A review by kntaylor1216
He Gets That From Me by Jacqueline Friedland

2.0

I liked the idea of this book so much more than I liked the actual execution of this book. A really original idea, but the minutiae of it dragged me down. Disappointing ending, as it seemed to come out of nowhere.

Down on her luck due to some bad choices, Maggie is broke, and raising her young son with her fiancé. When she sees an ad for surrogacy, she decides to bear children for a gay couple in New York. The year is 2008. And this book was published in 2021. Gay couples aren’t a ‘big deal’ anymore- but Friedland continued to make the sexuality of the adoptive parents a main focus of the novel. When it turns out that the adoptive, and sperm donors to their children, are not biologically related, to one of their sons, all hell breaks loose for both the parents of the boys, and Maggie and her now husband.

Kai and his brother deserved more focus in the book, and given the ending, perhaps Maggie and Nick’s marriage deserved more attention as well.