Heavy and heartbreaking, Adelaide is a millennial (could it be considered love?) story about a 20 something American girl who falls in love with an attractive Englishman while living in England in a work visa. There are so many trigger warnings within this book (suicide, sexual abuse, mental disorder, etc. etc. etc.) but one of the biggest issues is that this is not a romance book. Far from it, actually. I wouldn’t even say this is considered chic lit. It’s women’s fiction, but it’s heavy, I-can’t-believe-she’s-putting-up-with-that, drop-him-now type of story. Of any themes, I feel that this is more of a book about friendship and perhaps growing, but certainly not the typical romance novel. I feel like I went on a very, very emotional rollercoaster and now I’m stepping off like “wow, that was more intense than I expected.” Adelaide is a raw and emotional story that probably many will relate to in one way or another, but though it is truly funny, this is not a happily ever after type of rom com book.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review.

3.75 stars!

If you enjoy reading Sally Rooney, I think this may be another book for you — Adelaide isn’t a regular romance novel, more so a novel about romance. It deals with the repercussions of all encompassing love, when love takes over you completely and trying so hard to make someone love you when you know deep deep down that they don’t.

This relationship is often back and forth, frustrating, and miserable to read about. It is very real and relatable and heartbreaking. Countless times I wanted to strangle the male main character. But that’s what made this an interesting read. It’s refreshing to read something this, unfortunately, realistic. Especially after reading countless romance novels that make love seem so easy.

Adelaide gives so much time, effort, and love into someone who doesn’t reciprocate it. But she still puts her heart into it every time, despite how he acts.

I wouldn’t say this is a favorite book of all time, but I really liked it. And respectfully, I really hated the covid mention. I just don’t want to read about that in any book no matter how briefly it’s mentioned!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC. Adelaide comes out April 18th, 2023, hopefully you all are able to get your hands on it!

Very excited to have received an ARC of Genevieve Wheeler's debut. Adelaide was so so well written. This is not a romance, but it is a story about love. Unrequited, messy, heart-wrenching, emotional love. This is probably the truest representation of dating in your 20s, tbh. On top of the love story, this book gives a true picture of friendship and how much meaningful friendships can impact your life. I wanted to highlight just about every page. The prose was beautiful and thought provoking.

I would absolutely recommend Adelaide to anyone and everyone.

What a very real-feeling story. Adelaide is a caring, romantic young woman who falls for a man who, I presume, will evoke a lot of hate from readers.
This was a great story, It was interesting, I cared for Adelaide… very well written. Highly recommend.

Oh wow. I finished this book and sat. I had to dial my emotions in and tell myself it’s fictional. It’s not real. You can’t get yourself wrapped up like this on a book. But it didn’t work. Because the next day I was sharing it with someone and while telling the story of Adelaide I kept saying, “I mean I know it’s a book but…”

Adelaide is trying to find herself. She is you. She is me. She is pain. She is mental illness. I think I’ll always remember this book because it resonates with life. You know an Adelaide, may be an Adelaide. You know a Rory… want to strangle a Rory… but can’t because you love a Rory. This book is just a beautiful depiction of everyday life. You can’t talk negatively about any of the characters because you know why they are the way they are and you want so badly to see them realize “all the things.”

I’ll recommend this book for sure. It truly moved my heart and had my emotions all kings of jacked up. That’s great storytelling and Wheeler nails it with this book.

Five amazingly beautiful stars for Adelaide! I felt joy, heartache, frustration, and all the emotions reading this, which is a testament to the author's great writing style. What a fantastic novel that I absorbed like a sponge; it's truly a millennial love story that hit too close to home at times. I will happily recommend this to all my friends and look out for anything else Genevieve Wheeler writes. Grateful for the ARC from St Martin's Press/Netgalley <3

First thing I wish I would’ve known before reading is check the trigger warning for this.
A couple are suicide, rape, miscarriage, and toxic relationship.
I did like this a lot and I would recommend this book to so many people but just with the warning of how triggering and emotional this book can be. I did have to stop for a couple days and mentally prepare myself for the fact that this book triggers a lot of feelings for me and I definitely would warn people that they need to be in like the right headspace to take on this story. I feel like I was definitely able to relate to the character to a certain point which could explain why it was so triggering. It’s been a couple days since I finished and I am still processing this book.

