This book was not at all what I expected but I loved it more for that. I'm just going to admit it, I really hated Rory and Adelaide together from the beginning. I found myself screaming "oh my gosh just break up with him already" at my book way too often, in a great way though. This book kept me hooked and I enjoyed it for that. It was refreshing to have a couple in a book not be "goals" and instead a brutally honest portrayal of a woman madly in love and a man who refuses to commit. I was rooting for Adelaide the whole time and honestly just wanted her to finally love herself enough to leave. This book was the perfect mix of enraging, heartbreaking, and touching. I will definitely be reading Genevieve Wheeler again and absolutely loved this book.

Don't let the pretty pink, floral cover fool you. This is not a Romance. Overall my impression is that it's a challenging story, that has pace and is well written, but essentially these characters just weren't for me. They really lacked depth; because of the characters the story itself felt unrealistic within a realistic context. I was surprised by this because I have so much in common with Adelaide in a general way, so I thought I'd feel a certain level of kinship, but mostly I just felt uncomfortable.

I have mixed feelings about the story itself. I think I will always struggle with stories that have such heavy content, but don't seem to offer much in the way purpose. Unless you just enjoy reading about someone else's sad and depressing life, being frustrated at their choices, with no apparent silver lining. It wasn't a bad book, it just wasn't good, does that make sense?

The book revolves around a toxic relationship. One that brings its central character to her knees. The writing is what kept me motivated in reading, along with my hope for some kind of breakthrough for the main character. Said main character, Adelaide, wasn't very likeable to me. Her willful ignorance, people pleasing, and over bearing optimism that borders appearing false are not qualities I find endearing. Reading her acknowledge, rationalize, and ignore red flags in her relationship is mostly just exhausting and didn't invoke compassion for her, just pity. Her friendships felt too unrealistically supportive and something about the entire book felt very...white.

At the end of this one I felt a lot like I did after reading A Little Life. Just tired.

Adelaide is one of those books that once you start reading you won't want to put it down. It's not a love story, or an easy read, but I loved every minute of it. Fabulous debut from Genevieve Wheeler, and I can't wait to read more from her.

Well written and engaging story of a girl named Adelaide. She is going to school in London and gets a job so she is able to stay there. She starts dating Rory and thinks she has found her Prince charming. unbeknownst to her, he is still in love with his ex. It goes through the saga of their relationship and what she finally decides to do.

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Adelaide feels like the most millennial book I’ve ever read. The protagonist, Adelaide Williams, is a 20-something living and working in London when she falls for the elusive Rory Hughes.

Rory Hughes, Adelaide’s “Disney Prince” is supposed to be the man she falls head over heels in love with and they live happily ever after.

But Rory Hughes isn’t a Disney prince - he’s flaky, self-centered and probably a narcissist, but when he makes time for Adelaide, her entire world is turned upside.

Running from her own past trauma and inability to find her own self-worth, Adelaide frantically spirals out of control in her relationships with Rory and her friends and co-workers, and within her own mental capacity until she is forced to reckon with herself.

Adelaide isn’t for the faint of heart - and I would actively encourage anyone who might feels a kinship to her character to potentially skip reading this. I think the best way to describe this was like reading Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, but for the grown up millennial. Was it absolutely beautiful? Yes. Did it make me question my own mental stability - possibly.

Proceed with caution - but if you do read, it’s one for the ages.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Genevieve Wheeler for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

*4.5 STARS*
Adelaide Williams is a 26 year old American living the dream in London. She falls head over heels in love with
Rory, a charming Englishman, and we are taken through their tumultuous love story from beginning to end.

This is a heartbreaking and heartwarming story of love, loss, grief, friendship, and more. The gripping details of walking through the mental health journey of both Adelaide and Rory are relatable for so many and is an interesting perspective into relationships that many can find parallels to. This is NOT your typical love story!

The writing is really interesting and refreshing. It reads as both a memoir and a conversation with a friend. It broke my heart and engulfed me in a hug all at the same time.

My only complaint is it felt a little too drawn out in spots and ran a teeny bit long for me. Overall I loved it.

Truly a beautiful debut by this author!

