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Bed Rest
by
Quinn "Q" Boothroyd is a young British lawyer married to an American and living in New York City. She's checked off most of the boxes on her "Modern Woman's List of Things to Do Before Hitting 30," and her busy working life has been relatively painless. But when her doctor tells her she must spend the last three months of her pregnancy lying in bed, Q is thrown into a tail
...more
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Paperback, 215 pages
Published
2007
by Avon
(first published May 2006)
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Community Reviews
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Currently, I am thoroughly enjoying this book which I misjudged. Thinking it was another shallow yet enjoyable book in the genre of "chick lit" by another British author. I am thoroughly surprised that this novel, although comedic in tone, wrestles with some incredibly strong conflicts which I am enjoying thoroughly. Excited to see how it all ends. I love finding out what defenestrate is. To throw out the window. LOL
I am done. I liked it because unlike those novels which are romantic in tone, th ...more
I am done. I liked it because unlike those novels which are romantic in tone, th ...more

This was an average chick-lit type of read. It had some funny parts, perhaps the funniest thing is the mere fact that these soon new-to-be parents think they can place a pregnancy in these nice little check-off boxes and to run exactly as they planned. Both parents being very driven individuals working at law firms (different firms) and Q is not ready to be stopped in her tracks and put on bed rest.
In all fairness, I don't think anybody is really ready for such an event. I also couldn't imagine ...more
In all fairness, I don't think anybody is really ready for such an event. I also couldn't imagine ...more

Mar 18, 2016
Abigail the Fangirl
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
adult-chick-lit
This book was pretty good. I was looking for Sophie Kinsella books on my Scribd app and they didn't have what I wanted, so they suggested Bed Rest. I am wanting to get into these types of book, so I decided to give it a try. I do not regret it! It had its flaws, and sometimes could be a bit dry, but it was entertaining. The description might seem boring. I mean, what could be so interesting about a pregnant woman who has to go on complete bed rest for three months? Well, the author did a good j
...more

Payed $5.00 at the bargain table, figuring it would be a good summer amusement. I found myself more involved and introspective than I had anticipated.
Ah family dynamics! Ah, the conflict of work and parenthood!
I smiled, I nearly cried, I snickered, I got hungry,
But I'm glad I didn't read this when I was pregnant!
...more
Ah family dynamics! Ah, the conflict of work and parenthood!
I smiled, I nearly cried, I snickered, I got hungry,
But I'm glad I didn't read this when I was pregnant!
...more

Got this at a garage sale with a box full of other books... was looking for a light read while waiting for my library book to come in and chose to read this one as the back cover said "laugh out loud funny & couldn't put it down". Totally DISAGREE with that. The main character "Q" is put on bed rest for 10 weeks and the entire time is negative and complains about everything. As for her family who lives abroad, she is negative about her father, mother, sister and her other sister's boyfriend. As
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I wanted to enjoy this book but it had a few issues that prevented me from doing so:
- whiny/borderline bitchy protagonist who belittles, judges, or vilifies those around her with little to no inner reflection on her behaviors and motivations
- The “diary” framework. I’m wondering why the author chose to frame the story in this manner? It comes across as unbelievable (journaling detailed dialogue at 3:30, really?) and tiresome.
- In many instances, it was repetitive. “I’m stuck in my boring yellow ...more
- whiny/borderline bitchy protagonist who belittles, judges, or vilifies those around her with little to no inner reflection on her behaviors and motivations
- The “diary” framework. I’m wondering why the author chose to frame the story in this manner? It comes across as unbelievable (journaling detailed dialogue at 3:30, really?) and tiresome.
- In many instances, it was repetitive. “I’m stuck in my boring yellow ...more

This novel is written in the form of a diary so most of the sections are short. I enjoyed the author's telling of what life on bed rest during pregnancy really looks like - it's not fun and games. It's a lot of work and more boredom. At the end, this mom delivered a healthy baby - and that's all that matters.
...more

Easy read, not funny to me as I recall, but then again, only a few months (weeks?) after finishing it I honestly can't remember it at all, even after rifling through its pages. It went on the "free" shelf at the office, where no one else has picked it up.
...more

Jul 09, 2019
Jonelle
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
audio_books,
chic-lit-rom-com
Easy, happy ending book — Audio good for walks and commutes.

