I’ve been following Ali Patony on Twitter for a while now so was really looking forward to reading this book.
The characters were nice enough but I feel they could have benefitted from a bit more character development. The book is nothing new (it was a bit too easy to skim read) but at the same time I’d happily read a follow up to find out what the characters get up to next. It’s an easy beach read for summer.

3.5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Random House and Ali Patony for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Almost Adults follows the stories of four best friends, all in their life twenties and feeling like they should have their shit together by now.

Natasha has just been dumped by the man she’s spent the last seven years and thought she’d spend the rest of her life with.

Alex is worried that her own boyfriend, Craig, is acting distant and looking to follow suit.

Mackie is desperate to get out of the job she’s gotten just about all she can out of, and move on to bigger and better things. But can she do it if it means moving away from her friends?

Edele has just lost her job, is still living at home, and has no idea where it is she’s going next.


This is a story of true friendship, and how no matter what shit life throws at you, as long as there are people who will always have your back, you will be just fine. Being an adult doesn’t always mean you have everything figured out, these four are perfect examples that you don’t have to have the perfect life mapped out in order to enjoy it.
3/5 stars for this pleasantly enjoyable read!

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for an ARC of this book.
Well, glad I persevered. What a great uplifting read about the power of friendship and taking back control of “the narrative”.
I almost ditched the book early on due to the prolific use of the “f” word which I hate & the “laddish” behaviour and mindset of the 4 girls. I’m still not sure that it would have lost anything by toning that down but I guess it was putting a picture across and showing the real underbelly of the posturing and self destructive behaviours.
Overall I’ve taken a couple of good reminders from the book about the healing power of girlfriends who have your back (certainly my personal experience) and also about tackling your own internal negative voice.
Overall good characterisation. I liked the girls and loved their hearts. Definitely can recommend but, (at the risk of sounding prudish I realise,) the repetitive bad language & crude sexual attitudes brings the 4stars to a 3 for me.

Almost Adults by Ali Pantony a four-star read that will hook you. I will be honest and admit I did enjoy this novel, but I did expect more from it, I don’t know why I expect more though the writing was good, but it missed the mark a few times and felt a little too much. The characters were good, you could relate to them and understand, I enjoyed the friendship aspects of the story most of all, the power of a god friend takes you far and this shows us that.

This book started off really strong but halfway through I felt it lost its way. I just didn't feel there was anything particularly special about the book or the characters, which is a shame because when they were all first introduced I really wanted to know more about them, but as the story developed I really wasn't that interested in any of them. I felt that there were good scenarios in here to sow the 'almost adult' like part of the title and I think it's incredibly relatable to a lot of us females out there. I love the friendship between the girls but it often felt like it was stepping into the realm of cliche, trying really hard to prove that they all really love each other. The book was funny in some parts, Edele had to be my favourite character especially the night after the club! Oh and forgot to add I love the fact that their WhatsApp group is called MEAN girls!

Overall an okay book but I feel like I've read a dozen books like this on female friendship before.

The new The Flatshare, this book was warm, funny and full of heart. I think everybody can relate to at least one of the characters, if not all of them. Almost Adults is a searing exploration of what it means to still be coming of age in your late 20s and why it’s okay to not have your shit together.

The only reason it did not get five stars is because at times it felt inconsistent. There were moments that were emotional and raw, and others which felt childish and forced. Sometimes it was difficult to remember which character was which, as they weren’t always fully formed - Alex and Mackie particularly felt interchangeable toward the beginning.

Overall though, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read and I’d recommend!

Likeable and relatable characters. Well written with a few laughs thrown in. Could have more depth to the characters but an enjoyable read.

I liked this book, the premise caught my attention and I easily found myself immersed in the centre of the group of girls; Nat, Mackie, Edele and Alex who have been friends forever. They have grown up in the same town all their lives and now in their late twenties still don't feel like they have really grown up, that they are adults.

They help each other through the good times and the bad including breakups, new jobs and huge life changes. The highs and lows of being an adult.

I had expected a funnier book with a lot of laugh-out-loud moments and whilst there were moments like this, it also covers the struggles of making mistakes and learning from them and having a great group of friends who have your back. It is truly a relatable and accurate account of growing up and I for one felt like the book was about myself at times, even in my thirties! I think we all go through times where we feel we aren't a proper adult or don't really know where we are going with life. We all have setbacks, whatever they may be, and it's how we cope with these that allow us to grow in life.