Thank you to NetGalley the author and St Martin’s press for for trusting me with this arc.

I have a lot of feelings about this one. In short, it was simply not for me. This story is described as a 'timeless love story' and categorized as a romance on goodreads, and on that I would strongly disagree. The blurb does not make it sound like sunshine and rainbows, and that would be fine... but the 'romantic' relationships featured in this story for Adelaide were anything but healthy and loving relationships. Ever. At any time. Until the end, and we get truly next to nothing on that. The writing style itself is also difficult to read with abruptly changing POV's. I wasn't connected to the story, and in the end, I'm left feeling heavy. Which is not what I expected or hoped for going into this book. And while I suspect this is based on real life, that some will relate to, there was no preparation for how heavy and non-romantic this book would be, for me, a romance reader.

I'm not saying this is a terrible book. There is an audience for this book. The friendship element alone is well done. What I'm saying is that this is a heavy contemporary fiction read that touches on tough subject matter including (but not limited to) mental health, suicide, emotional and sexual abuse, rape, miscarriage and toxic relationships, that you should be prepared to read. It is just NOT a romantic story in my opinion. And, I would caution other romance readers going into this, thinking it is so.

* I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own and given freely.

I was not sure how I was going to feel about this book at first, but I was thoroughly surprised and I really enjoyed it! This isn’t my usual cup of tea, but I am so glad I gave it a chance. I have seen a few of my Goodreads friends starting this too recently and cannot wait for everyone to love it like I did! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Adelaide is the epitome of someone with such a loving and generous heart as she truly wants to help others, that she forgets the wonderful person that she is without the approval of others. She loves others such as Eloise and Celeste so much, that she doesn't know how to love herself in an equal ferocity. One action that stood out to me waa giving the homeless man a scratch off card and bottle of water. To him, she is an angel. However, in spreading herself so thin and relying on others reiteration of value,.it was sad to watch her deterioration. Obviously, mental illness came into play of which I highly commend the author of really bringing such traits to life. I agree that one should love fearlessly, unselfishly, and with intention. I am just so.glad that with Bubs, she remembered how to live.

I enjoyed this millennial love story. I related to a great deal of the painful events, which was a little depressing. Overall, still a good read!

This kind of book is exactly my kind of book. I saw a book club “influencer” post about it and it is the fastest I have ever went to netgalley. Due to spoilers I don’t want to name them specifically but there are a few trigger warnings for this book you may want to look into if you research or avoid certain ones.

This book is described as a complicated millennial love story about a 20-something American, Adelaide, living in London. She’s not looking for “the one” but ends up meeting Rory and falls completely in love. Goodreads calls it “timeless” and I so agree. I was obsessed from first chapter and was sending the synopsis to people I knew immediately. This will most likely be one I end up purchasing for myself and gifting to a couple people I know. I hope it gets the praise it deserves. I can’t believe this is a debut. I will automatically read whatever is next by our author if we are that fortunate.

Some things that stood out to me were her pining for him and just hoping someday he would love her as much as she loved him. That she knew everything about him and waited for him to know anything about her. How much she neglects herself to carry and hold him up during his time of need. How there was a him both before and after the event that she supports him through and how very much she sacrifices herself for him. I don’t want to elaborate too much out of respect for spoilers and leaving the story to unfold for you. But if you love a indie romance feel of a book with a moody vibe I think you may want to check this one out!

Many thanks to our author, Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advanced eGalley copy of the book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This will be published on April 18th, 2023. I hope if you choose to read it you love it also.

I really enjoyed this book, though at points it's relatable to the point of being painful to read. It had echoes of Sally Rooney's work or even a bit of The Lesser Bohemians, both of which are up my alley.

Adelaide is, by all accounts, a smart, motivated 26-year-old who moves to London from the States. She is -- for reasons that trickle out through the story -- rather inexperienced with relationships, intrepid, yet clearly very charming. She enters a whirlwind romance with a modelesque British suitor, Rory, that seems too happenstance, too aligned, too good to be true. Genevieve Wheeler is very good at getting the reader to fall in love with their love, which is why it's all the more painful when Rory's facade begins to fall away.

