Even though Matt and Claire are divorced and each seeing someone new, they want to spend the Christmas holiday together for the sake of their seven-year-old daughter, Scarlett. And so they've planned a weekend away at Happy Forest!
Alex isn't certain spending the holiday with her boyfriend and his ex and her new partner is the best idea, but she's willing to go along with it because it's what Matt wants. But when Scarlett and her imaginary friend, Posey, find out Alex is a scientist, sabotage is the first thing on their minds!
Patrick's own children don't have much to do with him since his divorce from their mother, which is why he wants to do the best he can by Claire's daughter, Scarlett. And if going along with a trip with Claire's ex is what it takes to prove he's the better man, he's certainly game for it.
It's to be a weekend full of swimming, archery, spa treatments, and happy holiday celebration. But things start to go wrong almost from the very start. And by the end, well, to say things have gone awry would be a gross understatement.
November was a heavy reading month! And I'm still not done with the Nordic Noir reads, but even I'll admit that with the gloomy winter weather and continued crap of 2020, some lighter reads aren't totally unwelcome.
And then I came across Refinery29's "26 Holiday Books That Will Bring a Little Joy Back to 2020," which featured multiple titles in my TBR! Happy coincidence :)
The Adults released just days after I had my son, and I really wasn't getting much reading done at that point at all. So it lingered on my shelves, waiting for me to pick it up and dive in.
The book begins with a call to emergency services after someone has been shot by an arrow. Which sets the tone quite nicely for this train wreck of a holiday vacation!
Alex is, as mentioned, a scientist. And Matt is a bit of a mess. She forgives him when he forgets to tell her that Claire wants them all to spend the holiday together. She kind of has to, considering the trip has already been booked by the time he springs it on her. And it starts off rocky before they've event left, with Claire providing a suggested list of items for each couple to bring.
Patrick, like Claire, is a lawyer. He thinks the weekend away is a terrible idea, but want to support Claire. Even more, he wants her to be okay with his decision to do an Ironman and he knows going along with the weekend away will get him that.
All four of them are adults. They can be civil, friendly even. But of course things don't work out the way anyone planned!
This one's not as breezy as In a Holidaze, but it is light. It's a dry and amusing read, one that actually moves quickly and is spurred on by the desire to find out how the holiday can devolve so dramatically as to end up with someone being shot! I'd love to see this adapted as a movie. I think it'd be excellent holiday film fodder, especially with a great British cast.
Order a copy from your favorite indie via Bookshop!
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