Give It A Chance; This Book Will Grow On You.

There are lots of terrific feel-bad/feel-good books out there for Young Adult readers. Libba Bray's "Going Bovine", anything by John Green, most books by Andrew Smith, Jesse Andrews' "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl" - they are excellent reads; I'm sure you could think of a dozen more. But, what about younger readers and adventurous middle graders? How bad should the feel-bad part be, and how much feel-good is enough? Well, this book struck me as being the answer to that question.

The setup is clear. K.T., Jesse, and Gabe are all children conceived with a contribution from an anonymous sperm donor. They get together after they find out that they are half-siblings who share a common father. They decide to find that father, and the tale unfolds from there. It's a fairy tale - fast paced and illogical and unrealistic, but the reader knows that going in.

Now, for the feel-bad. K.T.'s Mom is a sad sack loser at love and a bit of a child herself, so K.T. has abandonment issues and has to be a grownup sooner that she would like. As a consequence she's become a bit dark and a lot snarky. Jesse is a jock pretty boy, but feels hollow and searches for inner truth and substance. Gabe is a nerdy guy, (and not cool nerdy), and doesn't want to be shy and socially awkward forever. O.K., that's all fine for feeling-bad without being too heavy or dramatic. No one's dying, and these are almost universal issues.

The book does not start well. We open with K.T. and her teen snark-bitch attitude looks like it will make for a bumpy ride. Hooking her up with a shallow pretty boy and an awkward geek doesn't seem any more promising. I had my doubts about spending time with this crowd. But wait. After only a few pages the author gets these three together and gets them on the road to find Dad. The road is, of course, always magical, and it begins to work its wonders as soon as their broken down Jeep's wheels hit the asphalt. K.T. starts to humanize and loosen up, Jesse starts to develop a third dimension, and Gabe begins to get in touch with his inner mensch. And they all start to bond.

The plot rollicks around, and the book's pacing is headlong. There are all sorts of adventures. There are some clever set pieces and some funny banter and throwaway lines. The Dad search hits deadends and then clues and coincidences fall from the sky. I didn't care about any plot problems or coincidences, because that isn't the point. This is a road trip with a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and it was just fun to watch everyone travel to Oz. As you might imagine, SPOILER OF SORTS, there is a feel good ending. Indeed, it turns out that every single character who ever appeared in the book gets a feel good ending. That was O.K. by me.

Along the way we learn about friendship, loyalty, patience, family bonding, forgiveness, and everything else good. Along the way the three heroes grow up and become the better people they were meant to be. And, along the way, we start to feel affection for these three brave and resourceful souls, and we're happy that they get their feel-good ending. That may be a little simple and a lot unrealistic, but it's nice for younger readers to get their feet wet before they hit all the books in which everyone dies from cancer and no one ever gets a full unconditional feel-good ending.

(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

When I initially read the excerpt of this, I thought hmm this could be a really cool YA book. Wellll, it wasn't. It was incredibly cheesy. And the title is incorrect after the first third of the book so it should be called "Donor Kids" or "Are You My Brother?" or "Finding Dad" or something. IDK. Finding Dad, I like that one. But not 806. KT is a donor kid. And now that she's a teenager she's looking for her father. She finds a couple of classmates who are her half-siblings. They go on a terrible, haphazard journey to find their "do not contact" biological father and in doing so, lie, steal, and cross the country. There's so much wrong with this book. I wanted it to be good so badly! But it just fell flat. I liked Jesse's journey of self-discovery. But I don't feel like KT or Gabe had the same journey. KT just was all wow Mom I appreciate you now. *insert eyeroll* All teenagers go through that whether they have 2 bio parents or not.

Noteworthy experiences while reading this book: I had never really though about sperm-donor kids before.

Check out author's other books? Probably.

Recommend this book? Yes.

