Matt has moved in with Alex, a laboratory scientist. Matt is divorced from Claire who is a solicitor and is living with Patrick, a barrister. Matt and Claire have a daughter, Scarlett, age 7, who has an imaginary rabbit friend named Posey.

Matt and Claire decide for all five of them to spend Christmas at the Happy Forest holiday park where the Christmas festivities are great. While Alex thinks it’s a stupid idea, she agrees to go along with it.

Patrick is an exercise freak preparing for an Ironman contest some months down the road. Matt is a laid-back kind of guy who can get on one’s nerves. Alex has had some drinking problems in the past but is doing better. Claire is the take-charge “adult” in the group.

When Scarlett sees a man talking about scientists doing painful experiments on rabbits, she becomes concerned. She knows that Alex is a scientist and decides she must closely watch Alex while they are on the Christmas holiday so nothing happens to Posey.

As the holiday commences, things get tense as everyone tries to be pleasant to one another and get along. But tension builds and relationships are questioned. But when things start to boil over, someone is shot. Who was shot and why? Who did it and why?

There is a lot of dark humor in this story along with a bit of boredom. Everyone has come together to make a special Christmas for Scarlett who seems to take it all in her stride. She doesn’t really show enough excitement to make it worth four adults bending over backward to spend Christmas at a family holiday park for Heaven’s sake! At times Scarlett does seem to be 7 going on 45.

An interesting tale and I’m sure that especially parents sharing custody of children will get some laughs from it.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

A divorced couple decide to go on a Christmas vacation with their daughter - - and with their new significant others. If this isn't a recipe for disaster, I don't know what is!! The characters are well-drawn and the story is humorous in some ways, sad in others. The story is well-written and we know from the beginning that things won't end well. Ironically, the most "adult" member of this entourage is Scarlett's imaginary rabbit friend!

Caroline Hulse’s debut novel The Adults is like a Christmas comedy (Four Christmases comes to mind) meets Big Little Lies. Though Claire and Matt are divorced, they decide it’s best for their daughter Scarlett to experience a “normal” family Christmas. So, they book a weekend away at a woodsy resort and bring their current partners along for the ride! What could go wrong?

Claire’s boyfriend, Patrick, couldn’t be any less like her ex, Matt. Patrick spends much of the novel secretly training for an Ironman, at one point even racing through a lazy river to practice his swimming. Matt takes a different approach to life. He has a laissez faire outlook, often “forgetting” important details and preferring recreational drugs to exercising. His girlfriend, Alex, is smart, extremely patient and would probably be friends with Claire in another life. The characters were almost caricatures of real people and weren’t exactly likeable, but they were entertaining.

Though a little bit of a whodunit is introduced at the opening of the novel, the plot was still relatively predictable. For the most part, despite some surprisingly dark elements, the story felt light-hearted. Oddly, Posey, Scarlett’s imaginary bunny (a la Harvey), rode that fine line -- he was a part of some dark moments.

In the end, The Adults ended up being a great read for this time of year. It wasn’t especially “Christmas-y” but it perfectly captured what it feels like to be trapped with family when you’d rather be anywhere else.

The Adults by Caroline Hulse is NOT your typical holiday read and that’s why I love it so much. Don’t get me wrong, I love snuggling under a blanket and devouring all of the warm and fuzzy Christmas themed books this time of year. I really do. But sometimes it’s nice to just stir things up a little and add a little kick to your eggnog. Hulse does exactly that! Right off the bat, you know this blended family’s holiday plans will flop. Claire and Matt are separated and have a young daughter together named Scarlett. They have a big bright idea to take a Christmas vacation together with Scarlett and their new partners. Nothing could possibly go wrong, right? Ha! This novel is loaded with juicy drama, so you’ll want to start making the popcorn right now. It’s a fabulous domestic drama revolving around friends, family, relationships and parenthood. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this free digital advance readers' edition in exchange for my honest review.

Genre: General Fiction
Publisher: Random House
Pub. Date: November 27, 2018

Caroline Hulse’s novel is a dark comedy that had me laughing out loud more than once. Imagine the dysfunctional dynamics between a divorced couple who have a seven-year-old daughter. Both parents now have new live-in-partners. Now imagine, all four adults (two who have never met each other) going on a Christmas holiday together. The idea is that the little girl can spend Christmas day with both of her parents. Good intentions, but even in theory, it sounds like a terrible plan. So, what exactly did go wrong? Well, for starters the book opens with an emergency phone call because someone has been shot with an arrow. This is how you will meet “The Adults” which is a clever debut novel about a blended family vacation.

