Thursday, May 7, 2015

Spotlight and Giveaway: I Take You

We're pleased to feature one of the hottest new books of the spring...I TAKE YOU by Eliza Kennedy. The website for this novel is set up like a wedding website, so it's a perfect fit for our party-themed month!

Our author liaison, Cindy Roesel, enjoyed I TAKE YOU for its humorous element and suggested it for a beach read this summer. See her review from last month. While her giveaway is closed now, we have a copy for a lucky US reader, thanks to Crown Publishing

You can also enter to win a Girls' Weekend Getaway in Key West this autumn! (US only. Ends May 17th.)

Meet Lily Wilder: New Yorker, lawyer, and Manhattan’s most inappropriate bride-to-be. Lily loves men, a lot, and has no business getting married. But when she meets archaeologist Will—funny, good looking, and the nicest guy she’s ever dated—and he asks her to marry him, she can’t resist saying yes. Now she’s counting down the days until her wedding while simultaneously prepping a witness who just happens to be vacationing in the Florida Keys, where she’s planning to tie the knot. As the wedding approaches, Lily’s nights—and mornings, and afternoons—of booze, laughter and questionable decisions become a growing reminder that the happiest day of her life might turn out to be her worst mistake yet. After all, not everyone thinks Lily is marriage material (including, at times, Lily herself). Her bevy of stepmothers and hellish mother-in-law have plenty to say about her plan to become a Mrs. But, with drink in hand and the help of her best friend, Freddy, Lily plans to defy them all and make it to the altar on her own terms.

Brilliantly executed and driven by the irrepressible voice of its unforgettable heroine, I TAKE YOU (Crown; May 5, 2015), Eliza Kennedy’s page-turning debut, showcases one of the most engaging commercial voices since Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones. Kennedy, who attended the University of Iowa and Harvard Law School, where she was an editor at the Harvard Law Review, clerked for a federal judge and practiced litigation at a prestigious Manhattan law firm for several years before she turned to writing. With no formal training, she’s managed to pen one of the most compulsively readable, laugh-out-loud novels you’re bound to read all year.

While Kennedy insists she is nothing like her saucy protagonist, she does know a thing or two about wedding disasters. Much like the nuptials at the heart of her debut, her own wedding to writer Joshua Ferris in Key West was a bit of a debacle: there was a tropical storm menacing the coast of Florida, her maid of honor missed her flight and showed up moments before the ceremony, one of their readers was hospitalized with chest pains, and a drunken family member tried to assault the DJ (she is now an ex-family member).

I TAKE YOU is edgy, smart, and wickedly entertaining, but it is more than just a sexy romp. Through Lily’s experiences, Kennedy teases out larger questions, such as the nature of choice, gender politics, the implications of desire, the insidiousness of cultural expectations, and the pursuit of the most undervalued idea of all: pure fun.



Eliza Kennedy attended the University of Iowa and Harvard Law School, where she was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. After graduation she served as a law clerk for a federal judge, then practiced litigation for several years at a prestigious Manhattan law firm. She lives in New York with her husband and son. I Take You is her first novel.

Thanks to Crown Publishing for sharing this book with our readers.


Before entering our giveaway, stop on over to the International Chick Lit Month blog and don't forget to complete their survey by Saturday, in order to be entered into a special giveaway!

How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using Rafflecopter on our blog, enter the giveaway here.

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US only. Giveaway ends May 12th at midnight EST.

23 comments:

Nova said...

biggest obstacle i faced when giving a party was when i planned a friend's baby shower and only 2 of the 25 guests invited showed up. guess the family had a falling out, and i was the last to know... :/

Janine said...

The biggest disaster while planning a party, would have been while planning my wedding. My sister-in-law sabotaged the bridal shower by not sending out the invitations soon enough. She waited until the week of the party claiming she never got my list. Then, when it came to the wedding, my mother-in-law didn't want much to do with it and made plans to go to a play with her friend the night of the rehearsal dinner and she left right after the wedding. I think she stayed 5 minutes into the reception. There was so much stress worrying who would even show up that was in the wedding. They didn't want us to get married.

susieqlaw said...

The biggest disaster while planning a party was accidentally putting four times the amount of water required for the pie crust for dessert...at least we ended up with extra pies...but at the time it was overwhelming.

Unknown said...

