Adult Assembly Required is a laugh-out-loud addictive rom-com read.

Gosh, I forgot how much I love Abbi’s writing and storytelling abilities. I fell head over heels in love with The Bookish Life of Nina Hill, so you could only imagine how excited I was when we were offered an ARC of Adult Assembly Required. All I have to say is that Abbi once again swept me off my feet with her writing. It’s such a fun and delightful read. I was sad that I had read it so quickly; I wanted to make it last longer. Adult Assembly Required picks up a few months after The Bookish Life of Nina Hill and focuses on Laura, who has just moved to LA. You don’t have to have read Nina’s book to understand and enjoy this book since this story focuses mostly on Laura. However, I would highly recommend reading The Bookish Life of Nina Hill because it is absolutely fantastic.

ALL the characters in this book are just so damn fabulous. They are all so unique, quirky, and have great backstories. They add so much richness to the story and are what make Abbi’s books stand out so much for me. Fans of Nina’s book will be thrilled to see many characters from that book make an appearance in this book. I was so excited that Polly got more time in the spotlight in this book, she was such a fun character, and it was great to spend more time with her. I really enjoyed how Abbi fluidly changed the POV throughout the story. The majority of the book is told from Laura’s POV, but the rest of it is told from an assortment of other characters’ POVs. Abbi has this magical ability to change the POV at just the right moment and with such ease that everything just flows perfectly.

I just adored the boarding house that Laura found herself living in. I loved that mismatched collection of people (and pets) living there. Everyone in that house was so different, and I loved watching them interact with each other. They act like a family of sorts; they embrace each other’s differences, support each other, and give each other the push they may need. The pets are funny and adorable and add that extra charm to the story.

The romance between Laura and Bob has a slow-burn roommate feel to it. These two are just so sweet, and I enjoyed that slower pace their relationship had. It helped to build that chemistry and foundation between the two of them. They were both so shy and nervous around each other, and it just made my heart go pitter-patter when they would spend time with each other.

Adult Assembly Required is a fun, delightful romance with a cast of characters you will never forget.

Thank you, Berkley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sadly, this is a case of writing style mismatch. It was just too chaotic for me. SO MUCH DIALOGUE. And the point of view kept changing, giving me whiplash and major confusion over who I was supposed to focus on. It got a little better as the book progressed, but overall I was just not enjoying myself while reading. I wish the author had picked a main POV and stuck with it. And show me what's going on, there doesn't need to be literal pages of dialogue before we get even a hint of description.

I will say that when the POV situation settled down a bit, and when the author did allow for descriptions, it was quite a nice story. Had it remained that way for majority of the book, I would probably give this a higher rating.

Laura is looking for a fresh start when she moves to LA, but after a fire in her apartment building leaves her looking for a new home, she didn’t expect to be invited into a house full of strangers. However, with the help of her new friends, Laura begins to find herself and get the hang out of this whole adulting thing.

This quirky group of friends brought so much joy into my life while reading. They were so endearing and the type of friends I want in my life. I loved the way they took Laura in and really supported her through her trauma. I don’t typically enjoy character-driven, slice of life stories, but this really worked for me (probably because I loved the characters so much). I loved all of the distinct personalities, and seeing each character grow in their own way. This book really nailed that lost and transitional feeling so many people experience in their 20s and I could relate to the characters in different ways.

Now I’m looking forward to going back and reading The Bookish Life of Nina Hill to get some more of these characters!

Thanks to Berkley for the advanced copy!

Read/Listen If You Like:
❤️ Roommates to Lovers
❤️ Slow-Burn Romance
❤️ Mental Health Representation
❤️ A Group of Misfits

Book Review:
“He suffered from PPST… piss-poor small talk” When I read that line, I chuckled to myself and said “same” and that’s how the rest of the book felt- relatable and real.

This book is really about the characters and the friendships that they have with each other. I really love the way that the focus is on the relationships of everyone, not just the intimate relationship building between Laura and Bob.

This book is really character development driven and such a wonderful story of showing how you can handle what life throws at you to overcome through many different little stories and through the individual relationships within the group.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Books for the ARC of this book! I am so grateful to obtain a copy to read in advance of its release in exchange for my honest feedback!

If you’ve missed Nina and her friends from The Bookish Life of Nina Hill you absolutely must read Adult Assembly Required. It’s a sequel featuring a different couple who know Nina, Polly and company, and it is absolutely fantastic. If you haven’t read Nina Hill yet, rush out and pick up both books now. They’re wonderful.

