I ADORED this book. Serendipity (Sera for short) is a normal teenager, living her normal teenage life with her single mom and best friend Devi. She recently broke up with her boyfriend, but is moving on and goes to a party with Devi where she meets a totally handsome stranger. They hook up and it's nice, but Sera forgets to get his number, which wouldn't be a big deal, but a few weeks later she finds out she's pregnant. This book is FULL of body positivity,  it is inclusive and sex positive. It portrays the real reactions and emotions of people making real life decisions. I think the author did an amazing job all around here. Other reviewers have called this Juno meets Gilmore Girls, and I love that comp!

I really enjoyed this book, but I have some mixed feelings about it. Overall, my reading experience was fantastic. I flew through this book and I had such a fun time reading it. It was compelling and entertaining. However, there were aspects of this book that seemed unrealistic. One of the main complaints that I've seen in negative reviews of this book was the vocabulary. The main character said things like "amazeballs"... which was a little much. But I got used to it, so I think if you know what to expect, that won't be an issue. This was such a cute contemporary and I would recommend it for anyone who wants a book on the topic of teen pregnancy that still manages to mostly be light and and easy to read.

Title provided via netgalley for an honest review

I really like books that touch on subjects that have a stigma attached. Darrows does a really good job detailing everyday life. It is a fact that teenage girls get pregnant and it changes their whole lives. I really appreciate authors who can delve into these kinda of topics and not glamorize it, but make it real - the good and the bad of teen pregnancy and similar issues.

I definitely enjoyed this because you get just the feel of this story and how real it is.

An atypical story about teen pregnancy that avoids problem novel cliches. Darrows has talked about the book being influenced by the movie Juno, and it shows. Hand to teens who recently enjoyed With the Fire on High, as they will likely enjoy this book's take on teen pregnancy. Realistic but not depressing, uplifting without being too easy.

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for this early copy,

It was a well-written young adult novel that dealt with important topics.

Very cute book! heartwarming and realistic. I didn't have a chance to finish it before the publication date, but I very much enjoyed the journey and the family dynamics within.

Thank you to Netgalley and Inkyard Press for access to this book in exchange for my honest review.  I am a sucker for young adult novels.  I love them.  I don't read them nearly enough.  When this book fell into my lap I was so excited!

Teen pregnancy.  This entire book is about a young teenage girl who makes one slight lapse in judgement and ends up pregnant.  This is her journey through her pregnancy with her friends and family.  She ends up moving a town away at the beginning of her pregnancy and probably was the best thing for her. 

Understanding.  I hope as a parent I will be as loving and understanding as Sara's mother.  Sara also has a supportive grandmother, Mormor, and the world's greatest friends.  There's even a little romance from Leaf thrown in here.  *sigh* There were such GREAT people in this one.

Snarky and laugh out loud funny.  With a topic as serious as teen pregnancy, this book manages to be a light, funny, and snarky read.  It is a lovely book to take your mind off of all the problems in the world.  It's a quick read too!

There never was a lack of respect in this book.  Guys...sh#t happens.  Sara is still in high school and well...high school never ends so you know how kids (and people) can be.  It is important to remind yourself to surround yourself with respectful, solid friends.  I am so glad Sara manages to do that in this book.  Even though she is dealing with her life derailed from her ivy league college dreams, she changes her outlook and still remains positive.  This really was a feel good read, even with the heavy topic of teenage pregnancy. 

4 star read.  This book made me glad I have the friends I do, who are just as supportive as Sara as they are of me.  It really made me feel good to know that in the real world, there are people like Sara's friends and that's important to remember.  Teenage pregnancy isn't the end of the world (it's not ideal I know), but this book serves as a reminder that no matter what you're going through, things will get better and you can make it through.  Great young adult read!!  Go pick this one up now!

Aw dang, I didn't start this one early enough to finish it by the time it was archived! I really enjoyed the parts I read, though!

