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Search History
A woman's obsession with her new boyfriend's dead ex-girlfriend fuels this sharp and honest debut novel, a send-up of modern dating and love
My fingers itched to put his name into the search bar. Once I'd found him, I'd have the cheat sheet.
After fleeing to Melbourne in the wake of a breakup, all Ana has to show for herself is an unfulfilling job at an overly enthusiastic tech start-up and one particularly questionable dating app experience. Then she meets Evan. Charming, kind, and financially responsible, Evan is a complete aberration from her usual type; Ana feels like she has finally awoken from a long dating nightmare.
As much as she tries to let their burgeoning relationship unfold IRL, Ana just can't resist the urge to find Evan online. When she discovers that his previous girlfriend, Emily, died unexpectedly in a hit-and-run less than a year ago, Ana begins to worry she's living in the shadow of his lost love. Soon she's obsessively comparing herself to Emily, trawling through her dormant social media accounts in the hope of understanding her better. Online, Evan and Emily's life together looked perfect--but just how perfect was it? And why won't he talk about it?
Perceptive and original, full of both pathos and humor, Search History explores the contradictions and uncertainties of twenty-first century romance. Ana's journey down the Internet rabbit hole of modern dating asks the question: Which is our "true" self--the one we show to the world online, or the one we keep to ourselves?
My fingers itched to put his name into the search bar. Once I'd found him, I'd have the cheat sheet.
After fleeing to Melbourne in the wake of a breakup, all Ana has to show for herself is an unfulfilling job at an overly enthusiastic tech start-up and one particularly questionable dating app experience. Then she meets Evan. Charming, kind, and financially responsible, Evan is a complete aberration from her usual type; Ana feels like she has finally awoken from a long dating nightmare.
As much as she tries to let their burgeoning relationship unfold IRL, Ana just can't resist the urge to find Evan online. When she discovers that his previous girlfriend, Emily, died unexpectedly in a hit-and-run less than a year ago, Ana begins to worry she's living in the shadow of his lost love. Soon she's obsessively comparing herself to Emily, trawling through her dormant social media accounts in the hope of understanding her better. Online, Evan and Emily's life together looked perfect--but just how perfect was it? And why won't he talk about it?
Perceptive and original, full of both pathos and humor, Search History explores the contradictions and uncertainties of twenty-first century romance. Ana's journey down the Internet rabbit hole of modern dating asks the question: Which is our "true" self--the one we show to the world online, or the one we keep to ourselves?
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 2, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 621 reviews
February 21, 2024
modern life is an unrelenting nightmare <3 and so is this book.
do you know how difficult it is to get me to think a MAN is a better person than a woman? a woman who is our protagonist? a man who is bad?
but our main character, a woman who is addicted to internet stalking, being nosy, justifying her own behavior, and chalking it all up to a vague feminism, is so much worse. she begins at rock bottom and manages to do a sum total of negative character development, spending her days jealous of a hot dead girl who dared to date her not even boyfriend 2 years ago.
i can excuse a lot of bad behaviors in the face of the unrelenting misery of daily life — this is coming from a person who usually replaces at least one meal with a small pile of sweets on any given day, like a child who magically gained the power of self-determination — but it turns out even i have a line.
bottom line: this is monotonous, unchanging, and hard to get through. much like la vie quotidienne itself.
(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)
do you know how difficult it is to get me to think a MAN is a better person than a woman? a woman who is our protagonist? a man who is bad?
but our main character, a woman who is addicted to internet stalking, being nosy, justifying her own behavior, and chalking it all up to a vague feminism, is so much worse. she begins at rock bottom and manages to do a sum total of negative character development, spending her days jealous of a hot dead girl who dared to date her not even boyfriend 2 years ago.
i can excuse a lot of bad behaviors in the face of the unrelenting misery of daily life — this is coming from a person who usually replaces at least one meal with a small pile of sweets on any given day, like a child who magically gained the power of self-determination — but it turns out even i have a line.
bottom line: this is monotonous, unchanging, and hard to get through. much like la vie quotidienne itself.
(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)
July 11, 2023
Quite a heavy plodding read covering themes of today, which I probably am quite disconnected from. I don't use social media, apart from Goodreads, and have never used it for meeting people.
