The Her Campus National Editors write about products we love and think you’ll love too. Her Campus has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase. All products are in stock and all prices are accurate as of publication.
The name on everybody’s lips is gonna be Eli.
Two time best-selling author, theatre kid, essayist, sweetie and lover Eli Rallo, artfully crafts a perfect exposé of the vortex we call our twenties.
Rallo is a graduate of the University of Michigan’s School of Theater, Music and Dance, and the Columbia School of Journalism where she fostered her love for writing, as well as content creation. With a following of a combined 1.3 million on Tik Tok and Instagram, she has cultivated a media and literature empire. Within the last month, her debut book, I Didn’t Know I Needed This, reached the USA Today bestseller list, as well as her second essay collection, Does Anyone Else Feel This Way?, which reached both the USA Today and New York Times bestseller lists within its first week. She is also the founder and host of her book club on Patreon titled “Prose Hoes Literary Salon” of which I am a proud member.
As an avid reader of both novels and essay collections, I can confidently say I have never read work like Eli’s. Her first book changed my life when I first picked it up during my sophomore year of college, and has since served as my personal scripture, often leaving me asking WWED (what would Eli do?).
I Didn’t Know I Needed This is for the girls with an attachment to Hinge, a desperation to feel loved and accepted, and the tumultuous time period of living on your own for the first time. Rallo threads these themes together through guided ‘How-To’ lists, sex advice, deep confessions regarding her past relationships and the uncomfortable intersection of self-love and fitting into a societal mold.
Does Anyone Else Feel This Way? is for the girls with no idea what they’re doing. For those with a hundred impressive accolades but still feel far behind the curve. This collection dives headfirst into love, passion, pain, lust and the loss of self that often comes post-grad. Most importantly, for me personally, the girls who are currently pursuing a career in the arts, who deeply resonate with the pain that comes with untamed, innate passion.
Eli Rallo’s conglomerate is built upon one thing: community. She is the big sister you’ve never had and the best friend you need in times of darkness, while simultaneously penning it all with a gorgeous ferocity.
If you’re looking for the real Carrie Bradshaw, you will find her in Eli Rallo.
Here is an excerpt from Does Anyone Else Feel This Way? for those interested:
“This book is my ode to the unspoken loneliness of our twenties, even when we are surrounded by our friends at a party we do actually want to be at. This book is a love letter to feeling stuck, lost, unmoored, and untethered as people in adulthood who felt forgotten in childhood, confused when it all changed around us. This book is for the overextended, the afraid, the unsure, the ready, the fearless twentysomething or thirtysomething or beyond. This book seeks to answer the question: Will we ever have it all figured out?” (Rallo, xiii)
Above all, Rallo is a genuinely good person, with correct opinions, fabulous taste in the arts and an affinity for wine and a good conversation. The loneliness of my twenties has been mitigated by her conversational, entertaining and educated writing style. Somehow, she has put every emotion I’ve ever felt into a beautiful, lyrical mess that pulls you in and keeps you afloat.
Currently, she is working on her first fiction novel, I Hope Eden Reads This, so please keep your eyes out for its Spring 2027 release.
SHOP: I DIDN’T KNOW I NEEDED THIS
SHOP: DOES ANYONE ELSE FEEL THIS WAY?