A story of a couple trying for a baby, and what this does to their relationship.

This is the debut novel by Grazia magazine's Features Director, Emily Phillips. In interviews she has been open about her struggle to conceive a baby and, as she put it: "to channel my emotions, I wrote a book, processing the years of dismay into a comedy called Trying."

In Trying we meet Olivia and Felix - a married couple in their early 30s who want a baby. However, they've been trying for over 18 months and the pressure is getting to them. They use apps to calculate Olivia's most fertile days and have sex with military precision (which takes the fun out of it somewhat) in their attempt to get pregnant. They have successful, but stressful careers (Olivia is a marketing manager at a very on-trend Swedish company, HYGGE, and Felix is a  football agent) and coupled with family commitments and friends that seemingly pop out babies with ease, they soon find that life in general is making things difficult for them and their relationship is taking the hit. In Olivia's case, added stress comes in the form of her gorgeous Scandinavian boss that she's finding hard to resist...

This book delicately portrays the anguish of a couple who desperately want a baby and what this struggle can do to an otherwise strong relationship. It also looks at other issues people face to have children including: IVF, miscarriage, adoption and post-natal depression. All of these topics are approached with sensitivity and make the important point that in this social media obsessed era, people only ever present an idealised version of themselves to the world, yet behind the scenes, so many are actually struggling.

Despite the serious subject matter, Trying is funny and very easy-to-read, with a chatty, friendly tone. Told in the first-person by Olivia, we get to know her well - she struck me as a younger, more stylish, slightly more self-aware Bridget Jones. I don't mean that as a negative though, I enjoyed reading the Bridget books back in the day! There are one or two plot moments that were maybe a little too Bridget - a fisticuffs fight over Olivia for example, but it's also peppered with brilliant pop-culture references, my favourite being Felix and Olivia's cats named Bret and Jemaine after (comedy/singing duo) Flight of the Conchords.. There's a nod to the rise in popularity of mum bloggers and even Brexit gets a mention. It was refreshing to read a book that is set so much in the present day.

Trying tells a moving story - even more so knowing it has a biographical basis - and addresses what can be a heartbreaking issue in a light-hearted, engaging way. Olivia is the star of this read; she is a warm, relatable character you could easily be friends with, who is just trying to make sense of all areas of her life - she makes mistakes and has her flaws, but don't we all?

I initially requested this book via Netgalley because I thought it was going to be a humourous book about a couple trying for a baby. It is a humourous book, and it is about a couple who want a baby but the humour and the infertility are separate. I feel like that's an important thing to state early in on in this review. If you are currently struggling with fertility and you're hoping to pick up a book that you can empathise with and to help you find some humour in your own experiences then this isn't the book for you.

Considering it wasn't at all what I expected it to be, by the time I was about 1/3 of my way into it I enjoyed it immensely, however, I did have some difficulties with it. I disliked the main characters very, very much. I felt they were immature and vacuous. Although the premise of the book suggested they were desperately trying for a baby, in actuality they seemed unwilling to do anything that might assist them with getting pregnant. I also have a real annoyance with the cliche that so often pops up in fiction that if a married couple have an argument they'll both immediately pop off and drop their drawers for anyone who winks at them. It seems like there are no happily married people in books and that would be nice to read about.

As I mentioned though, by the time I was about 1/3 of the way into the book I felt I had a good understanding of the characters and my dislike for them personally did not detract from the fact that Emily Phillips has written a really good dramatic, funny and emotional story. I became fully caught up in the dramas; I could feel myself cringing as the lies started to unravel and I shed a few tears at the end of the book. It's a testament to her writing that I obviously found myself emotionally invested in characters I hadn't liked at the beginning of the book.

I loved this heartfelt but very funny novel about not just 'trying' for a baby but also love, life and friendship in the modern world. Although I'm not trying for a baby myself (or ever have I been), and don't even have many friends with kids, it didn't affect my enjoyment at all as I can sort of tell how it feels to try and juggle being a 'modern female' and all its 'demands'! I  hugely identified with Olivia and her changing feelings, from being completely overwhelmed, to heartbroken, to (at times)  acting quite stupidly! At times I could almost feel Olivia's sadness and desperation myself; her emotions almost bounce off the pages and this is a testament to Emily Phillips' brilliant writing. 

I don't agree with every choice Olivia makes but I can really understand why she feels the way she does, and I hugely enjoyed reading about her as a character - and Felix too. 

Trying is definitely bittersweet, as it's described on the cover - that word immediately springs to mind when I think of this novel. It's lovely and humorous whilst making you really care abut the characters. In some ways it really is just about normal, everyday, boring life (with a few dramas along the way, admittedly!) but that certainly doesn't equal boring. Trying remains so completely absorbing and brilliantly written that I didn't want to put it down, and would happily have read on and on. In fact, if this was a series I'd absolutely race through every book - please bring another one out!

Olivia and Felix are happily married but in the last eighteen months, their lives have revolved around their efforts to have a baby and their marriage is starting to be affected by it. Medical appointments, their crazy work lives, and their parents' needs make it harder for the couple to find the time to be by themselves. In addition, all their friends seem to have no problem having children and they are constantly invited to birthday parties, find-out-the-gender parties, and a guys-only day out is not the same thing when you are the only one without a child.