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I finished Adelaide last week and haven’t stopped thinking about it since. I’m certain it will be one of my favorites of this year.

🌸 It’s a sobering read that’s simultaneously heartwarming and speaks to issues so many people are facing today. It’s so realistic that while it’s fiction, I often felt like I was reading a biography or memoir.

🌸 I think this will be a fit for fans of Sally Rooney, as the story touches on heavy subjects while still managing to tell a love story that ultimately feels optimistic.

🌸 I imagine a lot of people, particularly the people pleasers who always put others before them, will see parts of themselves in Adelaide. I really admire how Wheeler was able to make a story that is so specific (grad students in London in 2018) feel so universal.

Adelaide is out today. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I read 47% of this book and normally would give a book 20% to capture my attention. I could not relate with the main character or storyline. Adelaide portrayed herself as being a modern day feminist, that has a distaste for patriarchy, gender inequality and stated that birthdays resulted from capitalism. The hypocrisy of telling the man that has sex with her yet consistently ghosts her that he can c_ _ on her where he likes is astounding to me. That if she were only perfect he would like her seems to contradict a strong, feminist woman. Thanking him for letting her fall in love with him! Texting him nude photos to keep his attention is an act of desperation, in my opinion. I was allowed a copy of this book through NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.

Twenty-six-year-old Adelaide Williams is an American living in London. She’s making her way in her career and has a solid group of friends, but when she meets Rory Hughes - her life completely changes. He’s charming and interesting and he feels like The One she wasn’t even looking for. Problem is… he’s a flake. They have amazing times together but he never calls her his girlfriend. He will take a week to respond to a text. He doesnt make advance plans and she hasnt met his friends- but adelaide is a fixer, and she quickly becomes engulfed in Rory’s life, even though it means losing pieces of herself.

I’d call this a millennial sad girl novel, and it really worked for me. It’s an excellent debut and it felt very honest and raw. The author addresses mental health in a real way and very much captured that feeling of what it’s like to be young and in love and desperately wanting to grow up and find yourself.

My One criticism is that there was a bit of time hopping drove me crazy- we’d be in the present day and instead of a new chapter than said something like ‘then’, she’d throw us into the past where adelaide and rory first crossed paths. Once i got used to it it was fine, but its worth mentioning.

There were a lot of times where i wanted to throttle rory. I can acknowledge that yes adelaide was at fault too- but rory really was hard to read. I was rooting for her the whole time, and i think despire her flaws it was a very realistic story. I know people like adelaide, and i have been a version of adelaide myself. Loved it!

Adelaide is an incredible debut about finding yourself in your twenties and learning when (and who) to walk away from while doing so.
If you're looking for a romance with a happy ever after this is not it. It is a love story in a sense because this young woman is slowly learning to love herself. But the road to self love for Adelaide is full of strife, and grief, heartbreak and loss. It is as devastating as it is ultimately uplifting. And it deals with some heavy topics.
What I loved most about this book is how relatable it is. I am much removed from my twenties and yet I completely understood Adelaide's need to please-her friends, her work colleagues, and a boy who can't figure out how to love her back. Highly recommend this book to everyone, but especially women of all generations.
4.5 stars

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the chance to read and review this title.

Adelaide just stole mine. She is an American woman living in London, struggling with figuring who she is, who she wants to be, who she wants to surround herself with, all while dealing with issues from her childhood and her own mental health struggles. And this is all while being in a relationship with a man who just will not or cannot love her back. The emotions and angst jumped from the page in its realness, relatability and honesty. It was witty, raw, heavy and also full of hope. Instead of it being a romance, it was the story of Adelaide’s journey of self-love and self-reflection. I loved every minute of it.

This book is for sure in the running of my top book of 2023. The empathy and understanding the author inspires for Adelaide is unmatched. Beautiful story that is entirely relatable.

I found this book to be a bit of a slog. The main character is pretty tiresome and it was hard to finish.

This book was fantastic. As someone who has suffered from depression, I really appreciate and identify with Adeline's story!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

Love is messy. Love is hard. Life is a struggle. This is NOT an easy read.

