Trying by Emily Phillips
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I recieved an e-arc of this book via Netgalley in return for an honest review

I initially requested this book via Netgalley because I thought it was going to be a humourous book about a couple trying for a baby. It is a humourous book, and it is about a couple who want a baby but the humour and the infertility are separate. I feel like that's an important thing to state early in on in this review. If you are currently struggling with fertility and you're hoping to pick up a book that you can empathise with and to help you find some humour in your own experiences then this isn't the book for you.

Considering it wasn't at all what I expected it to be, by the time I was about 1/3 of my way into it I enjoyed it immensely, however, I did have some difficulties with it. I disliked the main characters very, very much. I felt they were immature and vacuous. Although the premise of the book suggested they were desperately trying for a baby, in actuality they seemed unwilling to do anything that might assist them with getting pregnant. I also have a real annoyance with the cliche that so often pops up in fiction that if a married couple have an argument they'll both immediately pop off and drop their drawers for anyone who winks at them. It seems like there are no happily married people in books and that would be nice to read about.

As I mentioned though, by the time I was about 1/3 of the way into the book I felt I had a good understanding of the characters and my dislike for them personally did not detract from the fact that Emily Phillips has written a really good dramatic, funny and emotional story. I became fully caught up in the dramas; I could feel myself cringing as the lies started to unravel and I shed a few tears at the end of the book. It's a testament to her writing that I obviously found myself emotionally invested in characters I hadn't liked at the beginning of the book.

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