Publishers Weekly
10/16/2023
TikTokker Rallo debuts with a witty guide to modern dating that bills itself as less “Dear Abby” and more “like your audacious older sister sitting on your bed with a handle of tequila and a box of tissues and a bottle of lube” and dispensing candid “if you like him, just tell him” advice. Mining her own dating history, from a painful on-and-off college relationship with a man who told her, “via a Google Doc, that I was the best sex he ever had,” to the “Bumble boyfriend” who “proved I could love again,” Rallo breaks down each stage of dating. She recalls “get to know who I was as though I were a stranger” after moving to New York City for grad school and counsels readers to “treat yourself right first.... The rest of it will all fall into place.” Elsewhere, she reviews a string of breakups and recommends spending enough time processing heartbreak and remembering “you can get to the other side, because all around the world, every single day, people do.” Despite a somewhat slippery structure—numerous romantic trials bleed into one another, along with bits of motivation and the occasional dating rule (“The most attractive thing you can be is confident. GO THRIVE”)—Rallo’s assured voice and solid counsel carries this through. Those able to see the humor in heartache will be gratified. (Dec.)
From the Publisher
Eli Rallo’s debut is not to be missed. Her writing is fresh, funny, and honest. I Didn’t Know I Needed this will be a bible to those navigating the sticky, confusing, and often accidentally hilarious world of modern dating." — Tara Schuster, author of Glow in the F*cking Dark and Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies
“Funny, charming, and real, I Didn't Know I Needed This is the book every young woman definitely needs. Like a wise, compassionate, and highly entertaining big sister, Eli takes lessons she learned the hard (and often hilarious) way about navigating modern relationships and gaining self-worth, cutting through the confusion, and saying: You are more than enough, and it will all be okay." — Lori Gottlieb, New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk To Someone and co-host of the Dear Therapists podcast
New York Times bestselling author Lori Gottlieb
Funny, charming, and real, I Didn’t Know I Needed This is the book every young woman definitely needs. Like a wise, compassionate, and highly entertaining big sister, Eli takes lessons she learned the hard (and often hilarious) way about navigating modern relationships and gaining self-worth, cutting through the confusion, and saying: You are more than enough, and it will all be okay.”
author of Glow in the F*cking Dark Tara Schuster
Eli Rallo’s debut is not to be missed. Her writing is fresh, funny, and honest. I Didn’t Know I Needed This will be a bible to those navigating the sticky, confusing, and often accidentally hilarious world of modern dating.”
