Fabulously unexpected! I nabbed this one because I enjoy Liz Talley's books immensely. This one was a bit different in the subject matter, but entertaining as heck.

The setup: Child actor gone wild Chase London has a great opportunity to get her name out of the tabloids and back on the marquee...but no one seem to think she can do it, not even her mom-ager. Given one chance, she agrees to participate in an "adulting" boot camp. But problems arise from day one, and she isn't sure she has the stamina to go through with it.

Life coach Olivia Han has stumbled into the perfect gig: Teaching people how to be "adults"...responsible, functioning, adults. The only problem? She is fighting unresolved demons of her own, and the demons start to come out of the closet while she is on a remote boot camp with a young actress who picks at the seams of Olivia's life as a distraction from her own issues.

Can these two women find a balance, and make peace with their own pasts? Well written and an easy read, I couldn't put it down!

***Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***
This book has a lot of great messages: second chances, friendship, and love. I enjoyed it immensely.

How have I never read Liz Talley before Adulting?! During the first chapter, I was a bit hesitant I wouldn't like the book (cocaine, sex, hangovers) but that just showed that Chase London was a hot mess. She goes to rehab (for the umpteenth time) then heads to bootcamp to learn how to be an adult. This book discusses heavy topics, but the storyline was strong and the character development was great. Have no fear- there is still love, hope and laughter to keep things positive!

This is the first time I am reading this author and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. This is basically a story of Chase learning to become an adult and her own person. This was a great book with a bunch of little side stories and a couple of romances thrown in. I would definitely be willing to read another one by this author

What an absolutely gorgeous story. I loved the dynamic between Chase and Olivia. It featured new beginnings and ways to believe in yourself and start afresh. I would 100% recommend this to others and can’t wait to give it some bookstagram hype on publishing day!!

Love love loved this book and am very surprised i've never read anything by this author before. This book was charming, and exactly what I needed in 2020. The glimpse into the life of a washed up child actor I never knew I needed.

A tale of the professional relationship between a counsellor and her client that slowly develops into an unlikely friendship. I loved watching Chase, the actor and Olivia, her counsellor work through recovery together and learn from each other. It was really moving to see Chase learn to be an adult and face the "challenges" of adulthood such as managing money and shopping at the supermarket. There was also the very welcome addition of a few romances along the way, though this was not a romance novel.. I loved the epilogue as I have a real issue with books leaving me with questions, I hate having to make up my own endings.

It really was quite unlike anything I have read before and I don't quite know what genre this would come under, I just know it was one of my best reads of this year and I will be thinking about Chase for a long time to come.

Sometimes you just need a book to make you feel good, "Adulting" did that for me. Uplifting and smile-inducing.

Standing Outside The Fire. Ok, so possibly *too* on point or perhaps even a little cliche with the title of the review there, since Talley explicitly brings that song in late in the book with one character explaining to another that this is exactly what has been happening. But I *love* that song, it is easily one of my all-time favorites. :)

Anyway, on the book itself: Very fun, but also very deep. The two main characters - Olivia and Chase - are dealing with similar events in their worlds, neither of them realizing at first just how similar they are even if their perspectives on the events in question are very different. Along the way, many, many hijinx are had, including one very scared and borderline feral kitty cat. It is hard to note a particular trigger warning that is relevant enough to probably mention (even though I am not a fan of the practice generally, it is that significant here - though off screen, discussed by the characters as past events). So I'll note that it ties into #MeToo and leave it at that. Truly a very balanced book about taking control of your own life and being open to possibilities that don't seem obvious at first, and a very fun read. Very much recommended.

Adulting by Liz Talley a fulfilling four-star read. I will be honest I had to start this one a couple of times, I just couldn’t get stuck into it, that being said when I finally did it turned into a five-star read. So I settled on four-stars, so if you cant get stuck into this one, do keep going as it really does get so, so good. This was a great example of how different lives can be, not everyone’s lives are full of joy and calmness, not everyone is a nice person or even likeable. Its not always an easy read, but it really is a great read.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the fact that they both grew, evolved and found themselves as a result of their friendship. I’ll definitely look out for more books from this author.

