Book Review ~ Baby Proof by Emily Giffin

Don’t be fooled by the sweet yellow paper and charming baby shoe charms on the cover of Emily Giffin’s third novel, Baby Proof.  I was pleasantly surprised with how much this story had to offer and how many layers the characters and plot had. 

Claudia is a book editor for a Manhattan publishing house and is great at her job.  She has always known what she wants and one of those things is *gasp* to never have kids.  She meets Ben on a blind date and finds out that they have this in common.  After a quick courtship (seven months or so) they get engaged and then married and begin their “kid-free” life together in their beloved city of Manhattan.  Then one day a switch turns on in Ben and he announces that he would like to have a baby with Claudia. 

So begins Baby Proof by Emily Giffin.  I picked this book up off my TBR shelf to kill time while getting through the last week of waiting for my Kindle to arrive.  I was surprised at how much this book had to offer and that it wasn’t a shallow, light and easy read.  Though Baby Proof falls under the Chick Lit category it has so many layers to it, that I really ended up loving.  I liked the characters, the sub plots were all good and the outcome was acceptable in the end.  I enjoyed reading about Claudia’s job as a book editor (one of my dream jobs) and how she related to the authors and tried to promote them to her best capabilities.  I liked reading about a woman who doesn’t need children of her own in her life in order for it to be a fulfilling one.  Claudia’s husband, Ben, is not a bad guy for changing his mind after a few years of sublime marriage, his priorities changed is all.  That happens to all of us at some points in our lives.  I did like that Giffin didn’t have Claudia give in and she stuck to her wants. 

This book made me do a lot of unexpected thinking and soul searching.  My priorities changed a couple of years ago and now I wish to live a kid-free life.  I don’t think there is anything wrong with that and though sometimes Hubby disagrees with me, our love and adventures are strong enough to enrich our lives together.  We are a great aunt and uncle team to our nieces and nephews and friend’s children too.  Reading Baby Proof brings up a conversation that not a lot of other chick lit books seem to do and I enjoyed the experience and the conversations that came from it. 

{Rating ~ 4 out of 5 stars}