Book Review: Adelaide

Debut novel Adelaide was a rogue read from Luna. After wanting to shake it up and choose a random book, Genvieve Wheeler's coming of age fiction story turned out to be a success.  

The 2023 novel is about twenty six year old Adelaide Williams. Who is a young American girl who moves to London. Shortly she meets Rory, who comes out of nowhere and an Englishman who she thinks is the one. But over time more and more red flags appear. On the horizon a bump in the road comes and she holds onto him tighter. 

This book came as a surprise to me, not because I heard anything negative about it but when I read what it was about I didn’t expect the chaos to come. This is a story of heartbreak, grief and most of mental health. So make sure you check up on the triggers, to avoid any upset. This is a very raw story. Despite it not being an easy read I think it is a fantastic read for women especially but to remember this is not a memorable love story. 

Personally I enjoyed this for lots of different reasons. I liked the craziness of being at University, growing up and just being a woman dating in London. As much as they were the fun parts, I liked the sad parts too. They touched upon issues we as women can face in our lifetime and for myself didn't know much about. So it was important they were discussed and explored within the story line. 

This is a gut wrenching story that evolves around heartbreak. With Adelaide and her relationship with Rory it became infuriating at times. You felt there was no hope for love in her world and held onto any hope, just like she was. I think feeling this way only made you realise the care you had for the main character, shouting get away from him! You wanted the best for her. 

Within the heartbreak and love, it was presented through a young female who is naive and particularly weak in some ways. She is made to feel she isn’t worthy of love and with the relationship you make with Adelaide, you wanted to be her cheerleader and be her friend reading on with the hope she is made to feel that she is. Thankfully this happens which made it all the more rewarding at the end. As much as it had its ups and downs when you finished the film it gave hope to reflect on life as whole to believe and good will come. 

My only downside was how the friendships Adelaide had were presented. I felt they were easy and too positive despite what they went through. I felt it wasn't realistic and could have been a potential route within the storyline of how they were affected whereas Adelaide’s character gave that. 

Overall, I rated this book 5 out 5. For myself it resonated with parts of my life in different ways being a young woman so I thoroughly enjoyed it. I did feel it was raw and could see how it could be “too much” for some as it deals with topics that are raw.