All I Know Now - Carrie Hope Fletcher

I have been dying to read this book, ever since I started watching Carrie's youtube videos a few months ago. I knew immediately that I would love her book. 

Carrie Hope Fletcher is the vlogger behind ItsWayPastMyBedtime, and an actress on the West End, currently playing Eponine in Les Mis (one of my favourite musicals). She has become and 'honorary big sister' to thousands of teenagers who feel they don't have anyone to turn to.

At the still-young age of twenty-two, she has written this book to be a guide to the teenage years, something I think a lot of young people will benefit from. In this book, Carrie covers a range of important topics, such as relationships bullying and accepting yourself. If I had read this book as a teenage, I would have coped a lot better with growing up.

But even at twenty-one, just a year younger than Carrie herself, this book has really helped me. Many of its topics are still relevant to me, as they translate into early adulthood. I am still not completely certain about what I want to do with my life. Knowing that Carrie has dealt with these problems either now or in the past really helps me feel less alone.

The book was written so beautifully, and it felt so personal to me - as though Carrie was giving me advice in person rather than through a book. But that's who Carrie is, her videos always seem personal too. And I respect her so much more for admitting some things that must have been difficult for her to share publicly, especially things her parents didn't know until they read her book.

I would have read this book much sooner than I have, but my lovely friend Eleanor had taken it to be signed at the Birmingham event for me, because I sadly could not attend. However, I am hoping I will get a second chance to meet Carrie at YALC this year.

I don't usually read hardbacks at all, and when I do it takes me much longer to read them than paperbacks, so the fact that I read this book over two days is a testament to how good it is! I couldn't put it down, and when I had to in order to eat or sleep, it was by my side ready to be picked up again. 

This book is going to change, or at least help, so many young people's lives, I just know it. And that is such a wonderful thing, because the teenage years are hard - for most people. If you're not popular, you're generally ignored, and that is a terrible thing. Carrie really understands, being so young herself, what it's like to be young.

Needless to say, I absolutely loved this book and I can't wait to read anything she writes after this. We are so alike, especially in our love of Disney, that I would love to meet her in person and tell her how wonderful she is. A 5 star read!