Such a wonderful read. It’s awkward. It’s cute. It’s so very relatable. I loved what it had to say about friendship and finding the right friends that suit you. I loved Freddie and Kate and seeing their friendship develop over the course of the book.

I loved the sound of this book. What appealed to me about this book was that it follows adults who are virgins, an experience hardly represented in fiction. This was a raw and honest book following two protagonists:
* Kate - late 20s, Kate was a PR manager for a retail store, a corporate high-flying job. However the closure of retail has resulted in her being made redundant. Since then she's been working an art gallery, where her wages are per hour! She's struggling to pay her bills, and this job that was supposed to last a few months has now turned into two years. Kate isn't happy with how her life has turned out while her friends are getting dream promotions, getting married and buying houses. On top there is Kate's love life - a total disaster, further exacerbated by the fact that she's still a virgin and she's scared it might frighten future dates off.
* Freddie - Freddie works as an IT consultant for a finance company, an okay job. He lives with his flatmate, and is currently single. Freddie has overcome a mental health problem and is recovering; he's OCD. While he's a romantic, his lack of physical intimacy has scared him and he's worried he won't live up to his expectations.
One day Freddie, then late Kate, stumble across an ad in a pub for an Adult Virgins Anonymous club. They decide to attend. This club is run by a gender studies student doing their PhD at UCL in Bloomsbury. Here the group discuss the effects of being a virgin as an adult, their fears of life passing them by, and their emotional and psychological anxieties as well as the many forms intimacy can take...
The first half of this book was character-driven, and a slow-burn, but I didn't mind that. I found these characters quite relatable. I highly Hattie's character and the discussions at the Anonymous meeting. Towards the second half of the book you start to see a romcom plot emerging when Kate realises that sex can be transactional and asks Freddie for a friends-with-benefits type arrangement where the two lose their virginity to each other, which has more of a emotional complication that either characters were expecting. Here the story does become predictable, but the dialogues and writing in this book feels so natural and plausible that it doesn't feel cliched. Overall I highly enjoyed this thoughtful book that explores experiences not represented in contemporary fiction. This is a cute romance book for readers looking for something fresh and original.

I loved this romantic, awkward and honest book.

The book opens with Freddie and Kate in 2011 at their Leavers Ball after finishing university. They start the night with such hope and expectations and find themselves disappointed and a little embarrassed. Flash forward to 2019 and both of them can't help but feel like everyone else is moving on with their lives and they've fallen behind. They meet at a support group, alongside a range of other people who have similar feelings and experiences.

What I loved the most about this book was that it was honest and it was raw. The writing was compelling from the first line and the plot flowed naturally. There is talk of expectations vs reality in the dating world both in person and online and the side characters were really interesting. I really liked Freddie and Kate as individual characters as well as together. The pacing was good too, the book never dragged and it was nice because there were other things going on in the book such as Freddie's OCD, family, friendships and Kate figuring out what she wants to do in her work life.

I loved everything about this book and am grateful that I had the chance to read it before it's release as I definitely think it's worth the read. I'll be keeping an eye out for anything else from this author.

2 stars
Sounded cute, but it just was not for me. A little slow, and the plot was kind of odd. I tired it. But. I did not care for it.

Thank you Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for this ARC of Adult Virgins Anonymous! I really enjoyed the book.

I admittedly felt like I knew how the book would play out fairly early on, but I equally enjoyed the process of getting there. Kate and Freddie were well fleshed out characters, I liked the secondary characters (well, maybe not Freddie’s brother but he was written well!) and I thought the story flowed well.

Adult virginity is not a theme I can remember ever reading, so making it both serious and light-hearted, which isn’t the easiest to do, was interesting.

I would absolutely recommend this to friends (and already have via my Instagram account).

I found this book slow to get started and a little bit repetitive if I’m honest!
A very lighthearted easy read focusing on a self help group for adult virgins, this book follows Freddie and Kate as they embark on losing their virginity which seems to be no easy feat as they overthink the whole process and put many obstacles in the way! Ultimately they achieve their goal and thus then develops into a proper relationship!
Thank you netgalley for this early read!

A cute and lovely book, that deserves a place on my for-a-rainy-day shelf on Goodreads. Not only because Adult Virgins Anonymous made me laugh as in this scene below, but mainly because it is about people who want to feel like they belong, regardless of how shitty others treat them, or how hard it is to stand up for oneself. Yup: pick your battles.

And I really liked some of the characters in the background as well, so perhaps there might be a part two to this book? To find out what happens to Hattie with all her projects, what becomes of Steve who disappeared from view... Andy who tries to be an observer, but is often overruled by Hattie. And then there is Kevin of course, are we gonna meet him again. He certainly spiced things up for Freddie:

"'Your charming brother-in-law was just telling me about his girlfriend,' Kevin announced loudly, causing Freddie to sit bolt upright, meekat-like What? What was he saying?"

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book.