The group has rented a lodge which is located on a Christmas village. The place is geared towards families of young children. There are many fun activities. Make that forced fun for the unhappy adults. Hulse’s writing is razor sharp especially around the child’s imaginary rabbit friend that never leaves her side. Many of the activities must be canceled because they don’t make safety helmets with ear holes for a rabbit. You can visualize where this is headed. The story is filled with rabbit tongue in cheek subplots. When her dad’s girlfriend kills a pheasant (to put it out of its misery while dying) the girl is convinced her imaginary playmate will be the next murdered animal. This sets up all sorts of satirical scenes. Think of the movie “Harvey,” and throw in a tad of “Watership Down.” I enjoyed the author’s array of writing styles. In-between the narrations by the five, or six if you count the rabbit, you will also read police interviews as well as the most of the village’s brochure. Just another family Christmas, right—Wrong. This is a snappy, not sappy, holiday book that will be on sale in time for Christmas. I would buy it as a gift for the singing Christmas trees alone.

Serious yet comical story. Based on love , trust and honesty. But how well do you really know your partner???

It's unclear in retrospect who exactly thought it was a good idea for exes Claire and Matt to take their daughter Scarlett to a cheesy pastoral holiday park for Christmas . . with their current significant others, Patrick and Alex. Honestly, having someone get shot with an arrow was about the best possible outcome. As the narrative edges closer to that panicked phone call, all their petty squabbles and too-human failings play out against a background of forced frivolity. Posey, the giant purple rabbit, definitely isn't helping matters. Bitingly humorous.

This delightful book is hard to categorize. It has a bit of mystery (the story opens with a call to first responders reporting that someone has been shot, and we spend the rest of the book teasing out clues as to who was shot and why and by whom). It is a bit of a comedy (the story setup is definitely farcical, and the author treats her characters with dry, understated wit). And it's a downbeat love story, if you allow the lows and insecurities of love into your definition.

As I read, I often mentally renamed the story "The Exes," after the primary, split-up couple, their daughter, and their new romantic partners. They seemingly all agree to vacation together over Christmas break -- two of them because they have no boundaries,, and the other two because they lack backbone.

But I suspect the author, Caroline Hulse, settled on her title because one of the point-of-view characters is not an adult, but a precocious seven-year-old, who like many "only" children, is well-skilled at puzzling out (or Googling) the cryptic exchanges of the grownups.

Hulse treats each of her idiosyncratic characters and their foibles gently: Poor, insecure Patrick, for whom trying too hard is a way of life; Breezy Claire, who seems to have no "off" button, and who guides her life largely by impulse; Detached Alex, for whom relationship take a backseat to work, and Matt, who's never had to try hard -- barely even to show up -- for things to work out for him. Face it -- we've known (or been) one of these people, right?

I liked this book a lot, and will watch for Caroline Hulse's work. (Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this book).

Actual rating - 2.5/5 stars

The Adults is described as a dark comedy, but I didn't find many moments of humor in this story. Claire and Matt are the parents of seven year old Scarlett. They are now divorced and each has another partner. All four of the adults and Scarlett go on a holiday vacation and stay in the same house so that Claire and Matt can both celebrate Christmas with Scarlett. The adults come off as being self-absorbed and lacking the ability to communicate honestly with their current partners. The extra half star in my rating is for the dialogue between Scarlett and her imaginary companion, a rabbit named Posey.

