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Unmarry Me
Ruby tells Mark she wants a divorce. It’ll be a fake separation, a protest against marriage inequality. As soon as her sister Peta can marry her girlfriend, BJ, they’ll get married again.
Unmarry Me is a delightfully clever romantic comedy with a twist. Ruby uses her expertise as a charity campaigner and fundraiser to start a nationwide ‘Unmarry Me’ campaign. T-shirts, badges, TV appearances—the works.
Funny, charming and smart, with a cast of everyday heroines, the follow-up to Unzipped shows that all love stories are equally as mad as each other.
If falling in love is easy, getting unmarried is quite a challenge
Unmarry Me is a delightfully clever romantic comedy with a twist. Ruby uses her expertise as a charity campaigner and fundraiser to start a nationwide ‘Unmarry Me’ campaign. T-shirts, badges, TV appearances—the works.
Funny, charming and smart, with a cast of everyday heroines, the follow-up to Unzipped shows that all love stories are equally as mad as each other.
If falling in love is easy, getting unmarried is quite a challenge
287 pages, Paperback
First published November 18, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 17, 2015
Unmarry Me is the second novel by Australian author, Nicki Reed, and the sequel to her first novel, Unzipped. On her second wedding anniversary, Ruby Wheeler hits upon the brilliant idea of asking her beloved Mark for a divorce. After all, if her older sister, Peta can’t be married to the woman she loves, then Rube and Mark and other happily married couples shouldn’t be, either. It will be a statement, a message to the High Court, which declared her sister’s marriage of just four days, unconstitutional when it overturned the same-sex marriage law.
But in the execution of the idea, unforeseen complications arise: divorcing for love is not as straightforward or easy as it might seem. Living apart from Mark as she waits to “unmarry” him is lonely and frustrating. And while exciting things like bright T-shirts, stickers, TV appearances, a flash mob and hot air balloons were certainly not on her initial radar, Ruby discovers that standing up for one’s principles can attract opposition, perhaps not unexpected. But the stalking and the encounter with the deceased rodent? Definitely a nasty surprise.
Reed tackles a very topical (and highly polarising) issue, marriage equality, or, more accurately, the lack of it, in a witty, funny and original way. There are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, both in the dialogue and in Ruby’s asides and inner monologue. The unusual family structure also adds humour. Thirty-seven-year-old Ruby is a likeable, if slightly crazy, character, one who develops and matures over the course of her unmarryme campaign. And as well as the laughs, there is also a generous helping of wise words and succinct observations, and a smattering of lump-in-the-throat moments.
The support characters are also appealing, and the interactions between the couples, the sisters, the friends and the work colleagues are all quite entertaining. Present day Melbourne is well conveyed. While this is a sequel, it is not essential to read the first book, although many readers may well wish to seek it out. This novel is clever, funny and even a little thought-provoking.
4.5★s
But in the execution of the idea, unforeseen complications arise: divorcing for love is not as straightforward or easy as it might seem. Living apart from Mark as she waits to “unmarry” him is lonely and frustrating. And while exciting things like bright T-shirts, stickers, TV appearances, a flash mob and hot air balloons were certainly not on her initial radar, Ruby discovers that standing up for one’s principles can attract opposition, perhaps not unexpected. But the stalking and the encounter with the deceased rodent? Definitely a nasty surprise.
Reed tackles a very topical (and highly polarising) issue, marriage equality, or, more accurately, the lack of it, in a witty, funny and original way. There are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, both in the dialogue and in Ruby’s asides and inner monologue. The unusual family structure also adds humour. Thirty-seven-year-old Ruby is a likeable, if slightly crazy, character, one who develops and matures over the course of her unmarryme campaign. And as well as the laughs, there is also a generous helping of wise words and succinct observations, and a smattering of lump-in-the-throat moments.
