Eliza Kennedy's debut novel, I Take You, isn't a polite or cozy affair--although it boasts plenty of affairs. The brazen lead character, associate attorney Lily Wilder, adores sex, and she's not afraid to pick up (and bed down) any man she chooses, whether he is her silver-haired boss or the best man at her upcoming nuptials. That's right: Lily is engaged to a smart, loving, sexy man, who knows nothing of her indiscretions.
This premise results in a wickedly funny juggernaut of a novel that begins in New York and continues in Lily's hometown of Key West, Fla., one week before her wedding. While Lily struggles with the notion of training her sexual impulses on just one man, a train wreck of a case at her law firm is getting her in deep water professionally. Then, tension in Lily's dysfunctional family comes to a boiling point when she realizes her philandering father may be cheating on his fifth wife with one of his exes. So with a family history of indiscretions in one hand and a stiff drink in the other, she wonders if she should just call off the wedding.
I Take You's intriguing story, deftly drawn characters and uproariously funny dialogue will, much like Lily's many paramours, enjoyably occupy readers for hours. Lily, together with her acid-tongued bestie, stampedes through the book, cutting loose like a reckless college student on spring break, while spitting out pithy one-liners and pulling outlandish stunts to avoid repercussions. She may lack virtue but she offers a ton of laughs as she barrels through her many escapades. --Natalie Papailiou, author of blog MILF: Mother I'd Like to Friend