Are you still a virgin? Want to talk about it in a safe space?
Meetings every other Tuesday.
You're not alone.

Kate Mundy's life is not going to plan. Nearing thirty, she's been made redundant from her job, her oldest friends have quietly left her behind, and she can barely admit her biggest secret: she's never even been on a date, let alone taken her underwear off with a member of the opposite sex.

Freddie Weir has spent most of his twenties struggling severe OCD and anxiety, and now his only social interactions consist of comic book signings and fending off intrusive questions from his weird flatmate Damian. There's no way Freddie could ever ask a girl out and now he's wondering if this is the way it might be forever.

When Freddie and Kate meet at a self-help group for adult virgins, they think they might just be able to help each other out so they can both get on with finding their real romantic destinies.

But might these two have more in common than just their lack of experience?

Thanks to Netgalley for an early copy of this book.

To be honest the cover and title didn't entice me to the book, maybe a bit plain? They definitely don't do justice to the book, it is funny, sweet, romantic, I really enjoyed it.

The main characters are ones that you instantly love, Admittedly it's fairly obvious how it is going to end but I like books like this!

The idea of adult virginity is one that is rarely looked at without ridicule so this was a nice change. People were treated kindly and not as oddballs as is commonly the way.

It was also nice to read a book where the main female character isn't in a dead end office job. Overall an entertaining read.

A brilliant, funny well written book that is absolutely hilarious. Brilliant bunch of characters and the perfect little storyline.

Adult Virgins Anonymous by Amber Crewe a five-star read that will open your eyes. This wasn’t always a five-star read but I went for it as overall I enjoyed it, I enjoyed the back story and the depth we get into with Kate and Freddie and the original-ness of the story, its one that will make you stop and thing and grab those you hold dear, who get you, it made me desperate to make mine read this. There was a great flow to the story and even though Kate and Freddie are the main players, there are others in this story that bring the detail and they are all well written there isn’t a 2 dimensional character here, that’s so rare to find, especially from a debut. I loved the premise and it made me stop and think would I have looked twice at the add, would I have gone along, would you? Pick up the book and find out.

If I said I wasn’t drawn to this based on the title alone I‘d be telling fibs, I absolutely was, and whilst we all know virgins in romance aren’t exactly a rarity, virgins like Freddie and Kate and their group of new found friends are, and they were a delight. A diverse, sweet, awkward delight.

“People think there’s this magical spell thing when it comes to losing your virginity. Like that one experience is suddenly the most important experience you’ll ever have...”

Self-confidence and belonging is at the heart of this story, and whilst I did find it a little slow off the mark, once Kate and Freddie’s friendship kicks into gear around the 40% mark everything fell into place and I enjoyed them together. Their life experiences, past and present, could be ours and it’s impossible not to relate in some way and empathise to their personal struggles and hopes at finding the place they belong and the person who unconditionally accepts them for who they are.

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

Seeing these characters, particularly Freddie, grow in confidence is what stole this for me and although the ending was a bit speedy with more of a HFN rather than HEA, Adult Virgins Anonymous was an enjoyable and refreshing take on the virginity manacle.

The story was different but wasn’t truly convinced of the dialogues between the two main characters.
Maybe this wasn’t a book for me

..beautifully awkward..

This book has a storyline that drew me right in. So after my request was approved, I was overjoyed. It is a plotline that we don't see often or ever in books. The mixture of side characters that attend Virgin Annoynimus meetings is diverse from asexual, gender non-binary, to bisexual. Virginity is not a token or means to mock, but a way to tell a story of many people's life choices and different life journey.

Kate & Freddie are our lead protagonists, which story we follow here. We also got a great back story about how they got here. I loved how Freddie's OCD and anxiety were handled. He is my favorite character. The romance wasn't anything special but I wasn't bothered by it. I was just happy for them being content.

I loved the overall message of this book, finding your group of people where you belong. Being accepted and understood is a strong vibe I got from these wonderful characters.

This is another debut novel I have read this year and liked very much. Thank you, NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton publishing for the copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked this book. It was an original idea, and I loved that adult virgins weren't mocked. When people around them found out, they were kind.

Kate's story in particular was very relatable. It was easy to understand how she had ended up aged 30 and a virgin. She didn't start off with issues, but had never had sex due to various circumstances. This then affected her self esteem and confidence, perpetuating the cycle making it harder to meet someone .

I really disliked Freddie's family. Even his parents, although the author did try to soften them a little in the last few chapters. I just thought they were selfish, and not nice. They also displayed zero understanding and empathy for OCD and anxiety.

4.5 out of 5. It wasn't quite a 5 for me, but a book I thoroughly enjoyed and would encourage others to read.

Thanks to NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review

Thanks for the e-arc.
Premise of the book caught my attention immediately..I had high expectations going in.
Though I appreciate the intention , about adult virginity, I thought the execution could have been more intresting. Initial chapters felt like a dream. As individuals characters were okay, but didn't feel the romance between them.
Good one but could have been better.

A cute idea but the chemistry between the lead characters didn't quite do it for me.

