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    Nearness of You
    Nearness of You
    Nearness of You
    Audiobook6 hours

    Nearness of You

    Written by Amanda Eyre Ward

    Narrated by Thérèse Plummer, Suzy Jackson and Susan Bennett

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    A deeply personal story about what defines a mother from the critically acclaimed author of How to Be Lost and The Same Sky In this profound and lyrical novel, acclaimed author Amanda Eyre Ward explores the deeper meanings of motherhood--from the first blissful hello to the heart-wrenching prospect of saying goodbye. Brilliant heart surgeon Suzette Kendall is stunned when Hyland, her husband of fifteen years, admits his yearning for a child. From the beginning they'd decided that having children was not an option, as Suzette feared passing along the genes that landed her mother in a mental institution. But Hyland proposes a different idea: a baby via surrogate. Suzette agrees, and what follows is a whirlwind of candidate selections, hospital visits, and Suzette's doubts over whether she's made the right decision. A young woman named Dorothy Muscarello is chosen as the one who will help make this family complete. For Dorrie, surrogacy (and the money that comes with it) are her opportunity to leave behind a troubled past and create a future for herself--one full of possibility. But this situation also forces all three of them--Dorrie, Suzette, and Hyland--to face a devastating uncertainty that will reverberate in the years to come. Beautifully shifting between perspectives, The Nearness of You deftly explores the connections we form, the families we create, and the love we hold most dear.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateFeb 21, 2017
    ISBN9781501944536
    Nearness of You
    Author

    Amanda Eyre Ward

    Amanda Eyre Ward was born in New York City, and graduated from Williams College and the University of Montana. Her short stories have been published in various literary reviews and magazines. She is the author of the critically acclaimed and award-winning novel ‘Sleep Towards Heaven’ and ‘How to be Lost’, and was named by the New York Post as one of five Writers to Watch in 2003. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband, geologist Tip Meckel.

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    Reviews for Nearness of You

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      Good story, nice surprises, interesting characters. Easy read.
    • 4/5
      In The Nearness of You, Amanda Eyre Ward explores the intricacies of motherhood and surrogacy.

      Due to her family's history of mental illness, cardiac surgeon Suzette Kendall decided early in life that she would not have children. Her husband of fifteen years, Hyland, finally made peace with her decision before they married but he has recently had a change of heart. Although she is not completely convinced motherhood is right for her, she and Hyland decide to use his sperm to impregnate a surrogate. After selecting twenty-one year old Dorrie Muscarello to carry their baby, will Suzette and Hyland's dream of becoming a family come true?

      Suzette's childhood with a mentally ill mother was quite a nightmare and her decision to not have kids of her own was solidified after she experienced difficulties during college. Not once in all the years of her marriage has she regretted the decision and she never had any reason to believe that Hyland would change his mind. Suzette has serious reservations about adding to their family, but she wants to make Hyland happy so in spite of her ambiguous feelings about parenthood, she agrees to her husband's plan.

      Suzette and Hyland's search for a surrogate is more complicated than they believed so they ignore the agency's warning that Dorrie might be a risky choice since she is relatively young and childless. Her reasons for becoming a surrogate are financially motivated since she dreams of going to college in order to escape her rather dismal life. The first insemination attempt is successful, the pregnancy is progressing smoothly and the Kendall's are excited about Dorrie's upcoming ultrasound.

      From the prologue, readers are aware that something horrible has happened but what that could be remains unclear. The first chapter then goes back to the point where Suzette and Hyland decide to have a baby and then follows the search for a surrogate and subsequent pregnancy until the point right before Dorrie's ultrasound. The second part of the novel follows what happens next and these chapters unfold from various characters' points of view. The third part of the novel fast forwards back to the present and recounts the series of events leading up to the prologue.

