Belly Up by Eva Darrow is a worthwhile read about teen pregnancy, with a healthy dose of charm, and told by a very candid narrator. Sara doesn't hold back - not about her one-time, one-night stand with the cutie pie owner of a big truck, or the realities of living in a house filled with three generations of women. She's a likable character, and she's surrounded by a cast of likeable friends from all walks of life.

The portrayal of pregnancy is pretty spot on, though maybe the reader could live with fewer cheeseburger descriptions, it's significant that the gross aspects of brewing life were not neglected. More importantly, her pregnancy if framed within the network of a caring family, one willing to ensure security and success for eachother. That's why the book is charming; it bears a great message about persistence, dedication, and self-worth. While Sara is not the greatest YA character ever written; she's a bit too perfect with her exceptional grades, humble confidence, and her wisdom beyond her years, she clearly demonstrates to the audience the importance self acceptance, and self forgiveness. She erred, she accepted, she moved on and made something of it.

The story may hit a slow spot in the second trimester, but it's worth hanging in there for the ending.

I'll be taking this one to school visits in the spring knowing it will appear on a few summer reading logs.

I loved this book. I was actually not sure if this was going to be my cup of tea when I saw a lot of reviews mentioning it had a Juno-esque type feel to it. I hated that movie, but luckily this book was way more serious then that. There was plenty of snarky humor and I loved the real world problems and relationships.

This book is so, so good. I could not put it down, and it was every bit as funny and memorable and compelling as I could have hoped. This book is diversity done right. It wasn't forced or awkward, and I haven't read many books that have been able to do that. The characters in this book were all just so perfectly imperfect. I loved all of them, from the sassy Mormor, to the gentle giant Leaf. I loved the writing and I am so glad that I got to read this.

I gave this book 3 stars. While I do love absolutely love the relationship between the 3 women I have a problem with almost everything else. They aren't really distinct characters. They all speak the same and use the same words. Even the drs and friends speak the same. I had a huge problem with that part. I'm all for trying to keep it relatable but this one tried to hard.

I cannot say enough how much I enjoyed this book. My intentions were to read it closer to it's pub date, but I started it and I couldn't stop. Such a remarkable and heartfelt story with humor and honesty spread throughout. Teenage pregnancies happen, but it doesn't mean life is ruined. Support of loved ones makes all the difference in the world.

Sara continues the cycle of the women in her family by becoming pregnant young. Sara becomes pregnant in the summer before junior. She is moving with her mother across town to live with her grandmother, who is aging quickly and needs the support of her daughter and granddaughter. These three generations of women learn that they will need to lean on each other to for the newest arrival. Sara intends to keep and raise the child. Her pregnancy was the result of a one-night-stand, so she is unable to inform the father or expect his support. Sara counts on the strong bond she has with her best friend Devi and the new friends she has made at her new school. Sara meets Leaf, a Romani, whose ideas of family create space for Sara to raise her child while also potentially finding a romantic connection with him.

The characters in this novel were extremely quirky, but fun and interesting. Sara’s grandmother is Scandinavian and Leaf is Romani, each brings a view into a culture that is not typically talked about in YA novels. I love that Sara’s grandmother is a shoe throwing ninja and that she can be strong and loving within the same breath. I appreciate that Sara knows her wants and needs, is able to verbalize and truly take a responsible path. It is about bumping around in the dark and figuring things out. Sara is given more agency that most teen mothers in YA novels. While her story isn’t true of every experience, it does shine a light on an experience that isn’t typically explored.

Belly Up follows the story of Serendipity (Sara) and her journey into motherhood -- before high school graduation. Even though she's in a precarious and confusing situation, she is the type of character that can get through anything with a quick quip and a couple of cheeseburgers.

Not only is Sara the kind of teen that you would want to be friends with, she also has a crew of old and new besties that make her life much more colorful, including her wisecracking mother and her shoe-throwing grandma.

Although this is a book about an unexpected teen pregnancy, it is a book that almost anyone could enjoy because even when she's scared and unsure, Sara has a good head on her shoulders and friends to back her up through anything.

This book was very different than what I was expecting.

With that in mind, I did DNF it after about halfway maybe just under or just over, I couldn't seem to get into this story as much as I wanted to. The premise was great, it just wasn't written in a style that I could get into.

I would still recommend this but perhaps to a younger audience than myself. My Main piece of criticism is that the narration wasn't as good as I think it could have been. This book had so much potential to be amazing.

This book does a great job of explaining what it is like to get pregnant at a young age, unexpectedly, and without support. I received this arc right after my best friend found out she was unexpectedly pregnant. Belly Up had a lot of emotions and events that have since happened to my best friend. I think that if I would ever have a student tell me they were pregnant, I would suggest this book because I feel like it can help to read about someone in a similar situation.

Belly Up is a virtual smorgasbord of representation with the author adding everything but the kitchen sink into one story. You have every demographic represented within a short number of pages: Asexuality (ace), trans (MTF), bisexuality, demisexual, and queer in one or more of the main characters, as well as race/nationality: Jewish, biracial, Swedish (mentioned a lot). I am not sure if the author is trying to use this book as a teaching book, but sometimes it felt forced and preachy instead of casual and realistic. I find books more enjoyable when the characters are who they are without having to explain it or preach it (Christina Lauren's Autoboyography and Becky Albertalli"s Simon vs the Homosapien Agenda come to mind here). That being said, if I take my comfortability out of it, the author does a great job dealing with heavy topics. Other reviews kept referring to this book as a positive or negative Juno comparison. I am not sure why every book with a pregnant teen needs a Juno comparison, but this book is not Juno. The character has to navigate school, relationships, family, consequences, and a future with or without a baby, and it morphs into a story that is a fast-paced read with a satisfying ending. Expect mixed reviews on the love it or hate it as it seems to trigger strong responses in either camp. Overall I enjoyed the book, a first for me by this author.

