DNF at 20%. The writing wasn't for me. I can see how it could be appealing to others though. When I read more reviews as well, I knew it was something I wouldn't be able to finish content-wise.

This book took me back to my college days when I was desperate for the attention of someone older. It was an engaging read that made me excited for more novels from Bronwyn. If you like a spicy-complicated story.. this is the book for you!

I really loved this empathetic look at a freshman at university who becomes completely infatuated with the older woman she’s been seeing.

Age gaps often don’t work for me, but the power dynamics here felt balanced, which is of course the whole trick, because it’s never balanced! But I loved the way Natalie used the experience to become more confident and self-assured.

Fischer really captured the feeling of being awkward and young but trying your best. Remember that obsessive first crush where you are thinking of them every moment and think you see their face everywhere? That’s Natalie’s relationship with Nora.

This is a lovely coming of age, perfect for fans of All This Could Be Different. Highly recommend!

This book captures the uncertainty of college life and new love. I felt so connected to the protagonist because her portrayal feels so similar to my own internal chaos when I was that age. Her agonizing navigation of her first relationship felt very authentic and although I guessed the “twist” pretty early, it didn’t diminish the story for me. I feel like this is a must read for any female millennial; you will feel so seek!

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this beautiful book!

I loved this book! The writing style was so precise, it felt like I was standing in Natalie's shoes all throughout the story. What I really loved about this book is that this is a queer coming of age story, but it's not a stereotypical coming of age. 'The Adult' doesn't fall into the overly used tropes or bring in typical plot points that you always find in queer coming of age stories and instead Bronwyn Fischer made this into a uniquely written story. We don't get any 'in your face' explanation that this is a queer story, it's just simply a story with characters that happen to be queer. This had to be my favorite aspect of the whole novel, it just felt so natural and easy to read compared to stories that make readers put in work to realize that "yes! this is a queer story!"

I also LOVED the pacing of the story, it took its time and still managed to keep the plot and its characters interesting. I'm usually not one for a slow paced book but this one kept me on my toes the whole time! This book is quiet, it has moments that are endearing and sometimes painful, and the writing is amazing. I can't wait to recommend this to as many people as I can once it's released!

I loved this book! Fischer’s prose is strong and dreamy, perfectly characterizing our lost young protagonist. This is a queer coming of age story without falling into overdone tropes around coming out. The queerness is tender and real and doesn’t feel overexplained. Despite being quiet in terms of plot, I tore through this book so quickly. I am recommending this to everyone!

OW!💔💔 I’ll be thinking about this book for a while. It took me a while to get into it and I initially thought I wasn’t going to enjoy this as much as I did but it might be a new favorite. A queer coming of age story about a young college student’s relationship with an older woman. First queer experiences are so intense, sometimes borderline obsessive. The Adult really captured the feelings of insecurity you experience at 18. Well done!

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, but I was a bit disappointed by it. Like We Do What We Do in the Dark, I was very into the premise, but found the writing a bit cold and the object of obsession was written at such a remove, it’s hard to understand why the main character was so in love.

I don’t know, I keep waiting for a book that explores the depth of confusion when you’re a baby gay and you both want to be that person farther along because you envy how well they live their identity, with the desire to be with them. I think it’s on me than that the books are disappointing, after all, my desires are not matching with author intention. I think the frustration comes from all the attacks on queer books seemingly producing a crop of lit fic that is a bit toothless? I just felt like the entire book was written a bit cautiously, like everyone was just trying to preempt criticism about the appropriateness of the relationship. I ended up enjoying the parts that focused on Natalia awkward coming-of-age more than the romance, because I felt like I was reading a blurred version of the relationship, and couldn’t really see Nora and Natalie in it with any clarity.

I love the premise of this book. I love books about messy sexual and romantic relationships, and all I ever wanted was for a lesbian couple to be at the center of these stories, so the minute I read The Adult’s blurb, I was hooked. And once I read that beginning, Fischer had me enthralled.