The book was pretty good, but every once in awhile out of no where the "f" bomb would drop.
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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Mar 30, 2013
Karen
rated it
did not like it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
bought-new,
gave-away
I feel a bit bad giving this book only one star. I didn't need to buy it in the first place, other than the fact that there were booksellers set up in the hospital cafeteria on a stressful day in a previous placement, and they were selling 3-for-£5. I bought six. No justification. I knew, when I read all the fannying about, explaining the first-person narrative by framing it as a diary (totally fucking pointless and wasn't even used consistently), that it was going to bug the tits off me. But di
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There is more to Sara Bilston's 'BED REST' than meets the eye. On the surface it is a witty tale of a woman ordered to be on bed rest for the remaining 15 weeks of her pregnancy. Quinn, or Q as she is affectionately called, decides to write a diary about her weeks on bed rest for her child to read one day but as bed rest starts to take it's toll, Q soon realizes that her life may not be the perfect life within which to raise a child.
Q and husband Tom seem to have it all. They are both high power ...more
Q and husband Tom seem to have it all. They are both high power ...more

Quinn Boothroyd, expat Brit married to American lawyer Tom and currently pregnant with their first child, discovers a major glitch in the pregnancy (besides the fact that her and Tom's high-stress life is going to be impossible once the baby arrives): low amniotic fluid. If the baby is to survive, Q has to stay on her left side for the next thirteen weeks.
As a woman once diagnosed with placenta previa during her first pregnancy (I recall the doctor talking about blood "literally pouring off the ...more
As a woman once diagnosed with placenta previa during her first pregnancy (I recall the doctor talking about blood "literally pouring off the ...more

Bed Rest turned out to be a much more mature story than I expected. It was a quick read that kept my interest, but I had expected a shopaholic type character with silly high jinks.
The main character, Q, is British, married to an American, and living in New York. That's obviously why the blurbs on the dust cover are comparing the book to the shopaholic books.
The similarities end there, however. Q is a grown up grappling with major issues of a workaholic husband, down right cruel sister, boredom ...more
The main character, Q, is British, married to an American, and living in New York. That's obviously why the blurbs on the dust cover are comparing the book to the shopaholic books.
The similarities end there, however. Q is a grown up grappling with major issues of a workaholic husband, down right cruel sister, boredom ...more

I wish I could give this book no stars at all. I had a pretty good sense that I would not finish the book, right from the start, but I try to go at least 50 pages in before I set a novel aside. I don't think I made it past 30 (sorry, I'm reading on a Kindle and don't know what page I was on when I finally hit the wall). The author has a sophomoric, smug voice, terribly unlikeable and mean. What finally did it for me was when Q (the protagonist) describes a scene taking place in the building acro
...more

This was a good audio book and my first by Sarah Bilston. It had its funny moments as Quinn "Q" Boothroyd, a workaholic lawyer who recently made the move from London to New york with her American-born husband, Tom, was succumbed to bed rest for the last three months of her pregnancy after doctors find her amniotic fluids to be too low. At first, she figures it will be a breeze, after all, Q has never been one who has a hard time keeping herself busy or entertained. However, after a mere seven or
...more

Q is pregnant but there are complications so she has to spend the final 3 months of her pregnancy in bed. She's English and married to an American so all of her family are in the UK. I enjoyed the book which is written in the form of a diary - Q is quite a funny character, but I felt it was a kind of bittersweet kind of humour. She literally is not allowed to move at all and is reliant on other people to do most things for her and meets a collection of characters who come to entertain her. She h
...more

