806 by Cynthia Weil is the story of three half-siblings on a road trip to find the man behind their shares donor number – 806. This book was provided to me for free by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

From the beginning, Weil manages to capture the moody – often mean – existentialism of being a teenager still trying to define yourself by the basic facts of your life. And you feel it both with and for our main character Kaitlin when she meets her siblings to find them people on opposite ends of the social spectrum and definitely people she wouldn’t otherwise feel like associating with.

That said, our main character is far from perfect. She leans heavy on all the standard teenage angst tropes, and even worse, does so knowingly. The idea is that it gives a clear growth path for her to take throughout the course of the story, but it comes off a bit heavy handed.

The story as a whole is light and fluffy throughout, even the downer moments aren’t really down. Despite bumps and hiccups, there’s clearly a happy ending in sight at all times, and there’s no real suspense or angst. That said, happy ending included, it was fun read. Definitely a book to pick up if you’re not looking for anything too challenging.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

KT's mom dates – and is dumped by – man after man, feeling the need to provide a father figure for KT. After the latest boyfriend dumps her mom, KT tells her that she just wants to know her real father. That turns out to be a sperm donor. Finding a website for sperm donor siblings to connect, KT soon learns that she has two brothers, Jesse and Gabe. The three are as different as they can be, but they all want the same thing: to meet their biological father, and they set out to do just that.

This was a quick read that is meant to be humorous, though it didn't always hit the mark for me. I had expected a story that was more realistic, while in reality, the longer the story went on, the more ridiculous it became. The book also had one of my pet peeves in it. Dylan, one of KT's bandmates, has had a crush on her, and no matter how many times she tells him no, he just says he's never going to change the way he feels and keeps coming on to her until he wears her down. That sort of thing is NOT OK in real life, and I don't like seeing it used as an acceptable way to begin a relationship in a book.

I am sure there are people who will like this book; it just wasn't for me.

DNF

book was a little too slow in the beginning I just couldn’t get into the book. For what I did read, the siblings each seem unique in their own ways and them wanting to come together to meet their father is awesome. Plot is amazing

Such a heartwarming book about family searching for their bio dad. I've read a few like this before. Many people have their thing for boy band fics, mine's the search for bio parents. It is something for everyone to read, no matter how their family is made up.

It's the characters that pull you into the story, and you'll want to stay until the end.

I thought this had a lot of potential. I love stories about found families and this, plus road trip, plus the fact that there aren't that many stories about sperm donors made what I thought was a winning story, but I just wasn't a fan.

The premise of this book was what initially drew me to this book. Three sperm donor kids on a road trip to find their biological dad sounded so cool but, sadly, this book didn't meet its full potential. The story itself was rather rushed and there were no really "deep" moments from any of the three characters.

And then, let's talk about the protagonist, KT. She was the most negative person I've ever read about, to the point where I wanted to throttle her. Nothing ever happened that made her happy and this carried on for most of the book. Oh, and one more thing: KT!!? Who seriously spells their name like that?

DNF @ 41%

I really wanted to like this. I thought the synopsis sounded so interesting. I mean a fun road trip? Who doesn't love that? But I just could not keep reading this book. All of the dialogue was super awkward, the plot was very convenient, and the characterizations are shallow at best.

Characters: KT is pretty awful as a character. She treats everyone around her pretty terribly including her mom. I get that it's supposed to be a "punk rock" thing, but really who talks to their mom like that?
One of her best friends, Dylan, is a guy who continually professes his undying love for her, sits outside of her bedroom window hoping to basically bask in her glory, and tried to secretly follow her on the road trip. In other words HE'S A CREEP, but the book treats this as if it's almost... endearing?

Plot: As mentioned before everything is just so convenient. To go on this road trip KT tells her mom she's just casually going to stay at her friends house FOR A WEEK the night before she leaves. And her mom is just okay with that? The reasoning for the road trip is also pretty weak, one of the characters wants to find their donor so they can attempt to stay with him?? What?? A sperm donor does not a dad make and I really hoped this book would explore that but from up to where I read it just didn't seem like it was going to do that.

Writing: Just... here are some quotes:

"'That is beyond cool,' I said. I've always considered lesbians to be the ultimate individualists"
Umm what.