Are you looking for something with a Christmas feel that comes with all the crazy family drama of books like The Nest or This is Where I Leave You? Look no further, this is your next read.
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The Adults is a novel which takes place over a course of a week or so. The main event being a 5 day family getaway to a forest retreat over the Christmas holiday. The catch: the family we readers are following is comprised of two exes, their new significant others and the child they have between them. Oh and not to forget, her large imaginary bunny friend who does not like her dad's girlfriend. But they should be able to handle this situation... they're all adults (minus the child and bunny) afterall. Let the drama unfold!
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I found myself completely engrossed in this one. It's fun, has a cast of interesting characters - some that you will want to strangle (which means they were written well!) and is structured in a unique way which allows the tension to build and brew like a gathering storm. Each section has an intro from the retreat's brochure and the bulk of the novel takes place over the 5 days spent at the retreat. In between several chapters are short interviews held by the police (yes, they get involved) which give glimpses into the chaotic climax of the novel.
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Pick this one up towards the end of this month. It's just in time for the Christmas season. You won't regret it!
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Thank you to #netgalley and #randomhouse for the advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.
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Prepare to be amused; Caroline Hulse's THE ADULTS is funny and timely with blended families becoming the new normal.

Carrie and Matt are divorced, they share their precocious child Scarlett with their new significant others Patrick and Alex. For Christmas this year Carrie, Matt, Patrick, Alex, Scarlett and her imaginary rabbit friend are going to spend the holiday together at a holiday resort.

Many funny and not so funny moments are shared by this unlikely gathering.

My favorite part of the book was it wasn't full of bitterness and envy. There were moments of self-reflection, love and understanding.

A great read, especially if you are involved in a blended family.

Summary:

Matt and Claire have been divorced for a long time. But they get along alright, they both love their daughter Scarlet, and they both want time with her over the holidays. Instead of having her see each parent individually, they decided it would be good for seven year old Scarlet to have a “normal” family Christmas with both of them…. and their significant others.

Patrick is in his forties and divorced with teenage kids that don’t have time for him. When his girlfriend, Claire, brings up going on holiday with the ex and his new girl…. it’s a bit weird… but what has he got to lose? Plus, they have areas to run at the campsite, archery, and ten pools. This sounds like a great place to train for his next great achievement- an Ironman.

Alex adores her boyfriend Matt even if his slap-dash approach to life drives her nuts sometimes. She knows Matt hasn’t had Christmas with his daughter since the divorce, and far be it from her to keep him from doing to- even if it is in the most awkward way possible. Besides, they’re all adults (except Scarlet and her imaginary bunny/ best friend Poppy)…. What could go wrong?

A lot. A lot could go wrong. Secrets will be spilled, wine drunk, bad karaoke sung, jealousy, fights and blood. Merry Christmas- hope everyone survives!

My thoughts:

To begin, I felt like both these couples were a complete hot mess in the beginning. Patrick was lying to Claire about his daily habits because she was disgusted by what she considered over-exercising. She didn’t support the fact that he wanted to be an Ironman and he didn’t really support her choices or opinions either. It seemed like an odd match there. Add to that the fact that he and Claire had such different feelings about Scarlet and Poppy- Patrick was ready to kick the imaginary bunny in the tail.

Alex is pretty neurotic. She has firm ideas on…. not who she is, but who she wants to be- or at least how she wants to appear. She can’t be the one to stop Matt from following his interests- even when they’re skateboarding (at his age!), smoking weed (at his age!) or dragging her to a holiday with his perfect ex and the daughter that hates her. She can’t be the one to back out.

Watching the grown ups try to keep their cool during crazy situations was interesting. Seeing how they perceived things, and how they interacted with one another. I will say that the book was a bit of a muddle- there seemed no reason behind the changing narrator at times except to get into someone else’s head and I often felt like it didn’t move the story along. Parts would move quickly- the very beginning for example was a huge information drop that made me feel like I had to keep up- whereas other sections went slowly. It did gain momentum toward the middle of the book and held a good pace after that. All in all, I liked it; but it wasn’t the best book ever. I give it a three.

On the adult content scale there was drinking, drugs, language and sexual content. I would give it a seven.

I was lucky enough to receive an eARC of this book from Netgalley and Random House Publishing in exchange for an honest review. My thanks!

I went into this thinking it was a dysfunctional family drama filled with humor and drama and while the dysfunction was there - a little- there wasn't much humor or drama. Matt and Alex are together when he drops the news on there that they're invited to spend Christmas with his ex wife and her bofriend so they can all be together with their daughter Scarlett. In the initial few pages I was already not liking Matt and wondering what Alex, a smart, organized scientist saw in him. He didn't seem to have much going for him. I didn't really care for Patrick either so I would say Claire was my favorite character although I spent a lot of time trying to figure out why she was being so nice. I liked the feeling that there was something under the surface between them all, it had a little bit of a Big Little Lies vibe to it but not nearly as sophisticated. I found Scarletts imaginary Rabbit friend to be a good touch but in the end this just wasn't a hit for me.