Ana meets a guy after a break up, fleeing to Melbourne hoping the geographical will help. Becoming enamoured/obsessed with his ex, she constantly looks her up on social media - going as far as stalking people in her (the ex girlfriend's) life, turning up to their places of work. I don't know why. I felt removed and bewildered.
She was not a strong woman, relied on others to fulfill herself, and would continually obsess on the answers of her boyfriend on text. When he gave her the cold shoulder, she would always take him back, no questions asked. Mysogny won I guess is what I'm trying to say. A definite exploration of the manner in which online presence can be tracked, used, and making impressions on the way lives are lived, shaping feelings and self esteem.
This man didn't seem quite right, he was odd and was not likable, and Ana's incesssant obsession created a dislike of her, too. The book slowed, it was too drawn out.
This book was well written, with what are issues that I suppose I can see as being current, but the whole time I wanted to shake Ana, tell her to put her phone down, go for a walk or a run or go to the library and meet a physical person and don't rely on the phone. In fact, other editions of this book had her holding the phone will in the guys arms - I guess that's the point.
With my thanks to Allen & Uwin for my physical copy to read and review, it was a lovely looking book, this one being a middle of the road type feel for me.
Ana meets a guy after a break up, fleeing to Melbourne hoping the geographical will help. Becoming enamoured/obsessed with his ex, she constantly looks her up on social media - going as far as stalking people in her (the ex girlfriend's) life, turning up to their places of work. I don't know why. I felt removed and bewildered.
She was not a strong woman, relied on others to fulfill herself, and would continually obsess on the answers of her boyfriend on text. When he gave her the cold shoulder, she would always take him back, no questions asked. Mysogny won I guess is what I'm trying to say. A definite exploration of the manner in which online presence can be tracked, used, and making impressions on the way lives are lived, shaping feelings and self esteem.
This man didn't seem quite right, he was odd and was not likable, and Ana's incesssant obsession created a dislike of her, too. The book slowed, it was too drawn out.
This book was well written, with what are issues that I suppose I can see as being current, but the whole time I wanted to shake Ana, tell her to put her phone down, go for a walk or a run or go to the library and meet a physical person and don't rely on the phone. In fact, other editions of this book had her holding the phone will in the guys arms - I guess that's the point.
With my thanks to Allen & Uwin for my physical copy to read and review, it was a lovely looking book, this one being a middle of the road type feel for me.
April 16, 2024
alexa play "obsessed" by olivia rodrigo
I wasn't sure how to rate it because I loved the majority of the book, but some parts reminded me of a book I didn't like at all (eleanor oliphant is completely fine) then decided that 4 stars would be fair.
This isn't a book that will change your life but it's a great read, I couldn't put it down.
Also, Amy Taylor your writing is phenomenal!!! She has this amazing way of putting into words those feelings we can't even begin to explain.
I wasn't sure how to rate it because I loved the majority of the book, but some parts reminded me of a book I didn't like at all (eleanor oliphant is completely fine) then decided that 4 stars would be fair.
This isn't a book that will change your life but it's a great read, I couldn't put it down.
Also, Amy Taylor your writing is phenomenal!!! She has this amazing way of putting into words those feelings we can't even begin to explain.
January 11, 2024
While I wasn't super sold on the first half of the one, the end really brought everything together and I ended up quite enjoying it! Would def consider reading more from Amy Taylor in the future
May 14, 2023
As the blurb promised, Search History is “a sharply funny debut novel about identity, obsession, and desire in the internet age”. But, unlike most books about relationships in tHe DiGiTaL eRa, this one actually rings true – in the way the characters think and behave, and the way their use of technology shapes their perceptions.
My full review of Search History is up now on Keeping Up With The Penguins.
My full review of Search History is up now on Keeping Up With The Penguins.
July 17, 2023
Reading this violently threw me into a rut. I'm sorry but it was just so bad. I'm not usually a fiction reader either so maybe that's why I struggled so much to get through it. I found the main character to be actually insane. Like delusionalll and not in a girly way. She was intrusive and obsessive and actually thought she was in the right?!? She also never had to face any of the consequences of her insane actions. Everything was sooo generalised and generic. The way the female experience was showcased felt so unoriginal and more like what men think we experience than what we actually experience. The passing remarks of feminist issues and SA were just so terrible and were just said without anything built upon it. Also the way her past was interwoven into the current story took me out of it even more. Also the ending!!!!! pleaseeeee
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January 14, 2024[Please look up content warnings before reading this book.]