I received an advanced copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Eva Darrows (aka Hillary Monahan) never disappoints. I love her writing, and I loved this story. Will definitely be adding this to my library's shelves.

I received Belly Up by Eva Darrows as an ARC from NetGalley. Belly Up tells the story of Sara who gets pregnant her senior year after having sex for the first time with a stranger. The characters in the book are very quirky and interesting and I enjoyed the story. The one thing I disliked about the book was that everything went so easy for Sara with her pregnancy which is not very realistic for a teen pregnancy.

3.5 Love the snarky, funny side of this author. This book also has a lot of great diverse rep via various LGBTQ+ and racially diverse characters, religious beliefs, inter-generational relationships, and a MC who is already thinking about how her baby's gender may be different later in life than at birth.

Belly Up is a cute story that I received an ARC of from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I haven't read many YA books that are told from the perspective of a teen mom, which is why I was really excited to get a copy of this book. The story starts of with Sara going to a party and drunkenly hooking up with a guy. I think Sara's character starts off really strong. I found her relatable and likable. I also liked this book's discussion of birth control, gender and sexuality.  I never found it preachy either. 

I really enjoyed watching Sara's romance develop with Leaf. He was such a well written character, and it was super cool to learn about Romani traditions through him. There is no toxic masculinity in Leaf and I just loved him.

The story itself was okay.  I felt like the author could have made it a little clearer why Sara decided to go ahead with her pregnancy. To me it felt sort of like she just went with the flow and did what she felt like her mother and grandmother thought she should do. At the same time I did enjoy both of the women in Sara's life. I don't feel like her mother was pushy in any way, and I loved how the two of them supported each other.  The plot felt a little lacking overall though, maybe it's just me but I felt like the subject of teen pregnancy should have been dealt with a more serious tone. This book just felt too breezy. 

In the end I gave this book 3 stars on Goodreads.

This wasn't the best book I've ever read but I still enjoyed it. I like how it felt relatable and the characters seemed down to earth. It was a quick enjoyable read.

I'm of two minds about this book. On the one hand, the message that teenagers who become pregnant have options, and that those options can be positive and lead to happy, fulfilling lives, is important and certainly comforting. But on the other, Sara's particular story felt somewhat frictionless. The particular circumstance of her pregnancy might be less than ideal, but nearly every other element - a supportive mother and supportive although ornery grandmother, a safe, consistent, and free living situation, a ride-or-die best friend, an almost unrealistically perfect boyfriend, interested and enlightened new friends - seemed to make the narrative sedate. Even the reintroduction of the baby's father and his family, or the jealousy about her friends' and classmates' college plans did not seem particularly emotionally engaged.

Sara is a well-written and interesting character, and the writing flows well for the most part (although I frequently bumped on the little info dumps which stud the text). But there's something of a checklist feel to the story, and I did find myself wondering whether things would be a bit more compelling if the book had been about one of the other teen mothers introduced in the brief support group scene.

I was first attracted to this book because I am always interested in media portrayals of teen pregnancy, In fact it's a topic I'm so passionate about I wrote my final paper in college English Lit on the subject.

Whenever I start any fiction book about pregnancy, I am particularly interested on how experienced the author is with the topic and how accurately they write about it. As a 3 time pregnant mom, doula, and childbirth educator I catch when things don't make sense. So I was very happy that the pregnancy facts and experiences in Belly Up are very accurate to real life and pregnancy.

The second thing I really enjoyed about this book were Sara's struggles with self-identity as a biracial person growing up in a predominantly white area. I myself am white/hispanic mixed and also grew up in New England so many of her thoughts and experiences rang true for me. It's a struggle that not many people understand since unfortunately we still lack a vast mixed population in this country.

This book also addresses all spectrums of gender and sextual identification. I have spent the last 11 years living in the conservative deep south so these topics aren't the daily norm for me. But when I graduated in 2006 in NH, things were much more progressive than they are even now here. So the way these topics were handled made sense for the area and setting in 2019.

Overall I really enjoyed Belly Up and plan to look for more from Eva Darrows.

I was so pleasantly surprised by this book! I'm not a huge fan of most contemporary but I found this to be such a refreshing read. Once I started reading I couldn't stop. Sara's voice is so funny and unique and her interactions with other characters, especially her family, were wonderful. I loved the Larssen clan--each woman had great characterization and flare that added a lot to the story.
My only issue with this book was Leaf. He seemed a bit too flawless and accepting and it would have been nice to see him be a bit more dynamic in moments. In general, a lot of the teen side characters weren't developed as much as they could have been. Still, the cast was very diverse in terms of sexuality and gender identity which was delightful, and I did cry a bit at the end. Overall a quick and charming novel.

This was a good book. There is an important message (not about pregnancy in general; about people's attitudes, belonging and not belonging, stereotypes, prejudice, etc.) All good themes. I would say they were given justice.

So, why this less than stellar rating? I guess the book didn't hold my attention. It started out strong but it lost me in the middle. This is not so much of a critique of the book; in this case, I do think it's more about me.

What I'm trying to say is: I rate this book 3 stars for my personal enjoyment, but it feel it objectively deserves more. I do recommend it.

I was really hoping for a great story, but there was such a focus on gender, that the actual story was lost. If it is really important, mention it once, maybe twice. This wasn't really a novel, more of a soap box for the author to state her thoughts on gender. There really just wasn't a whole lot of actual story to review.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Author: Eva Darrows
Publisher: Harlequin TEEN (US & Canada) and Inkyard Press
Publication Date: 30 Apr 2019