Unmarry Me by Nicki Reed

“Mark and I are divorcing for marriage equality. We feel that we can’t be married whilst other people in love can’t.”

Since her sister has been refused the right to marry her girlfriend, Ruby wants to make a difference and raise awareness to the inequality gay couples face. She won’t be getting remarried until everyone can. 

The premise behind this novel was brilliant. It was wonderful to read about a straight character that actually cared about LGBT+ rights, and the publicity and sheer volume of people the campaign reached was impressive and wonderful.

I am nearly a year into a relationship with a girl who is also my best friend. I am very lucky to live in a country where gay marriage is completely legal, but its important to remember it’s taken us until 2015 to acknowledge a homosexual marriage with the same recognition as a ‘traditional’ heterosexual marriage. How and why has it taken us so long to reach this point when everyone, no matter his or her gender, is human and capable of loving whomever they choose?

Being fake ‘separated’ put a strain on Mark and Rubys relationship, and some of the issues they face are very similar to that which long distance couples like myself face. Having a little experience under my belt means I would definitely have handled some of the situations a little differently. The fact that they don’t live together anymore does not mean they should stop talking about everything, and secrets can absolutely ruin a relationship, but these characters have flaws and are well developed.

Of course, there were characters who were against the entire ‘unmarry me’ scheme, believing it to be unnecessary and unlawful.  I was a little surprised with the overwhelming negativity and clichéd statements reaching through some of the pages, with speeches about how gay couples simply deny a child both a father and mother, are generally promiscuous, and how they ruin the sanctity of marriage, but Rubys responses and pure dedication to the cause is strong, meaning it wasn’t all for nothing.

I would personally have loved to read more from the lesbian couples perspective. I understand having a hetero-normative narrator makes it a more relatable book to the general public, but with the strong LGBT themes it would have been great to know more about the girls relationship with each other.

Overall, this is a book that could easily be made into a relatable, humorous romantic comedy film. I received an ARC e-reader copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.