The support characters are also appealing, and the interactions between the couples, the sisters, the friends and the work colleagues are all quite entertaining. Present day Melbourne is well conveyed. While this is a sequel, it is not essential to read the first book, although many readers may well wish to seek it out. This novel is clever, funny and even a little thought-provoking.
4.5★s
November 9, 2015
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley on behalf of the publisher
good fun read!! a great subject for right now, with marriage equality always in the news and a hot topic of debate. love how it also delves into unexpected emotions and consequences not initially thought of in the "sounded like a good idea at the time" moment.
also love the use of social media in the story, it really reflects today's society & how campaigns of any nature garner attention.
I think the only thing that lost me at times was the timeline. at points it was like we were flying through weeks & months, then later I was sure it had to be a few more months down the track but turned out to be mere weeks, if that. & really, if that's the only thing I can find to complain about, we're doing pretty well :)
good fun read!! a great subject for right now, with marriage equality always in the news and a hot topic of debate. love how it also delves into unexpected emotions and consequences not initially thought of in the "sounded like a good idea at the time" moment.
also love the use of social media in the story, it really reflects today's society & how campaigns of any nature garner attention.
I think the only thing that lost me at times was the timeline. at points it was like we were flying through weeks & months, then later I was sure it had to be a few more months down the track but turned out to be mere weeks, if that. & really, if that's the only thing I can find to complain about, we're doing pretty well :)
January 24, 2018
This seems to be an unpopular opinion ... but I really didn't like this book. I hated the first 60-ish % and I despised Ruby the MC.
Now, I already thought the premise was a little bit on the silly side (divorcing your husband, whom you dearly love to protest marriage inequality? Aren't there other ways you could do that?) but I thought it would be funny, quick and easy to read.
Oh boy, was I wrong!
Is it only me who finds that a ridiculous reaction and overly dramatic? If it is going well why immediately freak out and leave instead of letting her answer your fucking questions?
But anyway, after that he agrees to divorce her to try and get same-sex couples the right to marry.
The only thing Ruby and I agree on is that it shouldn't be a question and that anyone and everyone should be able to marry whoever the fuck they love.
She is doing this also for her sister Peta, who is the ex-wife of Mark, has a kid with him and is now in love with BJ and wants to marry her.
But Peta isn't really appreciating this right off the bat, but more on that later.
To get a divorce they have to be separated for a year, so Mark will move back into his parent's house who are conveniently on a world tour right now.
Okay and here comes the first scene I wanted to DNF this book, but since it's only about 7% in I thought I have to give this more of a chance and continued on, but here is the scene. Mark and Ruby go grocery shopping together and Mark is a little passive aggressive and decides he has to practice buying groceries and gets his own trolley and gets what he wants.
They meet Ruby's best friend and her husband.
Again, is it only me or would no one really react that way? No 'What? What happened? Why so suddenly?' or 'Are you kidding?' Justine is Ruby's best friend. I would be a bit more shocked and suspicious if my best friend told me out of the blue she is getting a divorce when she hasn't mentioned having problems or anything.
This repeats itself throughout the book. Oh and not only are the characters very flat and two dimensional, they aren't always consistent either. Justine, for example, isn't shown to be this emotional ever again.
There is a sub-plot of Ruby being harassed, with phone calls and mail, that was at least a little bit more interesting. But I the reveal was cliche and eye-roll worthy!
Also, I'm not the biggest fan of describing all other people who don't share Ruby's viewpoint on marriage equality as bad people overall. Even though I completely agree with Ruby, I don't think it's that easy to have all the other people being jerks in all aspects of their life and to be vile and bitchy. People are more layered than that and I think it's cheap to portray them this way.
Let's take Charlene Hunter. She is anti-gay-marriage. Ruby and Charlene are in a morning talk show to discuss. Charlene is supposed to be a pro and 'destroy' other peoples arguments. But here is how it plays out:
Would a professional, a person who has been on countless 'TV duels' and always won the argument with words, really react like that?? I seriously doubt that.
