to rely on, and finding that your mates are always there at the end of every messy night out. It's a book about bad dates, good friends and - above all else - about recognising that you and you alone are enough.'

My review

Despite not knowing anything about Dolly before reading, I'm so glad I gave this a chance. I have to admit once I started, I was a little unsure of I'd made the right decision. I found that Dolly was the complete opposite of me, she came across as quite privileged growing up, she'd gone to boarding school and then university where she lived with her best friends for years and spent night after night partying. Such a contrast to how I lived my teenager years. I just wasn't sure if anything would lead me to connecting with her but luckily everything eventually changed.

I found once we got past Dolly's university days and she was tackling love and life as a twenty something, I started to find her really endearing. Whilst I might not have had the majority of experiences that she has (I'm pretty boring) I could relate to so much of what she had been through in other areas - loss, jealousy, comparing yourself to others, feeling insecure, feeling lost, anxiety. And that's one of the main things I loved about this book. Yes a lot of it was about love and her ups and downs in the dating world but she touched on so many different topics. There will be something every single person will have also gone through. One thing I'm really glad she brought up was the topic of feeling really envious of even your best friends sometimes. She's quite open about how when her friends have got engaged or reached certain milestones before her, she's felt this intense jealousy, and it's something I think a lot of us can relate to but it's not something we'd ever want to admit to. Of course deep down we're happy for these people, but it's totally normal to think 'when is that going to be me'. It was nice to know I wasn't alone in feeling the way I do sometimes.

Whilst there were of course serious moments, in fact moments that made me cry, there was also so much humour. I absolutely loved reading about Dolly as a teenager when she would run back home to get on MSN, something I definitely did every single day! I'm sure we all did the logging out/logging in trick so the boy we fancied could notice we were online 😉. Dolly and her friends also all seemed like an absolute joy to be around. I laughed out loud several times at some of the things that happened, and her friendship with Farly just made my heart burst.

After initially wondering if this book was going to be for me, I ended up absolutely loving it. I never thought I'd enjoy a memoir quite as much as I did. It was so refreshing to read a totally honest account of growing up as a teenage girl but also as a nearly thirty year old woman trying to find her place in the world. It's a book about falling in love, falling out of love and the power of friendship. A book every woman should read.

Have you read Everything I Know About Love?


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9 comments

Hannah said...

I'm the same as you and probably won't relate much to the early parts too, but at least it becomes more relatable after a while! Another fab review xx

Hannah https://luxuryblush.co.uk

Tiffany Timms said...

Yeah it really picked up and was much more enjoyable. Thank you! Xx

Heather Nixon said...

I haven't read it but I love that cover x

www.ofbeautyandnothingness.co.uk

jennyinneverland said...

This sounds like a good read! I sometimes like reading about someone with a totally different life and upbringing to me!

https://jennyinneverland.wordpress.com/2019/02/08/working-from-home-diet/?preview_id=12022&preview_nonce=3906597c00&post_format=standard&_thumbnail_id=12024&preview=true

Tiffany Timms said...

It's so pretty isn't it? Xx

Tiffany Timms said...

Me too, it made a really nice change! X

AlishaValerie said...

The cover of this book looks so fab but I don't think it's something I would enjoy personally sadly. However, thank you for sharing and making me aware of it. 💜

With love, Alisha Valerie x | www.alishavalerie.com

Tiffany Timms said...

It's a really pretty cover isn't it 🙊X

Sophie said...

I haven't read this but I've seen it a few times now. It sounds like a great read. I find that it doesn't have to be that relatable as long as it's interesting! x

Sophie
www.glowsteady.co.uk

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