By: Emma Robinson
ISBN: 9781803143934
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: 10/11/2022
Format: e-book
My Rating: 4 Stars (ARC)
‘You have spent the last two years worried about whether you are living up to David’s first wife, and now you want to give birth to her child?’
When Hannah met David, it was love at first sight. They were married quickly, but she knew it was the right choice. They were always laughing, the passion was unmatched, and they wanted the same things. Most of all, they wanted a family.
For David, it was doubly important. He’d tragically lost his first wife, Katherine, several years before. Hannah was, he said, the person who saved him from his grief. Though his friends had been worried he was moving on too fast, and Hannah sometimes still felt a strange jealousy towards his first wife, deep down she knew she was meant to be his happy-ever-after.
Even so, when Hannah discovers she can’t have children, she’s worried it will fracture their relationship. Family is so important to both of them. Surely, she reasons, there must be a way.
And then David tells her there is. He’s never told Hannah because he had hoped they’d have a child of their own. But just before Katherine died, she had gone through fertility treatment and her eggs – now frozen in a clinic – legally belong to David.
Hannah wants nothing more than to be a mother. But – if it meant you and your husband could have the child you’ve always dreamed of – could you really carry his first wife’s baby?
With dizzying plot twists and emotional, heart-breaking family drama, this powerfully uplifting story is certain to leave readers sobbing. Perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, Diane Chamberlain and Colleen Hoover.
My Review
My first book by the author, Emma Robinson—TO BE A MOTHER, is a beautifully written, heartbreaking emotional family saga about motherhood, marriage, love, loss, secrets, and second chances.
Hannah is married to David, and they want children; however, have not been able to get pregnant. Hannah wants her biological child and has dreamed of it her entire life.
However, Hannah dreams of Katherine all the time, David's first wife, who died, and feels like she always has to live up to her.
As a last resort option, David informs Hannah that his wife Katherine also had fertility issues, and before Katherine died, she had undergone fertility treatment. Now her eggs legally belong to David and Hannah.
Four embryos are still in storage. Her eggs and his sperm are ready for implantation. It was not what Hannah wanted.
Hannah had spent the last two years worrying whether she was living up to David's first wife, and now was she considering giving birth to her child?
The dilemma: Will Hannah agree to this? It could be her only chance to be a mother, but can she carry Katherine (the first wife's baby)? What else was David hiding? What if the embryos do not take?
We hear from Hannah's POV and Katherine's.
Maybe Saint Katherine was not the perfect wife after all. She had been lying to everyone about events leading up to two weeks before the accident, or was there something else? OR was she completely selfless?
So many secrets. Families can be messy. A happy ending!
Loved this quote from Hannah's mom: "But the thing is, love—and it took me a while to learn this—your child doesn't really ever belong to you. You get to borrow them for a while. You get to guide them a little. But one day, they will leave and become their own person, and, if you're lucky, you get to watch them spread their wings and fly. And sometimes, if you've done it right, they fly home and sit in your spare room, and you get to hold them again for a little while."
Thank you, #Bookouture and #NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
@JudithDCollins |#JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 4 Stars
Pub Date: Oct 11, 2022
About the Author
Emma Robinson is a USA Today Bestseller with a passion for stories that explore the power of family and friendship in the most challenging circumstances. Whilst her early novels are humorous; her recent work focuses on emotional themes and these novels are both heart-breaking and life-affirming.
Emma currently lives in Essex, England with a husband, two children, and a small black dog.
Website: www.emmarobinsonwrites.com
Facebook: facebook.com/motherhoodforslackers
Twitter: @emmarobinsonuk
Instagram: emmarobinsonuk
BOOKOUTURE FORMATTING ISSUES:
THE ENTIRE BOOK IS IN ALL ITALICS!
Not the author's fault, but hopefully, by addressing this here, the author can put some heat on the publisher, Bookouture, who will finally do something about this problem. I emailed Bookouture numerous times through their contact page, and they never responded and emailed Netgalley, and they can do nothing about it. THE ENTIRE BOOK WAS IN IN ITALICS after Table of Contents! I have vision issues and cannot read an entire book, nor will I attempt to do so (hardly even a page) in italics.
Until Bookouture fixes this problem and its formatting, I cannot read any more books from Bookouture. Such a shame. I have another one coming up by K.L Slater, THE GIRLFRIEND, and it is the same problem.
KINDLE APP: When you send it to Kindle appears in all italics, and my software is updated and read on my Kindle app via my iPad pro. I have close to 1500 books from NetGalley on my Kindle app and no problems with any except with Bookouture, so they are doing something wrong in the formatting. I have checked with a few authors, and yes, it is a known problem, but the publisher has to reformat it on their end before sending the ARC.
NETGALLEY APP: I do not like to read on the NetGalley App because each time you highlight a section, the highlighting disappears, so that function is not workable — so you cannot mark anything for your book review. You can increase the line spacing, but you can only increase margins to 2 point max (not enough) as I like more white space on the page, like Kindle at the bottom and top. Also, no Baskerville font like Kindle (the only font I can read), and the other choices are not ones I can live with. The NetGalley app is fine for audiobooks but not digital reading. I have passed along my suggestions and recommendations to NetGalley about their app, but as far as Kindle, that is on Bookouture alone.
BOOKOUTURE: I am on auto-approval with Bookouture, so I will no longer read their books until this matter is corrected. If anyone else is having issues, please let them know immediately. I would hope Bookouture would take this matter seriously but appears they do not. The next one coming up will be my last book by this publisher unless the publisher corrects this problem. I have 1,063 reviews on NetGalley as of this date (10/9/22).