That would be when my (then) teenage daughter pledged to make a lemon meringue pie for a party at school upon which a grade depended. She wrecked so much pie crust that it's probably still sticking to the walls in that house where she threw it. To say that she went through a hen house full of eggs in an attempt to make meringue would be an understatement. The kitchen was afloat in tears. My solution? Let's go find a bakery and buy a pie. Ask me if any bakery within a ten mile radius or more had lemon meringue? So she took cherry pie and said she changed her mind. I still shudder when I see her in a kitchen. (Actually she bakes very well now)

traveler said...

Being competent enough to prepare a great feast that would be appreciated. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

Patty Degmetich said...

My husband was helping by making the chili. Which was very sweet of him. Had run to get a few things and when I came back he was going wild in the kitchen. See his family would add rice to their chili. He decided to do the same. Not realizing how much he should use. He said will it was a small bag. Yep he had used the whole bag! There was rice every where! Thou later when everyone arrived the chili turned out great :)

Rhonda J G said...

I choked on a drink and blew it all over my supervisor at a party....lol

Linda Kish said...

My biggest obstacle is myself. I am not a party planner nor a party goer. I prefer to stay home. I think the last party I had to plan was one for my son's birthday when he was young... about 20 + years ago. Parents would RSVP that the kids were coming then not show up. I always hated that. Plan for a lot of kids and only end up with a handful.

jpetroroy said...

Rain. At an outdoor anniversary BBQ.

Unknown said...

I my sons party I was dressed up as Batman and my panties were too big and keep falling off so i took them off and threw them in the trash so i was wearing a skirt at my 8 yrs party with no panties lol You do what u have to do

Liz Parker said...

Trying to plan work lunches - and everyone ends up being busy!

cpr040304 said...

My wedding was beautiful, but I have blocked one memory out of my brain. My sister was the photographer, but instead of her taking pictures she decides to get wasted. Needless to say, I don't have many pictures of my wedding day.

Holly said...

That party where the host burned the roast. (Not me!)

Viv said...

I had to give a shower. I am not very healthy, so my family assumed I couldn't do anything. Without asking me, they arranged to have it in a particular restaurant and made all of the decisions. I was only allowed to make the invitations. They chose games (I was lucky to get any input, but they didn't like any of my ideas). They did the decorations - I had no idea what was going on there, and they cose the food and told me about it after it was arranged. I didn't even like any of the food they cose! But when I mentioned that, I was being just awful. Oh well, I just sat back, kept my mouth closed after that, and let them run the show.

Ruth Lyons Mazur said...

I planned a graduation party for my son - had decorations up and the food all set - and I got so sick that the party had to be moved to a friend's house. It all worked out fine, but it was very upsetting.

Anonymous said...

Planning events for work and everyone has to put in their two cents about which restaurant it should be at and how they can't eat this or that. Sigh!

Suzy

Patricia said...

This didn't to me but to my parents. They went to a dinner at the house of their friends. The other couple and the wife's mother were at the table with my parents. The other couple got into an argument, it escalated and one by one, the couple and the mother all left the table in a huff, leaving my mother and father at the table with a large whole turkey ready to be carved.

bn100 said...

haven't encountered any

Book Lover in Florida said...

I have been very fortunate that I haven't yet experienced any disaster with a party that I hosted. I blame my Type A personality not letting me wait until the last minute to do something. I have a plan for my plan.

Book Blogging Mom said...

I would have to say that I haven't encountered any issues as of yet.

Carl Scott said...

Never had too many problems but one evening I got some friends to drop me off at my old high school English teacher's place out in the country. They were supposed to come back and get me later but they went to a party and then couldn't find the place in the dark. My friend drove me home and they eventually showed up too but really, what a achmozzle!

Unknown said...

In years past, I often was placed in charge of planning luncheons for retiring colleagues. The worst obstacle would be the failure of invitees to RSVP and submit their entrée selection and payment. At one event with more than 100 people in attendance, one prominent individual showed up out of the blue and became enraged when told he wasn't "on the list" ... luckily, I'd developed a good relationship with the restaurant staff so they agreed to accommodate him even though his meal hadn't been pre-ordered. Also, people grumble about the cost, but restaurants automatically apply an 18% gratuity to the bill for a large (>6) group, and the price goes up a bit more if the cost of the honoree's meal and retirement gift are divided among all the celebrants, and could even be more if a space rental fee is imposed. Sorry, but a $5 lunch would be hard to find unless the dude gets taken out for fast food by 3 buddies.

Unknown said...

At a party at my house, people wer having so much fun that they wouldn't leave! Which normally wouldn't be a problem, but my husband and I were so tired, and hey didn't end up leaving until about 2 am!