Review: Wonderful, uberfun story that will keep you glued to its pages
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 5, 2014
Talli Roland is a well known British chick-lit author (despite being born and raised in Canada) and is a twitter icon! She’s one of the nicest, warmest authors I had the chance to interact on twitter and though I should be talking about the book in this review (don’t worry, I’ll get to that part too), I can’t help but praise her wonderful personality and the fact she’s always so gracious to her fans.Having said that, no wonder she writes beautiful, warm stories, full of charm and optimism. I remember, my hands literally shaking when I snatched my review copy from NetGalley, I really was excited to read this having a strong feeling I will see Talli in a bit different light, still funny but more mature. And I was not wrong! This book, despite being chick lit and having many LOL moments, deals with quite an interesting subject and a very hard one too. If you follow Talli on twitter, you’ll see she’s blessed with a little boy, baby TR, who’s the cutest little thing ever! So, knowing she’s LOCO for her boy, I was kind of surprised she decided to choose this subject for her novel, to speak about women who don’t what to have kids.Now, this is not the first time I’ve read about this, years ago I read Emily Giffin’s ‘Baby Proof’ and remember really feeling disconnected to Claudia (Emily Giffin’s MC), so I won’t lie, as much as I was thrilled to read ‘The No-Kids Club’ I was a bit weary too. It’s not that I was suspicious of Talli’s writing skills or sense of humor, but I do know myself pretty well (that’s what happens when you’re in your mid 30′s) and I ADORE kids. I live for them, I breathe for them, there’s nothing in the world I wouldn’t do for them. Naturally, I’m a parent and honestly, though there are good days and bad days, I always wanted to be a mother and have as many kids as I can.But,unlike Emily Giffin’s ‘Baby Proof’ and her MC Claudia, I actually felt the connection with Clare and her reasons for not wanting kids. I don’t know, it could be the fact I read Emily’s book years ago, and I have changed since then. But honestly, I doubt I’ve changed that much. What seems more logical to me is that Clare and how she was portrayed by Talli made me realize I can love kids and yet respect those who don’t want them. I absolutely loved Clare and if she was real I’d definitely want to be friends with her.But oh, something about the plot. Clare is an ER doctor and in a relationship with Edward. They seem very happy together until Edward pulls the issue of kids once again and tells Clare he wants to have kids after all. Now don’t go judging Clare beforehand, Edward was perfectly aware Clare didn’t want kids and he was even fine with that. She was honest and her reasons seemed solid enough to me. But, people change, their interests change with time, so I can’t say I blamed even Edward for his sudden need to become a parent.So, they break up and Clare decides to start her No-Kids Club where childless people (for whatever reasons) can hang out and enjoy themselves without being judged. At the beginning, there are only couple of members, and they seem to be in the club for different reasons, but I loved the fact Clare wasn’t giving up.Overall, this was a fantastic read and I had so much fun reading it. It was fun and yet challenging and honestly, I didn’t expect to fall for Clare so much. But I did, and it’s all Talli’s fault. Her beautiful, charming, refreshing writing and her optimism that shines through the pages. A bit dark theme, considered a taboo by many authors, but Talli managed to turn in into a wonderful, uberfun story that will keep you glued to its pages. Wonderful read for parents, singles…everyone. There’s a bit for each of you and that’s maybe the best thing about this book. Get it, read it, enjoy it!My rating: 4.5/5