BLOGMAS: (Non Holiday) Book Review: Other People’s Children {R.J. Hoffmann}

Blogmas: (Non Holiday) Book Review: Other People’s Children {R.J. Hoffmann}

Today I have a NON holiday book review to share with you! I read Other People’s Children {R.J. Hoffmann} a few months ago…here are my thoughts!

Goodreads Synopsis of Other People’s Children {R.J. Hoffmann}:

Gail and Jon Durbin moved to the Chicago suburbs to set up house as soon as Gail got pregnant. But then she miscarried—once, twice, three times. Determined to expand their family, the Durbins turn to adoption. When several adoptions fall through, Gail’s desire for a child overwhelms her.

Carli is a pregnant teenager from a blue-collar town nearby, with dreams of going to college and getting out of her mother’s home. When she makes the gut-wrenching decision to give her baby up for adoption, she chooses the Durbins. But Carli’s mother, Marla, has other plans for her grandbaby.

In Other People’s Children, three mothers make excruciating choices to protect their families and their dreams—choices that put them at decided odds against one another. You will root for each one of them and wonder just how far you’d go in the same situation. This riveting debut is a thoughtful exploration of love and family, and a heart-pounding page-turner you’ll find impossible to put down.

My Review of Other People’s Children {R.J. Hoffmann}:

This wasn’t a lighthearted read by any means. It was dark, heavy, and thought provoking.

As I was reading, I kept wavering on how I wanted it to end and I found myself coming up short as I really didn’t like any of the characters. I think in which some of the storylines were wrapped up was perfect but others I didn’t agree with.

Overall, I just wanted MORE. More feeling, more connection, more everything! More connection was the biggest one. I just felt that all of the characters were so disconnected from each other and even disconnected from their own feelings if that makes sense. Like I said…I REALLY didn’t like ANY of the characters and by the end I found myself thinking that NONE of them should have custody of this child (although the cover promised that I would “root for each one of them”). The disconnection that I found between the pages mimicked my own disconnect from all of the characters and story lines. Ugh.

I DID love that it was set in Illinois and I LOVED all of the local references. My hometown even got a shoutout!

This book was good…and made me think. Did I love it? I did not. Would I recommend it? Eh maybe? It was an easy read and I LOVED the short chapters (just a few pages each…THE BEST).

***Something to note***

On the Amazon link below, the book is by “Jeff Hoffman” yet on the copy that I read, it was authored by “R.J. Hoffman“…???

Bottom Line:

I just really wanted to like at least ONE character in this book…NOPE.

Have you read this book? What did you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Blogmas 2021 Posts:

12/1: Welcome to Blogmas 2021 {Video}!

12:2: BLOGMAS: Birthday Giveaway {Amazon Gift Card}!

12/3: BLOGMAS Book Review: One Day in December {Josie Silver}

12/4: BLOGMAS: My Birthday Visit to Barnes and Noble!

12/5: BLOGMAS: 3 Library Books I Recently Returned Without Reading

12/6: BLOGMAS Book Review: The Christmas Wedding {James Patterson}

Xo,

Jenny

This book wasn’t my favorite…but you might love it!  Click the image below to order the book through my Amazon affiliate link. When you order through this link, I receive a tiny commission. Thank you for your support, Xo

This blog is my favorite hobby and I would so love your support!  Here are ways you can help my blog to GROW:

*Please share this page with your book and blog loving friends!*

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The ultimate list of my top book suggestions can be found HERE

The 12 best books I read in 2020 can be found HERE

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A Wonderful Book! Review: The Mothers {Genevieve Gannon}

Book Review: The Mothers {Genevieve Gannon}

Goodreads Synopsis of The Mothers {Genevieve Gannon}:

Grace and Dan Arden are in their forties and have been on the IVF treadmill since the day they got married. Six attempts have yielded no results, and with each failure a little piece of their hope dies.

Priya Laghari and her husband Nick Archer are being treated at the same fertility clinic, and while they don’t face the same time pressure as the Ardens, the younger couple have their own problems.

On the same day that Priya is booked for her next IVF cycle, Grace goes in for her final, last-chance embryo transfer. Two weeks later, both women get their results.

A year on, angry and heartbroken, one of the women learns her embryo was implanted in the other’s uterus and must make a devastating choice: live a childless life knowing her son is being raised by strangers or seek custody of a baby who has been nurtured and loved by another couple.

My Review of The Mothers {Genevieve Gannon}:

As a mother, this book absolutely shredded me. My poor heart BROKE while reading…what an impossibly horrific story.

It made me think…what truly makes a mother? Biology? Environment? Both? Neither?

I personally did not go through the IVF process but I know plenty of women who did…and I can’t even imagine reading this book having gone through that process.

As I was reading, I couldn’t help but wonder how this book was going to end. All I will say is that the ending was PERFECTION. Quite possibly one of the best written endings to a book I’ve ever read.

I absolutely loved this book for so many reasons. It was SO well written, extremely thought provoking, and incredibly beautiful.

And can we talk about the STUNNING cover? Absolutely gorgeous!

Bottom Line:

This book is absolutely brilliant.

