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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
It was a decent, easy read. The plot line was a little off when it comes to adoption. There’s no way the courts would give that kid back to their birth parents. And at first I couldn’t tell if this was a romance story or a sister story…it was interesting with 2 plots going on at the same time, but a little confusing.
Two major story lines happening to the main character seemed a little chaotic at times. The summer camp was a fun setting. The adoption story could have been juicier/darker but I guess this is YA. The metaphor use seemed heavy handed in some parts. Epilogue love.
I met a surprise sister through commercial DNA testing so I’ll say upfront that I had huge emotional investment in this story, far beyond a typical reader looking for a light YA romance. That said, I am so white-hot with rage at the author’s handling of this adoption story that, I could burn a hole through the cover of this book with how much I hate it. Complete spoilers ahead.
First off, the whole scenario for how two full sisters just a year and a half apart in age are separated by adoption is LUDICROUS. Preposterous. Asinine. Supposedly,
But it gets even more ridiculous! Because the reason that Abby and Savvy have been cut out of each other’s lives entirely through a closed and secret adoption is Abby’s mother Maggie’s supposedly unforgivable sin in changing her mind about the adoption immediately after her baby was born. In the hospital, she took her (own) infant from the nursery because she did not want to give her up. There are lots of holes in the narrative...we are supposed to believe that this in itself placed Maggie in some kind of legal jeopardy. (Granted, Washington state currently follows a particularly draconian timeline that gives birth parents only 2 days to revoke consent after signing adoption papers, which could be finalized as soon as 2 days after birth, which is horrific. So it is possible that an adoption might have been approved by a judge if Savvy was still in a hospital nursery more than 2 days after her birth, so it might have legally been kidnapping...but that is never explained in the book.) Even if that were the case, however, no one who is actually a “friend” could ever ethically take a child under those circumstances...Pietra would have a right to be disappointed and hurt, but she is clearly not a *victim*.
Instead, Maggies “friend”, swooping down like the vulture she is, takes Savvy away from her mother who begs for forgiveness and blames postpartum hormones...only to once again realize that she does not want to lose her baby and seeks legal help in having her baby returned to her. For this, she and Abby’s father face some sort of legal recriminations including restraining orders and an ominous-sounding “settlement” that requires them to never have any kind of contact with their daughter even after she turns 18.
The reader is supposed to empathize with Savvy’s adoptive mother Pietra because she wasn’t able to have her own bio children and was possessive of Savvy even before she was born. Her friend’s husband had a miraculous recovery before the birth, and rather than rejoicing that his life was saved and the family could stay intact, Pietra claimed the baby as her own and retaliated with her family’s wealth and lawyers against the young couple that had changed their minds about adoption.
We are supposed to empathize that Pietra was worried that Abby’s parents might win the suit to keep their child rather than be horrified that she would go forward with taking an infant from parents who fervently wanted to raise her.
Abby’s parents are very much framed as the “bad guys” who are ashamed of their behavior and have done something wrong rather than victims who have essentially had a child stolen from them.
We are also supposed to believe that Abby’s birth soon after all of this trauma magically healed all of their wounds. Her mom literally even says that her birth lifted them of all the darkness they were in and they seem to harbor no grief or resentment whatsoever...on seeing their king lost child in person for the first time, they are not at all overcome with emotion but instead are concerned only with leaving immediately so as not to be in legal jeopardy.
Most ludicrous of all, however, is the sudden healing of these 18 years of a rift and lawsuits and a restraining order over one magical Thai dinner...where not only are the sisters totally okay with everything that ever separated them, but their mothers magically become best friends again. (Literally, it’s so ridiculous that the author actually writes that the Abby and Savvy’s mothers clasp hands across a table and squeeze and “there is something so powerful in the pulse that it feels like some kind of spell is broken.” ) So 18 years of Savvy’s mother thinking indignantly, “you tried to steal my child!” and the literal fact that Abby’s parents lost 18 years of their child’s life is suddenly water under the bridge and the moms go back to finding and pursuing their long lost dreams as besties together and...I shit you not...going on double dates as couples again.
I literally want to throw this book at a wall. Of all the bad books about adoption, of all the books that trivialize the pain of relinquishment and place birth parents who change their minds in a negative light, this may be the worst.
And while I appreciate that the book does touch a little upon the awkwardness of sisters trying to forge a relationship after 17 years apart, that tiny glimmer of verisimilitude is drowned out by its failure to allow the girls to have feelings about their separation from each other, and particularly to not allow Savvy to have any anger at her adoptive parents for severing her relationship entirely from first parents who who desperately wanted to raise her.
I could point out elements of the book that I enjoyed until the whole mess of the adoption storyline was revealed, but they wouldn't at all outweigh the damage done by perpetuating such negative and erroneous stereotypes about birth parents and trivializing the agony of relinquishment in adoption (especially when first parents wish to revoke consent for adoption). I am astonished and appalled that a publisher went forward this publication.
