Adelaide by Genevieve Wheeler is about a young woman who experiences love for the first time. Adelaide Williams is a twenty six year old American living in London. She and her friends love the city but they need to find permanent jobs to secure a visa in order to stay longer. Adelaide has a passion for publishing but takes on a high paying tech job to be able to stay in London. Adelaide is in love with the city and her life but she still thinks there’s something missing: companionship. She decides that she wants to start dating and downloads a dating app.
After a string of meaningless one night stands that taper out, Adelaide feels that maybe she isn’t meant to be loved. All that changes when she crosses paths with Rory Hughes, who feels like a breath of fresh air. He looks like a Disney prince and looks exactly like what Adelaide would consider her dream guy to be.
As Adelaide and Rory start spending time together, she feels that something is missing from their relationship. She realizes that he isn’t attentive to her, he doesn’t honor their plans, he doesn’t make advance plans, he doesn’t always respond to texts, and he makes her sleep in a separate bed. However, when they do meet up and do spend time together, Rory is a bright light that chases all the darkness from her life. Adelaide is convinced that deep down in his heart, Rory feels the same way about her as she does about him. He just has a hard time displaying his love for her.
An unexpected tragedy occurs that rocks both of their worlds. Rory seems to be drifting and unable to cope with life and how things are going. As Adelaide tries to be a pillar for Rory and to be a shining light in his life, she stops at nothing to cheer him up even if it means losing herself in the process.
The novel started off with Adelaide checking into a hospital because she has suicidal thoughts after a breakup. The novel is broken into past and present with Adelaide narrating most of the story. We did occasionally get a sneak peek into Rory’s life.
The novel started off interesting. I tried to understand why Adelaide was feeling suicidal as in the beginning her life seems like it was going great. However, it quickly becomes clear when we read about her and Rory’s relationship. The book goes on for pages after pages of Adelaide staying in a relationship in which she isn’t treasured. She is so desperate to be loved that she is willing to put up with being in a relationship with a guy who clearly doesn’t love her and she even admits to knowing he would never love her.
I like romantic novels as much as any other person but, there was only so much of Adelaide’s flawed relationship I could read. I am not sure why she kept putting up with Rory’s inattentiveness and harsh behavior. It was like seeing a friend constantly being used as a punching bag, after a while you feel upset and annoyed at your friend for not sticking up for themselves. The book goes on like that for a while and then the author explains why Adelaide stays with Rory. It does explain why she stayed with him but, it doesn’t erase the annoyance of having her basically hanging by a thread before she seeks help.
The book also goes into so much detail about random things that just seemed pointless. I felt like the book could have been shorter with less mini plotlines. Unless you want to read a book where a young woman ignores every single red flag and read about every single tedious detail about her life, then skip this book.