Unfortunately, I don't think this was the book for me. I didn't find any of it funny, and that was the main reason I requested it. I didn't care about any of the characters. In fact, I was annoyed by Matt and Alex, and found their relationship rather odd. However, I'm sure that many people will find this book enjoyable, especially those with a more broad sense of humor than I have. For some unknown reason, I was expecting this to be dry humor like Katherine Heiny's "Standard Deviation," but that was not the case.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Random House and Caroline Hulse for the opportunity to read this book. While your holiday family gatherings may not turn out like the one in this book, you can bet that there will be drama. Grab this book and hide in the corner from your family reading it. I was just in the mood for this book - I liked the dry wit, the snakiness, the truth of it all.

Matt and Claire are the divorced parents of Scarlett. They decide to spend Christmas together at Happy Forest to make good memories for Scarlett. However, they also bring along their new partners, Claire's boyfriend Patrick and Matt's girlfriend Alex. Oh, and Scarlett has an imaginary giant rabbit, Posey. What could possibly go wrong? Plenty - the book opens up with Alex making a 911 call that someone has been shot.

I also liked the way the author interspersed Happy Forest brochure pages and police interviews along with all the different points of view to tell this story. Lots of fun!

My library has purchased copies of this book and there are 17 holds on it. Very popular book. I'd recommend to Book Clubs and Readers Advisory.

What a mess! Alex is not happy when her partner Matt signs them up for a Christmas week stay at a resort with his ex-wife Caroline, Caroline's partner Patrick, and Scarlett, Matt and Caroline's daughter. Oh, and Posey, Scarlett's large imaginary rabbit. This is not a comedy but there are some amusing spots. Mostly, it's about four people and a child coming to terms with one another. Matt's always been the happy go lucky type, which makes him different from the other three adults. Alex is a scientist (remember this!) who has sworn off alcohol with good reason. Patrick and Caroline are barristers; he's quite driven. These personalities do not mesh. The book starts with the investigation of how one of the men was shot with an arrow on the archery field. The interviews help frame things but the actual truth of what happened doesn't come out til the end. This is a well written family drama, which is quite entertaining. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. All's well that ends well. Try this for a different sort of Christmas story!

Divorced couple Claire and Matt decide to give their daughter a traditional family Christmas and reunite for a family vacation. They head to the Happy Forest holiday park for a week of Christmas fun. With their new significant others in tow, a shared house, an imaginary 6 foot bunny, and air thick with tension...what could possibly go wrong?! This story begins with a phone call to the police before going back to the beginning and slowly building up to the reason for the phone call. Told in multiple perspectives, we get insight into everyone’s thought processes. At times dark, at times humorous, this was a campy take on family and being an “adult”. For me, The Adults was ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars. Thank you @randomhouse for this advance reader in exchange for my honest review.

The premise of The Adults sounded very humorous to me- a divorced couple with their new partners spending the holidays at a resort so their daughter could have Christmas with both of her parents. And there were funny parts. But overall, I didn’t connect to any of the characters, and it was sometimes difficult to see how any of them were even managing to be in relationships with each other. This is certainly a light and easy read for around the holidays, but not one that resonated well with me.

The Adults was unlike any book I've ever read and I had so much fun reading it!

The Adults is told from three different points of view, the current partners to a divorced couple, Alex and Patrick, along with Matt and Claire's daughters point of view. The switching of perspectives was a little difficult for me to follow in the beginning especially with the story being told in 3rd person instead of the first person that I typically read.

While reading we also going different people's perspectives from around the resort and a common theme was how strange they thought that the 'family' vacation was, because who in their right mine would vacation with their exes, right?

Some times while reading I was laughing out loud, other times I was embarrassed for characters and sick to my stomach. I had no idea how thing would play out in the end, but some characters were much more likable than others. The women were definitely more likable than the men. They were both pretty... douchey. In their own ways.

There were times that I had to stop and ask myself, is this what people in real life deal with every day? And I believe that it is. This story might hit really close to home for some people.

If you are looking for a fun and unpredictable holiday read, I highly suggest you check out The Adults today!