I know I'm probably in the minority here but this book didn't wow me at all.It is a series of stories of people from all walks of life in Brisbane, all of whom contribute some understanding to the question of 'what is love'.It would actually make a great social media series of vignettes that you dip in and out of when you want to read something inspiring. However, I read it in one go and found that it was a bit repetitive/boring after a while - mainly because there are no central characters that...

Simply beautiful. Love.

A masterful storyteller weaving heartwarming stories of love just when the world needs it most. This is a book I can see myself dipping back into whenever I need a reminder of what makes the world go round. Thank you again Trent Dalton.

There is nothing I can say that will adequately express how I feel about this book except that I started crying on page 2 and didn't stop for the next 300. This book turned up exactly when I needed it. Easiest 5 stars I've ever given.

I love love. I love stories. I love love stories. I love when Allie chooses Noah in the Notebook, when Harry tells Sally he wants to spend the rest of his life with her, I love the proposal in While You Were Sleeping and when Marisa Tomei’s character gets on the plane at the end of Only You and I cry at it all. Everytime. But real love stories are the real magic. The magic that we live for. The magic among the monotony and mundane. I cry at the Modern Love column/ podcast / tv show, I cry at Mot...

Having revelled in these individual and highly personal accounts shared with Trent Dalton as he sat in a street corner in the Brisbane CBD, it was confirmed yet again that books speak to us most powerfully when they tap into our experiences and attempt to capture our sentiment and understanding.I was moved by the stories; the individuals who shared them and with the writing that was both lively, energising and poignant.I am very glad to have read this collection of ‘love stories’ in order to be

The world needs this book. I needed this book. When the world feels pretty dark and life is so uncertain, these love stories are a balm. But it is the heart and soul of the writer that really elevates the stories and format of the book. I adored it.

Trent Dalton is a magnificent storyteller, his two novels are a testament of this, but this book show how versatile and talented he is by writing other peoples’ stories about love, their ideas of love and their experiences with love. Such a heartwarming book!

This is Trent at his absolute best, and I truly think this book is the destiny of what he was always meant to write. On the passing of a good friends mother, Trent was gifted her old but well maintained and revered typewriter. Overwhelmed with the generosity of this gesture, Trent takes this typewriter with a portable table and fold up chairs to the streets of Brisbane and Adelaide to ask passers by to stop and tell him the story of love in their life. Absolutely perfectly written and compiled,

I am in love with this book!

I love Trent Dalton & his big, open, soft heart. I love his curiosity & the way he sees the world & the people he meets. I love his enthusiasm & joy. I love this book. It made me smile & cry when Trent spoke about the longest hug with his dad, makes me tear up again now thinking about it. But most of all, I love love. Love, in all it’s forms, is the best.

Started off well, the opening letter was great. By halfway through I kept imagining this being in the same realm as celebrities getting together to do a song for charity - so cheesy. By the end, Trent acknowledges the mushiness and embraces it and by the end I came around to it. The letters - from his wife to him; from him to Kath; from him to Eric - were a really nice finishing touch. Only read this if you are in a wonderful headspace is my advice x

A gorgeous, heart-warming concept. It almost felt personal knowing every reference to the city of Brisbane I call my home. It didn’t end up being quite as emotional or extraordinary as the hype made it out to be, but it was still a wonderful read. His writing is pure lyrical magic.

I'm abandoning, boy swallow universe is likely the book I've re-read the most in my life. I cannot recommend it more than enough to anyone. But 400 pages of 4 page love stories does nothing for me, I'm never going to remember them, they don't flesh and form and as soon as I'm interested then it's over and onto the next story. If they were longer, and there was less of them and I'd be there for that. His fiction tho, I'm there for that everyday.

doubted a non-fiction by Trent, (love his vivid descriptions and the characters he created in boy swallows and all the shimmering and wasn’t sure if it would reflect in non fiction), but he nailed this, loved it a lot.

This book is beautiful in a really unique way. First of all the concept is amazing, telling real love stories from real people, and the execution is messily perfect, in a way that reflects the subject matter. It is a truly empathetic take on what it means to be human and what love means to different people. Each chapter was a different snapshot into a person's life and that person's experience of love, and every single one of them felt truly genuine. I really felt like I was sitting there in the...

Love is strangers fearlessly sharing their stories with the world. Love is a book that opens up your heart, calling you to reconsider and reflect all of your own greatest love stories. Love is when a writer uses only 26 letters crafted into thousands of different words, to enamour hearts and make us feel full again.

In the best possible way, nothing has ever made me cry as much as this book. Trent, thank you.

Love Stories is the book I never knew I needed until I started to read it. There’s a television series on Amazon Prime called Modern Love, stories of love based on an essay series that originally appeared in the NY Times. Real love stories written by real people. I feel like Trent Dalton has given us an Australian version of this all wrapped up in a gorgeous rose-coloured cloth bound gold embossed book that reads as beautifully as it looks.I can’t tell you how cathartic reading this book has bee...

Speed dating version of love. Lots of stories but not much depth. Some tales I thought were interesting and were going to go deeper never went anywhere.So many stories but no real substance. Like eating a Hungry Jacks meal. Still waiting for the your hunger to be satisfied or to chew on something with a bit of substance.I like Trent but this was just too sentimental and soppy with no real depth. I still don't understand love.