Accessible contemporary drama informed by the pitfalls of modern dating.
Accessible contemporary drama informed by the pitfalls of modern dating.
May 1, 2023
Billed as a blend of Fleabag with Rebecca, my expectation was quite high going into this debut. I can say with conviction that my expectations were well and truly met and even exceeded. I really enjoyed this novel, it was both funny and moving, relatable and absorbing – contemporary Australian fiction at its best.
After her long-term relationship ends, Ana moves across country to Melbourne from Perth, not only leaving behind old relationship baggage, but a network of friends and her mother. New town, new home, new job, new friends, new possibilities for new relationships – it’s all ahead for Ana. Except, as with real life, nothing is that rosy or easy. Ana’s mother stops talking to her, punishing her with silence for moving away and her father lives in Bali, content with a new partner and a bohemian existence, only dropping in occasionally via scratchy video calls with new age advice and recommendations about yoga. After a particularly frightening sexual encounter with a man from a dating app, Ana deletes her dating apps and resigns herself to loneliness. But then she meets Evan.
‘Silence is rejection in slow motion. It’s an injury sustained from a blow that was never dealt. There is, in theory, nothing to recover from. Silent treatment was not new to me, it was, after all my mother’s love language, but Evan wasn’t even the first or second man who had used this tactic on me.’
As is perfectly normal and expected in today’s day and age, Ana looks Evan up online and jumping from profile to profile, she swiftly discovers his long-term girlfriend died less than a year ago. Emily seems perfect, as dead people often do, immortalised by those who love them and forever remembered with nothing but fondness and longing. Except by Evan, who doesn’t mention her at all. As their relationship unfolds and becomes more serious, it does so without Evan acknowledging Emily’s death and Ana not acknowledging that she already knows about it because she’s burrowed down every rabbit hole on social media that contained even a mere whiff of Emily.
‘I was kidding myself to think I was well-adjusted enough to be able to deal with these circumstances. It was uncharacteristically optimistic to think I could cope without projecting an unfair need for constant reassurance from Evan. I wondered if I was truly the right person for this job, the job of being The One Who Came After, which required the responsibility of delicate handling and constant concealing. I stare at Emily’s face and she smiled back at me through the glass like she knew the answer.’
Search History is a polished debut, written with a perfect blend of comedy and tragedy, hitting all the notes with perfect pitch. What a fabulous writer Amy Taylor is. I enjoyed this novel immensely and look forward to seeing what she next has in store for us. Highly recommended!
Thanks to the publisher for the review copy.
After her long-term relationship ends, Ana moves across country to Melbourne from Perth, not only leaving behind old relationship baggage, but a network of friends and her mother. New town, new home, new job, new friends, new possibilities for new relationships – it’s all ahead for Ana. Except, as with real life, nothing is that rosy or easy. Ana’s mother stops talking to her, punishing her with silence for moving away and her father lives in Bali, content with a new partner and a bohemian existence, only dropping in occasionally via scratchy video calls with new age advice and recommendations about yoga. After a particularly frightening sexual encounter with a man from a dating app, Ana deletes her dating apps and resigns herself to loneliness. But then she meets Evan.
‘Silence is rejection in slow motion. It’s an injury sustained from a blow that was never dealt. There is, in theory, nothing to recover from. Silent treatment was not new to me, it was, after all my mother’s love language, but Evan wasn’t even the first or second man who had used this tactic on me.’
As is perfectly normal and expected in today’s day and age, Ana looks Evan up online and jumping from profile to profile, she swiftly discovers his long-term girlfriend died less than a year ago. Emily seems perfect, as dead people often do, immortalised by those who love them and forever remembered with nothing but fondness and longing. Except by Evan, who doesn’t mention her at all. As their relationship unfolds and becomes more serious, it does so without Evan acknowledging Emily’s death and Ana not acknowledging that she already knows about it because she’s burrowed down every rabbit hole on social media that contained even a mere whiff of Emily.
