Adult Assembly Required

December 1, 2021

In Mallery's latest, bookshop owner Bree, giftshop owner Mikki, and muffin purveyor Ashley join forces to open The Boardwalk Bookshop on the California coast, relying on one another as they wrestle with the possibilities of love. In Thayer's Summer Love, old secrets will out when four friends hold a 30-year reunion on Nantucket, even as their adult children pursue surprising interests. In Adult Assembly Required, Laura Costello moves to Los Angeles to avoid bad memories and an overprotective family, but her life remains topsy-turvy, and she must rely on friends who include the title character of Waxman's USA TODAY best-selling The Bookish Life of Nina Hill.

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March 1, 2022
Waxman (I Was Told It Would Get Easier, 2020) has a talent for creating familiar characters who are flawed in all the ways many of us are but didn't know anyone else was. Her latest takes place in the same L.A. neighborhood where readers met Waxman's previous protagonists, a few of whom, including Nina Hill, make cameos here. Laura, who recently moved across the country to attend grad school, suffers anxiety, ramped up after a car accident a few years prior. She's ashamed for anyone to know about it, but she soon discovers that her new friends love her because of her flaws, not in spite of them. And naturally, there's romance to be had. A subplot involving Laura's new landlord distracts a little from Laura's journey of self-discovery, and the multiple points of view jar slightly and minimize opportunities for deep characterization (likely setups for future novels). Yet Waxman nimbly describes the normality of anxiety, and readers can count on her to provide comfort and feel-good smiles. Readers of Emily Henry, Linda Holmes, and Beth O'Leary will be delighted.

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May 1, 2022

When Laura Costello moves from New York to Los Angeles for a fresh start after a serious car accident, she quickly finds herself homeless due to a fire. Lucky for her, she wanders into a bookstore and befriends the co-owners, who know a perfect place for her to stay. Laura is welcomed into a lovely boarding house by the friendly landlady and also meets Bob, a handsome gardener who likes watching baseball as much as she does. She also joins her new friends' trivia team. While waiting for her grad school classes to begin, Laura's new friends and potential love interest help her start to face her anxiety, PTSD, and strained relationships with her family and annoying ex-fianc�. Waxman's (I Was Told It Would Get Easier) fifth novel is pleasant enough, but it plods along. The time Waxman spends on characters from previous novels detracts from Laura's story, and although she has a talent for writing realistic and witty dialogue, there's so much of it here that it can seem like filler. VERDICT Not Waxman's best effort, but fans of light romance with a bit of serious stuff mixed in might enjoy it.--Samantha Gust

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.