"This is so crazy wonderful! We're biracial. I'm finally gonna be cool."
Again what.

"Dylan was following me to Arizona. I told myself that it was creepy, but somewhere way deep inside, I felt guilty for thinking that because it was really kind of sweet."
Yeah... stalking... real sweet.

Around the 25% mark I thought I could at least "hate read" my way through this but it was just too cringey, and there are too many books in the world for me to spend more of my time reading a book I'm not enjoying.

KT is longing for a father figure in her life. Which is hard to come by thanks to her mother. Her only get away is her guitar and her music and some times that's just not enough. So she asks the big question "Mom, who is my dad?". Eventually that's where the finds the DSR, and she sets out on an adventure to find her dad with some unexpected guests she never knew she needed in her life. KT learns to appreciate the life she's been given and the life she's going to have on an incredible and some times dangerous road trip.

806 by Cynthia Weil was an outstanding read. I couldn't put it down! I loved how diverse she made each character; so different but so alike in so many ways. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves any typical young adult book!

This isn't my kind of story, but I can see the appeal. The author comes from a songwriter background, so the writing is a little different than the writing we usually encounter in novels. It feels like MTV-style entertainment. I kept being reminded of movie-comedies. The jokes were American Pie or Deadpool kind of funny. There was always something ridiculous and totally unrealistic happening in the novel. This is great if you're trying to keep the reader's attention, but I feel that it didn't leave enough down-time for the character's to authentically develop. Instead, the character development tends to be announced. The main character, Katie or "KT", suddenly inwardly reflects in the middle of a large event. She thinks, "I am suddenly more compassionate" and then acts according to her self-proclaimed development.

The novel was just dripping with teen angst at the beginning of the story. The main character is your typical unhappy teenager, complete with a punk phase! She rebels from and criticizes her mother, changes her name from Katie to "KT", dyes her blonde hair black, and is the guitarist in a rock band. The other part of this story that felt a little out-of-place for me was the love-interest. I don't think the story needed it; it felt forced. This boy appears at the beginning of the story as the desperate puppy-dog love, randomly appears for a couple instances in KT's journey to find her biological father, and then he finally gets the girl at the end of the story. He just didn't do much for the main character's development or the development of the story. 

Overall, it's a nice, simple story about a bunch of kids finding their biological father. I might recommend this book to students who "get" this kind kind of comedy.  The constant series of events would help to keep readers engaged, so I might give this to students who have a hard time finishing stories they start. However, I feel like this book wouldn't be satisfying enough for readers who want more of a purpose behind their stories.

“now don’t you go falling in love”

When I saw the cover of this book the first things that came to my mind was adventure. I was disappointed that it was not really about the roadtrip itself but it focused on other topics that I was really happy with.

The tone of the book was really warm which fit the familial relationships that were focused on. It was sweet and I really like the author was able to show a bit of the life after they found their dad and the tiems that they spent with him. How different it is and how it certainly brings change because there a lot of peopl eout there who can relate to stories like this. It also exposed the fact that our parents are not the perfect beings that we believed them to be when we were younger but they certainly try their best and they do what they think is best for their chldren.

I think the YA genre needs more books that have topics like this. Especially because these are very real topics that are prevalent in the real world.

Anyhow, even though I liked the overall tone of the book, the pacing of the plot threw me off and it was not effective enough to really bring enough of a reaction out of me. The topic was good but the execution was lacking, for me.

I also got really annoyed of our female MC in some parts. I mean, she FAINTED when she found out that some strong shampoo removed her hair coloring. First of all, I know this is a form of self expression and I am not saying that's its wrong to have colored hair but. . . did she not notice the color running down when she was washing her hair with water?? You can always have it painted over and I do not understand how she would have fainted. This scene just bothered me a lot.


Still, I am absolute trash for good friendship stories. This was a sweet read and though it was not the best in terms of execution, it contains topics that the YA world needs to be reading more.

Unfortunately, this book just wasn't for me. The writing wasn't bad - it just seemed too juvenile. I like YA books, but this seemed almost younger than YA, but YA because of the language used. The characters in this novel seemed to stereotypical. We have the musical outcast, popular jock, and the misunderstood nerd. I liked the idea that these three totally different types of people come together to find a commonality, but I couldn't get passed the extreme stereotypes. I didn't hate this book - I just don't think it was for me.