I’m not 100% sure how I feel about this book..lol I honest couldn’t put it down & I completed it over the course of two days. I haven’t seen very many books that focus on teen pregnancy so Belly Up by Eva Darrows was a real surprise.
Serendipity aka Sara a seventeen-year-old high schooler ends up pregnant after a rebound one-night stand. She is spunky, smart, stubborn and compassionate. Her Mother and Grandmother were extremely supportive of her situation. In some parts of the book I felt the author was trying too hard to be relevant. IDK, but over all this was a good read. 3.5 out of five stars. Thank you, Netgalley & Inkyard Press Publishing, for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is a very funny book, and I liked the supportive relationships in the book. Unfortunately for me, it was too political. There were times when I felt like I was being hammered with a viewpoint that could have been handled in a more subtle way. I think teens will really enjoy it though.

A really funny YA read about a high schooler who ends up pregnant after a rebound one night stand and is navigating mounting difficulties in her young life.

Serendipity aka Sara was spunky, smart, stubborn and compassionate. Her Mother and Grandmother were extremely supportive of her situation and subsequent decisions which helped lay the foundation for a wonderfully chaotic family dynamic.

The relationship that Leaf and Sara forged was so sweet and innocent. Despite her pregnancy, he didn’t look at or treat her any differently. He was her chef in shining armor.

I loved the reappearance of the baby’s father and his willingness to be in the picture, despite not having a relationship with Sara. He truly cared and that was exactly what Sara and baby needed.

While I thought this read hit on a lot of hot topics for teens, I felt at times it was trying too hard to be relevant. The lingo and jokes were often a little juvenile. What irked me the most was the over use of identifying everyone’s gender and sexual presences. This included the MC’s obsession with not referring to her baby‘s gender as female because maybe the baby will want to choose a different gender when they’re older. I can certainly appreciate a novel that addresses diversity and is sensitive to all identifiers, but the fact that every single main character needed a “label” seemed very far fetched and forced.

Ease is always going to be my complaint about teen romances. Things happen too easily. Her first day at a new school Sara makes new friends and has a love interest. These are characters who don't even blink at her pregnancy. She has an amazingly strong support group in people she's only just met. She is briefly ostracized at school but that's easily resolved by a single confrontation. Additionally, the plot dabbles. It dips its toe into racial prejudice and sexual politics and then immediately stops. It tires too hard to be inclusive. Characters introduce themselves by sexual orientation for goodness sake. The trans character seems to exist only to lecture Sara about gender presentation. Pleasant but lacking in real substance.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Thanks NetGalley!

What a story line. A 16 year old girl finds herself pregnant after a one night stand with a stranger. She finds herself moving in with her grandma, starting a new girl, and who would have guessed, finding a new love thing with Leaf. Such a quirky fun book.

I got some Juno vibes from this and I loved it. It had an interesting main character that many will learn to love while reading this book.

I really enjoyed this novel. When the reviews I read mentioned it had a Gilmore Girls Meets Juno feel, I knew I had to read it.



So I am going to get my one negative thing out here first. I was pregnant at 20, not as young as this protagonist, but young enough not to know what the fuck I was doing. I kept my daughter and would never change that decision. But my life has been hard. I had friends who got pregnant younger than me whose lives were difficult.Not bad, just hard. I did not feel like this book talked enough about the fact that Sara's privilege of living with a family who supports her, friends that won't abandon her, being able to finish school, keep her baby and get a hot boyfriend are exceptions to the rule. While teen pregnancy can be a positive experience and I like that this novel highlights that- in general, it is not. I wish the author had made Sara a little more aware of the fact she is blessed and lucky.



Now, with that being said. This book got me. Every time the MC spoke it was if teen me were cheering. In fact, adult me cheered too. Because I still sound just like that, if my slang is a little outdated. Sara's relationship with her mother is totally me and my 15-year-old. We are just like this, this same style of banter and teasing each other, love fueled by jokes and sarcasm. (Though my kid and I swear a lot more.) My mom and I are also very similar to Sara and her Mom, put the three of us in a room and you will walk away shaking your head.