‘I was kidding myself to think I was well-adjusted enough to be able to deal with these circumstances. It was uncharacteristically optimistic to think I could cope without projecting an unfair need for constant reassurance from Evan. I wondered if I was truly the right person for this job, the job of being The One Who Came After, which required the responsibility of delicate handling and constant concealing. I stare at Emily’s face and she smiled back at me through the glass like she knew the answer.’
Search History is a polished debut, written with a perfect blend of comedy and tragedy, hitting all the notes with perfect pitch. What a fabulous writer Amy Taylor is. I enjoyed this novel immensely and look forward to seeing what she next has in store for us. Highly recommended!
Thanks to the publisher for the review copy.
2023
October 22, 2025Valentine's Day TBR
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and The Dial Press
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and The Dial Press
May 2, 2023
Search History is the first novel by Australian author, Amy Taylor. Needing a change of scene after a break-up with her boyfriend of four years, Ana quits Perth, much to the chagrin of her mother, and goes to live and work in Melbourne, where she knows no-one. She has intermittent contact with her father in Bali, and her mother is stubbornly silent.
She’s living a rather lacklustre existence: a tiny, dowdy flat, a mediocre job with a wanky boss and uninteresting colleagues, and no real social life. Her best friend Beverly is still in Perth: calls and texts really aren’t enough to keep them close. Her first foray into online dating is not a good experience. She is still stalking her ex’s social media accounts, analysing every photo and comment with forensic intensity.
When she encounters Evan in a pub, she’s immediately attracted, and it seems mutual. But even though they begin dating and progress to intimacy, Ana is disturbed that Evan shares so little of his past. After initially resisting the urge, she trawls his social media and discovers that his ex died some months earlier. She agonises over mentioning this, nervous of jeopardising this fledgling relationship.
She develops an unnatural, probably unhealthy, obsession with the dead woman, haunting her social media, constantly checking it, poring over photos, clips and comments, going to yoga at the studio where she taught. Meanwhile, mentally she rationalises Evan’s reticence about his ex.
Ana is an angsty twenty-eight-year-old who constantly second-guesses herself and overanalyses every word, gesture and facial expression, every nuance of communication, or lack thereof. Connecting with this protagonist will perhaps be easier for younger readers; others may well find her frustrating, wishing they could grab her by the shoulders and tell her “just live your own life!”
While certain aspects of the story are quite thought-provoking, it does drag a fair bit in the middle, and only some rather good twists at the end redeem it from a lower rating. Nonetheless, an impressive debut novel.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Allen & Unwin.
She’s living a rather lacklustre existence: a tiny, dowdy flat, a mediocre job with a wanky boss and uninteresting colleagues, and no real social life. Her best friend Beverly is still in Perth: calls and texts really aren’t enough to keep them close. Her first foray into online dating is not a good experience. She is still stalking her ex’s social media accounts, analysing every photo and comment with forensic intensity.
When she encounters Evan in a pub, she’s immediately attracted, and it seems mutual. But even though they begin dating and progress to intimacy, Ana is disturbed that Evan shares so little of his past. After initially resisting the urge, she trawls his social media and discovers that his ex died some months earlier. She agonises over mentioning this, nervous of jeopardising this fledgling relationship.
She develops an unnatural, probably unhealthy, obsession with the dead woman, haunting her social media, constantly checking it, poring over photos, clips and comments, going to yoga at the studio where she taught. Meanwhile, mentally she rationalises Evan’s reticence about his ex.
Ana is an angsty twenty-eight-year-old who constantly second-guesses herself and overanalyses every word, gesture and facial expression, every nuance of communication, or lack thereof. Connecting with this protagonist will perhaps be easier for younger readers; others may well find her frustrating, wishing they could grab her by the shoulders and tell her “just live your own life!”
While certain aspects of the story are quite thought-provoking, it does drag a fair bit in the middle, and only some rather good twists at the end redeem it from a lower rating. Nonetheless, an impressive debut novel.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Allen & Unwin.
December 18, 2023
Dating in a digital world really sucks. SEARCH HISTORY does a good job of illustrating said fact. When Ana suffers a bad breakup, she moves to Melbourne and tries online dating. After yet another terrible experience, she meets Evan and is thrilled to find someone who is funny and kind. Still, Ana can't resist looking Evan up online, where she discovers his previous girlfriend, Emily, died in a tragic accident. Ana becomes obsessed: not with Evan, but Emily, cyberstalking Evan's late girlfriend and allowing her to become a shadow in their relationship, even though he rarely mentions her.
