I Hate Everyone, Except You

If you are looking for a tell-all memoir about all the salacious gossip and scandal that went on behind the scenes of What Not To Where, alas, this is not it. Instead, the author recounts silly stories from his life, and a few choice pieces of creative writing. This book is charming and hilarious. The author's tone is brilliantly fresh and familiar. Reading this book provides an immersive experience of trading rumors with a life-long friend. Whether you know who Clinton Kelly is or not, you will not regret picking up this book.

Meh. I really thought I would enjoy this a lot. I grew up listening to Clinton, I enjoy watching The Chew when I have the opportunity and I really like their cookbooks. I like the drinks he suggests. I think he’s funny and I generally agree what he has to say. Therefore, I should like I Hate Everyone, Except You. Except not.

I don’t know what exactly I was expecting of Clinton, but this was not it. My overall reaction was of blase, noncommittal feelings of meh. Just meh. In continuing my listening to celebrity books as read by celebrities (up next is Drew Barrymore), I can say that from an audiobook standpoint, Clinton does a very good job reading his own work. I think the problem for me came from absolutely not carrying about the show more subject of each chapter and I found myself actively liking him less and less.

I would think, as a celebrity writing a book, you would want to accomplish at least two things: a, give the reader an insight into your everyday life, and b, relate to people and (hopefully) come across as a down to earth human being. Clinton Kelly definitely gives the reader the former but really falls flat on the latter – quite often, he just comes across as pompous and entitled. Maybe, in reading more closely into the title, that was the point? What I don’t know, as I often reflect on when listening to a book, is if the reading of it affected my perception of the content. Are books meant strictly to be read? Is the interpretation one gets from reading the real one and is automatically distorted when translated into audio? This is the question I’ve asked myself repeatedly this year, and one that I may never have a straight answer to.

Overall, I could do without this book. There were moments of brevity which I appreciated, none of his stories dragged on as other celebrity memoirs seem to do, and there were moments when I smiled, but overall, I feel like it was a dud. show less

I want to get the one thing that bothered me off my chest right at the start - Mr. Kelly has a huge error in his book that I am very surprised an editor did not catch and correct. "Damon and I were walking through the immaculately groomed gardens of the Tuileries when our phones started to blow up. I was June 26, 2015, and the US Supreme Court had just ruled that same-sex couples were entitled to all the benefits of marriage on a federal level." Wrong! The Defense of Marriage Act was overturned on June 26, 2013. Go ahead. look it up. I'll wait.... I know this date so well because it is also the date my father died.

Aside from that one error, I found to book to be funny and interesting. I would have liked more. Most of the chapters are show more episodes of Mr. Kelly's life - how he and his husband got together, how he ended up on What Not to Wear, a little about his teenage years. He also includes his fantasy sit-com script for a series about a What Not to Wear type of show.

I love that he and I both believe everyone should be required to work in food service at some point in their lives. I actually think required time in either food service or retail would make everyone a better customer. Mr. Kelly is a talented write - he made me laugh out loud a lot. He is one of the people I would most love to attend a party with. His observations are witty and sometimes a bit bitchy. We feel the same way about Paula (I'll eat a stick of butter) Deen. Just my kind of person.

I received a free copy of this book as a Goodreads Giveaway in return for my honest review. show less

When I saw this book come up on NetGalley, I knew I needed to check it out. I know Clinton Kelly from his time on What Not to Wear. I do know that he hosts/cohosts The Chew — a show I’ve never actually watched so I’m not really sure what it is about exactly — and I was curious about what he had to say.

When I saw that these were essays, I was hoping to learn more about his time on What Not to Wear. This memoir consists of 16 different essays, ranging from him growing up, friendships, relationships, some humorous porn-related anecdotes, and yes, a little bit on What Not to Wear. While I do not feel Kelly was overly rude in his discussions of this show, he was honest. While he did the show — and appears to have formed some sort show more of friendships with some of the contestants who had been on the show — he was not a fan of the show. It was interesting to take a different look at the show, as not a viewer, but instead someone working on it.

The majority of this was funny and interesting. I read the last 75% of the book over a 24 hour period. Kelly comes across as very intelligent; his writing style is nice and he has a good way of telling stories.

I will say, though, I almost did not finish this book.

The very first essay, “Kamikaze”, discusses him as a teenager and wanting to go to the water park he had seen advertised on TV. He states that the children and teens in the commercial all looked cool, thus him going to the waterpark would make him cool. After he spends lots of time getting the family on board, they go. And he realizes quickly that this water park is not cool. When discussing the negatives of the park, there was quite a bit of body shaming. And I’ll just be honest — it caught me off guard.

Yes, as stated, I know very little about Kelly, other than the persona he had while co-hosting a fashion reality TV show. I know that he is snarky, sassy, all of that. But I also know that he was supportive of those women who were not stick thin. And it made me wonder — was that all fake?

I took myself away from the book and really looked at it. Especially after reading a couple of the other essays, I had to realize — this was written from the perspective of a thirteen year old boy. Of course he would think those things. It doesn’t make it right, but it was truthful.

And that is one thing I liked about these stories. I do not feel that Kelly had any sort of facade in front of him. He chose these stories, some of them I’m sure would be incredibly surprising to a lot of his fans, and he let us into his mind while these were occurring. He doesn’t offer apologies for who he was, but he shows us in the more recent stories the ways he has grown. I think that really added to the story telling.

Overall, once I got over the kind of shock of the first story, I was able to sit down and enjoy the rest. I think anyone who enjoys memoirs — and doesn’t mind some occasional discussion of sexual activities and drug usage — could find some enjoyment in this book. As I said before, this is incredibly well written and the stories are a great range of different topics. show less

I enjoyed this book more than I expected I would. I've seen Clinton Kelly on What Not to Wear and appreciated his humor and snark about fashion balanced with kindness toward contributors' insecurities, as well as the seemingly authentic friendship with Stacy London in later seasons, so I was expecting light, enjoyable reading to relax with at the end of the day. I Hate Everyone Except You was that but it also revealed Kelly as vulnerable, compassionate, and even funnier. Recommended.

*Disclosure - I received a free copy from NetGalley.

I liked Clinton on "What Not to Wear," and now on "The Chew." I think maybe I shouldn't have read this book because it's TMI for me, though it could have been worse. I just wish he didn't use all the language. (Can't books be like TV or movies and have a rating.) There were parts I did like, especially about "What Not to Wear." I suppose he can't really talk about "The Chew," unless it goes off the air, but I hope it doesn't.