When graduate student Laura Costello walks into Knight’s bookstore, she is soaked and sobbing. Getting caught in a torrential downpour was just the icing on the cake of what had turned out to be a very bad day. Not only had she not gotten the job she desperately needed, the apartment she just rented caught on fire. The entire building is uninhabitable and all her belongings have literally gone up in smoke. She’s only been in Los Angeles a short time but it’s looking more and more as though the city wants her gone, pronto. Luckily, Knight’s is exactly the right place to go when you’re in a crisis.

Before Laura quite knows what’s happening, clerk Polly has found her a place to live (the boarding house where Polly stays), Nina has lent her dry clothes and bookstore owner Liz has given her hot tea and comfort. Polly’s boarding house turns out to be an entirely lovely place, where proprietress Maggie rents out rooms, doles out excellent advice, and feeds guests who are in obvious need of some loving care. The other tenants are a delightfully eclectic, quirky bunch who make Laura feel right at home. Well, except Impossibly Handsome Bob. He makes her feel flustered and has awakened feelings Laura was quite sure she had beaten remorselessly into submission.

This is the setup for Adult Assembly Required and I laughed out loud, completely uncontrollably, several times as we get to the point where Laura is settled into Maggie’s house. And the hits kept coming – giggles galore accompanied my perusal of this sweet, charming love story about finding your place – and your people – in the world.

Laura is a fantastic heroine. The only daughter of two ornithology professors and sister to three other scientists as well as the ex-fiancée of one, her desire to get a doctorate in the practical field of physical therapy has caused something of a scandal in her family. Her desire to do so in California has her native New Yorker kindred all in a tizzy. Laura’s mother spends the first portion of the book trying to convince her to come home and become a college professor.

We quickly learn that Laura has good cause for wanting to be away from home to get a degree in a medical field. She had always been the only athlete in her family, and when she was in a bad car accident, being practically immobilized had been horrifying for her. Physical therapists helped her literally get back on her feet and back into shape and Laura definitely wants to pay that forward. In addition, her family (and her ex) simply can’t take no for an answer. Laura fled New York for her own sanity.

Impossibly Handsome Bob has the stellar looks of a movie star and the body of an Adonis but zero flirtation skills. None. Nada. Zilch. Making small talk is torture for him and he inevitably chases girls away with his total lack of banter and inability to talk about much of anything except sports and plants. A horticulturalist, he can bore a woman to death in ten minutes flat simply by overloading her with the details of the growth cycle of a perennial. Laura, the daughter, sister and friend of people who endlessly discuss their passions, is actually interested in what Bob has to say and doesn’t find info dumps annoying at all. Moreover, a sports enthusiast herself, she can participate fully in those conversations and turns out to be the perfect partner for this gorgeous socially awkward gentleman.

Because this is woman’s fiction, much of the story is spent watching Laura grow into who she was always meant to be. She spends lots of time with her new friends Polly and Nina, joins Nina’s trivia team and hangs out with Bob a ton. One of my few quibbles with the book is that aside from one on-page kiss, Bob and Nina don’t get together until after eighty percent of the story is over. As a result, their romance, in terms of them being more than friends and actually acknowledging that, feels incomplete. We’re really only privy to the very start of that.

My only other quibble is that Maggie, the landlord, has a reconciliation with her daughter that is very rushed and completely unnecessary. That page space could definitely have been used to further the romance between our leads or between Polly and the young man who has taken a shine to her.

Adult Assembly Required is such a gem of a book. Ms. Waxman’s writing style is so lovely, lively, and laugh-out-loud funny that it is a complete pleasure to read her work. Laura and Bob are utterly enchanting – they’re the besties you wish you had in real life. My two tiny quibbles aside, this tale is perfection and a must read for anyone who likes books.

Thanks to Berkley and Netgalley for the advance copy in exchange for a review.

I enjoyed the characters in this one and liked being back in the Nina Hill universe. The setting of a house that many people lived in was fun. I enjoyed the character of Laura and her backstory and mental health issues.

This one was a slow read for me though and that’s why the rating is lower. Just didn’t seem like much happened and it was slow.

Many thanks to the publisher for inviting me to review this fun novel! 🧡 Adult Assembly Required is the 2nd novel that I have read by Abbi Waxman, and I enjoyed reading this one more.