The writing was beautiful—some sentences landed like a punch. I just wish I had felt a bit more connected with the characters. The minimalist writing made a few of the scenes so bare it was hard to care for the characters. It felt a little bit like the book was holding me at arm’s length, when I wanted to feel the fully consuming absorption of that first relationship fully. Still, a gorgeously written book and I hope we get more lesbian books in this vein.

The Adult was an interesting read, in that I really enjoyed the writing but found the fast pace to be detrimental to the message of the book. This is saying a lot, considering that I am all for advocating for shorter books. However, after finishing the book and thinking about it, I think that’s my main issue with the story although I did enjoy it for the most part.

Natalie arrives at the University of Toronto from her small hometown, unsure of who she wants to be and how to find that out. Throughout her first couple of weeks, she meets so many people who seem sure of themselves, including Clara, the girl who lives down the hall from Natalie and insists on being her friend, and Rachel, a classmate and talented poet in her natural poetry class. When Natalie is approached by an older woman while sitting in the park one day, her life begins to change. She and Nora soon start a relationship, and Natalie finds herself happier or something similar.

I’ll start with the positives. I did like Natalie’s character and following her as our protagonist. She’s clearly struggling to come to terms with the fact that she’d be considered an adult now, especially since she has no idea what’s going on with her life. Everyone else seems so put together while she can’t even navigate a simple social interaction. I particularly liked the part where she goes to the dining hall with Clara and chooses apples and six packs of peanut butter as her first meal away from home; adulthood really is about feeding yourself everyday.

A lot of Natalie’s relationship with Nora is that she wants, desperately, to be seen as an adult. Nora does treat her as an equal, but Natalie is entirely self-conscious about all the things she lacks. She makes an effort to seem less of a child to her, as if pretending to be an adult will make her one.

The way The Adult is written makes it seem out-of-time, in that it could take place in anytime within the last twenty or so years. However, we do obviously see the characters interact with technology. One of Natalie’s quirks is that she will watch random videos as an escape and read listicle articles for advice. It’s very, she learned to be a real person by watching TV, to me, and an indicator of the modern world.

My biggest issue with this book, however, was the pacing. I feel like so much was condensed to a single moment and that those moments were just strung together for the most part. The story takes place over an entire school year and then some, but we blink and it’s winter break. Blink again and it’s the end of the year.

As much as I understand why Natalie was drawn to Nora, we get to see very little of their relationship, although I guess the fact that their relationship didn’t have much substance to begin with was the point. This all just made Natalie’s character development feel lacking to me. Sure, by the end of the book, she feels more sure of herself, more adult, but do we really build up to that throughout the book? That was the feeling I was left with once I reached the last page, which made me more conflicted about my feelings on the book as a whole.

The Adult was a poignant coming-of-age story, for sure. While I finished this book with conflicting feelings, I did also enjoy parts of it, especially the lyrical writing. This was a quick read for me, and I think if you’re interested in the summary, it’s worth a try for you.

Setting: Canada
Rep: sapphic MC

I don't really know what to say about this book except that it had a fantastic hold on character and saying a lot with a little. I found myself fascinated and compelled by Jones, especially. The book tangles with the age old sapphic question of "do I want to be her or be with her?" and I devoured the book in a couple of sittings.

This is a beautifully written coming of age story with a narrator so likable I was sad leave her behind when it ended. The prose is unique and compelling.

Giving this four stars though it's more like a 3.5. The extra star stays because it's coming of age (non-fantasy!) lesbian story, which is rare.

First and foremost, I haven't seen many reviews talking about the age difference here. Yes, Natalie is 18 and technically an "adult," but we all know people would be up in arms if Nora was a dude and the lack of criticism on this point because it's two women bothers me. Nora's age is never stated directly, but Natalie is quite clearly still a child. That dynamic wasn't romantic to me, it was kinda gross. Power imbalances aren't only for straight relationships, and while it didn't ruin the story here (even I have my own unconscious biases that made this "okay" in my head), it shouldn't be ignored.