      An insightful glimpse into the difficulties and pitfalls of surrogacy, The Nearness of You by Amanda Eyre Ward is a well-written novel that tugs on the heartstrings. The characters are richly drawn and mostly sympathetic despite some of the choices they make. While not everything that happens throughout the story is completely unexpected, there are some nice twists and turns that are thought-provoking. The novel's conclusion is a little abrupt and unsatisfying and readers will left wondering what comes next for the characters.
    • 3/5
      My cousin came to visit, but got sick. I snagged this book to occupy my time waiting for her to get well. Interesting enough, but not great. Kind of like a triangle missing a leg, through most of it. Ending supplied the leg-- sort of.
    • 5/5
      I loved the story. I loved the audio version of the book. The story is complex and it has a surprise ending. I may use this book as my book club book next month because it has quite a few issues that would be interesting to talk about. This is a fast paced story with interesting characters. You'd like to find "good" and "bad" in the various characters but they end up all having real life depth to them!
    • 3/5
      I liked this well enough - I thought the plot was interesting and raised some issues/ideas that I hadn't previously considered. However, I never really got the sense that Suzette actually wanted a child, so that kind of made the book a bit emotionally flat for me. Additionally, I thought the twist was a bit obvious so the ending had less of an impact as well. As a domestic drama, plot-wise, I think this mostly succeeds, but probably won't be too memorable for me.I received an audio version of this book as part of LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.
    • 3/5
      Suzette & Hyland have been married for 15 years. They've not had any children, mostly because of Suzette's strong fear of a child inheriting her mother's genetic predisposition for mental illness. But as Hyland becomes older he really regrets not being able to become a father and talks Suzette into entering into parenthood via a surrogate mother. They find a young surrogate, Dorrie, but as the day of birth approaches, Dorrie begins to have second thoughts about letting her baby go.There was a lot of potential in this book and obviously, when motherhood is at question, lots of controversial subjects tend to emerge. The book didn't necessarily go in the direction that I'd expected, which was okay. But I did really have trouble engaging with Suzette's character, as I found her unlikeable for the most part. The story was enjoyable enough, but overall will probably not be one that sticks with me, as it was mostly underwhelming. I hate to say this, but I could see someone like Jodi Picoult taking this same subject matter & running with it, creating a more thorough & engaging story.
    • 3/5
      The Nearness of You, by Amanda Eyre Ward, is a story that is universal, yet very much of our times. Who am I and where did I come from? How do you define “parent” and “family”? Can we choose to reject who we really are? Who gets to decide what is best for our children, and what happens when we try too hard to protect them? These are the themes this book addresses, within the context of surrogacy. The story is told alternately from the viewpoints of each of the major characters. This device keeps the narrative moving forward. I found the characters to be believable and understandable. *I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*
    • 4/5
      Heart surgeon Suzette Kendall and her husband many years after deciding they didn’t want children now decide they do want a child. Part of the original decision not to have children was based on a genetic mental disorder in Suzette’s history. Surrogacy is the best option for them and they find Dorrie a young woman struggling to pay for her dream to go to college.The Nearness of You is a well written book which had my attention very quickly. I particularly found Suzette’s character as a pediatric heart surgeon to be captivating.The book follows the insight and agony of a biological mother, an adoptive mother, and the daughter—exploring a very sensitive and controversial issue.I personally struggled with the “questionable” decision of this couple to choose a very young woman who had never had children to be the surrogate—and even more so their decision to use the surrogate’s eggs instead of using donor eggs. But—of course—the story wouldn’t be possible if they did.
    • 4/5
      It is easy to understand why Suzette in The Nearness of You by Amanda Eyre Ward did not want any children. She endured a bad childhood with a out of control mother whose mental illness later lands her in an institution for life. Suzette had become suicidal in college but managed her illness with medicine. That is when she learned that the illness is genetic and this made her determined not to pass it on to any children. She became a cardiac surgeon because that was on area where she feel in control. When she and her husband, Hyland married they seemed to have a very happy life, great vocations, lovely well manicured house in Houston and plenty of friends. But after 15 years of marriage, Hyland wants children. Hyland comes up with a solution, have a surrogate provide the egg and carry the baby. Suzette agrees and they hunt for a surrogate, finally settling on Dorrie, a very young woman who wanted the money for college but not that stable.When it comes time for the baby to be born, Dorrie has grown attached to the baby that she is carrying. She flees and makes a friend with a young destitute woman and has the baby. Dorrie's life is not simple, she is rebelling against her strictly religious mother but she also wants to find a sense of herself. The author fleshes out Dorrie's life and shows that she is in as much emotional tourmoil as Suzette. Both of them panic and feel alone in what is the right thing to do. life and shows that she is in as much emotional tourmoil as Suzette. Both of them panic and feel alone in what is the right thing to do. There is a lot to mull over in this story. How to be a mother if you have never had one? How long does it take for a baby to build an emotional connection to its mother? The author is great at characterization and filling in the background of the characters with just a few words.I received a finished copy of audio CD book, as a win from LibraryThing from the publishers in exchange for a fair book review. My thoughts and feelings in this review are my own. Will be donating this copy to library of the senior retirement apartments where I live.