I had gone to the library to pick up some books I had on hold and decided to buzz through the fiction section while there. As I walked through, I saw Bed Rest sitting on a shelf and picked it up on a whim.
It’s a pretty basic book. It’s short (you could read it in an afternoon or in a couple days), has a simple plot (pregnant NYC woman gets placed on bed rest, antics ensue) and ends on a fairly predictable note. This by no means, however, means that it’s not worth reading. It’s a light, fun book ...more
It’s a pretty basic book. It’s short (you could read it in an afternoon or in a couple days), has a simple plot (pregnant NYC woman gets placed on bed rest, antics ensue) and ends on a fairly predictable note. This by no means, however, means that it’s not worth reading. It’s a light, fun book ...more

Probably 2.5 stars, if there could be such a designation, but I rounded up. Bedrest is a very quick read, could probably be finished in an afternoon. It took me longer, because I didn't feel particularly compelled to pick this book up when I had some free time. The concept was appealing to me....a successful woman, pregnant with her first child, placed on bedrest during the last trimester of pregnancy. The book is written in a diary format, which didn't work for me. "Q" (short for Quinn), the pr
...more

Crap crap crap chicklit. The super glossy Kinsella-type stuff too. Blah. British girl who now lives in NY (of course!) and normally has a super go go go lawyer career is stuck on bed rest for the reminder of her pregnancy. Oh the horrors! Since she has nothing better to do, she gets involved with her neighbors plight to save the building across the street from being torn down. She also deals with family stuff. At the end, she and her husband are barely talking, but as usual somehow magically wor
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The cover says, 'Even if you've never been pregnant you'll be as instantly hooked on this addictive novel as I was.'.... Er... No, I don't think so. I am pregnant and on bed rest albeit for different reasons than the main character but I was not that impressed by the writing or the story. Q is a whining, mean woman whose bed rest just makes her personality worse. It was a tiring read and I was happy to be finished it. Besides the fact that as I suspected the author wrapped up all the angst of th
...more

A young English lawyer, married to an American and living in New York, goes for a routine scan, finds her amniotic fluid dangerously low and is confined to bed for the duration of her pregnancy. But life doesn't end there: whilst lying on her sofa she finds herself the confidante for a colleague embroiled in an affair with a married man, forced to reassess her relationships with her mother and sisters and even with her late father, and acting as legal adviser for a group of elderly tenants faced
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The question on the cover is 'Can you live your life without leaving your bed?' I reckon I'd give it a fair shot.
I enjoyed this piece of chick-lit, read for light relief amonst a batch of serious books. Apart from anything else it's the first time I can remember seeing my favourite abusive name (Ratbag!) in print and there was also a lovely wistful description Q gives of her husband, sleeping on a mat on the floor 'wrapped up in a body that doesn't seem to belong to me any more'. However as a Bo ...more
I enjoyed this piece of chick-lit, read for light relief amonst a batch of serious books. Apart from anything else it's the first time I can remember seeing my favourite abusive name (Ratbag!) in print and there was also a lovely wistful description Q gives of her husband, sleeping on a mat on the floor 'wrapped up in a body that doesn't seem to belong to me any more'. However as a Bo ...more

As I go through as many pregnancy books as possible with my first pregnancy, some of these books just didn't need to be written. Some are entertaining and a good distraction while others such as this one was a waste of time. I don't feel like there was any subsistence to this book or any real point. I'm glad she got through the bed rest and had a healthy baby boy but getting there was rough to read. It wasn't entertaining or funny or keeping you on the edge of your seat in any way. This was an o
...more

I picked this book up at the local dollar store for $3.00 - it was $3.00 well spent! It was fun, light reading and I often found myself laughing with the heroines self-degrading (especially when it came to the food) humor. I also found myself rooting for her as she tried to keep her fluids up and the baby inside of her for as long as possible.
And the ending...the ending was worthy of any chicklit novel. This book might not be the next great American novel, or cover "hard" subject matter like mur ...more
And the ending...the ending was worthy of any chicklit novel. This book might not be the next great American novel, or cover "hard" subject matter like mur ...more
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