I love how humorous this book was! Abbi Waxman's comedic timing is perfect. Her characters were all so quirky and delightful to read about. Laura's character development that stemmed from her living her life in New York for starting over after a bad accident was really moving to read about. Her PTSD + mental health struggles were really thoughtfully written about. The representation was definitely one of my favorite things about the book. 💚

The boarding house setting was so cozy, oh my gosh! 🥺 Seeing Laura bond with her housemates, especially Maggie and Bob was such a beautiful ride! The heart-to-heart conversations were just. :')))))) Speaking about Bob - oh BOB. I loved seeing the friendship between Laura and Bob bloom into such a beautiful romance. The way they connected made my heart so, so warm. It's a tremendously lucky thing to find someone you can pour your heart to when you're going through a bad phase in your life, and that's exactly what Laura and Bob's relationship was all about.

I don't really like slow burn romances, so I wasn't a huge fan of the pacing of Laura and Bob's romance 😅 The starting was a bit slow too, and things were wrapped up too quicky in the end. These are the things I didn't enjoy about Adult Assembly Required ~ but all in all, it was a very charming book! If you're fan of cozy and heart-warming fiction, you'll definitely enjoy this one.

Cute, sitcom-y, not very plot heavy. There were a lot of characters and the POV switched a lot. A little confusing at times. Love the author’s sense of humor - that is what kept me reading .

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for an eARC in exchange for a review.

This one was a treat! A classic coming of age, discovering what it means to be an adult read. Laura has moved to LA from New York leaving behind an over-bearing and protective family, ex-fiancé, and the picture of a life they all had for her. She is stepping out on her own for the first time and well a few days in her apartment catches fire and she has no where to go. So what does she do? Head to a bookstore (that girl had the right thought process there). From there we meet a parade of wonderful characters that help Laura discover who she is and help her find her place in this crazy world.

Being an adult makes NO SENSE and this book helps you see a young woman learning that for the first time. It’s okay to ask for help and try new things. None of us have any idea what we are doing so we have to lean on each other to get anywhere.

Also the airport scene was so worth the wait 🥰

The only thing that kept me from making this 5 stars was that I did get confused while reading a few times since you can hear all of the characters thoughts at once. It was odd being in everyone’s head. I ended up appreciating it but it took awhile for me to get used to especially since there were so many individual characters.

I haven’t read any other Abbi Waxman but trust that I cannot wait to go find out more about these characters especially Nina!

This is my second Abbi Waxman and I just love the characters she writes! This book was a little on the slower side but I ended up enjoying it and now I need to go back and read Nina Hill since she’s a character in this one.

What I liked:
• Mental health rep
• Quirky, lovable characters I wanted to root for
• Found family (one of my favorite tropes)
• Fun random facts throughout the book
• Realistic look at self confidence (and the lack of it) and how it plays into our relationships

What I struggled with:
• POV switch was a bit choppy at times.
• Some of the dialogue was very “teen” sounding - I had to remind myself that these people were adults sometimes

This book handles mental health really well and I think paints a good picture of what it’s like to struggle with things like PTSD and social anxiety, as well as self consciousness. I loved the found family aspect, especially for Laura who never fit in in with her own family. I really enjoyed both Bob and Laura’s journey to find themselves and each other. It’s just a really sweet, lighthearted read that’ll make you feel good. And sometimes that’s just what I need as a reader!

Thank you Berkley for the gifted copy!

If you’ve missed Nina and her friends from The Bookish Life of Nina Hill you absolutely must read Adult Assembly Required. It’s a sequel featuring a different couple who know Nina, Polly and company, and it is absolutely fantastic. If you haven’t read Nina Hill yet, rush out and pick up both books now. They’re wonderful.

When graduate student Laura Costello walks into Knight’s bookstore, she is soaked and sobbing. Getting caught in a torrential downpour was just the icing on the cake of what had turned out to be a very bad day. Not only had she not gotten the job she desperately needed, the apartment she just rented caught on fire. The entire building is uninhabitable and all her belongings have literally gone up in smoke. She’s only been in Los Angeles a short time but it’s looking more and more as though the city wants her gone, pronto. Luckily, Knight’s is exactly the right place to go when you’re in a crisis.

Before Laura quite knows what’s happening, clerk Polly has found her a place to live (the boarding house where Polly stays), Nina has lent her dry clothes and bookstore owner Liz has given her hot tea and comfort. Polly’s boarding house turns out to be an entirely lovely place, where proprietress Maggie rents out rooms, doles out excellent advice, and feeds guests who are in obvious need of some loving care. The other tenants are a delightfully eclectic, quirky bunch who make Laura feel right at home. Well, except Impossibly Handsome Bob. He makes her feel flustered and has awakened feelings Laura was quite sure she had beaten remorselessly into submission.