    • 4/5
      Great book! The story of a woman trying to overcome her childhood issues and learning through experiences with her child and of a teenager trying to discover who she is beyond her life as a child. Also a story about love and how it develops and evolves!
    • 4/5
      WOMEN’S FICTION/CONTEMPORARYAmanda Eyre WardThe Nearness of You: A NovelBallantine BooksHardcover, 978-1-1018-8715-8, (also available as an e-book and on Audible), 240 pgs., $27.00February 21, 2017 “There are many ways to become a mother.” Hyland and Suzette Kendall, an architect and a heart surgeon, respectively, have been happily married, settled into successful lives, for fifteen years. They’ve made the mutual (more or less) decision not to have children before they married, but Hyland, in some sort of mid-life crisis (“Is this it? Is that all?”), decides what’s missing from his life is a child. He wants to have a baby and, due to Suzette’s concerns about passing on a familial tendency to mental illness, suggests they use a surrogate mother. Twenty-one-year-old Dorrie, a literary sort who currently works feeding penguins at an aquarium on Galveston Island, needs the money for college, which she cannot otherwise afford. A conflicted Suzette reluctantly agrees, and her carefully controlled life, constructed to stave off uncertainty and ambiguity, threatens to buckle, along with her equilibrium. Set in Houston (“a city with personality—loud and bright, faintly marshy and rotten around the edges”), The Nearness of You: A Novel is Austin writer Amanda Eyre Ward’s seventh novel, following 2015’s much-praised and preternaturally timely The Same Sky. Spanning seventeen years and multiple perspectives, The Nearness of You is an honest exploration of the dichotomies inherent in motherhood (“[Children] make my entire life worthwhile — they are literally my whole reason for being, and I love each one so much my heart could burst,” says Suzette’s best friend, “and yet I wish I didn’t have them almost every day. Usually around six.”), and the struggles of damaged people to overcome haunted childhoods. Ward sets the hook in the brief prologue and follows through with a fast-paced, tightly plotted tale with many twisty turns and skillful foreshadowing—portents ignored. Though a couple of plot points seem highly improbable, the benefit of the doubt can be extended to desperate circumstances. Ward is a multifaceted writer. The Nearness of You features gentle humor (“Hyland had ordered mimosas, a bad sign,” Suzette notes. “After fifteen years of marriage, day drinking generally led to a queasy afternoon nap followed by dry mouths, pizza for dinner, and the sense that they should be having more sex. Thirty-nine was a confusing age”); there is an urgency to the medical scenes; and she masters the small details which evoke a particular lifestyle and the disparate personalities of her complex characters. The design team for The Nearness of You created the perfect dust jacket. Cheerful, bright, and pretty, the dustjacket evokes spring with its flower bulbs in various stages of fecund eruption, reminding us of new beginnings, ova, seeds, sprouting things, opening things, fertility—but one of the bulbs appears to be withering. Hope springs eternal. Adroitly employing an economy of words, Ward tells a large story in this slim book. The Nearness of You is both as large, and as small, as the human heart. There’s no lifeguard at the gene pool, and as Suzette finally determines, “Mothers are forged.”Originally published in Lone Star Literary Life.
    • 3/5
      This book was decent but it didn't really stand out for me. It was an interesting story and really delved into the character's feelings. But it seemed very unrealistic to me that people of Hyland and Suzette's stature and wealth would have been unable to track Dorrie down after she disappeared. It also seemed like a very sudden and rash decision to send Eloise to boarding school when up until that point she was a model child. I can see this being a popular book club book for the discussions is raises about what makes a mother. I received an ARC of this book from Net Galley.
    • 3/5
      Suzette and Hyland have a happy marriage and a busy life when Hyland surprises his wife with the news that he really wants a child. Married fifteen years, children had always been off the table, as Suzette did not want to pass on the genes of her mother, a woman who gave Suzette a horrifying and unstable childhood and eventually wound up in a mental institution. But Hyland proposes a new solution: what if they use a surrogate, with his sperm and a surrogate's egg? Suzette, a busy and successful heart surgeon, reluctantly agrees. Even though there are some red flags, the couple eventually chooses young Dorrie, a woman who wants to use the surrogate fees to go to college. Dorrie and Hyland bond, and Suzette realizes she must get on board with the idea. But soon Dorrie will make some decisions that will affect everyone in this new trio.