Oh, and Tommo, the moderator is also portrayed as malicious and slightly dim. Oh and he's getting it on with Charlene, whose clothes are btw not so classy ... I rest my case.
They are countless more examples I could share (for example the time Ruby stalked a car just because it had an 'Unmarryme' sticker on its windshield or how she slapped Peta) but this review is already long as it is.
BUT I'm still glad that I pushed through and read the whole thing because the last ~25 % were a lot better. Now, still not enough to give a higher rating (for that the first 60% were too bad). But I could read that without stopping every other second to roll my eyes so that's definitely an improvement.
Mr. and Mrs. P were cute. Justine was fine towards the end. Even though there was a lot of unnecessary drama, but I could cope with that.
All in all, not my book. Which is sad because even though I thought the whole unmarry me idea a bit weird I was still really interested.
I got a free review copy (netgalley) in exchange for an honest review.
Now, I already thought the premise was a little bit on the silly side (divorcing your husband, whom you dearly love to protest marriage inequality? Aren't there other ways you could do that?) but I thought it would be funny, quick and easy to read.
Oh boy, was I wrong!
"'I think we should get a divorce.'
It is the double take of double takes. His eyes widen and he hits his head on the wall behind.
'But I thought we were having a good time. Why? What did I do? It was a text, a couple of texts. I was trying to get rid of her. Have you been going through my phone? I mean what the hell, Ruby? I'd never do that to you.'
He stands up, drags his wallet out of his pocket and dumps a couple of hundreds on the table.
'Wait', I say.
'I need to walk,' he says. I'll see you later.'
'But. Wait. Wait. It's not like that. Who's her?'"
Is it only me who finds that a ridiculous reaction and overly dramatic? If it is going well why immediately freak out and leave instead of letting her answer your fucking questions?
But anyway, after that he agrees to divorce her to try and get same-sex couples the right to marry.
The only thing Ruby and I agree on is that it shouldn't be a question and that anyone and everyone should be able to marry whoever the fuck they love.
She is doing this also for her sister Peta, who is the ex-wife of Mark, has a kid with him and is now in love with BJ and wants to marry her.
But Peta isn't really appreciating this right off the bat, but more on that later.
To get a divorce they have to be separated for a year, so Mark will move back into his parent's house who are conveniently on a world tour right now.
Okay and here comes the first scene I wanted to DNF this book, but since it's only about 7% in I thought I have to give this more of a chance and continued on, but here is the scene. Mark and Ruby go grocery shopping together and Mark is a little passive aggressive and decides he has to practice buying groceries and gets his own trolley and gets what he wants.
They meet Ruby's best friend and her husband.
"'Hey. Two trolleys? Are you having a party?', Jus looks in mine. 'Nope, not a party. Menstruation and housework. And Mark,' she eyes his trolley, 'a feast of bad breath and sleeping alone. What's happening?
'We're getting a divorce.'
Justine looks about for somewhere to sit. There's nowhere. She grips her trolley. Tears flow. Stuart is quick with an arm around her shoulder. It is the fastest meltdown in history."
Again, is it only me or would no one really react that way? No 'What? What happened? Why so suddenly?' or 'Are you kidding?' Justine is Ruby's best friend. I would be a bit more shocked and suspicious if my best friend told me out of the blue she is getting a divorce when she hasn't mentioned having problems or anything.
This repeats itself throughout the book. Oh and not only are the characters very flat and two dimensional, they aren't always consistent either. Justine, for example, isn't shown to be this emotional ever again.
There is a sub-plot of Ruby being harassed, with phone calls and mail, that was at least a little bit more interesting. But I the reveal was cliche and eye-roll worthy!
Also, I'm not the biggest fan of describing all other people who don't share Ruby's viewpoint on marriage equality as bad people overall. Even though I completely agree with Ruby, I don't think it's that easy to have all the other people being jerks in all aspects of their life and to be vile and bitchy. People are more layered than that and I think it's cheap to portray them this way.
