Book Review: All I Know Now

3 stars* (I liked it) for All I Know Now y Carrie Hope Fletcher.

*rating a non-fiction book feels different to me than a fiction book. So until I find a better way of rating it, I shall stick to my current rating (based on goodreads)

All I Know Now has previously been a Weekly Obsession

- Amazon
- The Book Depository (FREE world wide shipping)
- Goodreads

We all know that growing up is hard to do, and sometimes the only thing that makes it better are the reassuring words of someone who has walked that bumpy road just a few steps ahead of you and somehow ended up as a fully-functioning adult. Carrie Hope Fletcher is that person.* Thanks to her phenomenally popular YouTube videos, Carrie has become an 'honorary big sister' to hundreds of thousands of young people who turn to her for advice, friendship and, most of all, the knowledge that things will get better. 

Carrie has created a safe and positive space for young people to connect and share their hopes and concerns online, and now she will share her most personal thoughts and experiences in her first book, ALL I KNOW NOW. Part memoir, part advice guide, it will include Carrie's thoughts on some of the topics she's asked about most regularly: bullying, body image, relationships and perhaps the scariest question of all: what does the future hold for me? With warmth, wit and a sprinkling of hard-won wisdom, Carrie will provide the essential tools for growing up gracefully . . . most of the time. 

*Although she did recently post a video about how to pee in a onesie. So the definition of 'adult' is a bit flexible here . .

Source: Goodreads

If you've read some of my earlier posts then you know that I quite like Carrie as a person/artist/human being. When I found out she was publishing a book, I was ecstatic because she has always been saying how it's been a dream of hers (and boy, do I know that feeling). As a 20-something year old, you might ask yourself why you getting a book that is mostly directed to young people in their (as Fletcher puts it) Teen Age.

In all honesty, I didn't always find myself agreeing with things discussed in All I Know Now, which is only normal considering we all grow up into different people with different experiences (even though I wouldn't mind growing up into a Carrie Fletcher. Does that sound creepy?). But that's the beauty of this book.
Even if you have a different opinion on a certain matter, the book feels like talking to an old friend who explains their own opinion and maybe even broadening or expanding your own views and opinions on a subject.

It's a source of information a lot of teenagers might take to heart easier than advice from their family/friends/peers as it is written by the person they look up to, someone who they feel close to but isn't part of their immediate circle of loved ones.
The way it was written was so easy and flowing and Carrie doesn't shy away from bringing up her own mistakes and bumps in the road, showing everyone she's far from perfect and had to learn from her mistakes too.

Myself, as a 20-something, did still find a fair few chapters of use to my current situation, made me aware of a few new points, broadened my view on some others and even made me go 'That's so me!' at times. It comes to show that no matter your age someone else's views on life can enrich your own. And I wish someone had written an All I Know Now for the Tween Age, as I find myself just as clueless now as I did in my Teen Age, something like 'how to pretend you're and adult when you can't even fry an egg' sounds perfect!

When a book is filled with good advice and a lot of optimism and positivity, anyone will find themselves having a cynical moment where they go 'Of course this would be the case in a perfect world', or 'yeah, that's easier said than done', or 'that sounds good in theory but reality is different', or 'yes, but what if...'.

No? Just me?

Oh ;)

Fletcher punched that inner cynical of mine in the face a fair few times (with her writing, not personally), making it realise that sometimes things are in fact that easy and that humans sometimes tend to complicate things more than they should.

All I Know Now is filled with advice (old and new) making it easy for anyone to turn to in a time of need.

*Ps. The winner of my Always The Bridesmaid giveaway has been announced here.
Pascale will soon be receiving a paperback copy of this brilliant book.