This is a very generational read: Ana overshares consistently, and the book is filled with references to apps and current culture. It's certainly a true portrayal, in many ways, of dating in today's environment and even how much we let online culture affect our world. We get snippets of Ana's life after her move to Melbourne and anytime something in her present reminds her of the past, she'll go back in time and share a story. The switches in time can be a bit jarring, and it's hard to keep up reading momentum with the format.
Ana's obsession with Emily seems incredibly frustrating at times. You want to shake her and have her focus on being present in her own world (the point of the story, no doubt). This story is depressing at times, sometimes irritating, but also funny and honest (her portrayal of her divorced parents especially hit home). I'm sure it will resonate with a certain group of people. 3 stars.
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and Random House/The Dial Press in return for an unbiased review.
This is a very generational read: Ana overshares consistently, and the book is filled with references to apps and current culture. It's certainly a true portrayal, in many ways, of dating in today's environment and even how much we let online culture affect our world. We get snippets of Ana's life after her move to Melbourne and anytime something in her present reminds her of the past, she'll go back in time and share a story. The switches in time can be a bit jarring, and it's hard to keep up reading momentum with the format.
Ana's obsession with Emily seems incredibly frustrating at times. You want to shake her and have her focus on being present in her own world (the point of the story, no doubt). This story is depressing at times, sometimes irritating, but also funny and honest (her portrayal of her divorced parents especially hit home). I'm sure it will resonate with a certain group of people. 3 stars.
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and Random House/The Dial Press in return for an unbiased review.
January 30, 2024
I love a good ol’ delulu main character, but girly was too too delulu
September 4, 2023
After a breakup, Ana moves from Perth to Melbourne to start afresh working at a startup in an uninspiring job. She meets Evan and begins a relationship with him. At first, she resists doing an internet search to find out more about him. When she succumbs, she discovers his last partner, Emily, died in a bike accident almost a year ago, but Evan never mentions her and is resistant to any discussion about her. Soon Ana finds herself obsessed with all things Emily.
I enjoyed this debut novel. Quite contemporary, there is humor and poignancy. Taylor captures well the angst so many women go through in life, walking on eggshells, calculating how their significant other might or might not react to what they say or do. Women have always had to deal with so much in dating relationships; Search History illustrates how our tech obsessed world compounds these issues.
Thanks to #netgalley and @randomhouse #dialbooks for the ARC
I enjoyed this debut novel. Quite contemporary, there is humor and poignancy. Taylor captures well the angst so many women go through in life, walking on eggshells, calculating how their significant other might or might not react to what they say or do. Women have always had to deal with so much in dating relationships; Search History illustrates how our tech obsessed world compounds these issues.
Thanks to #netgalley and @randomhouse #dialbooks for the ARC
April 8, 2024
.. many such cases ...
June 17, 2023
Taylor has a lovely zippy prose style and she keeps the humour up while delving into the painful realities of our online lives. I found this so compulsively readable. Even when protagonist Ana behaves in ill-advised ways I may have groaned but I could not look away. Taylor also manages a tricky narrative ending with style. I feel like I’ve found a new writer to add to my ‘read everything they write’ list.
April 4, 2024
I hated this book, but I also couldn't put it down.
April 23, 2023
Thank you to Netgalley & Allen & Unwin for the chance to review this book.
Amy Taylor hit the nail on the head with her debut novel. Search History portrays the angst we all feel post break up, from denial to the inadequacy we all feel when comparing ourselves to others. Amy has captured the feelings and thought processes we all go through whilst trying to navigate the mine field of returning to dating and how social media isn’t always as it seems.
I am excited to see more from her.
Amy Taylor hit the nail on the head with her debut novel. Search History portrays the angst we all feel post break up, from denial to the inadequacy we all feel when comparing ourselves to others. Amy has captured the feelings and thought processes we all go through whilst trying to navigate the mine field of returning to dating and how social media isn’t always as it seems.
I am excited to see more from her.
April 22, 2025
“I do actually like yoga” yeah okay
February 21, 2023
3.5 - A witty, funny and realistic portrayal of dating in the modern world, internet stalking, identity, and romantic expectations vs reality. It had a strong start but kind of fell flat for me in the middle but left a nice message at the end. Similar tone to Dolly Alderton and Genevieve Novak.
