REVIEW: ADULT ASSEMBLY REQUIRED, BY ABBI WAXMAN

When Laura Costello moves to Los Angeles, trying to escape an overprotective family and the haunting memories of a terrible accident, she doesn’t expect to be homeless after a week. (She’s pretty sure she didn’t start that fire — right?) She also doesn’t expect to find herself adopted by a rogue bookseller, installed in a lovely but completely illegal boardinghouse, or challenged to save a losing trivia team from ignominy…but that’s what happens. Add a regretful landlady, a gorgeous housemate and an ex-boyfriend determined to put himself back in the running and you’ll see why Laura isn’t really sure she’s cut out for this adulting thing. Luckily for her, her new friends Nina, Polly and Impossibly Handsome Bob aren’t sure either, but maybe if they put their heads (and hearts) together they’ll be able to make it work.

 

 

 

From the very first page of Adult Assembly Required, we begin to meet characters that we will follow throughout. Bookish, interesting characters, including Laura, a new one who stumbles into the bookstore, drenched by the rain. She is immediately drawn into their circle when Polly offers her dry clothes and a place to stay, since her apartment house just burned down.

A newcomer from Manhattan, Laura isn’t sure she is ready for a city like LA, which seems to be filled with cars everywhere. And Laura’s recent car accident has made her leery.

I liked how an older woman, Maggie, has filled her home with boarders, all of whom seem to become part of her family.

I also enjoyed meeting Nina Hill again, a character from a previous book.

A fascinating character study that made me feel like a part of their social circle, this one definitely earned 5 stars.

 

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