Although I enjoyed this novel, I found the character of Olivia irritating with the choices she makes and her behaviour. In the end, she redeems herself a little and I liked how the author decided to end the novel. An insightful exploration into the life of a woman who's struggling to have a child, this is an enjoyable novel with a few funny moments but also a bit of emotional drama.

This is Emily Phillips first book and I enjoyed it. I adore books about parenting and trying for my baby. Although I did enjoy it, I did find it got bogged down on everything else apart from trying to have baby. I loved the writing and look forward to more from Emily.

Thanks goes to net galley and the publishers for providing me with a free copy in exchange for a honest review.

I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy this book following some mixed review but I’m glad I didn’t let them influence me I found this book quite touching and very funny at the same time I loved it it touches upon a subject that not many people talk about.

Olivia and Felix are trying for a baby but having no luck. Forced to watch as all their friends do. The stress of trying to conceive begins to take it's toll and both start to look elsewhere but can they get through it all.

This was such a good read. I loved it so much and it's written with so much thought and care. The subject is a hard one to pull off sensitively but this book does it. It's so real and honest you really feel for Liv every time there's no baby.

Liv is a very real character, she's not perfect and makes many mistakes but it makes her real and human. I would have liked a bit more of Felix and his feelings but we really saw what they went through.

A Brilliant end and cleverly done. A definite must read and a favourite.

Brilliant premise and a really promising, contemporary, relevant and funny start, but sadly the balance of humour against emotion fell a little flat after that and the narrative became more predictable.

Tying to reach Parenthood.

Olivia and Felix are trying but failing to conceive. Their intimate relationship is no longer the same, it is a chore. They want a baby, the only piece missing from their jigsaw of a seemingly perfect marriage. Their delusions don't last for long: Olivia soon learns some incriminating secrets that Felix has been keeping from her, while he uncovers some information regarding his wife and her extra-marital activities.

With all the pressure, from parents sharing conception advice and from close friends being blessed with yet another child... Things soon heat up, tensions flare and all their efforts may just blow up in their faces. It makes for an incredibly funny and memorable story.

This book is perfectly relatable, comfortingly so, and will get a lot of women talking. I especially loved the ending of this novel, it was perfectly written and so very fitting. Too often we become too caught up in achieving the dream life that we take for granted what we have with us. Without meaning to, we neglect those we love. We don't always get a second chance. This, however, is a book worth a chance.

I received this book through NetGalley.

I love the cover of this book and I thought its topic was very real. I didn't connect with the characters though and felt like it was taking me too long to feel interested in the story, It's well-written though and puts things into perspective (in a very funny way!)

Sorry, not for me. This book didn't know if it was a book about fertility or humour and I gave up a third of the way through.

I really liked the premise of this book as I think the issue of trying to have a baby but not being able to is rarely talked about so I was interested to see how the author would write about it. I liked the main character, Olivia, and her partner, Felix - they were relatable and funny and the strain that trying to conceive puts on their relationship was very emotive. Phillips shows how it affects both of them, which I thought was interesting because so often trying for a baby is seen as a 'woman's issue'. The reason I have given the novel 3 stars is because, even though I liked it, there wasn't a great deal of plot, which made the book feel too long - I was getting a bit bored in the latter half! I also wasn't a fan of the emails and other 'media' bits that were interspersed throughout the book. I just don't feel that they added very much and the book could have been significantly streamlined (and improved!) by removing this element.

I requested this book because I thought it was a humorous book about a couple trying for a baby. Unfortunately I didn't like the language or the content of the story. I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

What happens to a relationship when you reach that certain age and decide a baby is the next step?
This story is an interesting insight into life whilst trying very hard to conceive.
It certainly made me think about how wanting a baby can become an obsession.
Whilst the emotional roller-coaster of the main protagonists is well drawn I found their lifestyles totally outside my understanding. Well paid, demanding jobs are hastily sketched but how do they support their profligate social lives?
I was happy to forgive this an go with the story until the final chapters. What a shame it descended into farce.

Although I haven't been particularly touched by infertility, I found this book comforting and became caught up in Olivia's life as a 30 something, struggling with her choices and the need to fit in with husband kids and a good job.
A heart breaking yet laugh out loud story I absolutely loved

Really awful lightweight chick-lit, quippy and silly, lots of descriptions of having sex, did not like this at all. Although the topic of infertility is a serious one, there was no thoughtfulness in this.

What to expect when you're not expecting. A chick lit book or beach read for fans of Dawn O'Porter, Sophie Kinsella, Marian Keyes.

"Trying" is an interesting insight into fertility problems, marriage and career in contemporary relationships. Although it sometimes veers into cliche territory, the novel is amusing and insightful, with some delightful twists and turns.

The fertility time-bomb is ticking away as our heroine realises her chances of conceiving are rapidly diminishing, while friends her age are busily producing offspring and her own mum is yearning to become a grandmother. Having to cope with the pressures of a demanding career, including a bitchy boss and undermining colleagues, is not helping matters, either. The intimate process of coordinating fertility cycles with sexual desire and availability are comically described in graphic detail, but behind the ribald humour is an astute depiction of existential panic, which will strike a chord with women everywhere in the modern world who are juggling with work/life balance.