Notes and Opinions: This was a cute adventure book. I had never really thought about kids with sperm-donor parents before this book. I have known adopted kids and in fact my best friend is adopted but I have know very few, if any that have had a sperm-donor as a parent. Which surprised me a lot to think about honestly, I know many gay couples who have children but I guess I always assumed they just adopted, I had never thought too hard on the other options out their for them as well as for parents where one is sterile. So I really enjoyed this book and it taking me out of my comfort zone but still teaching me that "You never know what amazing things can happen". I loved the adventure these kids had in finding their bio dad and the obstacles that were presented. There were parts that felt a little too fairy tale-like but I truly enjoyed the read.

Go Into This One Knowing: These kids will do anything to find their bio dad including stealing, lying and being sneaky. This is about kids finding their sperm-donor parent which can be a touchy subject with some people.

I found 806 to be quirky and fun. Although some serious subjects were discussed- knowing yourself, feeling different and lonely- the characters were so believable so you thought you were reading about friends. KT was especially endearing because her grumpiness is how so many teenage girls go through life. I appreciated how KT, Jesse and Gabe became siblings to each other although they had not grown up with each other. They showed great compassion. I loved the humor and the adventures. Although most of this book could not happen, it is more fun to pretend that it could than to believe in vampires and werewolves. Overall, a great fast read that should be enjoyable to people of many ages. I look forward to more books from this author

Cynthia Weil’s 806 was a joy to read during a period that’s been fairly heavy for me. This happily unrealistic road trip of a novel had me laughing and commiserating at the same time. Like KT/Katie, I didn’t meet my father until I was 18 so I can relate to her angst of not knowing and the curiosity that can hound you at times. I think that’s why I was drawn to this book.

While it was funny and cute, I definitely thought of 806 as a coming-of-age story, especially for KT. She goes through this very visual evolution of figuring out her own self-worth that all teenagers go through at some stage. She starts to learn about acceptance–particularly that of the people around her, and how they all tie together to create a family. Her relationship with her mother is fraught but changes drastically by the end. She dislikes her newfound siblings throughout the book but figures out there’s more that binds them together than doesn’t.

If I had one niggle about 806, it would be the book’s plausibility. I didn’t think it was at all believable – some of the things that happen during the road trip had me going “really?” with a bit of a groan. The ending was way too neat for the story as well. The whole novel is about how families are messy and complicated. It was a bit tied up with a bow at the end.

Even so, I really did enjoy 806. It was a nice break from heavy reading and a book I’d recommend if you’re looking for some lighthearted laughs with substance thrown in.

E-book copy generously provided by BookishFirst in exchange for an honest review.

This was an awesome journey! There was humor, wit, and heart. The author does a great job touching on an important issue as three teenagers comes to terms with who they are, where they come from, and where they are going.

A little cheesy, too many coincidences but a feel-good congenial search for identity

Three teenagers at the same high school discover that they are actually siblings, after learning they all share a donor father - number 806. Each for their own reason, they want to find their biological father.

Musician Katie (who insists on KT), jock Jesse and allergy-prone magic-fan Gabe 'borrow' a car and head off across the country, tracking down their father. They have nothing in common besides their shared heritage. At least, they don't think so...

You need to suspend disbelief repeatedly for this - the coincidences that allow this to happen are pretty far-fetched (how they obtain the information, the ease with which they 'find' certain necessary persons). But if you do, it's a diverting story with three appealing central characters.

There are many road movies that run along similar lines to this, many teenage 'how I grew up and found myself' stories, though the context of this is not as common (saying that I have read a book by Robin Benway recently about adopted siblings finding each other).

The threesome at the heart of this kept me reading, I liked KT and her 'brothers' though I found the story unbelievable.

This will be enjoyed by teenagers aged 13+.

With thanks to Netgalley for the advance e-copy.

I'm struggling with rating this because:
a) it's a fun, lighthearted book, but
b) it shouldn't be.

