Adelaide | Genevieve Wheeler
A surprisingly hopeful heroine-who-deserves-better

Adelaide Williams has a lot going for her: smart, cute, a great career ahead. She may be a little chaotic, a bit messy, with a little extra emotional baggage, but she deserves the world. Enter Rory Hughes, the Disney Prince brought to life. There are nights at the theater, moonlit strolls, stolen kisses… when he is good, he is very, very good. Other times, he’s too preoccupied to text back, can’t sleep well when she is around, and life with him is like walking on eggshells. Adelaide knows full well that this is not the love story that she imagined but she can’t help but think that this is the mess that she deserves.

As a current student of Communications, this novel was surprisingly relevant to me. I dove in looking for a love story and ended up with hypothetical examples of many of my course concepts [I was especially floored by the reference to the 36 Questions to Fall in Love as we just covered this in class last week!]. I felt like a total insider and was almost giddy with the gold nuggets scattered throughout. On the flip side, this is much more melancholy fiction than the rest of my recent reading. Coming off the back of sweet and spicy rom-coms, Adelaide hit different. There was a point when all was lost for her and honestly, I thought this was lost for me too. This was so much heavier than the third-act breakups that I am accustomed to. Regardless, Adelaide finds hope that I didn’t see coming – and my heart was glad to see it. I could relate to the notion that one can continue to give and give of themselves with no channel to refuel, but to watch her become increasingly depleted was truly heartbreaking.

In many ways, Adelaide shows us that the price of love is grief, which is fine if you can also find its hope, warmth, and peace – which thankfully, she does, eventually. She leaves us knowing that she is, “… alive and loved and breathing. She’s here. And everything is going to be okay.”

4/5 stars
Massive thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC for review!

4.5⭐
PG for no explicit sexual content but check content warnings for suicidal thoughts, relationship manipulation and mental health challenges

Never trust a man with your heart if he can't be bothered to ensure you safely get home at 2 am in the morning and sends you to a bus stop by yourself. I learned this the hard way in college and Adelaide had to learn this too, among many other challenges she encountered throughout this book.

Genevieve created this beautifully complex character that I think many people will relate to in how easy it is to put yourself in a box and bend over backwards to make a relationship work. This book is so truly human in its exploration of what it truly means to be in a relationship and find a partner in the most vulnerable sense. While at times a little bit slow, I wanted to see Adelaide find her peace in therapy and with her mental health and left this book feeling so satisfied.

If you're looking for a book that will squash your heart a little bit and make you reflect on your own ups and downs of dating, this book will deliver on that in spades.

—a d e l a i d e—⁣
Adelaide is living the dream - a mid twenties American finding herself in London - when she finds charming Brit Rory. The story follows their rocky relationship which is further complicated by tragedy in Rory’s life and delves deeply into the complexities of modern love, grief, healing, and finding yourself. ⁣
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Adelaide was my first 5 star read of 2023. I loved the premise (as someone who spent a chunk of her early and mid twenties in the UK, it resonated!) but what sold me was the writing. I was so hooked on the plot and found myself thinking about Adelaide, Rory, their friends, their story at all times. The book is resolutely honest. It is dark but also beautiful, difficult at moments but so rewarding. ⁣
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Basically, read this. It’s sad and there are some triggers (let me know if you want to know what those are) but I just loved this book through and through. ⁣
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5 easy stars for each of the times I sobbed while reading this. ⁣
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Thank you @stmartinspress @netgalley, and @librofm for my copies. This book is out now and worth checking out!

This is hands down one of the best books I've read.

I read through this story quickly, but I still experienced every single emotion along with the main character, Adelaide. The author did a tremendous job of developing each and every character to where I felt like Adelaide was my friend who I just wanted to hug and tell her it will all be ok. I think many women (or men) will see parts of themselves in her experiences which makes this book so unique and heartfelt.
This book is told from an all knowing third person narrator which I found to be a refreshing and new reading experience. I've seen many discussions about how this book does not use quotation marks, but I did not find this to be distracting or difficult as it was still obvious when things were being spoken.
Thank you, thank you St Martin's Press and NetGalley for this free copy in exchange for my honest review. I am off to purchase my own hardcopy because this author deserves every penny of the cost of this book! 5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the opportunity to read this before pub day on April 18th!

