Right off the bat I will say: while it isn't required to read to enjoy this book, I definitely recommend reading The Bookish Life of Nina Hill before diving into this one. You won't be too lost if you don't, but you will definitely encounter some spoilers for that one if you read this one first, so I just wanted to make sure to mention that lol. Now that I've gotten than PSA out of the way, this was so lovely!! This one had a very similar vibe to Nina Hill, and it honestly makes me hope that Abbi Waxman continues to publish more and more books following the bevy of side characters we meet in this series (???? I don't see that this is being marketed as a series but it *feels* like a series lol) because they're all so dynamic and interesting in their own rights. Anyway tldr: this book was a delight and I definitely recommend checking it out if you're interested in reading a delightful little Los Angeles-based story of love and found family!

CW: fire, car accidents, ptsd, panic attacks, earthquakes, disordered eating, alcoholism, driving anxiety

Loved seeing Nina and the cast come back and the bookstore setting was perfect. I didn’t like that it felt like it dragged. Cute story but just ok without much going on.

Adult Assembly Required is the newest book by Abbi Waxman set in the same “world” as The Bookish Life of Nina Hill, which I loved! I loved seeing a cameo appearance of Nina and some of the other zany characters, but it can easily be read as a standalone. The writing was funny and quirky, but I found the story overall to be very slow moving. The found family and romance were so sweet and overall it was a cute story, but just not my favorite.

Read if you like:
-The Bookish Life of Nina Hill
-Found family
-Cohousing situations
-Gardens
-Trivia nights
-Quirky characters

Thank you so much Berkley Romance and Netgalley for my gifted copy!

I really enjoyed Abbi Waxman's writing. I loved all of the characters and the rebuilding story they were each having while living in a house together in California.

This is a quick read and worth your time. I will be looking for more books by Abbi to read!

In ADULT ASSEMBLY REQUIRED, Abbi Waxman returns to the universe of Nina Hill. Laura Costello, a New Yorker, moves to Los Angeles for graduate school in preparation to become a physical therapist. Only weeks after her arrival, she loses her apartment—and all her belongings—when her building catches fire.

In a state of disbelief, Laura wanders into Nina’s bookstore where the flamboyant, idiosyncratic Polly staffs the register. Polly takes Laura under her wing, bringing her into the informal, possibly illegal, boarding house run by Maggie, a retired psychologist.

As much as Laura wants to succeed in her new life in LA, she is haunted by a traumatic accident in her past and dogged by her family’s expectations that she become an academic. Her ex-fiancé won’t leave her alone, either, and seems to be in collusion with her mother to entice her back to the East coast. At her lowest moments, she considers moving back in with her parents. But her new friendships, a place on Nina’s trivia team, an a growing flirtation with “Ridiculously Good-looking” Bob give Los Angeles the feeling of home. To get what she really wants though, she has to confront her deepest fear.

Reading this was a comfortable return to a favorite setting with endearing new characters—including Daisy the pug! While the book has a wry sense of humor, it also seriously addresses mental health. I loved how Bob was protective of Laura and how Laura brought Bob out of his shell.

What a comforting hug in book form! While you could certainly read this as a stand-alone - I HIGHLY recommend reading Garden of Small Beginnings and The Bookish Life of Nina Hill. I’m not sure how but going in I didn’t realize it would be in the same world and I was absolutely DELIGHTED to be back in a world of so many familiar faces.

There are times I thought the story could have used a little more conflict but know what? There’s plenty of conflict in the world right now - I can be very happy with a cozy retreat into a book with a bunch of characters I adore. Highly recommend.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance reading copy. I also bought myself the audiobook.

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill is one of my very favorite books - and actually, I think it was my first #bookstagrammademedoit read way back in 2019. I was thrilled to receive a free #gifted copy of the newest book by @abbiwaxman, Adult Assembly Required, from @berkleypub - and Nina is one of the characters!

Nina’s quirkiness is matched with a slew of other fun friends, as we read about Laura, an LA transplant from NYC. After only living in LA for a week, her apartment catches fire, and she finds herself homeless. That is, until she stumbles into Nina’s bookstore and meets Nina and Polly. Polly invites Laura to move into the house she’s living in, and once Laura meets the landlady, she’s sold. Between her new friends and housemates (including Impossibly Handsome Bob), the trivia team she gets kind of forced into joining, grad school, and a new sense of independence from her controlling family and ex-fiancé, Laura pieces her new life together.

I really enjoyed this book, especially seeing Nina again since she’s one of my favorites. Polly and Maggie are both fantastic too, and even the dog and cat are endearing!

Another aspect of this book that I appreciated was the focus on mental health. Laura has anxiety and PTSD from a car accident she was in, and I liked how realistically it was described both as Laura is dealing with it and her journey to get help and recover.

I love Abbi Waxman’s books. I love the humor, the friendships, and sentimentality, all topped off with references that send me down Google rabbit holes.

Adult Assembly Required is women’s fiction, with a bit of romance, centering on adult connections. Their foibles and quirks, how they look out for each other, and how to heal. You will meet many people, but don’t worry, each has their distinct voice. The best part, you get to revisit those who have appeared in previous books.