Let's take Charlene Hunter. She is anti-gay-marriage. Ruby and Charlene are in a morning talk show to discuss. Charlene is supposed to be a pro and 'destroy' other peoples arguments. But here is how it plays out:
"'Look what you've done.'
She turns to me, puffed up like an angry cat or one of those fish that balloon up over your spear.
'I have had this spot for years and never sworn'
'Oh, did the big bad equality advocate make little Charlene swear?'
On the monitor I see it coming but I don't have time to react. Charlene picks up the cushion behind her and swings it at my face. My head snaps back. She has another swing. I get a button to the eye. My eye is going to be black by sunset.
'Charlene!' Tommo is up but Charlene jumps on top of me and pushes me back onto the couch. She claws my cheek. Tommo tries to get her off me. She kicks. Straight to his groin and Tommo is down. I cover my face to keep her from clawing my eyes out [...]"
Would a professional, a person who has been on countless 'TV duels' and always won the argument with words, really react like that?? I seriously doubt that.
Oh, and Tommo, the moderator is also portrayed as malicious and slightly dim. Oh and he's getting it on with Charlene, whose clothes are btw not so classy ... I rest my case.
They are countless more examples I could share (for example the time Ruby stalked a car just because it had an 'Unmarryme' sticker on its windshield or how she slapped Peta) but this review is already long as it is.
BUT I'm still glad that I pushed through and read the whole thing because the last ~25 % were a lot better. Now, still not enough to give a higher rating (for that the first 60% were too bad). But I could read that without stopping every other second to roll my eyes so that's definitely an improvement.
Mr. and Mrs. P were cute. Justine was fine towards the end. Even though there was a lot of unnecessary drama, but I could cope with that.
All in all, not my book. Which is sad because even though I thought the whole unmarry me idea a bit weird I was still really interested.
I got a free review copy (netgalley) in exchange for an honest review.
December 20, 2015
It’s New Year’s Eve. Ruby and Mark Wheeler have been very happily married for 2 years. This is the night that Pete decides to divorce Mark, to show how ridiculous the arguments are against same sex marriage. She figures that if her sister Peta can’t marry her long time partner BJ, then she shouldn’t be able to marry the love of her life either.
This is the guts of the story by Nicki Reed, and this could have been a dirge rather than hilarious. What lifts this book is how clever, funny and warm the characters are, without ever being perfect. Reed strikes a lovely blend between quirky and funny, and yet covers some quite thoughtful ground in the process. There were a lot of laugh out loud moments, and some very quotable lines in the book.
Ruby is a ripper of a character. There is something very Australian in the dry humour, the self-deprecation, and the willingness to mock authority. Clever, capable and strong in some ways, it’s also very easy to relate to her because of her vulnerability and her flaws, which are many. She’d be a hoot in real life, and is a joy in the book.
Reed sets the story within the Australian political landscape, and references some fairly recent events in the journey to marriage equality. What Reed so cleverly handles is how the political events impact on the characters, but never threaten to overwhelm them, or to weigh too heavily in the story. This is, at its heart, a comedy.
It is also lovely to read a book set in my hometown. Melbourne doesn’t play a huge role in the book, but the scenes and references are right and made it special for me to read.
The reason it dropped for 4.5 stars to 4 is the ending, or lack thereof. It felt like the author just stopped at the end of one of the chapters, rather than providing even some resolution. The material itself suggests that it won’t be a tidy ending, but some resolution could have happened. It just felt like the book stopped before it hit the last act.
Reed has also written Unzipped, and I’m looking forward to reading that, and anything new she writes. Reed is definitely a writer to watch out for, especially if you like clever and funny characters.
This is the guts of the story by Nicki Reed, and this could have been a dirge rather than hilarious. What lifts this book is how clever, funny and warm the characters are, without ever being perfect. Reed strikes a lovely blend between quirky and funny, and yet covers some quite thoughtful ground in the process. There were a lot of laugh out loud moments, and some very quotable lines in the book.