TW: suicide, sexual assault, gaslighting, miscarriage, self-harm, mental health

4.5 stars rounded up to 5 for Goodreads! This book is marketed as a love story, and while it is not a love story in the traditional sense, it is the story of a woman learning to love herself for who she is and realizing she does not have to fit herself into other people’s boxes just to make them happy. It is a powerful, well written story of love, heartbreak, struggle, and grief. It was so poignant to read about Adelaide’s journey and her relationships with others and herself. There were parts I loved, and there were parts I hated, in the sense I hated that the character had to go through what she did. It was hard to read at times, but other times I felt joy and happiness for Adelaide. And the epilogue definitely made me cry 😭 I would recommend this book, but PLEASE be aware of trigger warnings, as there are some dark topics discussed.

💔Heartbreaking, non-reciprocal love😢

This novel grew on me and, unexpectedly, gave me an ending that really pleased. To get there, poor, throws-her-heart-in-everything-she-does Adelaide experiences romance with Rory, a guy who rarely makes an effort once he's hooked her. Most of the story is a succession of bad or indifferent behavior on Rory's part, interspersed with just enough good times to keep Adelaide hoping. It's real life; it's devastating; it's a good story.

Adelaide's gal pals commiserate, comfort and only occasionally offer criticism of Adelaide's toxic relationship. They understand that she is grasping for proof that she can keep a man and that she is worthy and lovable. Their strong bond bolsters Adelaide when she needs it most.

I did find the bouncing from one time period to another in the early parts of the book confusing at first. And at least one instance of timing inconsistency. But, taken as a whole, this was a memorable depiction of life and love for a twenty-something woman building a life in London.

I would say that if you are looking for a heartwarming, upbeat romantic read this is not the right choice. But if you like a story that plays on emotions in all ways, not just romantically, Adelaide brings the highs, the lows and everything in between.

Thanks to St. Martin's and NetGalley for sharing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.

TW: Miscarriage, sexual abuse (in the past), mental health issues and thoughts of suicide.

This book was so amazing and relatable. I am no longer a 20-something, but I felt some powerful feelings while reading this. I went into this thinking it was a romance (not my thing), but wanted to see what the hype was. The characters are well-developed, and I found myself transported to their world, their lives, and their experiences. Most women have had a Rory Hughes in their life, and this book gives you and raw and honest look at what it feels like when your entire existence is so caught up in that one person. This book made me want to give Adelaide a hug, help her find her worth, and make her understand how much she deserves.
Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I found this book a little hard to get into, but then I couldn’t put it down. I think a lot of people will relate to Adelaide, I know I did. I was rooting for her and loved her circle of friends. This book really was great and loved that it was a début and gave me all the feels. Well done.

I might be sliiiightly biased - because I know the author from an online book club & writing group, but this book was beautifully written and amazing. For a debut, I was truly blown away. The writing was immaculate, the characters and setting so well described, and the story was gut wrenching. I felt for Adelaide in my heart throughout every hardship and struggle that she went through and really, just, felt all the sad girl vibes while reading it. I was completely encapsulated by this book and just how unique the story and the writing felt. It was truly, such a good read. 10/10 amazing job by Genevieve. She did great and I'm so so excited for all that's to come for her.

Adelaide Williams is an American living in London when she falls is love with Rory Hughes. She’s gone through life with an “obsessive need to please” and spends her time trying to make herself smaller, lesser. When Rory experiences an unexpected tragedy, Adelaide sacrifices her own needs to be his pillar. Losing herself in the process, she realizes that she’s been pouring from an empty glass. CW: suicidal ideation.

I really enjoyed this book. So much of Adelaide’s experience will be super relatable to many people: overachieving, people pleasing, failing to say no, poor boundary setting, settling for less that she deserves. All of which gradually escalate to a major decline in her mental health. I found her diagnosis and treatment to be very accurate and realistic, which was refreshing. This book would have made the perfect case study back in my grad school days. I really appreciated how Adelaide acknowledges her privilege and her pain simultaneously, recognizing the advantages she has while also feeling validated in her suffering.

Let me preface this by saying this book is heavy. It is about mental illness, abuse and an instance of sexual assault. I know lots of people will find it triggering. I will say that some of the things Adelaide experienced, I too have experienced. It was written with care and done very realistically. This is definitely not a romance, it is more a coming of age story and accepting oneself.