Abbi Waxman seems to be one of my go-to authors. She always touches the right cord without being too much in any specific direction. You feel the presence of every character, and when they are missing for a few pages, you wonder where they are and if they are finding their happiness.

I hope to see a couple of the characters again since I know they have more stories to tell, and I want to be front and center to hear them all.

Quirky characters, a dash of romance, and such a fun and easy read!

This was the perfect palate cleanser book full of humor and heart that touches on PTSD while maintaining a lighthearted tone in the book.

With a full cast of characters, she seamlessly transitioned POV’s between all the characters which gave more insight into what they were thinking!

My first book by Abbi Waxman, and I’m so excited to read more by her!

If you’re looking for a heartwarming and uplifting book full of starting over and second chances, this is the one for you!

Thank you to @netgalley and @berkleypub for the ARC in exchange for an honest review! ✨

In Adult Assembly Required, we return to the LA-set world of The Bookish Life of Nina Hill. There are trivia nights, bookstore visits, and shenanigans with Nina, Polly, and their friends. Newcomer Laura gets adopted into the group. She has just moved to town for a grad program in physical therapy (basically slumming it, according to her professor parents). When she loses her apartment to a fire, Polly comes to the rescue with a room in an eccentric house share. Her new neighbors include Impossibly Handsome Bob, the movie-star-looking but unassuming gardener who loves animals and seems quite taken with Laura.

Nothing enormous happens in this book. It's a story of a group of people dealing with the big and small trials of life, finding your own path, and making connections with one another. The third person omniscient narration was a little jarring at first, but it was helpful at times to see what everyone was thinking (even, occasionally, the pets). A warm and charming story.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC to review. All opinions are my own.

This was so well written. I was hooked from the first page and it ticked all the boxes of my expectations . I would definitely recommend to others.

A wonderful, character-driven story about a woman's journey of self-discovery.

Laura left everything behind and moved to Los Angeles because there was nothing but painful memories and trauma left to keep her company.

She loves her job in the cozy, eclectic bookstore. She's learning to open herself up again to an amazing group of friends. The only thunder cloud on the horizon is her ex's persistent wooing. She feels herself caving in, willing to fall again into the easy relationship. Willing to once again forget who she is and what she needs and wants.

And then she rents a room in a house full of eccentric characters. The joy and camaraderie is like a balm to her soul. One of her housemates just happens to be an enigmatic, gorgeous gardener. He's a wonderful listener, a romantic at heart, and someone who has secret pain of his own.

The evolution of the relationship between Laura the Bookstore Clerk and Bob the Gardner was sweet and tender and funny. It pulled at my heart strings and made me want to hug them both!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book! I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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.

This book made me so happy to read. It's smart, witty, heartfelt and inspiring. The characters were easy to fall in love with and I found myself so immersed in the lives of these fictional characters, so much so that I would love to be a part of this fictional world.


Thank you #Netgalley for an early read of #AdultAssemblyRequired

This book is filled with the best, quirkiest characters, people I’d want to be friends with in real life. If I were young and single, I’d want to live in a shared house exactly like the one Laura finds.

Laura relocates to LA from NYC for grad school. She’s been in a terrible accident and is feeling especially fragile. After a few mishaps in her new hometown, she unexpectedly finds herself adopted by new friends and a new place to live. I love stories about self discovery and this book does that really well.

I’m a relatively new fan of romcoms and this one is exactly what I like: fun, interesting characters, light but not complete fluff, tackles some serious issues (here mental health, addiction), and a fun, sweet romance.

If you’ve read other books by Abbi Waxman, I understand you’ll recognize a few characters in this book. Because of that, my TBR just grew a bit.

This was a cute little romance. I find romances hard to read unless I am in the right mood so it did take me a little while to read it because I had to wait until the mood struck to read a romance.

In ADULT ASSEMBLY REQUIRED, Abbi Waxman returns to the universe of Nina Hill. Laura Costello, a New Yorker, moves to Los Angeles for graduate school in preparation to become a physical therapist. Only weeks after her arrival, she loses her apartment—and all her belongings—when her building catches fire.

In a state of disbelief, Laura wanders into Nina’s bookstore where the flamboyant, idiosyncratic Polly staffs the register. Polly takes Laura under her wing, bringing her into the informal, possibly illegal, boarding house run by Maggie, a retired psychologist.

As much as Laura wants to succeed in her new life in LA, she is haunted by a traumatic accident in her past and dogged by her family’s expectations that she become an academic. Her ex-fiancé won’t leave her alone, either, and seems to be in collusion with her mother to entice her back to the East coast. At her lowest moments, she considers moving back in with her parents. But her new friendships, a place on Nina’s trivia team, an a growing flirtation with “Ridiculously Good-looking” Bob give Los Angeles the feeling of home. To get what she really wants though, she has to confront her deepest fear.

Reading this was a comfortable return to a favorite setting with endearing new characters—including Daisy the pug! While the book has a wry sense of humor, it also seriously addresses mental health. I loved how Bob was protective of Laura and how Laura brought Bob out of his shell.