Have you read this book? What did you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Xo,

Jenny

Click the image below to order the book through my Amazon affiliate link. When you order through this link, I receive a tiny commission. Thank you for your support, Xo

This blog is my favorite hobby and I would so love your support!  Here are ways you can help my blog to GROW:

*Please share this page with your book and blog loving friends!*

*Please share this page with your book and blog loving friends!*

*Subscribe with your email address to my blog (scroll all the way to the bottom of this page on mobile devices OR check the top right of this screen to enter your email address)*

*If you already have a blog, please “follow” mine*

*”Like” my Facebook page (and please comment on, “like”, and share my posts)*

*Follow me on Instagram*

*Follow me on Twitter*

*Subscribe to my YouTube channel*

*Clicking and buying products through my Amazon Affiliate links.  The cost to you is exactly the same and I receive a tiny commission off of your purchases.*

*Leaving a positive review on my Facebook page*

The ultimate list of my top book suggestions can be found HERE

The 12 best books I read in 2020 can be found HERE

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What I’m Currently Reading (HEART POUNDING), What I Recently Read (Review ASAP), What I Think I’ll Read Next (Sounds Amazing)

I love when Book Coffee Happy can participate in WWW! The Three Ws: What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?

Thanks so much to Sam from Taking on a World of Words for hosting this fun weekly post!

I came across this gorgeous bookshelf while shopping today. How BEAUTIFUL are these books??

What Are You Currently Reading?

Omg this book. It’s so INTENSE! I’m almost done reading and I don’t think my poor heart will ever go back to beating calmly ever again. OMG.

Goodreads Synopsis of Bath Haus {P.J. Vernon}:

Oliver Park, a young recovering addict from Indiana, finally has everything he ever wanted: sobriety and a loving, wealthy partner in Nathan, a prominent DC trauma surgeon. Despite their difference in age and disparate backgrounds, they’ve made a perfect life together. With everything to lose, Oliver shouldn’t be visiting Haus, a gay bathhouse. But through the entrance he goes, and it’s a line crossed. Inside, he follows a man into a private room, and it’s the final line. Whatever happens next, Nathan can never know. But then, everything goes wrong, terribly wrong, and Oliver barely escapes with his life.

He races home in full-blown terror as the hand-shaped bruise grows dark on his neck. The truth will destroy Nathan and everything they have together, so Oliver does the thing he used to do so well: he lies.

What follows is a classic runaway-train narrative, full of the exquisite escalations, edge-of-your-seat thrills, and oh-my-god twists. P. J. Vernon’s Bath Haus is a scintillating thriller with an emotional punch, perfect for readers curious for their next must-read novel. 

What Did You Recently Finish Reading?

I’ll post my review of this one ASAP!

Goodreads Synopsis of The Wife Upstairs:

A delicious twist on a Gothic classic, Rachel Hawkins’s The Wife Upstairs pairs Southern charm with atmospheric domestic suspense, perfect for fans of B.A. Paris and Megan Miranda.

Meet Jane. Newly arrived to Birmingham, Alabama, Jane is a broke dog-walker in Thornfield Estates—a gated community full of McMansions, shiny SUVs, and bored housewives. The kind of place where no one will notice if Jane lifts the discarded tchotchkes and jewelry off the side tables of her well-heeled clients. Where no one will think to ask if Jane is her real name.

But her luck changes when she meets Eddie Rochester. Recently widowed, Eddie is Thornfield Estates’ most mysterious resident. His wife, Bea, drowned in a boating accident with her best friend, their bodies lost to the deep. Jane can’t help but see an opportunity in Eddie—not only is he rich, brooding, and handsome, he could also offer her the kind of protection she’s always yearned for.

Yet as Jane and Eddie fall for each other, Jane is increasingly haunted by the legend of Bea, an ambitious beauty with a rags-to-riches origin story, who launched a wildly successful southern lifestyle brand. How can she, plain Jane, ever measure up? And can she win Eddie’s heart before her past—or his—catches up to her?

With delicious suspense, incisive wit, and a fresh, feminist sensibility, The Wife Upstairs flips the script on a timeless tale of forbidden romance, ill-advised attraction, and a wife who just won’t stay buried. In this vivid reimagining of one of literature’s most twisted love triangles, which Mrs. Rochester will get her happy ending?

What Do You Think You’ll Read Next?

Goodreads Synopsis of Other People’s Children:

Gail and Jon Durbin moved to the Chicago suburbs to set up house as soon as Gail got pregnant. But then she miscarried—once, twice, three times. Determined to expand their family, the Durbins turn to adoption. When several adoptions fall through, Gail’s desire for a child overwhelms her.

Carli is a pregnant teenager from a blue-collar town nearby, with dreams of going to college and getting out of her mother’s home. When she makes the gut-wrenching decision to give her baby up for adoption, she chooses the Durbins. But Carli’s mother, Marla, has other plans for her grandbaby.

In Other People’s Children, three mothers make excruciating choices to protect their families and their dreams—choices that put them at decided odds against one another. You will root for each one of them and wonder just how far you’d go in the same situation. This riveting debut is a thoughtful exploration of love and family, and a heart-pounding page-turner you’ll find impossible to put down.

Have you read any of these 3 books? What did you think (no spoilers)? What are you currently reading? I’d love to hear in the comments below!

Xo,

Jenny

Click on the images below to order through my Amazon links. When you order through this link, I receive a tiny commission. Thank you for your support, Xo



This blog is my favorite hobby and I would so love your support!  Here are ways you can help my blog to GROW:

*Please share this page with your book and blog loving friends!*

*Please share this page with your book and blog loving friends!*

*Subscribe with your email address to my blog (scroll all the way to the bottom of this page on mobile devices OR check the top right of this screen to enter your email address)*

*If you already have a blog, please “follow” mine*

*”Like” my Facebook page (and please comment on, “like”, and share my posts)*

*Follow me on Instagram*

*Follow me on Twitter*

*Subscribe to my YouTube channel*

*Clicking and buying products through my Amazon Affiliate links.  The cost to you is exactly the same and I receive a tiny commission off of your purchases.*

*Leaving a positive review on my Facebook page*

The ultimate list of my top book suggestions can be found HERE

The 12 best books I read in 2020 can be found HERE

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