Ruby is a ripper of a character. There is something very Australian in the dry humour, the self-deprecation, and the willingness to mock authority. Clever, capable and strong in some ways, it’s also very easy to relate to her because of her vulnerability and her flaws, which are many. She’d be a hoot in real life, and is a joy in the book.
Reed sets the story within the Australian political landscape, and references some fairly recent events in the journey to marriage equality. What Reed so cleverly handles is how the political events impact on the characters, but never threaten to overwhelm them, or to weigh too heavily in the story. This is, at its heart, a comedy.
It is also lovely to read a book set in my hometown. Melbourne doesn’t play a huge role in the book, but the scenes and references are right and made it special for me to read.
The reason it dropped for 4.5 stars to 4 is the ending, or lack thereof. It felt like the author just stopped at the end of one of the chapters, rather than providing even some resolution. The material itself suggests that it won’t be a tidy ending, but some resolution could have happened. It just felt like the book stopped before it hit the last act.
Reed has also written Unzipped, and I’m looking forward to reading that, and anything new she writes. Reed is definitely a writer to watch out for, especially if you like clever and funny characters.
November 25, 2016
Why I read it: I received an email from Text Publishing with a NetGalley widget, but it arrived on the day it was archived; so while I would have received a free copy, I did not. I wanted to read it anyway because the synopsis sounded amusing, so I went and bought it instead!
Plot: Ruby and Mark are married, but Ruby's sister Peta and BJ cannot be as same sex marriage is not legal in Australia. Deciding that this is grossly unfair, Ruby suggests to Mark that they get a divorce, and he grudgingly agrees. But to do this they have to actually separate, only seeing each other in secret. Will this bring them closer together, or destroy them?
My Thoughts: I think this is the second book of a series (though it's not entirely clear, I got the impression it could be read as a standalone and have not read the first book). I actually had to go and look up a synopsis of the first novel because I was so confused by everyone's relationships and it breaks down to:
Ruby and Mark are (currently) married.
Ruby and Peta are sisters.
Mark and Peta used to be married and have a daughter together.
Peta met and fell in love with BJ (another woman) during her marriage to Mark.
Mark and Ruby then became a couple.
Ruby wants to divorce Mark to make a stand against marriage laws in Australia.
So once I got over the fact Peta's ex-husband is her sister's current husband and everyone was jolly and fine with that, I kept reading.
Ruby wants to divorce Mark as a protest against the ACT (Australian Capital Territory) same sex marriage laws being overturned by the Federal Government as Federal laws overrule state laws. Same sex marriage, in my opinion, should be legal everywhere and I do not understand why it isn't. In this single thing Ruby and I are in total agreement!
However...marriage is a legal contract and to be granted a divorce you need to be separated for a year and prove it won't work. You cannot just divorce on a whim. You can't get divorced and intend to get back together afterwards.
Reed did address some of this in the fact that Ruby and Mark did decide to fake separate, live in different houses and pretend their relationship was done. However, it just didn't ring true and Ruby, I'm sorry to say, came across as a bit of an idiot. Her maturity level was that of a teenager (sneaking around in the trunk of a car, really?)
Same sex marriage is a serious topic and I felt like Ruby's decision was such a stupid one. There's plenty of other things you can do without getting divorced. She did launch a campaign, and I really liked that part - aside from the fact they wanted to get other couples to divorce along with them. And I'm still baffled as to how they thought they'd be granted a divorce when they kept saying WHY they were doing it.
Ruby compares herself to Peta a lot (and Mark's relationship with her). It felt a bit soap operaish, particularly as along with all this fake divorce stuff happening there was also the sub-plot of Mark donating his sperm to BJ and Peta so they could have another child; while also wanting a child with Ruby (and part of his agreement to the divorce was the condition that they find out why it hadn't happened yet).
