Baby Proof by Emily Griffin

I was SO happy when I found out that this was our book club pick for February (Thanks, Candy!) that I decided I needed to re-read it, something I very rarely do. I have loved every one of Emily Griffin's novels (4 and counting) because they are easy to relate to, humorous, and engaging.

This novel revolves around a married couple, Claudia and Ben, who seem to be perfect together. Claudia always knew that she didn't want to have children, and from the beginning of their relationship, Ben shared the desire to remain childless. However, after their close friends have a baby, Ben changes his mind, which isn't something Claudia feels she can compromise on so she leaves him. There are a lot of things going on as the two divorce and, eventually, get back together as each decides their marriage is the most important thing and s/he will do whatever is necessary to keep it.

I was waiting to post this until after our meeting last night because I wanted to see what everyone else thought about it. It was loved by everyone and we had a great discussion. The biggest questions this book raised were about soul mates and parenthood....

Is there such a thing as "soul mates" and is there only one person in the universe for each of us? We all agreed that the idea of soul mates is in the definition...is it the person who should be at your side forever, or is it situational. Can a person have several soul mates throughout different phases in her life? If there really is only one soul mate for each of us, can we live a fulfilled life without that person?

Which decision is more important for a woman, who she should marry or who should be the father of her children? We all agreed that ideally, the person you marry would be the same person you have children with, but that it's a lot easier to get out of a marriage that isn't working that to get out of parenthood. Once you have a child with someone, you are connected to them for life. You will still be forced to deal with that person for the child's sake even if you divorce. Like I said, we had a great discussion, as always :)

Would I recommend this book? Yes. I'd also recommend Something Borrowed and Something Blue (in that order) by the same author.