Blog Tour: ‘Adult Assembly Required’ by Abbi Waxman

Happy publication day to ‘Adult Assembly Required’!

Having loved Waxman’s first book – ‘The Bookish Life of Nina Hill’ – I was absolutely delighted to be invited on the blog tour for this book. Thanks to Isabelle Wilson at Headline for my spot on the tour and for the review copy of the book – opinions, as always, are my own.

This book is not quite a sequel to Nina Hill, but shares some of the characters from the first book – great news whether you read or didn’t read the previous book because this either works fine as a standalone or you can become reacquainted with some old friends!

This story begins with the arrival of Laura Costello in the bookstore in Los Angeles where Nina Hill works. She’s been caught out in the rain, lost everything in an apartment fire and is grappling with a trauma from her past. Luckily, the friendly Larchmont community are there to help and Laura finds herself in the midst of people determined to help her get her life back on track…including Impossibly Handsome Bob.

As expected, this book is a charming delight. ‘The Bookish Life of Nina Hill’ was shortlisted for the 2020 Comedy Women in Print Prize, so that should give you an idea that this will be packed with gentle humour too. And it absolutely is!

A lot of the humour comes from the quirky and warm characterisation. Nina Hill is – for those who haven’t met her before – a quizzing fiend obsessed with random snippets of trivia that surface at often inappropriate moments. Laura herself is portrayed with depth and wit; she has a traumatic past and a problematic relationship with her family, but she’s also caring and open, helping her new friends as much as they help her in turn.

The boarding house where Laura ends up is presided over by the glorious Maggie and made me want to move in right away. This is a little community that gets on brilliantly, shares a gorgeous house with a pool, has gardens wonderfully landscaped by Impossibly Handsome Bob – and has a lot of romantic undercurrents. There are also some pets whose perspectives and presence add humour too – I loved the haughty and totally selfish cat, Oliver, in particular.

This isn’t a novel where big things happen – instead, it’s a gentle and engaging look at the re-assembly of Laura’s life and the power of friendship. I liked that a lot of the supporting characters also had their own stories to tell – and that their lives were also improved by Laura’s presence.

With all the gentle loveliness, it would be easy to assume that this book is a bit twee and predictable. I think that would be doing it a disservice – there are elements that fall into place neatly, but this isn’t cutesy. There were definitely enough slightly spiky characters and moments of sharp humour to keep this firmly on the right side of things for me – and I raced through it.

I’d recommend this to anyone who needs a sweet, funny, escapist read – this is a lovely story to immerse yourself in as you rediscover your faith in kindness, friendship and love.

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