Whilst I liked the characters I felt that they could have done with some development. Mackie, who seemed the most 'adult' of the group wasn't really fleshed out and I would like to have read more about her, her big life changes, how she dealt with these and how/if her friendship changed with the girls. I would also have liked to have seen more about Nat's therapy and Ed's unemployment.

One thing I really did like was it this wasn't all based on having to have a man on your arm. That finding yourself and making yourself happy was just as important as being in love and in a good relationship. I often think that our own happiness is overlooked at times and chicklit books sometimes hook in to that theme.

Overall, I liked this book and would read more from this author in the future.

Mackie, Edele, Alex and Nat have been friends forever, they're now in their late twenties, but they don't feel like adults. From being unemployed to breakups and big life changes, they're trying to work everything out with each other's help.

From the blurb, I expected a funnier book, but whilst there are light-hearted moments it's more of a look at how the girls support each other through difficult times. There were a couple of things which didn't add up - there's shock at one of them potentially leaving the town they grew up in for their job, but it appears they all went to university, where they went is never mentioned, but all four of them going to the same university in their home town is a bit weird. They also clearly have livers of iron!

Perhaps inevitably in a book with 4 protagonists and points of view, some characters are more fleshed out than others. Mackie especially doesn't feel like a fully drawn character, which is interesting as she's also the most adult of the group. Overall though, it was an enjoyable read and I'd read more by the author.

Fun, fast paced, all too accurate reflection on millennial life. Could do with a bit more in depth character development, but a great, enjoyable read all the same.

I absolutely adored this! Perfect summer reading for millennials and people who just feel a bit lost - would absolutely recommend for holiday reading.

Going to give the book 4 stars as sometimes it felt a little too on the surface - I would have liked to learn more about one character’s problems instead of a little bit about all 4 girls, for example Nat’s therapy or how Ed felt being unemployed. Also seemed quite a straight book - it would have benefited from some f/f dating and being more inclusive that way.

An enjoyable book about 4 women in their late twenties, Mackie, Edele, Alex and Nat (the MEAN girls) who all have issues of one sort or another. Mackie wants a better career, Edele wants a job, Alex worries about her boyfriend having an affair and Nat's boyfriend just walks out on her after 7 years. I think that no matter what age we are we can all relate to these themes. Nat's issues with self esteem are perhaps the most sympathetically done. The others just seem like add ons. I had difficulty in distinguishing between their voices at times (all are in the first person) so that I had to flip back at times to see whose story it was. They seemed a little bit one dimensional sometimes. But it was an enjoyable read with characters who were relatable and you did find yourself hoping that everyone would be all right in the end. I think maybe people in their twenties might relate to it better than I did. Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for the ARC.

I'd seen a few reviews of this book before I started reading it, and was super excited to finally get round to it. Almost Adults follows the lives of four twenty-something-year-old friends Mackie, Edele, Alex and Nat (who also go by the MEAN girls). We see them navigating the struggles of adulting, whether that's a break-up, moving out or applying for a job. I loved all four characters and related to all of them in one way or another. I'd seen it compared to a grown-up version of the Georgia Nicolson series, and I couldn't agree more. If you're in that twenty-something age range, still trying to navigate your own life, this is definitely a book for you!

A novel about female friendship and adulthood; contemporary and relatable, "Almost Adults" is definitely a chick-lit that transcends its genre.

Almost Adults has a hook that may as well have been designed just to lure me in: four female best friends making mistakes, falling in and out of love, and trying really hard to just act like the adults they're supposed to be. I know what it's like to love your friends so much you'd go to the moon for them and I know what it feels like when the job you want doesn't want you back. I know what it feels like when life is pretty awfully, but I also know what it's like when you have friends who are there to pick you back up and make you laugh.

I enjoyed how Ali managed to find a balance in her writing being relatable without being too cheesy, letting the main girls love each other in a way that remained the focus no matter how much boy trouble they all got into. It's a good thing as well, because the various love interests failed to really capture me in the way I wanted them to. If you're looking for a romance-heavy story then this isn't the book for you, but if you enjoy female friendships and bad decisions then I would recommend.

This book had me in tears from the very first chapter. I felt an affinity to the character in a way that would normally take a whole book. I think this is what Ali does so well. The four girls all have very different struggles and challenges throughout the book, which means there is something for everyone. For me, I understood Alex (and first chapter Nat) above the others but know friends who would really bond with Edele or Mackie! This was a light, fun read for women in their twenties all about friendship and finding yourself along the way. Personally, I think it would have been stronger if the four voices had been more different to make it really feel like four narrators but ultimately the story and the friendships are what this book is built on and which will resonate with readers far and wide.