Some of Adelaide’s actions are cringe worthy and I hate to say it but most females have been in the position and reacted in similar ways. We have all dated someone we “liked more” then they “liked us” and it sucks lol I felt “He’s Just Not That Into You” vibes and I wanted to scream at her- “Girl come on!” It just really rang true to the live one leads in their early 20’s.

I did appreciate the honesty in this and even though it isn’t really my style of story, I can see that Wheeler will be one to watch! Thank you to @Netgalley for my advance copy!

Many thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of this wonderful debut novel by Genevieve Wheeler and wonderfully narrated by Caitlin Kelly - 5 stars!

Adelaide is an American living and working in London. When she meets Rory at a bar, she tells him he looks like a Disney Prince. When she runs into him again by chance, she quickly falls in love. But does Rory feel the same way?

I really loved this book - it's an honest look at grief, mental illness, sacrificing and losing yourself for another, the power of friends. Adelaide's character felt very real to me. She's young, in a new place, thinks that if she just tries a bit harder, Rory will love her the way she wants to be loved. I also really liked how the author gave glimpses into the future in her writing style. While there are definitely triggers here, this is an important book but also very readable and enjoyable. I can't wait to read more from this author!

I think this last sentence from the official synopsis sums up the book really well: “With unflinching honesty and heart, this relatable debut from a fresh new voice explores grief and mental health while capturing the timeless nature of what it’s like to be young and in love—with your friends, with your city, and with a person who cannot, will not, love you back.”

In my opinion this book is first and foremost about living with mental illness and struggling with mental health, and second about love, in all it’s forms - platonic and romantic. Adelaide has a wonderful support system that sees her through love, loss, heartbreak, and more. I fell in love with Adelaide and I think you will too.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of Adelaide by Genevieve Wheeler! This book was kind of heavy, but wow, I loved the titular character Adelaide. She was so relatable in so many ways. She was someone I just wanted to squeeze into a big hug so many times. My fondness of Adelaide also translated to a pretty strong dislike of Rory, even though it was clear that he had his own demons he was wrestling with. Maybe a few more chapters from his POV would have helped with that.

My main complaint with the book was really just its formatting. The lack of quotation marks was a bit off putting, and at times a little confusing, though I was able to mostly get used to it by the end of the book. Ultimately, I really appreciated the sensitivity and care the author took with several triggering topics, and how the book wrapped up nicely without feeling fake. 4/5 stars!

Where do I even start with Ms Adelaide Williams. She was one of the most caring and thoughtful characters I have ever read about. I walked away from this book feeling like she and I would be friends which is wild since I'm usually yelling at my books when they're being dumb. Adelaide had her moments of being dumb (like every interaction with Rory) but for some reason I saw myself in her instead of being annoyed.

At 26 Adelaide made very similar mistakes to ones I made. She put so much thought, time, and effort into a relationship that was completely one-sided. Days without hearing from someone just made her more excited to finally hear from them. The smallest compliment or comment made her feel like the sun was shining on her instead of seeing it for the red flag it truly was. At 26 I was so similar to her (although I never had a surprise like she did thank gawd- I would not have been excited the way she was).

Adelaide was more than just a novel about romantic relationships. We saw her put that same loving and thoughtful energy into relationships with her family and friends. She's the type of friend to send you the most thoughtful gift you've ever received. She's the type of friend that will be your pillar when you are going through a tough time. She is the type of person that everyone wants in their life. But she needed to be careful to not choose someone who would abuse that and instead lift her up for it.

I will be thinking about this book for such a long time and really I can't wait to re-read it. The mental health rep that came in at the end was so good and not where I thought the story was headed at all. I was pleasantly surprised by every chapter and every page. I loved seeing Adelaide's life through her eyes and am happy she got her happy ever after (no that's not a spoiler it's me encouraging you to give this book a chance).

Millennial women who love reading about dating, relationships, work, stress, friends, and family will eat this book up. They'll see themselves in either Adelaide or her wonderful friends. Also THANK YOU for writing a book about a 26 year old realistically dating. I cannot with these 18 year old romances anymore. I was truly shocked this was a debut and I can't wait to read what Genevieve writes next.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Genevieve for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. Pub day is April 18th, 2023.