Aside from enjoying the campaign and the excitement that brought, I also liked Ruby's neighbours - Mr and Mrs P - who were a total blast. There was another sub-plot of Ruby getting threats in the mail, this felt like an afterthought and the culprit made me roll my eyes, but Mr and Mrs P were so thrilled with the excitement of it - they made my day haha
Nicki Reed did a wonderful job with the writing, which was excellent, and despite its flaws in the plot department it was a fairly amusing read. I giggled as much as I rolled my eyes at it, so while it fell over in the believability area I did enjoy reading it.
In Brief: A well written novel that unfortunately didn't do anything for me plot wise; it was hard to believe and a little silly. This is solid 2.5 rating from me, I didn't dislike it, but I only liked certain aspects of it.
Plot: Ruby and Mark are married, but Ruby's sister Peta and BJ cannot be as same sex marriage is not legal in Australia. Deciding that this is grossly unfair, Ruby suggests to Mark that they get a divorce, and he grudgingly agrees. But to do this they have to actually separate, only seeing each other in secret. Will this bring them closer together, or destroy them?
My Thoughts: I think this is the second book of a series (though it's not entirely clear, I got the impression it could be read as a standalone and have not read the first book). I actually had to go and look up a synopsis of the first novel because I was so confused by everyone's relationships and it breaks down to:
Ruby and Mark are (currently) married.
Ruby and Peta are sisters.
Mark and Peta used to be married and have a daughter together.
Peta met and fell in love with BJ (another woman) during her marriage to Mark.
Mark and Ruby then became a couple.
Ruby wants to divorce Mark to make a stand against marriage laws in Australia.
So once I got over the fact Peta's ex-husband is her sister's current husband and everyone was jolly and fine with that, I kept reading.
Ruby wants to divorce Mark as a protest against the ACT (Australian Capital Territory) same sex marriage laws being overturned by the Federal Government as Federal laws overrule state laws. Same sex marriage, in my opinion, should be legal everywhere and I do not understand why it isn't. In this single thing Ruby and I are in total agreement!
However...marriage is a legal contract and to be granted a divorce you need to be separated for a year and prove it won't work. You cannot just divorce on a whim. You can't get divorced and intend to get back together afterwards.
Reed did address some of this in the fact that Ruby and Mark did decide to fake separate, live in different houses and pretend their relationship was done. However, it just didn't ring true and Ruby, I'm sorry to say, came across as a bit of an idiot. Her maturity level was that of a teenager (sneaking around in the trunk of a car, really?)
Same sex marriage is a serious topic and I felt like Ruby's decision was such a stupid one. There's plenty of other things you can do without getting divorced. She did launch a campaign, and I really liked that part - aside from the fact they wanted to get other couples to divorce along with them. And I'm still baffled as to how they thought they'd be granted a divorce when they kept saying WHY they were doing it.
Ruby compares herself to Peta a lot (and Mark's relationship with her). It felt a bit soap operaish, particularly as along with all this fake divorce stuff happening there was also the sub-plot of Mark donating his sperm to BJ and Peta so they could have another child; while also wanting a child with Ruby (and part of his agreement to the divorce was the condition that they find out why it hadn't happened yet).
Aside from enjoying the campaign and the excitement that brought, I also liked Ruby's neighbours - Mr and Mrs P - who were a total blast. There was another sub-plot of Ruby getting threats in the mail, this felt like an afterthought and the culprit made me roll my eyes, but Mr and Mrs P were so thrilled with the excitement of it - they made my day haha
Nicki Reed did a wonderful job with the writing, which was excellent, and despite its flaws in the plot department it was a fairly amusing read. I giggled as much as I rolled my eyes at it, so while it fell over in the believability area I did enjoy reading it.
In Brief: A well written novel that unfortunately didn't do anything for me plot wise; it was hard to believe and a little silly. This is solid 2.5 rating from me, I didn't dislike it, but I only liked certain aspects of it.
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