Aside from that, I found a lot of this really hard to read, particularly because 18 is such a painful age and Natalie in particular is awkward as hell and very exhausting. She has crippling anxiety and insecurity that is, frankly, incredibly annoying to deal with. I found myself growing impatient with her throughout much of the book, which made me feel mean, especially since I remember being a lot like that at her age. Still, as someone nearly entering my last year of my 30s, it's a bit exasperating.

There's also the predictability of the story. I clocked one of the "twists" within the first few pages. The comedy of errors when it came to communication between Natalie and Nora at times (their phone convos while Natalie was home for Christmas being the big example) was so unrealistic, I could barely read on since my eyes were rolled so far back in my head.

And yet, I still gave this 4 stars. I think it's largely because all the things I disliked about it (and the people in it) felt very real, for better or worse. Natalie is the star here, of course, and she's written with much compassion and care. I've been where she is in this book (though not literally, thank goodness), and reading this, I just kept thinking how glad I am that I'm not anymore.

I have some weird issues with reading this on my tablet, so I didn't finish it. But I'm still giving it 4 stars because I enjoy what I read and this was already one of my most anticipated books this year :)

I really enjoyed this coming-of-age novel. Set in Canada, it follows Natalie, a bright, naive young woman from a small town who comes to Toronto for college. She meets a woman in her thirties, Nora, on a park bench and falls in love with her. But Nora isn't telling her everything.

Natalie's growth throughout the novel is stunning to watch as it develops. The language and insight into a late-teen's thoughts and understanding of the world and people around her is just so good. She's shy and unsure of herself and unaware of her power. And then she learns.

Thank you to Algonquin for the chance to read this novel early!

This book hit me in a way I didn't expect - it's a tender reflection on queerness and identity, and that feeling when you're a teenager that believes you've already seen the world for what it is. It made me feel scrutinized and naïve and the language throughout was absolutely beautiful. Natalie is a fascinating character, and her relationship with Nora was real in a way that sent me spiraling back to being eighteen all over again. Can't recommend it enough, especially if you're a fan of books like We Do What We Do in the Dark!

I was really excited to read this one and consequently worried that my expectations were too high, but I am so glad that I loved it. The writing is quietly beautiful and reminded me a lot of “Body Grammar” by Jules Ohman. The overall plot is pretty straight forward — Natalie, a first year student starts dating an older woman named Nora — but I loved how intertwined and connected everything was. Every character felt believable as a real person, which is something that can break a novel for me if not done well. The shift of dynamics in all of Natalie’s relationships, from Nora, her dorm friends, her classmates, and her professors, all felt subtle but realistic. I love a campus novel and thought poetry and nature were used so delicately to match the path Natalie went on to figure out what it meant to be an adult and in a relationship. Nothing about this book was heavy handed. It was subdued in the best way, where I felt entirely absorbed into the story without feeling like I was being pulled along by a string. I’ve really been looking for more queer novels that aren’t solely romance novels and I think this will end up being one of my favourites of the year.

I was immediately drawn into The Adult, Fischer's ability to weave Natalie's thoughts into reality felt so authentic for an 18 year old. The awkward, confusing, and invirograting first year of college was viscal. The pacing pulled you into the rush and confusion of connecting with someone for the first time. The story didn't fade for me, with Fischer use of thoughtfully adding storylines, the book took unexpected turns. I was pulled into Natalie's world. Loved this read!

Thank you, Algonquin Books, for allowing me to read The Adult early!

FIscher wrote a spellbinding book which I deeply enjoyed.

a beautiful daydreamy novel about coming of age and queer identity. tender and heartbreaking. this lyrical prose was immersive, breathtaking, and perfectly captures vulnerability.