ARC Review – Almost Adult

From Goodreads: The struggle is real…

Ever managed to kill a succulent after just a few days? Got seven reminder letters on the kitchen table because you forgot to pay your council tax? Become a hot mess who’s falling apart because they’ve been broken up with?

Nobody told Mackie, Edele, Alex and Nat (aka the MEAN Girls) that life was going to be this way. They’re busy navigating the joys of adulthood – getting their shit together, breaking up and making up, moving out and moving on. This grown up stuff is hard but at least they’ve got each other.

Welcome to the world of adulting

I am not one that typically consumes contemporary fiction. I prefer the escapism of SFF. However, occasionally a blurb catches my eye and entices me to attempt to delve into this genre. Almost Adults promised a snapshot of modern 20 something female friendship as they try to navigate life, it doesn’t disappoint.

It is rare that I genuinely like every character but these ladies were awesome. I enjoyed getting to read from all of their perspectives. This gave a fully rounded view of the emotional relationships between them. It gave a real authenticity to the emotions and the conversations as you got the situation from at least one perspective that I could relate too. In fact it was the description of how each women felt throughout the events of this book that really captured me. Other reviewers have stated that this is like the Ace Gang from the confessions of Georgia Nicolson series but in their late 20s and having grown up with those books I can see that comparison.

I wasn’t to fussed about the plot, it didn’t have too much substance and was rather slow, what kept me reading was how they all navigated through each element wither happy/sad and came together. This dynamic between the perspectives carries over into the atmosphere of the book, dependent on the mental health status of the current POV is a big influence on how their home town is described and laid out in front of the reader.
The ending is what I expected, we got a nice tided up bow and I am never a huge fan for the need of a happy ending for all I did feel this need to have all the characters content at the end of the book.

Overall, this is a fast and fun read, that centres on the love of family and friendship and how those relationships can get you through the bits of life you cant always navigate alone. I doubt I would rush to pick up another but I will at least stop and consider books in this genre a bit more before dismissing them entirely as not my cup of tea.