This is the setup for Adult Assembly Required and I laughed out loud, completely uncontrollably, several times as we get to the point where Laura is settled into Maggie’s house. And the hits kept coming - giggles galore accompanied my perusal of this sweet, charming love story about finding your place - and your people - in the world.

Laura is a fantastic heroine. The only daughter of two ornithology professors and sister to three other scientists as well as the ex-fiancée of one, her desire to get a doctorate in the practical field of physical therapy has caused something of a scandal in her family. Her desire to do so in California has her native New Yorker kindred all in a tizzy. Laura’s mother spends the first portion of the book trying to convince her to come home and become a college professor.

We quickly learn that Laura has good cause for wanting to be away from home to get a degree in a medical field. She had always been the only athlete in her family, and when she was in a bad car accident, being practically immobilized had been horrifying for her. Physical therapists helped her literally get back on her feet and back into shape and Laura definitely wants to pay that forward. In addition, her family (and her ex) simply can’t take no for an answer. Laura fled New York for her own sanity.

Impossibly Handsome Bob has the stellar looks of a movie star and the body of an Adonis but zero flirtation skills. None. Nada. Zilch. Making small talk is torture for him and he inevitably chases girls away with his total lack of banter and inability to talk about much of anything except sports and plants. A horticulturalist, he can bore a woman to death in ten minutes flat simply by overloading her with the details of the growth cycle of a perennial. Laura, the daughter, sister and friend of people who endlessly discuss their passions, is actually interested in what Bob has to say and doesn’t find info dumps annoying at all. Moreover, a sports enthusiast herself, she can participate fully in those conversations and turns out to be the perfect partner for this gorgeous socially awkward gentleman.

Because this is woman’s fiction, much of the story is spent watching Laura grow into who she was always meant to be. She spends lots of time with her new friends Polly and Nina, joins Nina’s trivia team and hangs out with Bob a ton. One of my few quibbles with the book is that aside from one on-page kiss, Bob and Nina don’t get together until after eighty percent of the story is over. As a result, their romance, in terms of them being more than friends and actually acknowledging that, feels incomplete. We’re really only privy to the very start of that.

My only other quibble is that Maggie, the landlord, has a reconciliation with her daughter that is very rushed and completely unnecessary. That page space could definitely have been used to further the romance between our leads or between Polly and the young man who has taken a shine to her.

Adult Assembly Required is such a gem of a book. Ms. Waxman’s writing style is so lovely, lively, and laugh-out-loud funny that it is a complete pleasure to read her work. Laura and Bob are utterly enchanting - they’re the besties you wish you had in real life.  My two tiny quibbles aside, this tale is perfection and a must read for anyone who likes books.

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Laura has moved across the country to leave her life at home behind. Mostly the memories of a bad accident and to have some breathing room to make her own choices. It's a chance to start over, a chance the universe ominously shows her could go up in flames, as her building literally goes up in flames. Great. With a little luck, she finds a new place to live with some interesting and unusual roommates, including book store owner Nina, and before she knows it, she's been sucked into an unconventional version of adulting, hoping that she's doing it right. At least she's pretty good at trivia, and the gardener Bob is pretty handsome. Maybe this adulting thing won't be so bad after all.

What a great little slice of life story to sink my teeth into! Laura has some great ambition and also some trauma to deal with, so she moves away from home and tries to get setup in her new life before pursuing her dreams. She runs into Nina, a character from a previous book by this author, and moves into a nice little place where they have "family" dinners and she makes fast friends with beautiful Bob the botanical wizard, a.k.a. the gardener.

I enjoyed their conversations and heart-to-hearts, and I appreciated how they approached their own personal turmoil. The question in my mind while reading was whether or not Bob and Laura were going to sprout something together. Adult Assembly Required is another great slice of life story set in and around Nina's Knights bookstore, and I recommend it to all readers who enjoy stories about other people's lives, who are just trying to make their way through being an adult, as tough and sad and happy and wild as it may, and can, be.

Abbi Waxman has been a favorite since her first novel, and Adult Assembly Required was such a delight. It deals with trauma well, but also manages to be sweet and funny. A great cast of characters (many of whom will be recognized by readers of Waxman's earlier books) and wonderful plot centered around community and connection and friendship and growth and love. It's a hug in a book.

Abby Waxman's Adult Assembly Required is set in the same world as The Bookish Life of Nina Hill. I haven't read that one, unfortunately--however, you don't have to have read it to enjoy this novel.

