"I Take You" by Eliza Kennedy Review
I am a part of a book club that meets monthly. Each member of the group rotates picking a book and where we meet that month to eat and discuss the book. Yes, we do actually talk about the books we read.
This month's read was I Take You by Eliza Kennedy.
I admit that I was apprehensive at first just based on the book summary that was given on Goodreads. I guess my apprenshion served me well because these characters are appalling to say the least. To Kennedy's credit, I know what she was trying to achieve here. However, the delivery fell flat on its face.
The story centers around Lily, a hot-shot lawyer, that is engaged to an archaeologist, Will. The story picks up right as Lily and Will are set to get married in Key West, FL. There is an obstacle that Lily finds is keeping her from truly being committed to this wedding...she likes to sleep around, A LOT. Lily sleeps around (or at least fools around) with almost every man she comes into contact with leading up to her wedding.
I think the premise that Kennedy was trying to get across to readers is sexual freedom for women. We are allowed to enjoy sex as much as men, but somehow, we still get stigmatized for it. But the way the story unfolds does NOT paint Lily out to be a sexually liberated woman. She just comes off as trashy, indecisive, and repulsive. In fact, there wasn't one character in this novel that was even remotely likable (except maybe for Gran). If you are going to get married, you have to approach it with the mentality that monogamy is a key factor. I felt like every excuse in the world was thrown out to justify Lily's actions and not one of them made any type of logical sense.
The only redeeming quality about this book is that there were some genuinely hilarious parts. That is the only reason it got bumped up from a 1 star to 2 star rating on my Goodreads.