      I am a bit conflicted about this novel. Ward wrote [book:The Same Sky|22716408], which is a beautiful novel and one everyone should read in this current political climate. It's hard not to compare others to that magical book, and this one did fall short. She does, however, have a way of weaving stories with her words, and while I wasn't nearly as attached to the characters in this novel, I still found myself reading the last half of the book somewhat compulsively.

      The novel started out slow, but picked up about 1/4 through, with a twist in the plot. It's told from a shifting rotation of perspectives, including Suzette, Dorrie, and Hyland. There are some large shifts in time as the novel progresses, which did make it harder to attach to some of the characters. None of the plot twists are exactly surprise, as they are foreshadowed a bit in each character's description: this is more of a character-driven novel versus a shocking dramatic novel. Still, even though I tore through the last half of the novel, I just felt the book lacked something, and I felt a tad let down by a story and characters that weren't completely fully developed (the ending is a bit abrupt as well). I enjoyed the perspectives on motherhood that the novel offered, but felt there could be more. That's not to say the novel isn't worth reading; Ward is a wonderful writer, but I just felt a little perplexed and frustrated when this one ended. I had hoped for more.

      I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Netgalley (thank you!); it is available everywhere as of 02/21/2017.
    • 5/5
      This book was brilliant. I loved it cover to cover and I told everyone I know to read it. It is about family, motherhood, heartbreak and hope...all mixed together! It had me buzzing through the pages and I could not guess how it was going to end. It was such a well written story that had me engaged throughout...you will want to read this book!!!
    • 3/5
      Amanda Eyre Ward’s book THE SAME SKY was my favorite book of 2015. Its themes of immigration and poverty gave the reader plenty to think about regarding their views and judgments. In her newest, THE NEARNESS OF YOU, readers try to understand a pediatric heart surgeon who didn't really want to have children and definitely doesn’t want to become pregnant. Suzette ultimately agrees to surrogacy when her husband, Hyland, nearing forty, decides that he desperately wants a child. They’ve chosen Dorrie, a young woman looking for a chance to get away from her own mother, go to college, and start a new life. Then, on the date of her sonogram appointment, Dorrie disappears leaving an apology note. Suzette must wrestle with the fact that maybe she really did want the baby, how to comfort her husband who is devastated, and stay focused to complete some of the most meticulous surgeries.Hyland and Suzette are two professionals who have a comfortable marriage and rely on routine. Everything was fine until Hyland upset the apple cart and decided he really did want to be a father. Suzette goes along with the idea even though it gives her a lot of anxiety during the process of choosing a surrogate. The author takes each chapter and gives us the perspective of individual characters, taking us inside their minds and revealing what they are really thinking. Even though I was drawn into the story, I didn't particularly like any of the characters which made it hard to feel connected to their struggles. Some of the chapters felt like whining to me and Suzette's story seemed to focus more on the details of her surgeries rather than her relationship with her husband. Dorrie's character had potential, but I found most of her decisions to be unrealistic and frustrating.When there is a twist and the storyline takes a new direction, I found I had a bit more interest in the story. Suzette is no longer able to control her and Hyland's monotonous life and she has to start showing some emotions. She begins to have trouble concentrating during her surgeries and life has complications that she can't seem to handle. As each of the characters is forced to make a decision, the reader realizes that one choice can impact the course of your whole life. For these three main characters and the child they bring into this world, life will never be the same.Even though this story wasn't as emotionally heartbreaking as her previous novel, Eyre Ward still showcases her character-driven writing and talents for giving the characters their own voice. From the disgusting motel that Dorrie lives in. to the stark operating room that Suzette thrives in, readers can visualize the scenes and feel part of the story. But, there may be a disappointment in the predictability of the plot. While nearing the end of the book, I realized that it was going to have to be a rushed ending to fit it all in and it was. On its own, it's a fine story, but when comparing it to the author's others, it falls a little flat.Favorite Quotes:"You meet kind people, and you return their kindness.That's what friendship is. You take care of someone and they become yours.""You never know when you will be forced to make the decision that will define your days."