This story takes place in Los Angeles, where Laura arrives from New York, needing a place to stay. She is immediately brought into the fold of Nina, Polly, and Liz and given a place to stay. Where she shares space with Bob.

Laura and Bob don't start out in a relationship, as they're both hesitant for their own, specific reasons. It's obvious from the beginning, though, that they're "just friends" approach isn't going to last forever.

With a sweet romantic story, and lovely friendships, this story hit all the buttons for me. Enough that I really want to go and read the other books that take place in this world.

This review will be live on the link given on 5/20/22.

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley for access to this arc.

The setup must be swallowed whole – a strange woman appears dripping wet in a bookstore and is whisked into the lives of these people with precious few questions asked, including by the woman willing to rent Laura a room in her home with no references, or first/last month rent. True Maggie is a psychiatrist so I guess maybe she’s better at reading people (except for her daughter who she has royally messed up her relationship with)? but, wow. I also wondered if everyone talks this way in Southern California – like quipsters. I’m used to it from “Nina Hill” and “Garden” and actually love the dry humor but it does read like a Hollywood scripted rom-com and not how people usually speak.

Some main characters from “Garden” appear a little but most not too much. Bob is the main one. Nina and Polly and Liz from “Nina Hill” appear the most. But for the rest? If you don’t know them, don’t sweat it or try to remember who they are. I think perhaps a next book is being set up for two other characters but will have to wait and see.

I love the cats and dogs and some omniscient voice moments from them. Phil the cat is back along with Ferdinand the cat from the bookstore who does not like having her (Ferdinand’s gender was discovered when she gave birth) space invaded (she’s “beyond peeved”) and who contemplates writing a letter to her Senator about it. Then there are two dogs and a new cat who live in the house where Laura, Bob, and Polly live. Bob and Polly are having a custody dispute over one of them.

This is a slow burn romance. A very, very slow burn romance. Both Bob and Laura are shy and quiet people. Laura has been subsumed by her ex-fiancé for years while Bob’s handsome face reels in the ladies before his lack of suave small talk (or PPST:piss poor small talk, according to his sister) and tendency to revert to what he knows – sports and soil – cause their eyes to glaze over. So both of them aren’t sure about their staying power in a relationship. Everyone around them is and there are eye rolls aplenty about their obtuseness but Laura and Bob are painfully unsure. In a way I can absolutely understand this but part of me was still, at times, wanting to yell “Just go ahead and f*ck like bunnies already!”

What worked beautifully for me about them together is that they are calm, friendly, attuned to each other, want to just spend time together, and are endlessly supportive. We get to watch them fall in love (like settling down on a comfy sofa under an afghan your grandmother crocheted) while watching a favorite program or listening to much loved music. He helps her slowly tackle her motor vehicle anxiety while she encourages his (self-scoffed-at) desire to attend a grad school horticulture program. They’re not only supportive of each other, they’re good for each other. I will forgive the sloooooow burn for this. B+

Laugh-out-loud scenes, cats and dogs, quirky bookish characters, witty banter, slow-burn romance, and stellar mental health rep. This was my first Waxman book and I absolutely adored it. I was already belly laughing and in love with the characters by the end of chapter one!

Laura Costello moves to L.A. from NYC to attend grad school for physical therapy. She’s also running from an overbearing family, an ex-fiancé, and a traumatic car accident that has left her scarred both mentally and physically. Her new L.A. apartment burns down, leaving her homeless. Laura stumbles into Nina Hill’s bookstore, where she meets Polly who invites her to move into a boarding house. A new found family of eclectic friends quickly embrace Laura, but she soon learns that she can’t outrun her past. She also can’t tamp down her feelings for the hot gardener across the hall.

I related to Laura so much! She’s 6’0, often awkward, a swimmer, and lives in leggings and tees. Same girl, same❤️. I also related to her battle with PTSD, and appreciated Waxman’s careful handling of the subject. I love how supportive her friends are, and how they all normalize therapy and MH issues. Perfect MH Month read.

This is a charming book about friendship, found family, and finding yourself. I enjoyed the perspective shifts and climbing inside everyone’s head, even the dogs 😂❤️🐶!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Adult Assembly Required - Abbi Waxman
4.75/5⭐️
Pub Date: 5/17/2022

After recovering from a debilitating car accident, Laura Costello moves across family to get away from her over protective family. After barely moving in, her apartment burns down and she gets caught in a downpour outside a bookstore in Larchmont Village, a community located in the heart of Los Angeles. She meets the ladies in the bookstore, Nina, Liz, and Polly, and they take her in. Polly taking her home to live in an available room in the large home she rents in Highland Park, just down the street. There Laura meets Bob, or Impossibly Handsome Bob, as her new friends call him. He’s just as they claim, Impossibly Handsome, but he’s also impossibly awkward, shy, and uncomfortable. In Laura he finds someone with the same interests and who has a calmness that soothes his nervous mind. This novel centers on their story, but also includes the interesting characters who surround them.

