All I Know Now - Carrie Hope Fletcher

As I cannot string a comprehensible sentence about how *the most positive adjective ever here* this book is, I am nervous I will not do this book and my feelings towards this book justice with the ramblings of an excited blogger. So, just in case this is how this review goes, All I Know Now is the kind of fabbyawesomefriendlyhelpful book that oozes warm hugs and the most sincere charm. Carrie Hope Fletcher - singer, actress, vlogger, blogger - extends her what-I-imagine full to the brim, beautifully bright CV to a writer too. And an awesome one at that. *Pretends I can write with authority when I am jumping around with toddler hyperness.*

*Takes a deep breath, composes self and sets fingers gently on keypad.*

All I Know Now reflects on Carrie's experiences growing up, as well as stories from very recently. It seeks to present situations which we may be familiar with (a lot of them I related to in some way!) in the hope to find comfort and/or guidance in them. I can see easily how this book will guide and help many. It made me reflect on past situations and see what I did well and what I could have done better, thereby guiding future me in tricky situations. I think All I Know Now is a refreshing type of book. I adored reading about Carrie's stories whilst she makes the point of the story very clear; reading her thoughts and understanding the conclusions she comes to about friendships, love and the future (among many other topics too) was simply readable.

Not only is this book a beautifully honest re-telling of stories (where Carrie is not ignorant to the stories she feels responsible for causing some kind of trouble in), the book (inside and out) is so gorgeous. I have followed Carrie's journey since the start of her YouTube and if the lovely picture of her wasn't on the front, I would see this book and its brightness and positivity and think, Carrie. This book just looks like Carrie. With purple and yellow being the colour scheme, I just felt happy looking at and reading this book. That Carrie illustrates the book herself easily tells us of her hard-work and her motivation making this book. It's so admirable. She has the work ethic I hope I have; the kind of attitude I hope I have. And just in case I don't, I aspire to it; I am working towards it.























I am 19 years old and although the predominant audience in mind may be eversoslightly younger than me, it is so clear that All I Know Now doesn't have an exclusive audience. Carrie's wisdom (gosh, I nearly posted this as "wiseness"- clearly I do not have her wiseness) is easy to indulge in. And why is that? Because we all have stories to share, with outcomes to learn from. And Carrie pieces hers together in such a sophisticated way that I can't imagine one person that wouldn't benefit from this book.

Hearing how different kinds of voices are portrayed in books - be it a non-fiction or a fiction book - always intrigues me when reading. The voice Carrie tells her stories in is one that made reading the book "bright" (if this adjective was appropriate in this circumstance). Friendly, bubbly and honest, Carrie's voice is calming and encouraging, making her suggestions and guidance completely lovely. Her voice shows how pretty and positive her heart is. Of course I don't know her personally, but I adore the person she portrays herself as, and read the book,

With all of my heart, I wish her such a beautiful life. I understand that I do not know her, but Carrie is the type of person I would love to know; the kind of person I seek support from in my own life.

(I am hoping I am allowed to put pictures of inside her novel into the post... Look how pretty her book is!)

What I learnt, as a 19 year old who has learnt a lot of life lessons but no where near all, from this novel is this: Everybody makes mistakes that can be fixed. I was further boosted to "do" (if you will), if I want something. Carrie encouraged me to be honest when someone has done me wrong somehow. To use my words. To move on. To love and enjoy my life.

Carrie's book is warm and comforting to read, yet bubbly, promising and exciting. All I Know Now is a book I recommned to, well, everyone.

Links to places you can find this delightful book:
Amazon
Waterstones
WHSmith

Purple & Yellow,

The Girl in the Moonlight.

P.S. If you want to check out other Carrie-related things, here I have left some links to my favourite performances/songs of Carrie's.
I've Gotta Run
Pulled
Guess We'll Never Know
Together

P.P.S. If you're interested I have a series called Carrie Says on my blog where I review books Carrie has spoken about in her videos. You can read about that HERE! HERE is my latest review for it!

All I Know Now

I wait and will wait every Sunday eagerly for Carrie Hope Fletcher's new blog post on alliknownow.com and I thought that in response to her posts - that I've related to an unbelievable amount - that I'd write my own little sum up of things that I know now that I wish I did six years ago for the stretch of teenage squabbles and mishaps ahead of me.

I wish that I had known that teachers do sometimes get it wrong because that would have made me less angry. I used to get so wound up when a teacher would be overly rude to a kid that genuinely didn't deserve it. If a teacher flipped out because a kid was cocky or rude or naughty, then fair play, but sometimes teachers did get it wrong. Your option may be to complain and this may work, but in my school, despite how much I loved my school and I know I was lucky be in such a lovely place, complaints didn't normally result in a genuine, good outcome. I wish I could have accepted that teachers can be out of order and sometimes, there's no point in getting red-in-the-face about it (unless, of course, it was incredibly bad). Also, teachers don't always listen and automatically assume that they're right. I've been in arguments (not in a sassy-school-kid kind of way, just to get some... "constructive criticism" across!) with teachers because I felt like they said something out of line but every time, I would have been the aggressive school kid just wanting to cause a scene - that really wasn't what it was! I wish I'd have known sometimes to just give up. Sometimes, there was no getting past what they thought was correct and what I knew to be wrong.

I feel like I shouldn't have worried so much about non-school uniform day. Every Thursday night before that Friday once a term I would stare at my wardrobe: "I have nothing to wear....I have nothing to wear!". Ultimately, my friends, no one cared. Everyone else was so caught up in what they were wearing that no one took notice of my new skinny jeans or how I'd worn that top to the cinema with people from school before. We were all in the same shoes, so to speak.

I think that you should let people know when you're upset, allow yourself to realise that your best friend isn't your best friend anymore, that he/she's not who you thought but don't get caught up in arguments that you don't need to. The tiffs that spark over the years of secondary school can be avoided: so avoid them! I think I did well in this and it made me all the more happier! When it comes to not seeing a certain friend or group as much as you used to and you're thinking "well, I wait for her to do something about it", this may not be the right solution. You're preaching one thing and not following it too! You can make an effort too - if you want to see them, that is. Maybe more importantly, I learnt that people change and you don't have to.

I'm in college now and have learnt that you're never going to stop learning sad truths about life. The biggest thing I've learnt is that you're always going to come across mean people; people who don't see past the person staring back at them in their own reflection and people who knock you down for no reason. I've learnt not to get bogged down on little things because of this and know that some people and their actions just aren't worth the time of day. There are always going to be mean people but this does not mean that you need to dread them coming into your life. They suck, you're awesome. End of story.

What I didn't realise and appreciate in my school years was that the memories I was making are some of my treasured memories that make me smile. From this I have learnt to not make days negative by a single event when they were otherwise fantastic.

Pens & Pencils,

The Girl in the Moonlight.