Adult Assembly Required
By: Abbi Waxman
Published Year: 2022
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 400
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this book.
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): When Laura Costello moves to Los Angeles, trying to escape an overprotective family and the haunting memories of a terrible accident, she doesn’t expect to be homeless after a week. (She’s pretty sure she didn’t start that fire — right?) She also doesn't expect to find herself adopted by a rogue bookseller, installed in a lovely but completely illegal boardinghouse, or challenged to save a losing trivia team from ignominy… but that’s what happens. Add a regretful landlady, a gorgeous housemate and an ex-boyfriend determined to put himself back in the running and you’ll see why Laura isn’t really sure she’s cut out for this adulting thing. Luckily for her, her new friends Nina, Polly and Impossibly Handsome Bob aren't sure either, but maybe if they put their heads (and hearts) together they’ll be able to make it work for them.
First Impressions
I always enjoy Waxman’s books and enjoyed The Bookish Life of Nina Hill. When I saw this book was going to go back into Nina’s world, I was intrigued. This cover to me is a bit meh. It’s not bad but it’s not eye catching.
What I thought
I felt the same way about this book as I did about my first impression of the cover.
Laura has moved across the country from New York to California to go to grad school. When within the first week of her moving her apartment burns down, she wanders into a book store and finds herself pulled into Polly and Nina’s world.
My biggest issue with this book was that I found it very repetitive and nothing seemed to happen. I liked all of the characters and I loved reuniting with older ones, but the story overall was a miss for me.
Two years prior to moving to California, Laura was in a horrible car accident which has caused her to have panic attacks. As a result, she does not currently drive and even struggles to be inside of a car. When she finds herself homeless, she’s lucky to run into Polly who lives in a house with 4 (sort of 5) other roommates. Luckily, one of the rooms recently opened up and when she moves in she’s immediately attracted to another one of the residents, Bob.
One thing that threw me off with this story was that it would randomly and briefly change perspectives. For example, sometimes mid-scene we would get Polly’s perspective, that of the cat’s, or even Bob’s. Even though it was mostly Laura’s story, I feel like these switches in perspective, rather than filling out the story, made it feel like it was less than. I didn’t feel like it was truly Laura’s story but instead, every one else’s equally with Laura just being the most common perspective taker.
I also got a little irritated by how flippant Laura seemed about her trauma and mental health. She was willing to spill about how terrible her accident was immediately and without care, but then also didn’t want to burden anyone with her panic attacks. I also was a bit thrown off with how easily everything was fixed. We were told in passing that she had started to go to a therapist and then that was it.
The characters in this book were the saving grace. The story was a bit of a nothing and I don’t feel like I know any more about these people than before I started. It falls oddly between a romance and a contemporary fiction without quite enough from either category. While I enjoyed it while I read it (minus the repetitiveness and the naiveté of Laura and Bob), the longer I sit with it the more it kind of drives me nuts. Waxman has other, much better written novels, so I recommend looking into those rather than this one.