Some good representation in the story and am sure some people will love it but not quite a home run for me.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Adult Virgins Anonymous is a fun, easy and light modern romance. That is great to read in the bath or curled up on the sofa.

I think this is an example of this not being for me.

Objectively, there wasn’t anything wrong with it. I was really invested in the idea. It’s not often you hear of books focusing on late virginity, and it was one that inspired me to read it. However, I found that my issue was a matter of taste. I’m just not into romance, no matter how well it’s written. No matter how much I tried I just couldn’t get into the relationship between Kate and Freddie. They were great characters. I found myself relating to Kate and her backstory a lot, and Freddie’s personal struggles were relatable, but the romance didn’t convince me.

What I really enjoyed was the wide range of characters in the support group and their different reasons to why they are late virgins. It’s interesting to see the obstacles they face, and their own hang ups over it, while with some it’s a choice. However, it did get a bit repetitive after awhile, and it was obvious how certain situations would play out, but it’s still a book I would recommend to lighthearted stories or romance.

Hmm this is a difficult one to review. I can't say there's anything wrong with Adult Virgins Anonymous, and it was a quick read, but I didn't particularly enjoy reading it either. This book was a downer.

Which is odd because, like any contemporary romance (although I'm not sure I'd define this story as a romance), there is, of course, a happy ending. Except that there's no real chemistry between our protagonists.

Kate and Freddie are both in their twenties, they're both still virgins and for both of them it's something they're ashamed of and plays heavily on their minds. This is no surprise when we live in a society that's obsessed with sex.

I was intrigued by this novel because I don't think virginity (I'm going to call it that for lack of a better word, but personally the word 'virginity' leaves a bad taste in my mouth) in adulthood is something we talk about enough. Most coming-of-age stories will see their protagonist have some kind of sexual experience in their teens, but it doesn't happen for everyone that way—for a variety of reasons.

For Kate sex is something she's always equated with love and, despite her best efforts, love is something that just hasn't happened for her yet. For Freddie sex is another part of his life that's been hit hard by his anxiety and OCD and his tendency to overthink almost everything. When the two of them find a group called Adult Virgins Anonymous to discuss their feelings and experiences, the two of them make a deal to 'help each other out'.

Firstly, I'm pleased that I didn't get any acephobia from this novel. Does a part of me wish either Kate or Freddie might have realised sex had never happened because, actually, they just didn't want to have it? Kind of, but I'm not mad that this didn't happen because there is an asexual character in the group they attend who is very vocal about how not wanting sex is perfectly fine.

While I do appreciate the discussion around Freddie's mental health, I did find him a little more frustrating than Kate. It felt like every single progression in their relationship happened because Kate instigated it, which left it all feeling a little one-sided for me; even when the two of them agree to have sex, it never occurs to Freddie that a) foreplay will make sex more comfortable for Kate (she has to tell him this) and b) it'll be a lot more difficult for her to have an orgasm than him, and sex could potentially be painful for her the first time around. I get that the guy has no experience of sex, but if he knows absolutely nothing why doesn't he do a little research?

I don't dislike Freddie at all, there were just times when it felt like Kate was doing a lot of hand-holding and I wanted their relationship to be more equal in that sense. In fact their relationship as a whole didn't really feel like a romance to me - I was genuinely quite surprised when the two of them were talking about loving each other at the end, because I didn't understand why they loved each other - and that's not the end of the world at all, but for me the ending didn't quite suit what the rest of this novel had been.

So Adult Virgins Anonymous is a strange one. It didn't make me angry or uncomfortable, but to be honest a lot of that is because it didn't make me feel much at all except a little down in the dumps.

This was such a light-hearted, breezy read with relatable and engaging characters and a simple yet engaging plot. Well-written, a solid resolution and it left me with such a positive feeling!

I would rate the book 2 stars. For me, the first few chapters were really hard to get into but I persevered and ended up finishing it in a few hours. The 2 main characters were quite nice and I enjoyed their roles together, but there were a lot of peripheral characters that I felt didn’t need to be there. It was quite jumbled to begin with, and I also didn’t expect the plot to be what it was. It’d be a fairly good beach read with an easy to follow plot that you can get through easily.

When Freddie and Kate meet at a self-help group for adult virgins, they think they might just be able to help each other out so they can both get on with finding their real romantic destinies. But might these two have more in common than just their lack of experience?

This was a cute book with great characters and chemistry, I enjoyed it.

Oh Wow.
First of all, thank you so much NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for giving me the copy of this book to review.

This book had more than just 2 adult virgins. And may I add it was such an interesting topic that I didn't know was still a thing in the 21st century. It deals with Kate who works in a gallery trying to figure out her new self after being abandoned by her friends, moving back in with her parents and trying to figure life out starting from scratch. On the other hand, Freddie has OCD and anxiety was surprisingly well written. The characters were perfectly flawed and relatable as we are all trying to work past our fear and find our place in this world.

Although the beginning of the book was quite slow, but once the paced started to pick up, I could not put the book down. It was warm, loving and straight to the point. Definitely a pick me up when you are feeling quite blue or needing to move on from a book hangover.

This book is a must if you love adult romance and still finding the meaning of who they are.