This book will either frustrate you to tears or tug at your heartstrings. For me it was a bit of both. I wanted to shake Adelaide at points, but I also found her incredibly sympathetic because I have, shamefully, been in her shoes. I had a few nitpicks with the writing style and some of the cultural references that aren't worth going into, but aside from that I really liked this novel.

When I first started reading this, I wasn't sure what had made me request it but I was soon completely invested in the story. Most women have fallen for a man who can't or won't love them back and this is one of those stories. My heart ached for Adelaide, and I so wanted her to dump this guy and move on. I am so glad that I read this story, and I urge every young woman - and some not so young - to read it. It was so good to see Adelaide recover and and discover that she already had all that she needed to be strong, and to live a full life - herself, her lifetime friends, and her family - and being strong in herself was the most important part of that.

I received a review copy of this book from publisher St. Martin's Press via NetGalley. It was a real pleasure to read and review this book.

First, I want to thank NetGalley and the Publishers for this ARC.

I should have read the description that this book is a "Millennial" love story and not requested it. I am not in this age group to relate to this book. However, I do read YA and New Adult books and have enjoyed them. I did not enjoy this one.

Basically told in several points of view, which can be confusing at times ( I do not think the book needed the male protagonists point of view) and written with no standard quotation marks for the dialogue which is trying too hard to be different but instead makes the story harder to read.

I struggled to get through this sad tale of a woman with no self esteem in love with a jerk just because he is handsome, has an English accent and looks like Prince Charming. We find out later why she may have been so unstable with her relationships, but not enough for me to even care what happens to her.

I can understand I do not relate to the characters in this story-who all seem shallow to me. Yet, I would have rated this book higher if the writing was clearer and more engaging. It did not read smoothly. Maybe New Adults like shallow characters, but I tend to doubt it. A pass for me.

Adelaide is an incredibly smart, compassionate novel that manages to paint a perfect picture in time of what it is to be 26. Wheeler is deft and clever, and allows us to know Adelaide and the world she lives in so well that she feels absolutely real. The novel is about Adelaide's relationship with Rory Hughes, but it it's really about how women this age see themselves and reflect the world. I adored every word of it and I'm in awe of Wheeler's talent.

I loved the flow of this novel about a young woman, Adelaide Williams, living in London. The story reads slightly like a Bridget Jones story until it doesn't (Adelaide mentions BJ in the narrative). Adelaide made wonderful friends in the UK and spent many nights at home and in pubs and bars with those friends, constantly meeting new people. Her professional life was on the right track, and I found that relief for a change.

There is a funny back story on that which I will not reveal (a spoiler). The story shifts slightly when Adelaide finds a "Disney prince" called Rory on a dating app. Adelaide falls hard for Rory, and life continues until his lack of active affection becomes an issue.

This well-written story is a lesson for young women who believe they will love her more if she does just a little better. I recommend this novel to all young women trying to survive today's scary world.

Thank you, NetGalley, and the publisher for this e-ARC.

Incredible, moving, compelling - a true must-read.

Adelaide is an American living in London. She’s in her 20s, has amazing friends, is great at her job, and is largely having a good time in general. Then, she finds herself a man who looks like a Disney prince and he alters her life forever.

Adelaide is such a richly drawn, lovable character - she felt like a real person and I was deeply invested in her story and her well-being.

I suspect this novel will be painfully relatable to anyone who has ever loved a man who did little, if anything, to deserve it.

It is definitely one of my favorite reads of the ~200 books I’ve read so far this year.

Releasing in April 2023 - add it to your TBR now!

Thank you very much to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to review and advance copy.

Absolutely fantastic plot! Could not put the book down once I began reading it. Cannot wait for it to be released. Will recommend it to everyone I know!

A Sally Rooney-esque book about millennial love plus mental health. I quickly got into the story that follows both Adeleine and suitor Rory. Some parts were exquisite like the pairs trip to Mallorca and others dragged a bit. I wish the end was a tad edited but overall I enjoyed this and think those that like Rooney will enjoy this one.