I found this to be a sweet YA story. At first, I wasn't too fond of the main character, KT, which is probably a first for me. I'm a vegetarian too, but I don't go around confronting everyone who eats a hamburger. She just annoyed me. But, just like KT grew closer to her siblings, I found myself warming up to her as well.

Overall it was a fun adventure with plenty of intriguing twists and turns.

I do my reviews in the form of answering questions

What made me pick this book up:
I saw it on someone's blog and thought it sounded really interesting.

What did I like about the cover:
I actually really adore this cover. It's so cute. The colors are great, in the sunset. And I love the drawing of the jeep and the stars are really cute.

What made me read this book:
Like I said, I saw a review for it on someone's blog and thought it sounded interesting. Then I noticed it was on Netgalley to review and I just had to have it!

What did I like the most:
This book was honestly so good. A lot of people didn't like it because it's unrealistic or whatever. But I don't read a book for realistic, it's a work of fiction so take it for that.

With that being said, the story is awesome. Three very different kids trying to find the man who donated his little swimmers to them years ago. You can already tell this book is going to be awesome just by that.

The things they have to go through to find their dad is hilarious and unpredictable. From running out of gas in the middle of nowhere, having their jeep stolen, and a few other crazy things, you just never know what's going to happen next.
Like I said, the likelihood of all this is happening is unrealistic, but it made the book that much better.

The writing was well done. It wasn't slow, it didn't drag. It made me want to keep reading and not put the book down at all.

The characters were great honestly. KT the main girl, is a rock and roll give zero f*cks kind of girl. She is snarky and mean and I swear stuck in a grimace and an eye roll.
Gabe is a "nerd" who is allergic to everything under the sun. Probably literally. He's big into magic (Like actual magic, not MTG) and is socially awkward and cannot talk to girls.
Jessie is the opposite of Gabe. He's a blonde hair, six packed, swim god. He's a total ladies man and obviously hot.

So of course it's an odd tangle of people, but it works out well.

The whole book is just different. And I loved that about it.

What didn't I like:
KT was a little whiny, but not too bad to where it made me not want to read it.

Would I read the rest of the series/more from this author?
I would definitely read another one by this author. I wouldn't read a sequel to this, because it doesn't need a sequel. Definitely a standalone type book.

Overall This was a unique and interesting book that I really didn't want to put down. It had me giggling and I even almost started crying at one point. Definitely awesome.

I did not like this one for whatever reason. I am really disappointed as it looked so interesting and I usually love sibling stories. I just lost interest.

This was a super quick enjoyable read. It doesn't necessarily stand out in the YA book crowd, but it's a good little book.

Thank you so much NetGalley for giving me a copy of this book for a review.

Love, love, loved this. It was such a quick and cute read that made me so happy. Beware of plot twists, cause Weil was not skimpy with them. The premise of the book is what made me want to pick it up, and I am so happy NetGalley allowed me to read this. It was so fun and such a feel good book it was insane! I gave it four stars because it could have been longer, I didn't really think we got enough of the characters and it was a bit rushed in parts. All in all though I would recommend to anyone who likes books with road trips in them, which I know I do.

A road trip between 3 siblings to meet their father. The siblings couldn’t be more different. A little much on the teen angst. All in all a quick, cute read.

Hard pass. THe sperm donor hunt is a timely topic but I can't say that I love the way this one plays out. Events are too strange. First, what are the chances that the three donor kids all know each other, not to mention being essentially the same age. And then we get a plot that involves interrupting a robbery, meeting to red herrings, a psychic, and happening randomly upon their father. Everything falls into place in the most bizarre, illogical ways.

It was good. Needs a little polishing but I liked it. I would like to see a little more of ending like does Katie mom end up with her dad etc. the love story needed a little more I felt. But over all I really enjoyed it

Thank you Netgalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was fun, light and really well-delivered universe where kids (teenagers but still) have more genuine common sense than their parents. For a genre that's usually not my cup of tea, I thoroughly enjoyed it and devoured every page.