The way this narrative treats the children of sperm donors completely glosses over the real-life implications of this method of assisted reproduction, using it as nothing more than a vehicle to deliver a predictable message about celebrating different kinds of families, with some interplay between family of choice vs family of blood. Nothing about it is remotely close to realistic, and the fact that three kids, same age, same school, simultaneously decide to post to an online message board and discover they are half-siblings is actually the least of the offenders. There is an attempt at conveying the emotional turmoil Katie and her half-brothers feel, but it always disappears within a page and then it's back to their jovial (occasional illegal) escapades. This novel does a disservice to real people who truly have no way of uncovering that part of their parentage, and have to deal with the fallout - emotionally; physically, as they may not have any medical history for half their DNA; and even legally, as child support battles have been waged over this issue.

I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop as a series of (purposefully, one must assume) fantastical circumstances lead the trio to their biological father, but that moment never came. Everything skates easily into a happily ever after that is in no way reminiscent of real life, and puts forth dangerously misguided notions about the effects of sperm donation on the donors, children and families involved. This is a fantasy masquerading as contemporary YA fiction.

806, by Cynthia Weil is a modern young adult novel focused on family and friendships.

Kate (or KT, as she prefers to be called), Jesse, and Gabe are three siblings only connected by their biological father, as well as their interest in meeting him. While on their pursuit to meet Donor 806, the three siblings deal with their new relationships, as well as various issues on their new family adventure.

806 is an enjoyable road trip adventure story, particularly geared towards teenagers (and those who enjoy YA books).


Note: I received this book from Bookish First (via NetGalley), which is a program designed for bloggers to write book reviews in exchange for books, yet the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The ludicrous hilarity of Twilight with the teen amazingness of John Green.
It was the John Green-esque road trip that caught my eye in 806 by Cynthia Weil. Three teens are going on a road trip to discover their sperm donor father. I was expecting thoughtful characters and some teen soppiness, and overall a story that would make me think. Instead, I laughed, and I laughed. 806 is like a talented writer tried writing a bad story. Possibly as a group with a bottle of wine involved. The writing is excellent; the story is hilarious. Apologies to the neighbors I may have woken with laughter (darn, thin apartment walls.)

The story: Katie, currently calling herself KT, grew up with her single mom and a steady stream of her mom’s boyfriends. Her mom says she’s just trying to find KT a dad. But, KT says she has one. She’s had photos of her parents together since she was small. He just left them, but he exists. After the latest boyfriend break-up, KT’s mom tells her where to find her father. Surprise, he’s local. Another surprise, he’s not her father. His grandfather promised him an inheritance if he had a child, so they used a sperm donor. Smart grandpa ordered a DNA test. KT was born, and her “dad” left penniless.

Condensing the story, KT’s mom gave her the donor number, 806, and the search for her father began. She discovered her school’s champion swimmer and the champion dweeb are her half-brothers. They, in an unrealistically short time, follow some dead leads, sneak into the sperm bank to steal records, leave on the road trip, have their car stolen, find it at a bikini carwash, drive to Arizona on another false lead, and end up in California. Of course, there are more adventures along the way. It is a road trip, of course. A hot waitress flirts with the dweeb half-brother to hitch a ride, then takes off with their ill-gotten casino winnings. The psychic sperm donor predicted their arrival in Arizona, enlightened the swimmer, and sent them on their way. Oh, that sounds wrong. 806 is very PG. Much more PG than you’d imagine a sperm bank break-in could be.

When reading 806, you must remove reality from any expectations. Every single storyline gets tied in a sparkly ribbon bow. EVERY SINGLE ONE. The half-siblings learn to appreciate their home situations, broken romances are revived, and people become stronger for it. It’s more happily ever after than a Disney fairytale.

However, there’s one happily ever after I must spoil. Back to the Twilight similarities, it’s pulling on the dangerous part. Even the sitting outside the bedroom window while she sleeps part. Dylan is in KT’s band. He obviously has a crush on her, but it’s not bad at first. Then he stalks her window. THEN he follows their road trip, showing up everywhere KT is. Even the unplanned stops. He’s declaring his love for KT; she’s telling him to go home. I can kind of accept that because she does rebuff him, but in the final let’s-wrap-it-all-up moment they hook up. Katie (she’s she’s back to by then) falls for him, and it’s love. Except that’s not love, it’s Stockholm syndrome. Dylan being rewarded for stalking is the only bad part of 806.