    • 5/5
      Hyland and Suzette Kendall decide to have a baby through surrogate Dorrie Muscarello, but things go wrong almost from the beginning of the pregnancy. Told in the voice of each person, this emotionally charged story deals with the feelings of both the mother, the father, and the surrogate and what it takes to be a mother and a family. The completely unexpected event towards the end of the story was perfect!
    • 4/5
      3.5 Suzette and Hyland seem to have it all, their marriage is great, they love each other immensely, Suzanne has a fulfilling and prominent career as a heart surgeon. There is only one think lacking, a child, Suzanne refusing to procreate because of the virulent strain of mental illness that runs in her family. So they turn to surrogacy, finding a young woman, willing to have a child, wanting to escape her small town and have money for college, a future.Things of course do not go as smoothly as expected, evidently or we wouldn't have a story. I will admit a fascination for the process, wanted to see where it was going, compelled to keep reading. I actually loved the descriptions of Suzanne's surgeries more than I loved reading about the drama of the main plot. I did feel a distance from these characters, found many plot elements predictable, thought this would make a great movie for the Hallmark or Lifetime channels. So a mixed read, compelling enough to keep reading but a predictable and the end maybe a bit too good to be true.Absolutely gorgeous cover though.ARC from Netgalley.Release date: February 14th by Ballantine.
    • 4/5
      This was a story that will really challenge your emotional and moral standards. A couple after 15 years of marriage decide to have a baby. Unfortunately, they cannot have one together. So they decide to use a surrogate which costs them $35,000. The surrogate after 9 months decides she's going to keep the child and runs away. Of course, the couple are stunned, lost, and grieving. After 2 years, the surrogate brings the child to them and says she can't keep it anymore and leaves.What happens after that really makes you start to question this surrogate. (I'm not spoiling it any further!)I found this book emotionally entertaining as it really touched several nerves. Okay, many nerves. I think that any book that can do that to me, is definitely worth reading. For me, that means the author has been able to impact me in such a way that those words weren't just words. They touched me.Thanks to Random House - Ballantine for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      The Nearness of You, Amanda Eyre Ward's sixth novel, tells the story of Hyland and Suzette Kendall, a young couple that agreed before marriage that they would remain childless. Because of her mother's mental illness (and her own instability during her college years), Suzette fears that any child of hers will be genetically inclined toward the same problem. If Hyland had not agreed with her decision not to have children, she would never have agreed to marry him. But now, despite the comfortable life they have created for themselves in Houston, Hyland is desperately craving the experience of raising a child of his own - and he comes to Suzette with a plan to make it happen: find a surrogate mother via the Fertility Clinic of Houston.That's where the "fertile, unstable, beautiful" Dorrie comes into the picture. Dorrie, who works as a penguin-feeder at Galveston's Sea-O-Rama, badly wants to get off of Galveston Island and away from her mother, but she is too broke to make it happen. So when she spots the Fertility Clinic of Houston's billboard seeking surrogate mothers, Dorrie thinks that surrogate motherhood might just be her way off the island. Then when she learns from the clinic that she can "trade nine months of her life" for a cool $35,000, she is sure of it. Suzette, a heart surgeon capable of performing the most intricate and delicate surgery on infants, is still uneasy about becoming something she had decided never to be, a mother. She knows that motherhood will complicate