Goodbye Adulthood by Chloe Banyard

October 01, 2024

Captivating Amusing, Intriguing

Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Young Adult/New Adult

Just as the readers of any book, will come away with different thoughts feelings and ideas about what they have just read, when a number of people experience the same event, it is inevitable that they will come away from it affected in different ways and some may have a different memory regarding the outcome.. But, what if you recalled circumstances differently from others and discover that far from it being a self imposed blockage on your own memory banks, it is in fact due to someone else’s actions? ‘People make their mark’, but not always in the way that you would expect.

Sadie Dawes hadn’t been able to put her brief foray into the world of the music business behind her since her band, ‘Funk Shui’ had broken up nearly a decade ago. The fame, the fans, and the feeling of family, a place where she felt she belonged had stayed with her. She wondered how the other four members would feel about getting back together, albeit briefly, although not if she had her way. Mia, she thought would be easy to sway, she would leave it to her to coax Cameron into coming on board. Then there was Ryan who she had a number for …...and where was James nowadays anyway? She for one needed this and hoped with all her heart, that the others would feel the same…..

Adam isn’t at all sure that the idea of a reunion is a good call. His band, ‘Prairie Dogs’, had at best only been being mentored by ‘Granola Fantasy’ who he wasn’t sure would want to reunite after all that had occurred back then, a time that now seemed oh so many years ago. He had spent the best part of the last decade, trying to put the whole thing behind him, with not much success…..particularly one groupie, but that scenario came with so many complications. Maybe he needed closure and a reunion would bring that about…..but then, did he want closure? He really just wanted to see her again.

Mabel has no wish to relive those fateful years as a teenager when being a fangirl of a boy band had ended up being so much more than it was supposed to be and she had ultimately caused, chaos, heartache and had been responsible for the division of two groups. The guilt she felt for the loss of not just that, but so much more was indescribable and staying away was the only way to put it right, but how was she going to achieve that?

Kitty has always wondered why her boyfriend has never disclosed the part of his past to which she had ended up being a part of, and it was never something she felt comfortable bringing up, not wanting to give him the impression that it was the only reason she was with him. She assumed that something huge must have occurred for him to seem such a different person from the one that she used to idolise as a teenager. She wondered what had become of the rest of the group, and had often thought about her flirtation and intimate association with Ryan, that had ultimately ended in heartache. How differently her life could have been…….

Chloe Banyard is a new independent author to me, recently introduced on social media by another indie author that I have been following for a while. Having seen the cover of her book and read a line or two of the synopsis, although initially sceptical that the narrative could be a little ‘young’ for my taste and taken the first few chapters to warm to the subject, I can now say that I thoroughly enjoyed it, feel bereft that I have now reached its conclusion and that my initial misgivings were completely unfounded. I am an extremely character driven reader. If I don’t take to the characters, I find it hard to continue with a book. In ‘Goodbye Adulthood’ Chloe has created one of the best, most expressive and diverse array of characters that I have ever read, allowing the narrative voices in my head to really elevate the storyline and make this book a pleasure to read. I could tell that she has clearly got to know her characters very well and for such a wide cast of characters all of which are pertinent to the plot, that is impressive. I confess to having to make notes, which I do anyway as I am intending to write a review every time I read a book, but trying to work out who was part of which boy band was a bit of a tricky one. I’m not really sure that I have that nailed now, but it didn’t spoil the continuity of the storyline. The dialogue was eloquent, passionate, moving and frequently very amusing. Indeed this novel is so well ‘painted in words’ that I had a vivid picture in my head of what I felt the characters and scenes looked like.

This book is so much more than the ‘band reunion’ saga that I initially mistook it for. Chloe’s use of analogies to describe how the characters were feeling at times throughout the book were well applied and I could really feel the excitement, disappointment, warmness, angst and anger of the characters as they took me through so many emotions. Equally the banter between her fictitious friends and foes was hilarious. I really like this author’s style of writing and sense of humour.

I have ordered a paperback copy of Goodbye to Adulthood and really hope that a sequel might be in the offing, as it will be a while before I have forgotten these characters and what happened to them sufficiently to re-read this book, and I need another instalment in the meantime. I look forward to whatever Chloe writes next.