Ignoring that part (and it’s not that big), you’ll laugh through 806. It’s the best-written trash I’ve read in a long time.

* I “borrowed” the book’s tagline for the post title. It’s a good tagline.

This story is mainly about three teenagers that go in an adventure to find their biological father. Our main character is KT or Katie, Gabe and Jesse are the siblings she has and together they set out to find donor 806 which turns out to be donor 908.
The writing in the book is really good, except there were some grammar issues that bothered me a little. Also, the title does not make sense if the number of the donor turns out to be a different one. Overall though the story is really cute, the relationship building is also well written and the flow makes total sense all throughout the story.
I think this is a cute and quick read, there were a few twist and turns that I found easy to guess, like meeting a new character and how the situation turns out. However the book is one I would read again.

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The teenagers KT, Swimmy and Abracadabra find themselves experiencing the weirdest adventures with lots of practical and inventive solutions to some very unforeseen problems when trying to find their biological father.
The main character being KT whose point of view can be deadpan and funny: 'I thought I was going be one of the youngest people ever to have a heart attack, but I didn't have time for that.'

She - unlike her two brothers - is the one with the biggest mouth, taking over since she is a bit obsessive and a controlfreak. She is also the one who learns that people aren't always what they look like or what you expect them to be.

A humorous story that often made me smile and therefore made it to my for-a-rainy-day shelf on Goodreads.

Thanks to BookishFirst, Netgalley and the publisher Tanglewood Publishing for a copy of the book.

This YA novel is quite simply hilarious! When Katie discovers her biological father is not the man her mother has claimed he is, Katie decides to track down sperm Donor #806 when her mom finally admits to the truth. Using a donor website, she also learns she has two biological brothers whom she knows from high school--one a certified nerd and the other the stereotypical dumb jock. Together the three set off in search of their father. The adventure is both touching and so incredibly funny as they steal a car, thwart a robbery, and eventually find the answers they seek. A great coming-of-age story that proves you need to be happy with who you are as none of us are perfect and if you get to know someone before judging, you can be content in your own skin.
Thanks to Bookish First and NetGalley for this ARC!

"806" was a really surprising novel about KT (aka Katie) who has been exhausted by her mother's relationships, which frequently fail and cause all sorts of problems. She wants to find her father, who she hopes will provide the things her mother can't. KT is an aspiring rockstar with her friends in the No Name Band and rebels in every way she can- dying her hair blue, trying to get a tattoo... From her father, she wants to find someone more stable and to get a better picture of herself in the process. However, in her search, she learns that her father is a sperm donor- number 806 at the CryoSperm bank. Who is donor 806 and how can she find him?

She begins on a website, where she finds out she has two other half-siblings. Gabe, or as she calls him Abracadabra, is a stereotypical nerd. He's afraid he'll never find love and can't figure out how to talk to the opposite sex. He has untold numbers of allergies which lead him to wear breathe-right strips all the time. He is also studying magic. His parents sound really fabulous- super-supportive and loving. Her other half-brother is Jesse, or Swimmy as KT thinks of him. Jesse is the stereotypical jock- tall, blond, good-looking and a competitive swimmer. His mothers are getting divorced and he has to choose where to go- he's hoping to make a third option out of whoever his father is.

Their journey is not as straight-forward as it seems, and they really begin to feel like siblings along the way. Their relationships are really the stand-out part of the book. The first 2/3 of the book were amazing, and I absolutely loved it! The last 1/3 got a little strange, and we lost some of the human element. It became very surreal. I won't say more than that to avoid spoilers, but I would have given the first 2/3 5 stars and the last 1/3 2 stars, so I am weighting the average accordingly.