her professional life, and fears that she does not have what it takes to be a good mother. But because Hyland is so enthusiastically happy about becoming a father, she reluctantly signs on to the deal with Dorrie, Even after the dinner celebrating Dorrie's pregnancy (where Dorrie announces her certainty that she is carrying a girl), Suzette has to fight hard to control the panic she feels.And then Dorrie disappears.Ward tells her story from three main points of view, using the third person when narrating from the perspective of Hyland or Suzette, and the first person when relating Dorrie's thoughts and experiences. These shifting perspectives, which are often in conflict, add tension and drama to a plot that at times, however, already borders on melodrama, one in which the reader's emotions are stretched right up to - or even beyond - the breaking point.Bottom Line: The Nearness of You asks and examines some of the big questions regarding motherhood, such as whether or not a woman can change her basic nature and learn to both enjoy and be good at motherhood, and why some women can so readily give up a newborn while others cannot do it under any circumstance. The story unfortunately becomes a little too predictable and begins to resemble more what one expects from a Hallmark Channel movie than from a literary novel on the same subject.
    • 2/5
      I received a copy of The Nearness of You as an Early Reviewer for Library Thing. Having previously enjoyed a collection of short stories by Amanda Eyre Ward (Love Stories in this Town), I was interested to see if I would also enjoy a novel by this author. The topics in this book, surrogate pregnancy and mother-daughter relationships, also are of interest to me. The story is told in short chapters with various narrators, including the birth mother, the adoptive mother, the father and the daughter. Given the potential emotional complexity of a novel about surrogacy, I have to say I was disappointed in the shallowness of this book. Even though it is told by so many viewpoints, the character development is limited and I was not able to get emotionally invested in any of the characters. It is a short book, an easy read that is a pleasant way to spend a few hours but readers expecting to be challenged or emotionally invested in the story or characters will be let down. There was a supposed twist but it is so obvious that when it is revealed, it had no impact on me. 2.5 stars.
    • 4/5
      This book tells a great story, from a few characters point of view. While reading, I did find that each characters voice felt much like the same voice. Each chapter was being told by a different character but it didn't feel as if that character was speaking to me. Also, the book spans some 16 years and I felt that the story could have been deeper. I felt like I was being told a story, but only the surface of the story. There was a lacking of depth in both story telling and character development. I did enjoy the storyline very much. So much so that it only took me 2 days to read. It was definitely a page turner. Not a $27 page turner though.
    • 2/5
      Well, I guess I'm just not the correct target audience for this type of book, which I disparagingly called "chick-lit" in Tags. I found it quite irritating: the simplistic writing, the short chapters, and most of all the cardboard characters. All five characters, except Suzette the doctor, sounded exactly the same. And Suzette the doctor was a cardboard stereotype of the emotionally constricted surgeon. I couldn't wait to finish it, which I did out of duty and as thanks for being an Early Reviewer.
    • 4/5
      I received an advanced copy of this book.I love mother daughter stories and this was no exception. This book had heart and captured my interest from the beginning. This isn't a very long book and I read it in one sitting. Pick it up, I don't think you will be disappointed!
    • 5/5
      I received a free copy of this book.Wow, this book was amazing. I loved everything about it. The characters are so developed. You feel like you really know these people and care what happens to them.The book is about an older couple who use a surrogate mother. This was a very fast read. I would love for the author to write a sequel. I will be thinking about this book for a long time. Very highly recommend!
    • 5/5