Thank you for allowing me to discover such a good new author for my repertoire! Great plot line, interesting characters, I will recommend to friends and family.

I love the storyline of the book and it's such a unique and well deserved subject matter, but sadly as much as I wanted to love it, I just couldn't get into it and didn't finish in the end.

Definite should read ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Kate and Freddie, two very different people both still virgins, who feel self conscious about this in the current dating world. Facts about themselves that even their friends and family are unaware. Unknown to each other until they each happen upon a poster on a notice board for a Virgins Anonymous group. Each when they first saw them questioned with themselves was it actually true, or a cruel prank. With trepidation they both attend a meeting, and meet for the first time... and the story goes on...

This book is an easy read, flows really well. Lighthearted, great read to lose yourself in. The issues both Kate and Freddie worry about, most people could relate to.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this arc. Recently I've been reading some rom-coms, like Our Stop by Laura Jane Williams and Pretending by Holly Bourne, which I quite enjoyed and found them emotionally moving too, so I've been looking for some more uplifting reads during this pandemic that also touch on emotionally resonating themes. When I saw the title for this I was immediately hooked! Exploring the experience of adults in their late 20s and early 30s who are virgins is a something rarely seen in popular culture, and when it is represented often their lack of sexual experience is put down to mental health reasons such as autism, so it was exciting to see that this book has a protagonist who is normal but just hasn't had sex because her romantic prospects just didn't evolve and came to a dead end, which does happen in real life.
This follows two protagonists:
* Kate is her late 20s and works in an art gallery, where her salary is paid hourly. This is a massive step down for her as for approx six years she worked in PR for retail companies where she was a high flyer. However with the decline of retail and more online shopping her company had to make cuts and she was made redundant. Due to the fact that most of her experience revolved around retail companies, she's finding it difficult to transfer her experience in PR towards other fields and is stuck in a rut. Her redundancy pay is thinning out, and it's been two years she's been in the art gallery. She can't afford the rent on her central London flat anymore and will have to move back home. On top of that her self-esteem is at a low, she's doesn't feel attractive anymore and her love life is in a rut. Then one evening she comes across an ad in pub for an adult virgins anonymous group. Maybe that that will help her...
* Freddie is also in his late 20s and is working as an IT technician which pays okay. He shares a flat with the obnoxious Darren. In university he fell for a girl, but his love remained unrequited. Then in his early 20s he suffered a breakdown and was hospitalised. He struggles with OCD, and due to his lack of romantic and sexual experience he's anxious and shy around women. One day he loses his signed comic books and goes to the pub where he might've left them and spots an advert for an adult virgins anonymous group. First he thinks it's a cosmic joke, until he realises that he's too embarrassed to confide in his family and friends about his virginity and anxieties, and that maybe an anonymous group will be the perfect support to help him move forward in his life...
At the anonymous meeting which is run by a gender studies phd student at UCL, we meet a bunch of characters including a woman in her 50s who is a relapsed nun and ready to confront her queer desires now that it is less taboo; a woman in her 40s, unable to let her first love go; a man in his 20s who is an incel (involuntary celibate even though they desire sex and somewhat angry because of that); and a woman who is asexual. The scenes at this meeting was my favourite ones of the whole novel because I loved the discussion, the dialogues, and the exploration of sex, intimacy and romantic relationship and the many forms love and sex has, which was fascinating to read about.
The first half of the book was setting up the characters and the group, but towards the second half we see plot emerge when one of the members in the group explains to Kate that sex can be transactional and too much romantic emphasis is placed on the first time. Kate then makes a proposal to Freddie: friends with benefits. Losing their virginities to each other, as neither of them are romantically interested in the other so there's no big pressure; just get it over and done with and then the anxiety of still being a virgin will be gone and they can move on with their life and find someone their genuinely like. Predictably, that's not how things goes and the situation becomes complicated. Although the second half was predictable it was still fun, and the dialogues weren't cliched and felt plausible and the tropes were handled well without becoming cliched, so I remained invested in the story.
The character of Freddie was done well. I liked his hangups about his past crushes and unrequited love, and how confused he was. Also his anxiety and mental health problems was interesting to read about especially since a lot of men have mental health problems but don't talk about their problems much. His backstory was heart touching and overall he was such a sweet character.
My only gripe was Kate's backstory regarding her situation. Kate is supposed to be quite tall, she's white, able bodied and blonde. Also it says in her old job as a high flyer she wore expensive clothes, and had regular haircuts and manicures. So it didn't make sense to me that living in London she NEVER got approached or was looked at by men. I just couldn't believe it, especially as I am a WOC and in our society we're been conditioned to believe that white and blonde is at the top of the hierarchy of race and colour. Also in the prologue there was a scene where she approaches a boy in her end of year ball and snogs him, determined to have sex, even though he turns her down because he has a girlfriend, embarrassing as it was nonetheless this show lots of confidence, so I just didn't believe after this is incident she was so scared to approach men again and that men always looked past her. I wished her character had been fleshed out more and that she had a more plausible motivation.
In conclusion this was a different and engaging read about relationships. 4/5