By Melissa Khan
Kit Kidding is serious about living a childfree life. She’s at the height of her career as a social media influencer on Instagram, advocating for other women who share her belief that women who choose not to become mothers are just as valid as those who do. Kit is cool, confident, and totally happy being single. Until she meets handsome chef, Will MacGregor, at an influencer event and starts to feel that their one-night-stand has the potential to become something more.
Kit and Will are thrown together on an Instagram campaign, but just as things start heating up, Kit discovers that Will has a daughter—the last thing she could have expected or desired. Kit is determined to keep their relationship strictly professional, but after spending more and more time with the two of them, Kit can’t bring herself to stay away.
I admired Kit for advocating for women and their choice to stay childfree. Her stance wasn’t about hating kids or invalidating mothers but simply allowing women to choose something different. It’s not selfish to not want children. So, of course, with the introduction of a handsome suitor and his adorable daughter, it is expected for things to get complicated and a little messy.
Kit is forced to confront the career she’s built, the face she presents to the world, and the influence she carries. Being childfree has become Kit’s entire public persona, but is that who she is? And why did she make the choice to be childfree in the first place? Is it possible to not want children of your own but still make space for a life with a child? I went back and forth with Kit throughout the novel, trying to reconcile what the right choice would be. What compromise, if any, could there be?
I especially loved how realistic Will was. There were moments when I loved Will and moments when I thought Kit deserved better. And moments when I couldn’t decide who was right in the situation because they both had valid reasons for how they felt. Will didn’t respond to every situation “perfectly” with complete understanding to show that Kit was just overreacting; he had flaws too. It’s stated early in the novel that Will doesn’t have, nor has any interest in, social media, and this character trait doesn’t magically change overnight. I think the realistic portrayal of both characters was refreshing and enhanced the seriousness of Kit’s inevitable choice.
I changed my mind so often in this novel, sometimes getting upset with Kit for how she rationalised her actions. I felt especially let down when it seemed that she could end up wanting kids because it felt like the novel would be saying that a character wanting a childfree life would always ultimately change their mind. But after completing the novel, I don’t think it’s saying that at all. There should be space for any person to explore, change their mind, and grow—which is what Kit is allowed to do. I recommend you check out Chantel Guertin’s novel Instamom, and maybe it’ll change your mind too.
Thank you, Penguin Random House Canada, for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.