Having lived in Los Angeles, I always find Abbi Waxman’s novels nostalgic. I grew up in southern California so there are a lot of little notes that only someone from that area would truly understand. For example, when there’s an earthquake you have an instinct for the score and if it’s lower than a 4.0 it’s nothing of note. You just get on with your life. Laura, our main protagonist is getting over PTSD from a bad car accident and is from the east coast, so an earthquake rock her world a little harder than it does our other characters who may shrug one off if it’s doesn’t really do any lasting damage. Other very LA things like traffic, bad drivers, weather, and thrift shopping make an appearance and make this novel feel very much an LA novel. So, I love that.

You can’t but fall in love with both Laura and Bob. They are very subtle characters who have an ease and calm that is very soothing to a reader. In some books that might be boring, but with all of the outlandish characters surrounding them, their calm interactions were kind of zen moments that brought the entire novel together. The pace of their love story was very fitting to their characterizations as well with the zaniness of what was going on around them, plus other characters self-journeys creating a tension that propelled the book forward allowing us to love Laura and Bob at the pace they needed to be loved.

I’ve read all of Abbi Waxman’s novels and each has been unique. I’ve liked some better than others, but none as much as The Garden of Small Beginnings, her debut novel. However, Adult Assembly Required has had the same ease as this author’s first novel, so I’d rate it my second favorite. Something they both share is one small child, Clare, who has got to be the funniest characterization of a child I’ve ever read. Clare is zany and bright and whenever she’s in a scene I just know I’m going to get a laugh or two. I laughed my way through The Garden of Small Beginnings and she gave me quite a few chuckles in Adult Assembly Required as well. I can only hope that at some point Clare grows up and we get a novel from her perspective because it would be so much fun! In this novel she was the perfect counterpoint to Laura’s assured calmness and made me like Laura even more.

If you like zany characters, great friendships, and quirky romances I think you should give this novel a try. It was great. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❣️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for my honest review and it was honest!

2.5 ★

“Sometimes you recognize an important moment, other times it passes unnoticed.”

Well... to be honest, the premise of the book was quite interesting. However, the story was not for me and I couldn't connect with the characters.

In Adult Assembly Required, we meet Laura, who moves to Los Angeles in order to escape her overprotective family and the trauma caused by an accident. However, a week after arriving, she's left homeless because of a fire that damaged her home. And luckily for her, a very nice bookseller offers her to stay at her house for a while...

As I said, the synopsis was quite interesting, but it didn't impress me enough. I expected a little more development with the characters and plot, but nothing happens, and the ending was quite rushed.

The story is still funny and Laura's friends are adorable and very cute. I wish I had that kind of friendship in my life.

I did want to enjoy this book, and I'm very sorry for the low rating.

Laura is looking to escape her overprotective family and what she finds is unexpected. After a fire forces her into a new home/illegal boardinghouse she finds herself bonded to these people, while questioning if she’s actually ready for adulthood. This quirky cast of characters sells this book!
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I always love relationships in books of family that comes from strangers and this does it right! This book is out tomorrow!
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Thank you @NetGalley and @Berkleypub for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

If you love:
❣️The Bookish Life of Nina Hill (AAR is a standalone sequel. Nina is a side character in this book.)
❣️Stories about starting over, healing from trauma
❣️Quirky characters
❣️Friends-to-lovers women's fiction
❣️Shy, blushing, awkward little love stories

This was a really cozy women's fiction about Laura's move to Los Angeles and healing from PTSD after a terrible car accident. She moves into a house with a whole bunch of loveable characters. There's some drama and lots of conversations, trivia with Nina Hill, an obnoxious ex-fiancee, a sweet, mother figure, and a beautiful, just-her-type, housemate just down the hall. So, this obviously has tons of good ingredients for a lovely read!

I did, however, find the pace was a little bit uneven with this one, and overall it's a slowly paced book that I think I would have probably preferred as an audiobook. I didn't always want to pick it up even though I loved the characters. I wished for more romance. Even for women's fiction standards this is extremely low on the romantic tension scale.

Thank you so much Berkley and Netgalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.