Disclaimer: If you don’t like lawyers or graphic sex, you should skip this book. Post script: Read it anyway.

I Take You is set in Key West during the week leading up to Lily and Will’s whirlwind wedding. Lily, a New York lawyer, is having some serious doubts about the upcoming nuptials as evidenced by the fact she can’t stop sleeping with other men. Will, on the other hand, the nerdy anthropologist, appears steadfast and only more committed to Lily as the big day draws near.

The story heats up as the secondary characters, which really give the book its texture, begin arriving. There are Lily’s “moms”, her real mom, her two ex step moms and her fierce grandmother, who band together to try to talk Lily out of the wedding. Lily’s dad, from whom she obviously inherited her wandering eye, shows up with very few helpful contributions other than to play the role of the old guy Lothario. And then there is Will’s acerbic politico mom, who has zero love for Lily and is determined to wreck the wedding. And finally, Freddy, Lily’s sexually confused loyal best friend, who will do anything to get Lily through the week, wedding or not.

I Take You: A Novel

By Eliza Kennedy

In the midst of the brewing cauldron of wedding issues, Lily, in her lawyer role, has to defend the deposition of a key witness of her firm’s client, EnerGreen (read: BP), who is facing a multi-billion dollar lawsuit for spilling oil in the Gulf. Lily’s behavior, while completely unbelievable, proves to be not only hilarious but gets you thinking that if all lawyers acted this way, the legal system would be much more enjoyable and effective.

Amidst the humor, there is a very real dialogue about the double standards for men and women as it relates to sex and whether the idea that humans should remain monogamous once married is a worthy notion. In furtherance of those theories, the plot takes a very unexpected twist that makes it all the more entertaining.

I Take You is easy (both in the way it reads and its characters), funny and thought provoking. This is the perfect beach weekend read.

Published: 2015
Publisher: Crown

Elizabeth's rating: 4 stars