Tigerlily Books: Review: Before You Say Yes by Amy Griffin(Blog Tour)

**** 4 Stars

I really didn't know what to expect from this book when I signed up to review it as part of Amy Griffin's blog tour. What I found was a wonderful cross between Marian Keyes, Lisa Jewell with a little Jenny Colgan thrown in.

The Blurb

Ellie always knew that the sex with Adam would die down one day. Sometime in their seventies, she thought, with the memory of their steamy years to look back on. Not sometime in their thirties with only one year that could reliably fit in the steamy category.

Now Ellie can’t help but feel that she is the only one who is worried. And she can’t help but wonder if a sexless relationship, even one with a man who is everything she could have hoped for in every other way, is really enough.

Her best friend is getting divorced, her sister is planning a wedding and Ellie is coming to terms with her biggest decision yet. Because when it comes to the big decisions in life, you want to be really sure before you say yes.

My Thoughts

Ellie Foster is an accountant living in London who not so long ago walked away from the man of her dreams just months before their wedding day. Everyone treads very carefully around Ellie when it comes to the 'M' word so you can imagine peoples reactions when Ellie's younger sister, Chrissie announces that she is getting married. Then when you throw into the mix the fact that Ellie's best friend,Jen is getting a divorce, people expect Ellie to be a babbling wreck.

Why did Ellie leave her wonderful fiance, Adam? They had the perfect life, were seen as the perfect couple, they went out and had fun, enjoyed holidays together, talked endlessly and were best friends. Unfortunately one key element was missing from their relationship and that was SEX.

Initially there was plenty of humour around Ellie's pondering of how many times a week, a month, a year is normal for couples to have sex but as time goes by we are given a deeper insight into the emotional damage the lack of sex is doing to Ellie. When she realises something is very wrong in her relationship, Ellie decides to seek professional help, first on her own and the she convinces, Adam to go with her.

Adam assures her that he loves her, wants to be with her, he takes part in the discussions with the therapist but when it comes down to it he just refuses to touch her - a lot of the time making her out to be some crazed nympho.

So after 18 months of therapy and still no sex, Ellie makes the decision to walk away not only from Adam but she also resigns from her job(agreeing to stay on until a replacement is found) and begins to think about what to do with her life, one thing for sure is she is in no hurry to throw herself into another relationship.

I really enjoyed this book, Amy Griffin has a wonderfully witty and charming way of telling a story. She draws you in with her humour but then keeps you their with the plot. On the surface this book seems very much a traditional chick-lit but when you scratch the surface it explores some really deep and emotional relationship issues. As well as looking at the relationship Ellie had with Adam, it also explores the relationship that Jen had with her ex-husband Nick and at times this was quite heartbreaking to see what Jen who comes across as this strong woman actually went through.

I love the Foster family they are an absolute riot. Both Ellie's parents are obsessed with her moving home and starting up something like a law practice it doesn't matter that she trained as an accountant. Her dad's favourite past time is visiting the cash & carry and creating his own cocktails - this leads to some very funny moments in the book. As things go wedding crazy, Ellie finds herself drawn deeper and deeper into helping organise the wedding and begins to realise that actually she is ok.

Then we have Ellie's work, from her adorable boss, Mr Wick to Jamie her gay best friend. Everyone loves, Ellie and noone wants her to leave so it's always good news when Mr Wick asks her to stay on a little bit longer.

This book had a fabulous cast of characters, Amy Griffin does a fantastic job of balancing the humour with the deeper stuff and this makes for a wonderful and entertaining read.

About The Author

Amy was born in Cardiff, Wales. Eighteen short years later Amy left home for Glasgow to study

Medieval English. Then she came to her senses and switched to Psycho-Linguistics, read Possession by A.S.Byatt and held lofty dreams of becoming a Professor. Then she graduated, got a temp job and accidentally spent the next 10 years wearing a suit in the corporate world instead. . .

Amy only ever planned to spend a year in Melbourne but on arrival she fell instantly in love with the city and hasn’t left yet. The only downsides she can think of are 1). some of her favourite people are half a world away, and 2). the lack of Monster Munch. Not long after moving to Melbourne Amy adopted a dog and fell instantly in love again. Some time later she met a tall, funny Englishman. She tried to play it cool, but finally had to admit that she had fallen instantly in love with him too. Luckily he was the patient kind.

Amy writes contemporary fiction about friendships and love. While her novels deal with some dark issues, Amy’s books are written with humour and with hope.

Website: http://amygriffinbooks.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/amygriffinbooks

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