The Adults by @CarolineHulse1 [review]

The Adults

Title: The Adults
Author: Caroline Hulse
Publisher: Orion

[Synopsis]

Meet The Adults

Claire and Matt are divorced but decide what’s best for their daughter Scarlett is to have a ‘normal’ family Christmas. They can’t agree on whose idea it was, or who said they should bring their new partners. But someone did – and it’s too late to pull the plug.

Claire brings her new boyfriend Patrick, a seemingly eligible Iron-Man-in-Waiting. Matt brings the new love of his life Alex, funny, smart, and extremely patient. Scarlett, their daughter, brings her imaginary friend Posey. He’s a rabbit. Together the five (or six?) of them grit their teeth over Organized Fun activities, drinking a little too much after bed-time, oversharing classified secrets about their pasts and, before you know it, their holiday is a powder keg that ends – where this story starts – with a tearful, frightened, call to the police…

But what happened? They said they’d all be adults about this…

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[My Review]

I absolutely loved how The Adults makes you feel like you’re right there on holiday with this dysfunctional family, as they try to muddle their way through an awkward, too-close-for-comfort family holiday in somewhere that I imagine to be like Centerparcs, but SO Christmas-themed-it-hurts! Think a LOT of forced ‘magical festive fun’ for the whole family to ‘enjoy’… except things are falling apart fast!

From reading the very first page I assumed this would be moresort of a mystery story, where the reader can piece together what happened to the ‘male’ who needs an ambulance in the first scene. However, it’s much more about the family drama and relationships between the characters – though the ’emergency incident’ does play a big part, of course – and I was compeltely fine with that. I didn’t at all mind the lack of focus on the mystery (for once) because the story is so entertaining and fun to read.

Caroline Hulse has a way of making you feel like you could be reading about so many ‘normal’ families who are doing their best to spend Christmas (an often-fraught time  of year, in terms of family, at the best of times) together for the sake of little Scarlett (who I have to say, I kind of disliked, despite her only being a child!).

I’d really recommend this funny read; it’s got some mystery in there to keep you hooked and I loved the funny (and fraught) dynamics between the characters – so entertaining!

[Rating: 4/5]

Many thanks to Orion for providing a copy of this book on which I chose to write an honest and unbiased review.

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