This book was super good. It was super original and I flew through it. It didn't feel like anything I've read in the past. Can't wait to read more from the author!! This book was unputdownable.

Life can be very confusing and out of control sometimes especially when you've never really had a chance to grow up. Chase London is a child actor turned train-wreck who is given one last chance to get it together to become insurable and take on a role in a movie that could be a turn-around for her career. Olive Han's Square One business is all about getting people sober and teaching them to become adults. When these two collide unexpected things happen in addition to adulting! Love the characters and couldn't put this book down. My favorite Liz Talley book yet! Great read.

this was an advanced copy so no online review until February. The characters were wonderful and kept my interest. The emotion was great and the writing terrific. Liz Talley is a great writer.

Wow! This was a fantastic book! I am blown away by it! I started reading, not having read the summary, since I am a fan of Liz Talley. I sometimes like to enter a book with no idea where it will take me, and in this case, that was a great decision. I became engrossed in the story very quickly and I did not expect what happened. It was such a shock! I loved the plot of this novel and can see that so much thought went into the creation of it, for everything to fit together so well.

Liz Talley has wonderful character development. I felt like I knew these people and I cared about them deeply. Now that I have finished the book, I miss them.

She describes the settings in such detail that I definitely felt like I was in the scenes, not reading a book. (This would be a great movie!) The emotions contained within the story exploded from the pages. The story contains some difficult topics that are dealt with grace, concern and love. The main themes are unresolved family issues, addictive behavior, growing up - “Adulting” and being open to love yourself and others.

With every new book Liz Talley releases, I think her writing gets better and better! I could never pick a favorite of her work, since whatever I am reading becomes my new favorite.

I want to thank NetGalley and Montlake for giving me the pleasure of reading the advance reader copy. My review is my own opinion not influenced by receiving the ARC.

I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful book! "Adulting" by Liz Talley is the type of book that you want to read slowly when you realize you only have two chapters left, not wanting it to end. The characters are well-developed and fun to hang out with, even though some are celebrities and seemingly unreachable. Through circumstance, heartbreak and the normalcy of their situations, you realize that even celebrities have struggles and hard times, just like we ordinary people. The day-to-day lives of these deeply interesting characters, as well as the relationships that form among them, are what make "Adulting" such a breath of fresh air. In my opinion, Ms. Talley has a true winner on her hands.

A moving story about two women who must each face a troubled past. Chase has been to rehab more than once, but keeps falling back into old patterns. Olivia is therapist who works with clients like Chase to help them find the root of the problem, but this time her own unresolved emotional baggage surfaces making it a little harder for her to help her newest client. At first I did find it tough to connect with the two main characters but as they began to ope up to each other, they became more relatable.
This book does contain difficult topics including suicide, rape, drug abuse and sexual abuse. If you are triggered by those issues, this may not be the book for you. However, I felt Talley tackled these delicate issues in a thoughtful manner. As the story progressed, I became invested in this story and I was rewarded with a satisfying ending to this emotional tale.

This was such a fun read! At times heartwarming and surprisingly sweet. Plus, the cover looks as awesome as the book itself.

This was less of a romance than a story about bettering yourself. I went back and looked up the author. Liz Talley. I seemed to have read another one of her books and wrote the same thing.

Oh, you'll not put this book down once you start reading it! Let me tell you what happened...or rather a bit about my experience reading it. There's Chase London (if you ask me that name kinda tells you she's free spirit/ always taking risks) and she is an actress who has been in and out of rehab so much so that Olivia, a Life Coach is roped in, in a final attempt to straighten her out.
What starts as an intervention, slowly unravels to explore aspects about family, love, betrayal, abuse and it builds up into an unraveling of a secret that could break the final ties of family- and friendship. I truly loved the push and pull between Olivia and Chase. I loved that Chase pushed Olivia's buttons- not to make her angry but rather to get her to deal with her fears and hurt as well.
The romance between Olivia and Spencer is a bonus- and the love triangle that ensues after that when Conrad comes into the picture- well, made me want to drink a glass of wine and roll my eyes, because it was so clear who the right guy was!
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.

This was great. I thought it would be a bit exaggarated and dramatic. However it surpassed expecations and I thoroughly enjoyed it.