August 13, 2024
I understand that the main character being insufferable is part of the point, but man does it make the book drag on! Please just stop being so obsessed with a dead girl, it's creepy and weird!
The last quarter I did enjoy, but that's too little too late I think.
Another 2.5 from me.
The last quarter I did enjoy, but that's too little too late I think.
Another 2.5 from me.
September 6, 2025
Girly needs to reduce her screen time
February 10, 2024
I think I loved this book as I myself am subject to a bit of internet stalking and making assumptions about people…. Would have rated 5 stars but the end was a bit too cringe for me :(
January 1, 2026
After going through a breakup, Ana moves to Melbourne to start fresh. After beginning a new job at a tech start up company, her and her team go for drinks at the bar one Friday where she meets Evan. Evan seems to be completely different from her ex. He has a good job, a good apartment, has his life together, and he’s altogether a good person. Ana can’t resist the urge to find him on social media and discovers a year prior his girlfriend, Emily was killed in a hit and run accident. Suddenly their entire relationship becomes Ana constantly comparing herself to Emily and feeling like she’s living in her shadow, and with Evan refusing to talk about it, she begins to spiral.
I LOVED this book, which is no surprise because I loved @amy_ester_ other book, “Ruins” soooo much. I have never felt so utterly seen by a character. Ana is your modern day girl who stalks their partners ex online, yet she’s surprisingly smart, level-headed, and has her life together. Although Ana self-sabotaged majorly, I was infatuated with how emotionally intelligent she was. I could not put this book down. Hilarious, sad, and all too relatable.
5⭐️ but 6⭐️ if I could
I LOVED this book, which is no surprise because I loved @amy_ester_ other book, “Ruins” soooo much. I have never felt so utterly seen by a character. Ana is your modern day girl who stalks their partners ex online, yet she’s surprisingly smart, level-headed, and has her life together. Although Ana self-sabotaged majorly, I was infatuated with how emotionally intelligent she was. I could not put this book down. Hilarious, sad, and all too relatable.
5⭐️ but 6⭐️ if I could
May 7, 2023
Search History is the debut novel of Australian author Amy Taylor. This is contemporary fiction at its most modern – a look at dating in the Internet age. Think dating apps and Internet stalking!
Our protagonist is twenty something Ana who uproots her life in Perth to move to Melbourne after breaking up with her boyfriend. Here she begins dating again and after what is billed as a disastrous first date with someone she meets online (but in truth is a kind of horrifying not quite consensual sexual encounter) Ana swears off dating. That is until she meets Evan at a bar and he seems funny and kind and well normal. Despite wanting to let the relationship evolve naturally IRL, Ana can’t help but stalk Evan online and soon discovers that Evan’s ex-girlfriend was killed in a hit and run accident less than a year ago. While Ana knows about his ex, Evan never talks about her and Ana soon starts self-sabotaging as she compares her life to what seemed like the perfect relationship.
Search History starts off pretty strong, peters off a bit in the middle and then finishes up in a kind of sweet way. It definitely has its funny moments mixed up with the tragedy that goes along with relationships in your twenties. And I think this is why this was a good, not great book for me. I’m well and truly past my twenties and quite frankly thankful I am not trying to date online right now! Some of the things that happen to Ana and how she goes about her life just didn’t sit right with me. But it was still an easy and enjoyable read. I didn’t fully predict the ending which was a happy one but not in the way you might have guessed.
I think I need to move away from reading books about dating in your twenties as it is starting to make me feel so old! This one will definitely be loved by readers younger than me and gives off Diana Reid and Genevieve Novak vibes so maybe give it a try if you are fans of these authors?
Thank you to @allenandunwin for my #gifted copy. Search History is out now.
Our protagonist is twenty something Ana who uproots her life in Perth to move to Melbourne after breaking up with her boyfriend. Here she begins dating again and after what is billed as a disastrous first date with someone she meets online (but in truth is a kind of horrifying not quite consensual sexual encounter) Ana swears off dating. That is until she meets Evan at a bar and he seems funny and kind and well normal. Despite wanting to let the relationship evolve naturally IRL, Ana can’t help but stalk Evan online and soon discovers that Evan’s ex-girlfriend was killed in a hit and run accident less than a year ago. While Ana knows about his ex, Evan never talks about her and Ana soon starts self-sabotaging as she compares her life to what seemed like the perfect relationship.
