The No-Kids Club

The No-Kids Club by Talli Roland

Age: Adult
Category: Romance
Rating: 4 stars

Helen Thinks: Claire Donoghue is nearly forty and is childless but there's no need for the 'aw' moment because she loves it. It's a life decision but when once again a relationship ends because her boyfriend is not on the same page as her and she realises that none of her friends are around to talk to any more due to play dates etc. When her pregnant friend, Ellie, suggests starting a 'No-Kids Club' for adults in the same situation she laughs it off until she decides that maybe it is a good idea after all? Enter Anna and Polly. Anna is looking for a way to entice her husband into making an effort and save their marriage from going completely stale whereas Polly is struggling through rounds of IVF because she's desperate to get pregnant but is 'failing'.

Each woman had her individual storyline and you could imagine how they felt. You could understand Claire's emotions as she battled against women that believe their sole existence in life is to create children. You could feel Polly's devastation as yet another IVF treatment failed and her husband suggested adoption while she struggles as a primary school teacher helping her pupil's create Mother's Day cards and gifts while knowing that she'll never receive her own. You feel Anna's struggle as she tries to bring the spark back into her marriage with Michael while he would rather sit in front of the television playing his video games. Roland has showed the reader that outside the fairytale endings, there are more realistic lifestyles and obstacles that a couple must contend with to finally achieve their happy ever after.

Now I will be completely honest with you and admit that I bought this book when it cropped up in my inbox as an Amazon recommendation simply because it spoke to me from Claire's point of view. Yes, I may not be forty years old but I have – for now at least – made the life decision that I am happy without children and I was simply over the moon to see this book sitting there. It was completely different from the usual chick lit novels that would show a woman reaching forty and hearing the biological clock so thinking that she needed to find love so that she could have a child as soon as possible. However, I have to admit that Roland let me down a little bit because by the end of the book Claire was pregnant and her opinions shifted majorly but that did not stop me from reading on.

Despite feeling slightly let down by Claire's pregnancy, I was still addicted to this novel and could not put it down. I found myself reading it all in one go as I was desperate to find out what happened to our three protagonists in their own individual lives. If you're looking for a quick easy read with a unique plot then this is the novel for you.