My biggest problem with the book is that KT has a stalker that is portrayed as "cute" for not taking no for an answer and following her everywhere. Unfortunately, this is all too real but should be handled more seriously in a book for teens. If someone says no, this should be an acceptable answer and repeated no's should not be an invitation for stalking. I wish there was some support for this instead of an eventual giving in. This is really not okay in my opinion.

Overall, it's a sweet journey of finding yourself and family you didn't know you had. I wish they could have removed the stalker, as it wasn't at all necessary to the overall plot and didn't aid the journey in any way.

Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher through bookish first/netgalley. All opinions are my own.

I thought this book would be great, a girl searching for her donor dad, trying to figure out the half of her life that's always eluded her. I didn't know my biological dad until I was 24 years old, so I know why it's important to her. However, I found the main character “It's KT mom. Not Katey.” so completely unbearable that I didn't even finish the book.

She's so rude. When she meets a couple of her siblings for the first time, she basically told them she was disappointed. One was a nerd, one was a jock. She was too good for them. Upon hearing that one of her siblings has 2 mom, she says “That is beyond cool! I've always considered lesbians the ultimate individualists.” And she decided that he wasn't as bad as she thought.

Plus she doesn't like people who eat meat. I get it, she's a vegetarian, but that was her choice to make, not to for her to force on the rest of the world and get mad when they don't comply. “Just looking at them made me feel really bad about the genes we shared.” She said that. Really. She's such an awful person.

So maybe with a different main character, this book would be great, but right now, it's just not.

Well this book was a ride in the best and worst ways. It was so dramatic and kind of predictable in a way. I found it weird how the siblings hated each other one day then bam they are best friends? also the whole dad thing he accepted it waaaaaaaay to easily. it was a good book with an amazing idea i just think it could have been written a bit differently

I quite enjoyed this fun book that's perfect for a road trip. This coming off age story deals with a serious topic in a light-hearted way while still keeping its depth. This is perfect for preteens and up as it is also pretty family-friendly, despite the basis of it being a fairly adult topic. There's no cursing (actually this is done in some pretty funny ways), no violence, and only mentions of some sexual activity but nothing at all graphic or inappropriate for the target audience. I personally like stories to be a bit messier and true to life while this one left everything wrapped up nearly in a bow. Even with my bias though, I enjoyed the book and found the sweet tale entertaining. This is one that may fly under the radar but it's definitely a good read for those times when a little light-hearted and somewhat romantic comedy is needed.

I would like to thank the publisher, author, and Netgalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

A fun slice of YA fiction, that centers around the somewhat serious topic of children resulting from sperm donation and their search for their real father and their identity. With the starting point of a centralised research system where the offspring can look for their donor Dads and whether they still wish to remain anonymous, as well as contacting any other progeny from the same donor.
This site brings together three teens - KT, Jesse and Gabe. Three teens who couldn't be more different from each other - an emo girl, a socially awkward magician, and the swim team dreamboat. Initially devastated to learn that they are all related, there are some interesting nature vs nurture traits that start to come out in them all as they spend more time together. Despite their differences, they decide to go on a roadtrip together to try and find their father., and what ensues is a lightweight romp across the country as their sleuthing and fate in equal measures bring them together with their donor Dad.
The path is beset with fake candidates for their father - a clerical error has them embarking on several wild goose chases, but eventually (and frankly fairly ridiculously) they manage to discover the truth behind their roots.
My biggest issue with this story is the somewhat implausible pathway to enlightenment, which relies too heavily on some extreme suspensions of disbelief! It's a fun enough journey, it was just too far removed from credibility for my liking.

This novel was light, fast paced and gave a lighter edge to an otherwise controversial and heavy subject. The three thrown together protagonists are fun, individual and real, they are what brings the story together.
On a slightly lower note, this novel may be more suited to the younger end of the YA spectrum, as I found it a little young and predictable in parts. That being said, I can see it being quite popular.