Search History starts off pretty strong, peters off a bit in the middle and then finishes up in a kind of sweet way. It definitely has its funny moments mixed up with the tragedy that goes along with relationships in your twenties. And I think this is why this was a good, not great book for me. I’m well and truly past my twenties and quite frankly thankful I am not trying to date online right now! Some of the things that happen to Ana and how she goes about her life just didn’t sit right with me. But it was still an easy and enjoyable read. I didn’t fully predict the ending which was a happy one but not in the way you might have guessed.
I think I need to move away from reading books about dating in your twenties as it is starting to make me feel so old! This one will definitely be loved by readers younger than me and gives off Diana Reid and Genevieve Novak vibes so maybe give it a try if you are fans of these authors?
Thank you to @allenandunwin for my #gifted copy. Search History is out now.
November 29, 2023
I have so much that I want to say about this book and it is so fresh in my mind having just finished it, but I don’t know if my feelings for it will be fully formed, but the only thing that I can really think about is a line that is in the book kind of towards the end where Ana makes an observation that she can replay these conversations over and over in her head but considering she’s only starting to have the conversation with herself, she’s never really going to have the correct perception of what is going through anyone else’s hides when they are perceiving her or when relationships are either evolving or devolving.
I think this book dealt a lot with rejection, obviously, but also this idea of acceptance and the weight of responsibility in relationships. Ana is turning 28 in this and as someone who is about to turn 28 as well and has never really had a relationship where I have felt defined by another person or seen by another person it’s always this idea that I think a lot of women have, where society has conditioned us to ask who are we if we are not defined by the people in our life, specifically, the men in our life.
There were so many women in so many complex situations within this book who have felt societal pressure for how they need to be and so many of these conversations didn’t pass the Bechtel test. Which when you think about it, it’s because so many of these conversations are really about who these women want to be but also who these women feel they need to be within the context of their work, or their love life or their family.
I also really loved how much weight was put in the responsibility of conversation and communication. Because you see how Ana speaks and communicates with both of her parents who are truly the only two people who would know her, you see how she has conversations with Beverly or how she feels at that communication is sometimes lacking. And you would think that right around the time that Evan and Ana have this conversation about communication that that would be this moment where everything is okay, but in reality, that’s the moment that everything really explodes because she realizes that finding out about who Evan truly is, communication sometimes isn’t necessary because there’s nothing worthy to say of someone who sees no worth in you.
And what Ana needed was to see worth in herself to be able to have these conversations with herself that isn’t analyzing who she is to other people, but analyzing truly who she feels she can be, and who she is for herself.
I think this book dealt a lot with rejection, obviously, but also this idea of acceptance and the weight of responsibility in relationships. Ana is turning 28 in this and as someone who is about to turn 28 as well and has never really had a relationship where I have felt defined by another person or seen by another person it’s always this idea that I think a lot of women have, where society has conditioned us to ask who are we if we are not defined by the people in our life, specifically, the men in our life.
There were so many women in so many complex situations within this book who have felt societal pressure for how they need to be and so many of these conversations didn’t pass the Bechtel test. Which when you think about it, it’s because so many of these conversations are really about who these women want to be but also who these women feel they need to be within the context of their work, or their love life or their family.
I also really loved how much weight was put in the responsibility of conversation and communication. Because you see how Ana speaks and communicates with both of her parents who are truly the only two people who would know her, you see how she has conversations with Beverly or how she feels at that communication is sometimes lacking. And you would think that right around the time that Evan and Ana have this conversation about communication that that would be this moment where everything is okay, but in reality, that’s the moment that everything really explodes because she realizes that finding out about who Evan truly is, communication sometimes isn’t necessary because there’s nothing worthy to say of someone who sees no worth in you.
And what Ana needed was to see worth in herself to be able to have these conversations with herself that isn’t analyzing who she is to other people, but analyzing truly who she feels she can be, and who she is for herself.
January 14, 2024
1.5 ⭐️
I’m not sure I read the same book as everyone else. This book was plain. It lacked any substance and the characters were so robotic - including Ana.
