SYNOPSIS: India Allwood is a TV and movie star that has just caused quite the media storm after sharing her own opinion on the film she is starring in. She believes that the film was just another portrayal of adoption as a negative trauma for all involved. Using dual timelines, it is slowly revealed to the reader that adoption has been a huge part of India’s life, a secret that has been kept from the public and her adoring fans. Everything becomes chaos in her life as she, her agent, her children, and the network she works for all try to clean up the mess she created. 

MY THOUGHTS: Overall, I enjoyed this book, but I’m not sure that I would recommend it to just anyone. 

Throughout the book there were opinions about adoption, abortion, and the choices a woman/couple makes when faced with an unplanned pregnancy. When speaking about family dynamics and adoption the author leans heavily on her own opinions and experiences with adoption. I do believe that adoption is a wonderful choice and I have personally seen in my own family how incredible (albeit sometimes challenging) it can be. 

I did appreciate the fact that the main message of this book is that we should be hearing the positive aspects of adoption and normalizing it as a choice versus a last resort. I also know that family is complex no matter how your family was formed. Everybody has their own challenges whether you come from your parents biologically or not. In most of the book I was open to hearing the different sides and perspectives. After all, that’s part of why I read books! In the end, this book got extremely preachy and didactic, therefore decreasing its likability. 

It was also about 100 pages too long, in my opinion. There were a cast of characters that were not all thought through and ended up being more like stereotypes than relatable people. I really wanted to like this book more than I did. 

Favorite Quotes: 

🎭 “They were entangled like fibers woven into threads spun into yarn knit into patches bound into quilts worn into heirlooms, something to pass down, to pass on, to inherit.”

🎭 “Families come in all kinds, varied as leaves.”

🎭 “There was sorrow and heartache and loss. But there was also joy and solace and wonder.”