      When I started reading the first pages I knew this book was going to be captivating. Suzette is frightened of the idea of having a baby due to her mother's mental illness. His husband Hyland on the other hand loves the idea. They both hire a surrogate , Dorrie a young women that lives in a small island in texas. She needed the money and they needed a baby, things turn out badly when Dorrie runs away with Hylands baby. The end of the story was surprisingly excellent.( I recently dropped out of high school, but reading books is one of my favorite things to do, and this book was no exception). I got saddened just being on the last page of the book. Thank you Amanda Eyre Ward, for such an amazing book.
    • 5/5
      Suzette and Hyland have the perfect life... or so she thought. Then Hyland turns everything upside down when he says he wants a baby. This has been a non-issue since they first started dating, because there is a history of mental illness in her family and she did not want to pass that on. They hire a surrogate and go on an emotional roller coaster ride. This book raises a lot of questions: who is the real mom, the biological one or the one who raises you? Is there a bond that will always connect family, no matter how far apart you are? This is a very emotional read, one that you won't want to put down.
    • 3/5
      The Nearness of You by Amanda Ward is populated by a variety of characters and their perspectives. At the center of the story is Suzette, a cardiothoracic surgeon, and her husband, Harland who have decided not to have children, but then Harland finally reveals that he wants a child. For a variety of reasons, Suzette does not want to use her eggs, so they hire a surrogate and use her eggs as well, Dorrie, a 21 year old. These characters continue to revolve around each other through the years.The book touches on some really important issues such as surrogacy and the issues that can stem from the complicated relationships that occur because of them. There are some really nice parts of this book including some of the descriptions of why Suzette likes being a surgeon, Dorrie's perspective, which seems like the most real out of all of the characters, and then some of the twists that I should have seen coming, but didn't.That said, I had a lot of issues with this book. Suzette was the first character (who I actually very much liked and identified with as I am also a physician and have had similar feelings to her many times but ultimately decided to have a child as well) who is introduced in a tight third person perspective. I think the decision to do this is sound, because Suzette really distances herself from feeling or emotional entanglements of any sort, and this choice resonates with that trait. That said, the writing is the weakest at the beginning where there is a lot of telling and not showing, and she ends up feeling like a very cardboard cut out kind of character, which was supremely disappointing to me because I think she was the most interesting and unique viewpoint of all of the characters. Also, there are large jumps in time when we don't see a whole lot of what happens after the child's birth, and I feel that this would give us a better perspective, but this is done so that we can reach the twist pretty quickly, as this is a slim volume. Don't get me wrong, I like plot, but I felt like this was all plot without developing characters more, and so not just Suzette but other perspectives get chopped. One character, Jayne, is confusing why she's even there.Overall, an interesting premise that unfortunately doesn't follow through with deep characterizations of the characters and merely skims the surface to get to the central twist.
    • 4/5
      This was a page-turner. I read it very quickly. It was the story of a Type A heart surgeon, her husband who always wanted a child, and a surrogate. When the surrogate runs away, everything goes haywire. There was a surprising twist at the end.
    • 5/5
      First, thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for an e-book copy of this book for my pleasure and review. Having read The Same Sky by Amanda Ward, I am familiar with her writing style and knew I would probably love this book also – and that I truly did! As a retired labor and delivery nurse, I loved this story of a young couple unable to achieve their own pregnancy, and their experience with a surrogate pregnancy and delivery. The story unfolds over many years, each chapter being told by another character, so it is very easy to keep track of the star players. Her writing style will keep you in suspicion right to the last chapter, with an ending that makes the whole book worth while. Ms. Ward also does an excellent job of defining all the medical procedures and correct use of medical terms, not often done well by many authors. Great job, Amanda Ward – and I look forward to more from you.