i really like the cover when i first saw it which made me want to read it.
It was a enjoyable to read and i would love to read more of the authors work.
i have and will continue to push this book.

I did enjoy the reading although I didn't like some aspects of it. It was a lovely and cute novel about a young couple which is living their first year as a married people after the honeymoon. Well, marriage is not easy but the couple learn how to deal with all their stuff. Yeah, for a debut novel it was really great. I can't wai to read more stuff by her. Ah! I really felt as I was actually in Melbourne and I love when the authors get everything right like that.

This was my first novel by Genevieve Gannon. This was a cute novel about a couple as they experience their first year of wedded bliss. On their honeymoon is it's very easy to make a pact to keep the romance alive however, in reality crazy exes, escalating career pressures and their blended families are making this more challenging than Saskia and Andy ever imagined. This novel is told in third person but does switch back and forth from Saskia to Andy over the first 365 days of their marriage. The chapters are short and I found myself zipping through this one pretty quickly to find out if these these two were meant to be!! Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced reader copy.

I absolutely loved this book and the whole concept of the book. It started off with a bit of humor with a pact that the newly married couple comes up with to make the first year of marriage easier. People always say the first year is the hardest, and despite their pact, that rings true for this couple too.

There’s funny moments, happy moments, sad moments, and an overall wonderful journey of emotions. I loved following Andy and Sasika on their adventurous first year and I thoroughly enjoyed the important topics and themes that this novel addresses. This was a page turner for me and I couldn’t put the book down wanting to know what would come next. The ending wasn’t what I was expecting, it was even better. I highly recommend this to fans of women’s fiction with a chick-lit feel.

The First Year, Genevieve Gannon

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre:  General fiction (adult), women's fiction

 I really enjoyed this read. Marriage is hard work to make it successfully, just being "in love" isn't always enough to overcome all the issues thrown at couples. And when they're from such diverse backgrounds as Saskia and Andy its even harder. Both have baggage too in the way if Exes that are still around....

Its clear they adore each other, came together very suddenly after each had split from a serious relationship. Its been a whirlwind meeting, engaged and married within months of meeting, they vow on their honeymoon to show each other how much they love them every day- in an ingenuous way. They "contract" to make love each day, to carve out time to remind themsleves how precious their relationship is. 
Well, on honeymoon that's perfect, but back home the work pressures are high, families aren't as supportive as they could be and slowly cracks appear. 

Its kind of bittersweet, seeing it from both POV, and knowing how much they love and respect each other. Or do they? Does Andy really understand how important her art is to Saskia? Does she really follow how important this job is to him? There are rippling undercurrents of resentment, when first Andy and then Saskia spend time on work that they think should be relationship time, Andy-and-Saskia time. 
Of course we can see it from outside, whereas they only have their own view, don't know what else is going on, and as we all do, seethe resentfully when we feel we're in the right....be honest, we've all done it. Justified a stance where maybe, just maybe we aren't quite as right as we want to be. 

Then there's some huge pressures hit the couple and ...they need to pull together quickly or fall apart. Its wonderfully played out, letting me understand both of them, see how easily one day becomes a week, becomes several weeks...so realistic when each struggles to make a move. 

The copyright issue that affected Saskia and was a big part of the latter half of the book was so very true to life. As an artist I know people who've had work copied, not just by firms printing tea towels, mugs, place-mats of artworks etc but from factory style foreign artist companies who see a popular image, and copy it faithfully, using inferior materials and paying the artists next to nothing. Thus they can knock out an exact copy of a work at a fraction of the price. And the artist is pretty much helpless, all that time spent planning, painting, altering, studying before finally deciding this is the perfect work, all that is lost. Authors have the same issue when others try to copy their books, or - horrors- put them online on free-to-download sites. Makes me furious, and some series I've been following authors have stopped writing as there are more free downloads than sales. 
Yes we do own copyright to our works but enforcing it takes time and money and sucess isn't ensured.  As we see in this book, its very difficult to prove even when it looks on the surface very obvious, and for most its a risk to time and money they just don't have. Bills need to be paid, people need to work, so finding time to deal with court legalities isn't easy. I loved the way Saskia and co did it here, and the end result was very realistic, and perfect for the story.
Copying original work of any sort, evading paying an artist/author for their time is wrong, just plain wrong! Hurts everyone eventually when there's no original stuff left. Why should people bother when all their time is wasted, when Ikea or some such store sell copies at a fraction, when their books aren't selling because of free copies....We'll get the bland, high street, chain store stuff we deserve if not careful. And that's my rant over, promise ;-) 

Like I said its a very real look at life, marriage and how two individuals need to adapt to make a successful marriage. Its not one bending to the other, but both working equally, trusting each other, sharing problems as well as sucess. Looking at Saskia and Andy you can't pinpoint where issues actually started, when  tiny problems became a huge ones and that's what its like for most of us, its the tiny things that left untended grow to have the potential to destroy. 

Stars: five, a fabulous look at life, realities of two individuals living as one while retaining separate identities. Looking at the pitfalls facing those couples who want to stay together, showing how love isn't enough, successful co-habitation and respect takes a bit more. 

ARC supplied for review purposes by Netgalley and Publishers

Andy, a successful lawyer marries Saskia after a whirlwind romance. Unfortunately Saskia, who works in a cafe and also designs and makes her own silver jewellery doesn't meet Andy's mother's expectations. Knowing that the first year of marriage can be hard, they make a contract to always have time for each other every day of the first year ie S*x!

I really enjoyed these characters as they navigated the first year of marriage. Andy also comes from a family with money, which Saskia couldn't care less about (her signing a prenup, threw her mother in law off kilter). Saskia comes across as a strong person but trying to please everyone and Andy thinks he's always doing the right thing but somehow it's either not right or never enough.

As pressures of Andy's work build up and Saskia's venture into jewellery making and selling comes off, tensions start to build.

What started out as a fun novel some what developed into something quite thoughtful. It's where the old saying comes into play....We don't know what is lost till it's gone.

I really enjoyed it and thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy to read and review.