I love how Sara is a bisexual fat girl and not once did the story shame her for her eating habits. I've been pregnant four times, the hunger is real. I enjoyed all the talking about food and the reality that sometimes the cheeseburger is what you need to stuff your face with. This novel is real about how pregnancy feels, tired all the time, horny, hungry, hairy, emotional. The author did not sugar coat it.



The inserts of Romani culture, from new boyfriend Leaf, was amazing and if you liked this aspect of the book you should read her novel The Hollow Girl. Sara's boyfriend Leaf is a wonderful (if a tad unrealistic) boy that if I were a teen would be swoon-worthy.



Sara's friends are written beautifully and are very diverse. Speaking of diverse, I also wanted to touch on the fact Sara is half Hispanic and feels out of place in her own culture as she doesn't speak Spanish and her Swedish mother and grandmother (mormor - who is amazing!) raise her.



I am that girl. I am half Puerto Rican and don't speak Spanish and am constantly trying to figure out where I belong. It's hard when you want to connect to part of your heritage and don't know how. I (like many characters in this book) use food to do that. I cook meals my grandma taught me and look up Puerto Rican cuisine and food customs.



While I understand why the author brings back Jack- the baby daddy- I kind of wish she hadn't. It did bring in some ugly realism to the funny rom-com feel of the story.



This book was great, funny, quirky, full of fluffy feel-good nonsense with an underlying serious plot. I got a copy from NetGalley in return for an honest review and when I finished it I bought myself a copy to support the author. So go forth and read the funny fluff!

A diverse lighthearted story. A bit of a mash up of Juno and The Gilmore Girls. Sarah is smart and snarky with her future all planned out. But you know what they say about the best made plans... and getting pregnant the summer before her senior year by a stranger was not part of Sarah’s plans. Fortunately Sarah has an amazing support system around her. I do have to give major props to Sarah‘s mother and grandmother, not sure I would’ve handled the situation quite as well. I mean I’d be supportive, but probably after I lost my temper a few times. Sarah also had an amazing BFF in Devi. Seriously we all need a Devi in our lives.

Not only is Sarah pregnant, but she also has to start at a new school her senior year. Something that would not be easy even under the best of circumstances. Sarah is lucky enough however to find a diverse group of supportive friends at the new school as well. Even a boy named Leaf. This boy was so sweet, so kind, so supportive, and best of all he could cook! The only tiny problem I had with this book I thought things worked out a little too perfectly for Sarah. I know the girl got pregnant and she was going to have to deal with that, but... I thought it was all a bit sugarcoated, however they do say good things happen to good people and Sarah was truly a good person. Simply put this was a sweet diverse story filled with friendship, family, and love!7/10

*** many thanks to Harlequin/Inkyard Press for my copy of this book ***

Teenaged pregnancy is a fact of life.  Like it or not, it happens, which is why I picked up this book.  Being a mother to two teen girls - one 17 and other 19 - I thought it'd be an interesting read and I wasn't wrong.  

Sara is a breath of sarcastic fresh air.  Her voice is fresh and real, even in the moments when she's putting up a front because she's scared half to death.  She's also very mature, never once blaming her mistakes on anyone other than herself.  It helps that her mother was also a young, single parent, so she didn't risk the judgement that so many parents hand down to their kids in these situations.  Instead, Astrid encourages Sara to embrace the moment and live up to her potential, baby and all.  

Belly Up covers all the issues surrounding teen pregnancies, the realities you face, as well as how horrifying being pregnant can be.  Those were some of my favorite parts, I have to admit.  Sara turning into a bottomless pit once her morning sickness eases up.  All the bizarre changes in your body.  It was glorious how horrified she was, but hopeful in the way she took it all in stride.  