Now, I was skeptical as soon as I heard - I’m feeling suicidal because of a boy. This is the MOST RELATABLE book about a relationship that I have EVER read. I also love the switch to reading about more mature MCs and not all 19-21 year old silly girls. Adelaide falls for a beautiful and charming British boy - who among us hasn’t! It was sometimes painful to read about the situations that Adelaide put herself through. It brought back painful memories of waiting for texts, being stood up, ghosted, etc.
Adelaide as a character was spectacular. We learn about her trauma, and how she has dealt with it - or not; about her family and their history with mental health, and finally we learn how desperately Adelaide wants be strong, successful and loved. Adelaide is not a silly, flitty, whiny, needy, insufferable MC where you can say - k chill out girl. She was so multifaceted and well rounded. For every messy drunk night out, there was a tender moment, a job promotion, a supportive friend. The formative moments of your relationships that inform your future relationships was shocking and stunning.
Basically I am Adelaide. I wish we could all go back and tell ourselves it was going to be ok - that that boy would not matter in the future, even though he felt like the WORLD at the time. The mental illness aspect was done SO WELL. I loved her entire journey, the descriptions of depression, grief, hopelessness, was heartbreaking.

Well, this one broke my soul in ways I haven't experienced in years. A somewhat simple story of a young woman who falls in love with an unreliable young man (a place so many of us have been in life), Wheeler gives the utmost depth to feelings that could instantly be written off as dramatic or unimportant. Adelaide is all of us, and we are all Adelaide in some way. I am a 42 year old married woman with 2 children, but this book reached out and grabbed my heart and transported it back to 25 year old me, and the specific ways I was messy and vulnerable and just trying to figure things out. I wish this review was more coherent, but I'm finding it hard to express and describe how much this book affected me. This one will be on my favorites shelf for a long time to come.

What an amazing debut novel! I am blown away by Genevieve Wheeler and her writing. Adelaide was beautifully heartbreaking. I have not felt this deeply reading a novel in a long time. I was gasping audibly while reading this and cheering for Adelaide the whole way. I loved this novel so much because I think it is easy to see pieces of yourself in Adelaide for every reader. I cannot wait for more from Genevieve! An absolute must-read!

What follows is a distinctly minority opinion.

I have mixed feelings about this book. The main plus was the depiction of the friendships between the main character, the titular Adelaide, and her friends Eloise, Madison and Celeste. There was also a realistic and sensitive treatment of mental illness and suicidal ideation - in fact, the book starts off with a bang, dealing with this topic right off the bat.

But the biggest portion of this story dealt with a rather toxic relationship between Adelaide and Rory. And I just couldn’t stand Rory or understand why Adelaide kept going back to him. I nearly DNF’d the book, but decided to keep going to see what exactly made Adelaide snap and break it off with Rory - or if something else was the reason.

Content warnings: In addition to the previously mentioned suicide ideation, toxic relationship and mental health issues - there is emotional abuse, sexual abuse, miscarriage, death of a young person, death of parents (past), grief

I bounced between the audiobook and the ebook for this title, which was very convenient, as it allowed me to plow through it quickly. The audiobook narrator, Caitlin Kelly, did a good job with the various accents. (Adelaide is American and the story takes place in London, England.)

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book and to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Genevieve Wheeler, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this lovely novel in exchange for an honest review. This book was absolutely amazing and I will be telling everyone I know. In Wheeler's debut novel she perfectly captures the plight of millennial dating and how easy it is to lose yourself trying do hard to love someone else. Adelaide Williams is a 26 year old American living in London who meets Rory Hughes and thinks he has to be the one. He says all the right things and does all the right things and looks like a Disney Prince. But soon a few perfect dates turns into spotty communication and a lack of commitment. Adelaide tries to balance finishing school, building her career, supporting her friends, all while falling in love with a boy who can't refuses to do the same but won't let her go either.

I think this book does a great job of describing a relationship with THAT GUY. Almost every woman I know has a story of a man that strung her along, that was perfect one moment and gone the next. It is so easy to lose yourself trying to re-spark that perfection and Wheeler captures that feeling perfectly. This book is a rollercoaster of emotions but I think it will be incredibly cathartic (and very needed) for its intended audience.