My first Abbi Waxman book, and I am seeking out the Nina Hill series now. Enjoyed this light read with enjoyable characters and a storyline that was sympathetic and with sufficient forward momentum. A bookstore and beautiful garden were two of the primary settings, so a winner in my view.

There were moments when the author’s British turn of phrase didn’t ring true for the characters born and raised in New York or California. Curious as to why the editors left this “as is”? I simply found it quirky; not a distraction.

With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for access to the eARC in exchange for this honest review.

Adult Assembly Required is a sort of sequel to The Bookish Life of Nina Hill (a book I read and loved when it came out in 2019). Both are set in the same world, and some of the previous novel’s main characters (such as Nina and Polly) play big roles here. At the same time, we also get to meet all-new characters: Laura, Bob, Maggie, and all the other housemates living in Laura’s new home. After adoring Nina Hill, I expected this would be right up my alley, too. Unfortunately, I admit that I struggled with this a bit more. It has its merits, of course, but there were also some elements that didn’t work for me.

To start, the first few chapters of Adult Assembly Required were awkward. The humor was on in full force, and it went beyond that brand of British humor that I sometimes find off-putting. It felt a little too quirky and like it was trying too hard. Maybe I was just in a bad mood, but I found the style of humor to be cringey. The way Laura was introduced was also clunky and vaguely confusing. In all honesty, I nearly gave up on the book right there.

However, I persisted, and from the third or fourth chapter onwards, the book got much better. The humor was generally more toned down from there, so for me it was more tolerable and perhaps more like it had been in The Bookish Life of Nina Hill. Still a bit much at times, but mostly okay.

What I liked most about Adult Assembly Required was the focus on mental health. Laura was in a car accident prior to the events of this novel, and she’s working through PTSD, a fear of driving, and her family’s stigma against therapy. These are sensitive issues, and they’re treated with care here. Charlie and Maggie, in particular, are helpful in Laura’s progress forward. They teach her that it’s okay for her to react or feel as she does; she can process things at her own pace and isn’t weak for it. (Side note: In contrast to her nice new friends, I hated how dismissive Laura’s family is about mental health. Ick.) I love seeing discussions around mental health, and it was a highlight here.

I also enjoyed seeing Laura develop tentative friendships, namely with Charlie, Polly, and Nina. Each of her new friends is very different, but they are all welcoming and kind to her. Each helps Laura grow in some way, yet they also accept her for who she is, too.

Laura’s potential romance with Charlie is cute… but also a bit simple. Both have obvious interest in each other, and all their friends and housemates say so (constantly), and yet somehow neither of them is able to see it or admit to it. It’s a bit frustrating, and it leads to some big gestures that come too late to feel completely impactful. Laura and Charlie make a solid couple, but they could use more sparks.

Another aspect that I both liked and disliked about Adult Assembly Required is the number of side characters and how rich their respective lives are. Perhaps going into this novel thinking Laura is the Main Character is the problem; she’s one of the main characters, but stories revolving around Maggie, Polly, and Asher frequently take up more page time than I had anticipated. I enjoyed their side stories… but also felt that they were a distraction from Laura’s arc. This may be a matter of taste, but for me, I wished the side stories had slightly less attention.

As with The Bookish Life of Nina Hill, Adult Assembly Required features an omnipotent narrator with a strong voice (providing that quirky humor). The narrator randomly flits into different characters’ minds briefly, offering up their thoughts and feelings. This can be fun, but at times it paints these characters as rather simplistic or even childish in some ways. Although this is a novel for adults, the characterization and writing somehow feels like it’s written for children. This may work for you, but I didn’t always love it.

Overall, Adult Assembly Required is good in many respects, though it didn’t connect with me in some ways. It is a lot like The Bookish Life of Nina Hill in terms of style, but perhaps a bit quirkier and looser. For whatever reason, it wasn’t quite what I expected, but was still a pleasant read.

There is some foreshadowing of a possible romance between two characters near the end of this book, and a particular aspect of one of the characters intrigues me. If there is a third book in this series, I may give it a go, even with my markedly different ratings between the first two installments.

Yay to be back in the lives of Nina Hill and her friends! Although it helps to have read The Bookish Life of Nina Hill prior to reading this, it’s definitely not necessary because it focuses on their relationship with a new character so you can read ur as a stand-alone.
Laura has moved from her super controlling and non understanding family in New York to enter grad school in California. After only a week, her apartment burns down and she finds herself spiraling because of so much stress. So when she meets Polly, one of Nina’s bookstore employees, Polly takes her under her wing and finds her a room to rent and brings her into their friend group seamlessly. While there, Laura meets another of the roommates, hunky Bob, the handsome gardener with his own story to tell. Laura is also fresh out of a breakup so she’s not looking to date, but she can’t deny the friendship that is developing between her and Bob. She also struggles with thr aftermath of a serious car accident that has left her still healing and the cause of her wanting to become a physical therapist.
There’s a lot to unpack with these quirky characters and they each help each other grow and spread their wings in their own ways. So much fun and I hope there will be many more stories with these characters.
Thanks to Berkley Books and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.