This is the story of Adelaide, a twenty-something who is struggling to quite her inner monologue. Her story is filled with childhood trauma, rebellious actions and mental health struggles. Adelaide will penetrate your heart and soul as with every "break" her will to live shatters until she has nothing left to give the world. It's only the darkness that will make it ALL go away.

The female friendships are her only salvation, always there in her time of need especially when the day comes for her to make the darkness real. They'll drop everything to fight with her to overcome the challenges to be her best self.

Adelaide is dark, depressing and realistic. Mental health and relationships were accurately and respectfully portrayed throughout the story. One cannot help but root for her to stand tall again.

Thank you St. Martins Press for the complimentary copy.

There are so may trigger warnings in this book and I'm not educated to name them all, so I would check other reviews before diving in.

Haven’t we all loved someone who didn’t love us back? Someone who threw us breadcrumbs and we thought we were getting the entire meal? Reading Adelaide is like reliving those memories with your loveable and sweet little sister.

I'll be honest -- I majorly procrastinated on diving in to Adelaide because the first chapter made me feel so extremely sad. If you're in the same boat, I am here to tell you that, yes, this book is sad, but it is also hopeful, real and absolutely beautiful. This book made me want to wrap Adelaide up in a hug and also prompted me to look introspectively at those heartbreaking moments in my own life. This has been one of the most unexpected books of the year and I hope you pick it up.

The story opens with Adelaide in the hospital for suicidal thoughts and alluding to a tough break-up. We then rewind to the beginnings of her tumultuous relationship with Rory Hughes, which starts before even the start of their actual relationship. While her relationship with Rory is the focal point of the book, I loved the female friendships in the book the most. They were so pure, so solid, so honest. The author lets us in early that the push and pull of Rory and Adelaide's relationship obviously causes a break for Adelaide, but the in-between are both hard to read yet so worth it.

I can't wait to see what this author has up her sleeve next. I'm a huge fan. Five stars.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Beautifully rendered tale of mental health issues. Profoundly moving and completely engrossing from start to finish. Also, a lovely ode to female friendship. I eagerly await more books by this Author. Big thank you to St. martins press and NetGalley for making this ARC available.

Adelaide, a young female navigating life, love, friendship, and more. This story, and these characters feel so real to me. Adelaide falls for a man and while things are going well on the surface, there is definitely tension and misunderstanding below. I can relate to seeing friends in similar positions and wanting to shake them but not fully understanding what they are going through. This book is a great read and I would recommend to young adults!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

I. LOVED. THIS. BOOK!

Have we not all had this experience at one point or another in our lives? Loving someone more than they loved us, but clinging on for dear life and screaming “WHAT THE FUCK MORE CAN I DO TO MAKE YOU LOVE ME?!” A part of me really wanted a redeeming arc for Rory but that’s the point isn’t it? We want it, but we won’t get it from him.

This book is 2023’s Normal People.

The emotions were written so vividly that you can feel the author’s personal experiences. It was palpable and satisfying to feel seen in the pages of a book.

There was a point where the author wrote “tears fell that she didn’t know were forming” (paraphrasing) and I laughed out loud because it’s so cliche, but that’s the point. This story is a universal experience and cliche phrases are practically required because they exist for a reason.

And the female relationships! This is a feminist book. This is what true friendship between women looks like. The fluidity and strength of friendship moving between life milestones and distances, and I absolutely loved this representation.

I also loved the representation of trauma healing and mental health, especially for bipolar disorder, which is so misunderstood and almost weaponized by men to describe “crazy.” This was a beautiful glimpse of a genuine, kind-hearted, hard-working woman who is successful AND has bi-polar. I loved it.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to review this book. I definitely plan to share this review on all of my platforms.

Rating: 5 Stars

If you have read "Out of Love" by Hazel Hayes, this is the exact book I would recommend you read next. This book starts with the ending of a romance, and the almost-ending of Adelaide's life. And then starts right back from the beginning right before the romance began.

I loved this book so much and I was able to deeply empathize and sympathize with a lot of what Adelaide was feeling and had gone through. I love the way this book was written, with the jumping timeline and a narrator who knows what will happen when the characters don't. This book overall just had me feeling so many things, and I think proves to show that everyone will get their happy ending, even those who feel like they can't get there.