First off, the whole scenario for how two full sisters just a year and a half apart in age are separated by adoption is LUDICROUS. Preposterous. Asinine. Supposedly,
Spoiler
Abby’s lawyer parents got married in law school because they thought her father had a terminal illness and not much time to live, and when they realize they unexpectedly have a baby on the way, decide that they should relinquish the child for adoption to their best friends. Because, sure, a woman who is desperately in love with her dying husband would decide she didn’t want to raise their child after his death, right? And a dying man wouldn’t want his baby in the time he has left? Utterly ludicrous.But it gets even more ridiculous! Because the reason that Abby and Savvy have been cut out of each other’s lives entirely through a closed and secret adoption is Abby’s mother Maggie’s supposedly unforgivable sin in changing her mind about the adoption immediately after her baby was born. In the hospital, she took her (own) infant from the nursery because she did not want to give her up. There are lots of holes in the narrative...we are supposed to believe that this in itself placed Maggie in some kind of legal jeopardy. (Granted, Washington state currently follows a particularly draconian timeline that gives birth parents only 2 days to revoke consent after signing adoption papers, which could be finalized as soon as 2 days after birth, which is horrific. So it is possible that an adoption might have been approved by a judge if Savvy was still in a hospital nursery more than 2 days after her birth, so it might have legally been kidnapping...but that is never explained in the book.) Even if that were the case, however, no one who is actually a “friend” could ever ethically take a child under those circumstances...Pietra would have a right to be disappointed and hurt, but she is clearly not a *victim*.
Instead, Maggies “friend”, swooping down like the vulture she is, takes Savvy away from her mother who begs for forgiveness and blames postpartum hormones...only to once again realize that she does not want to lose her baby and seeks legal help in having her baby returned to her. For this, she and Abby’s father face some sort of legal recriminations including restraining orders and an ominous-sounding “settlement” that requires them to never have any kind of contact with their daughter even after she turns 18.
The reader is supposed to empathize with Savvy’s adoptive mother Pietra because she wasn’t able to have her own bio children and was possessive of Savvy even before she was born. Her friend’s husband had a miraculous recovery before the birth, and rather than rejoicing that his life was saved and the family could stay intact, Pietra claimed the baby as her own and retaliated with her family’s wealth and lawyers against the young couple that had changed their minds about adoption.
We are supposed to empathize that Pietra was worried that Abby’s parents might win the suit to keep their child rather than be horrified that she would go forward with taking an infant from parents who fervently wanted to raise her.
Abby’s parents are very much framed as the “bad guys” who are ashamed of their behavior and have done something wrong rather than victims who have essentially had a child stolen from them.
We are also supposed to believe that Abby’s birth soon after all of this trauma magically healed all of their wounds. Her mom literally even says that her birth lifted them of all the darkness they were in and they seem to harbor no grief or resentment whatsoever...on seeing their king lost child in person for the first time, they are not at all overcome with emotion but instead are concerned only with leaving immediately so as not to be in legal jeopardy.
Most ludicrous of all, however, is the sudden healing of these 18 years of a rift and lawsuits and a restraining order over one magical Thai dinner...where not only are the sisters totally okay with everything that ever separated them, but their mothers magically become best friends again. (Literally, it’s so ridiculous that the author actually writes that the Abby and Savvy’s mothers clasp hands across a table and squeeze and “there is something so powerful in the pulse that it feels like some kind of spell is broken.” ) So 18 years of Savvy’s mother thinking indignantly, “you tried to steal my child!” and the literal fact that Abby’s parents lost 18 years of their child’s life is suddenly water under the bridge and the moms go back to finding and pursuing their long lost dreams as besties together and...I shit you not...going on double dates as couples again.
I literally want to throw this book at a wall. Of all the bad books about adoption, of all the books that trivialize the pain of relinquishment and place birth parents who change their minds in a negative light, this may be the worst.
And while I appreciate that the book does touch a little upon the awkwardness of sisters trying to forge a relationship after 17 years apart, that tiny glimmer of verisimilitude is drowned out by its failure to allow the girls to have feelings about their separation from each other, and particularly to not allow Savvy to have any anger at her adoptive parents for severing her relationship entirely from first parents who who desperately wanted to raise her.
I could point out elements of the book that I enjoyed until the whole mess of the adoption storyline was revealed, but they wouldn't at all outweigh the damage done by perpetuating such negative and erroneous stereotypes about birth parents and trivializing the agony of relinquishment in adoption (especially when first parents wish to revoke consent for adoption). I am astonished and appalled that a publisher went forward this publication.
I had fun listening to the audiobook but I didn't love it. I didn't care about the romance. There was hardly any chemistry between the mc and her love interest. Nothing made me want to root for them. The plot about the sisters was intriguing though and was what kept me interested.
I hate how abbys friend lied to her about Leo's feelings but I'm glad it all worked out in the end.
