Books to change your perspective on love (3)

Reading lists

Books that will change your perspective on love

Wants and Needs

FROM THE AUTHOR OF AS YOUNG AS THIS 
 
A novel about coming of age when you thought you already had: a story about commitment and independence, about starting all over again, and finding different ways to love along the way 
 
Independence seems to be drifting away from Misty. Just months ago, she was living with her fiancé and planning their life together. Now she’s single, back in her childhood bedroom, on crutches from knee surgery, and relying on her mother to help her with the smallest of tasks. This isn’t how thirty-two was meant to look. 
 
When Misty turns to dating apps, she's immediately intrigued by charismatic, handsome Christopher – so intrigued that she doesn't even notice the acronym 'ENM' on his profile. By the time she discovers that it stands for 'Ethical Non-Monogamy' – and that the man with whom she feels such undeniable, dizzying chemistry, is in a long-term open relationship – she decides to give things a go. 
 
And so Misty makes a pact with herself to date Christopher for the next six weeks while his partner is away. It’s all part of her plan: she wants to learn to become less attached, and to prepare herself for her next ‘real’ relationship. But is what she wants really what she needs? 
 
'A thoroughly amusing coming of age (in your thirties) novel written with wit, honesty and tenderness' Claire Powell, author of At the Table 
 
'So enjoyable ... The writing is just so good and moreish. I loved it' Catherine Airey, author of Confessions 
 
'Roxy Dunn is oh so good on love ... Wants and Needs is witty, warm and seriously sexy' Chloë Ashby, author of Wet Paint

Narrated by a refreshingly offbeat heroine, Wants and Needs is a thoroughly amusing coming of age (in your thirties) novel written with wit, honesty and tenderness

Desperately sad and desperately entertaining ... I just knew I was going to inhale it when I read that first page. So enjoyable and well observed and the writing is just so good and moreish. I loved it

Roxy Dunn is oh so good on love. The big feelings. The thinking (and overthinking). The thrills and the spills. Wants and Needs is witty, warm and seriously sexy. A story about what we desire and deserve

A tender novel about the pursuit of love ... Dunn writes with a perceptive frankness

Roxy's debut novel, As Young as This (published by Fig Tree, Penguin) was sold at auction and was a Best Book of 2024 in The Independent, Harper’s Bazaar, Stylist, Cosmopolitan, and Sunday Times Style. She is also a screenwriter and alumni of the BBC Comedy Room. Her scripts have been optioned by several production companies and her pilot Useless Millennials was commissioned and broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Wants and Needs is her second novel.

Independence seems to be drifting away from Misty. Just months ago, she was living with her fiancé and planning their life together. Now she’s single, back in her childhood bedroom, on crutches from knee surgery, and relying on her mother to help her with the smallest of tasks. This isn’t how thirty-two was meant to look. 
 
When Misty turns to dating apps, she's immediately intrigued by charismatic, handsome Christopher – so intrigued that she doesn't even notice the acronym 'ENM' on his profile. By the time she discovers that it stands for 'Ethical Non-Monogamy' – and that the man with whom she feels such undeniable, dizzying chemistry, is in a long-term open relationship – she decides to give things a go. 
 
And so Misty makes a pact with herself to date Christopher for the next six weeks while his partner is away. It’s all part of her plan: she wants to learn to become less attached, and to prepare herself for her next ‘real’ relationship. But is what she wants really what she needs?

Roxy Dunn

This debut novel about womanhood and expectations will be one of the most exciting of the year

The Independent, best fiction books to read in 2024

This buzzy debut is a beautiful look at how love shapes us

inews, Best New Books to Read in April 2024

A vividly sketched, intense evocation of how we're shaped by those we know - one for Dolly Alderton fans

A young woman's life, told through the men she has dated. With glorious attention to detail and emotional fluency, Dunn charts the ways in which we are built and broken by love

Beautifully written ... The second person narration lends an authenticity to Margot's nostalgic reminiscences and honest look back at her past ... It's brilliant on comparisons, self-sabotage, social expectations, fear and settling. Wonderful

Anyone who's ever experienced the slog of modern dating will love As Young As This, an achingly relatable novel that focuses on the dreams we have for our lives, and what happens when we open ourselves up to letting them go

Harper's Bazaar, The 10 Best Novels to Read in 2024

Relatable, poignant and gripping, told with great originality. Roxy Dunn is a fresh and exciting new voice in fiction ... I read it in a single day

This will really speak to you if you've ever had to let go of what you thought your life would look like, readjust, and let a new life take hold

I love love loved As Young as This ... I wanted to live inside it, wallowing in that gorgeous prose. And that ending! Well, I was not prepared.

Laura Pearson, author of I Wanted You to Know

Dunn's debut novel, which combines lyrical writing with a very relatable main character, marks her out as a rising star

Roxy Dunn is a brilliant storyteller ... A future cult classic

In Margot, Roxy Dunn has created a character who encapsulates so many of the anxieties of her generation. Deceptively open-handed plotting cleverly disguises a work of philosophical force. Dunn's heroine has us judging and loving her simultaneously while leaving room for us to turn the mirror on our own reasons for choosing our partners. I smiled a lot reading As Young As This, and whatever age or gender you are I challenge you not to do the same.

An interesting and relatable look at our expectations versus reality

Stylist, 10 of the best debut novels of 2024 by women

Cosmopolitan, Best New Books to Read in April

Dunn’s writing perfectly captures the exciting beginnings and achingly sad ends of relationships. You won’t be able to put it down.

Elliot. Joe. Tommy. Nathanael. Wren. Oliver. Malik. Zach. Frank. Patrick. Noah. These are the men Margot has loved, liked, lusted over. 
 
Since she was seventeen, she's pictured them like stepping stones - each one bringing her closer to finding someone to share her life with and, eventually, father the children she's always imagined in her future. 
 
From her first sexual encounter, to her first love, from grown-up dilemmas to spontaneous thrills, she's soaked up every experience available to her, discovering friendship, joy and despair. Through all of this she's refined her search until she believes she's arrived at 'the ending' to her story. 
 
So how did she find herself here, single at thirty-four, and about to make the biggest decision of her life?

Roxy Dunn

Praise for As Young as This

This debut novel about womanhood and expectations will be one of the most exciting of the year

This buzzy debut is a beautiful look at how love shapes us

A vividly sketched, intense evocation of how we're shaped by those we know - one for Dolly Alderton fans

This debut novel about womanhood and expectations will be one of the most exciting of the year

This buzzy debut is a beautiful look at how love shapes us

A vividly sketched, intense evocation of how we're shaped by those we know - one for Dolly Alderton fans

This debut novel about womanhood and expectations will be one of the most exciting of the year

This buzzy debut is a beautiful look at how love shapes us

A vividly sketched, intense evocation of how we're shaped by those we know - one for Dolly Alderton fans

Books by Roxy Dunn

Articles featuring Roxy Dunn

Books that will change your perspective on love

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