In addition to teen pregnancy, Belly Up also touches on issues of gender identity, sexual identity, and racism.  None of this is hit on too hard, but it is presented in a way that you take note of it.  I enjoyed the way Sara refused to call her unborn baby it and instead used genderless pronouns (them for the most part).  It was a different sort of way to handle the whole MY BABY'S NOT AN IT thing that I went through.  

Hands down, for me the best character was Leaf.  He's cute, he's sweet, he's this big teddy bear of a boy AND HE'S ROMANI.  Now, side note here: I fell in love with all things Romanian at a young age.  Why?  I'm not sure, but it probably had a lot to do with my Dracula obsession.  Anyway, since Romania has probably the largest population of Romani people, it was inevitable that I'd eventually fall in love with that culture as well.  Hearing that Leaf is Rom made my day.  Even more amazing was that the author actually took time to research the people themselves and dropped tidbits about their culture so that Sara could learn from Leaf about his heritage.  

The only thing that bugged me was the addition of this new trend of adding a question mark at the end of a statement.  Things like, "He's a jerk but I love him?".  I get where the intent comes from - you're making a statement you're not one hundred percent sure about.  Maybe I'm old, but it throws me off every time.  

Belly Up is the kind of book that bridges the gap between adults and young adults.  Although both of my kids are around the same age as Sara, I still thoroughly enjoyed her story.  Part of it might be because so many of my friends had babies in high school, but most of it is due to Sara herself.  She's fun, she's vibrant, and she has an amazing support group to help her through one of the toughest times of her life.  Being a teen mom isn't the end of the world by any stretch of the imagination.  The key is to surround yourself with the right people.  Good friends like Devi, Erin, and Morgan.  A great boyfriend like Leaf.  Never mind her amazing mom and grandmother.  An excellent book no matter your age.

Title: Belly Up
Author: Eva Darrows
Genre: YA
Rating: 4 out of 5

It’s bad enough Sara’s boyfriend cheated on her and she found out when she saw sexting pics on his phone. But now he and the other girl are flaunting it around town, when all Sara wants is to get through the summer and spend senior year with her best friend, Devi, and get into an Ivy League school. Surely a drunken hook-up at a party will at least take Sara’s mind off her problems.

Or not.

She forgot to get the guy’s number, and when she finds out she’s pregnant, well, things change. She and her mom move in with her grandmother, and instead of starting senior year with Devi, Sara is the new girl at a new school. She meets some new friends and Leaf, a Romani boy who really gets her, and whose flirting makes her happy. Except she’s also the pregnant new girl. She should probably tell Leaf about that, but she wants to hold on to her happiness for just a little longer.

Belly Up wasn’t quite what I expected. Sara is an amazing character, and her voice is so much fun. This is an incredibly diverse book, and friendship is a main theme, as is love (and not romantic love, either). This was a fun read about serious subjects, and I recommend it.

Eva Darrows/Hillary Monahan is a New York Times-bestselling author. Belly Up is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Harlequin TEEN/Inkyard Press via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.)

I wasn't sure what to expect going in, but I really enjoyed this book. I found it difficult to put down and really loved the characters. The plot was smart, and different. Sara was fantastically written. I genuinely think people will like and relate a lot to themes in this book. Would absolutely recommend to YA Contemp lovers.

I’m actually not sure how I felt about this book, I requested an advanced copy of this from Netgalley because it gave me such Gilmore Girls vibes. While some Gilmore Girls qualities do make their way into this book, and I loved how despite this being a teenage pregnancy book where everything could go wrong, the main character did sort of have a happy ending where she got the guy she was in love with and her daughter would end up with both parents even if they weren’t together. I loved the culture background and comedic aspects that Mormor included and the dynamics between mother and daughter buuuuut.. ALL the food talk and gender/labeling topics were a bit much. Like I get wanting to inform teens on the topic of gender is above and beyond important in this day and age, the constant references throughout the book felt lecture-y that it just sort of put me off it and a lot of points.

I definitely did enjoy this book, and I found the story both humorous and uplifting so despite some hiccups I’d say this was a great book to read for fans of Juno and Gilmore Girls.