Perhaps my negative feelings towards this book stem from not relating to Ana. I can say with absolute honesty that I have never used social media in the way that she does in this book. Her actions were very stalker-like and I found myself wanting to shake her and tell her to delete her social media (again). Her obsessive comparisons between herself and Emily were borderline crazy and the actions that eventuated from this obsession were too outrageous to believe. Who in their right mind would infiltrate the life of their new boyfriend’s dead girlfriend. Showing up to Emily’s ‘places’ and dishonestly engaging with her friends and family is creepy. I know this is fiction, but really?
I didn’t like Evan. At all. He came across as every guy I dated in my 20s who wanted to be with you but wasn’t ready to invest in a proper relationship (one where you openly communicate and are intimate in ways other than sex). And the ‘ignore her, reel her back in when I’m bored and lonely’ routine is so cliche and the fact that Ana kept going back was infuriating.
There is hardly any dialogue between characters, leaving the majority of the book to be swallowed by Ana’s overly descriptive, self-deprecating thoughts, and unrelated and unnecessary tangents.
At best, this was a 2/5. 1 star because I managed to finish it and 1 star because, grammatically, the book was written very well.
I wanted to like this book - the plot sounded interesting and unique - but it was just a long and slow burn towards nothing.
I’m not sure I read the same book as everyone else. This book was plain. It lacked any substance and the characters were so robotic - including Ana.
Perhaps my negative feelings towards this book stem from not relating to Ana. I can say with absolute honesty that I have never used social media in the way that she does in this book. Her actions were very stalker-like and I found myself wanting to shake her and tell her to delete her social media (again). Her obsessive comparisons between herself and Emily were borderline crazy and the actions that eventuated from this obsession were too outrageous to believe. Who in their right mind would infiltrate the life of their new boyfriend’s dead girlfriend. Showing up to Emily’s ‘places’ and dishonestly engaging with her friends and family is creepy. I know this is fiction, but really?
I didn’t like Evan. At all. He came across as every guy I dated in my 20s who wanted to be with you but wasn’t ready to invest in a proper relationship (one where you openly communicate and are intimate in ways other than sex). And the ‘ignore her, reel her back in when I’m bored and lonely’ routine is so cliche and the fact that Ana kept going back was infuriating.
There is hardly any dialogue between characters, leaving the majority of the book to be swallowed by Ana’s overly descriptive, self-deprecating thoughts, and unrelated and unnecessary tangents.
At best, this was a 2/5. 1 star because I managed to finish it and 1 star because, grammatically, the book was written very well.
I wanted to like this book - the plot sounded interesting and unique - but it was just a long and slow burn towards nothing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 4, 2023
Propulsive, hilarious, relatable and heart-warming - I couldn’t put it down. Amy captures the compulsive urge to categorise others, and ourselves, with such refreshing clarity. Loved it.
May 6, 2023
I really liked this book. Like really really.
First up, Ana. She was lovable but flawed, and the book was written in such a way that had you properly rooting for her. Her family situation was explored really well, and it was really interesting to read about a divorced couple through the lens of their detached child.
I also really adored the exploration of expectation and communication, and what that does to a relationship and to a person. I’ve never come across a book that has delved quite as deep into the psyche of someone trying to come to terms with the online clashing into their relationship.
Fans of Genevieve Novak, Diana Reid and books about twenty-something women struggling through relationships will love this book.
First up, Ana. She was lovable but flawed, and the book was written in such a way that had you properly rooting for her. Her family situation was explored really well, and it was really interesting to read about a divorced couple through the lens of their detached child.
I also really adored the exploration of expectation and communication, and what that does to a relationship and to a person. I’ve never come across a book that has delved quite as deep into the psyche of someone trying to come to terms with the online clashing into their relationship.
Fans of Genevieve Novak, Diana Reid and books about twenty-something women struggling through relationships will love this book.
September 10, 2023
The premise was interesting, but this book made me feel like a crabby old lady who doesn’t understand The Youths.
I was clearly not the audience for this one.
* thank you to Random House / Dial Press for the NetGalley review copy. Search History publishes November 7.
I was clearly not the audience for this one.
* thank you to Random House / Dial Press for the NetGalley review copy. Search History publishes November 7.
June 20, 2023
This was so goddamn cute and the ending was so cute and the little twist wow
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