Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to read this advance copy in return for an honest review.

I was super intrigued by the storyline of this book - a place designed just for surrogates for rich people. I had never read a book about this topic, and it was futuristic without being fantasy. The "hosts" stay at "the farm" (Golden Oaks) for the nine months they are pregnant. They are treated to healthy meals, spa treatments, and everything they need - as long as they follow the rules of the farm and of the "Clients". Reagan, Jane, and Lisa are all "hosts", and we get to read about their struggles and life. Ate is Jane's older cousin (too old to be a host, but a well-known baby nurse), and Mae is the boss of Golden Oaks, so we also get to read about them.

I thought this was a super interesting topic for a book, but it could have used just a little bit more. I enjoyed reading it, but I wish there was something else to it.

The farm is a place where women go to be surrogates for wealthy families. They are cared for with organic meals, the best exercise routines, and top notch medical care to protect the high profile babies they carry. Most of the “hosts” are immigrants that have chosen to be a host for the large delivery bonus when they give birth. Jane is no different, except that in order to come to the farm and be a host she had to leave her own baby behind with her cousin. When Jane and her cousin have an argument and her cousin stops answering her calls, Jane has to take matters into her own hands to check on the well being of her own child.

3.5 stars. I enjoyed this book, but something was missing. The story was interesting but I think it was just missing that extra umph to really pull it all together.

I was drawn into the world of the Farm from the first page. The characters were very well developed, complex and varied. I found it helpful that each chapter shifted to a different character because it helped me to better understand each character's background and point of view. The premise of a baby farm where surrogates can be monitored and managed was disturbing. The managers of the farm refer to the Host by their number which allows them to be depersonalized. Of upmost importance is the keeping the Clients happy as it good for business. Lisa was especially entertaining. I'm thankful for the epilogue which jumps forward in time telling what happened with two of the main characters after they delivered their Client's babies.

Women's bodies are a battleground-- a political battleground, a social battleground, a religious battleground. Bodies that are valuable and glorified at the same time that they are dispensable and interchangeable. They  are a commodity, for men, certainly. And for women, they  are a commodity, whether it's their own body or another woman's body.And that's what The Farm is about. Joanne Ramos has conjured up a world that will be familiar to anyone that has read Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. Except that at The Farm, women are compelled to give up their bodies as surrogate wombs with the promise of money and maybe some notion that they are helping another woman in need.It's a good story, with an interesting mix of characters to keep the plot moving along, enough to make me emotionally invested in the story.But don't expect the depth or complexity of The Handmaid's Tale. On the surface, this is a commentary on women's bodies and how they become weapons in a class war. Underneath, it's just your run-of-the-mill chick lit with on-trend hot button issues layered over it.   A good  beach read, but don't expect to arrive at any profound revelations.

Compelling and thought-provoking. I was sucked into these characters' stories from the start. Not the type of book I typically read, but I really enjoyed it.
The story follows Jane, and some other women who are surrogates at a retreat called "Golden Oaks", or "The Farm". Jane and the other surrogates at Golden Oaks are growing babies for rich families. At Golden Oaks, everything the pregnant women do is monitored, in order for their "clients'" babies to have a healthy start to their lives. Surrogates at the farm are not allowed to leave without special permission and must follow their contracts.
In The Farm, we hear the perspectives of several woman-some of the surrogates, their family members and Mae, the director/manager at the farm. I became engrossed in each of their stories, whether they were characters I liked or not. This is a must-read for women and mothers, as it makes a comment on the way that we are starting to think about childbirth as a business, and makes us question what should be able to be bought if you have lots of money.

Such a promising concept and a strong (albeit slow) start, but ultimately it fell flat for me. The characters were never fully fleshed out as real people with any depth, and the plot was maddeningly predictable. It felt like there was a really strong outline for the book and just a lack of success at filling in the detail to drive to the end (which was strange and unsatisfying). I did enjoy reading about a slice of the immigrant underclass in New York City as the nannies and baby nurses nurturing the city's most privileged spawn are not people who get the limelight too frequently.

I so, so wanted to like THE FARM by Joanna Ramos (5/7/19) but it just didn't work for me. The synopsis sounded great, like a modern day Handmaid's Tale, but I found the story dragged a lot, left a lot of loose ends, and even made me mad in some parts (and not for the right reasons). The story was all over the place and it really only took off about 80% through, but still didn't stick the landing.

It was certainly an interesting concept -- a high concept (a strange start-up that keeps woman who carry rich people's children to term) that seems like it could very easily be a real concept. It was also scary, and something that I hope never happens, but it also somewhat lets the terrible stuff the characters do completely off the hook? The ending left a bad taste in my mouth, and unfortunately the writing didn't save it for me either.

I wanted to love this one, but it was unfortunately a miss for me. I love dystopian fiction, especially stories reminiscent of Handmaids Tale, but I could not get into this one. The premise was good, but the story and characters fell flat. I made the decision to DNF at 60%

I have such mixed emotions writing this review. I keep wavering between 3 stars and 4 stars and finding it really difficult to land on a rating. Even 3.5 stars doesn't feel quite right.

The first 80% of this book was a solid 4 stars. It had the makings and potential of a show stopper, with a really unique concept. The idea of women being hired as surrogates and living together contractually at a remote establishment was something completely original. The women bond together over their experiences, their fears, their excitement, their frustration with the facility. And the story was written with what felt like this sinister underlying tone, which left me as the reader waiting for some crazy twist or reveal.

Unfortunately, the weird and suspicious stuff that the author alluded to didn't end up coming to fruition and the story took a completely different turn than what I was expecting. This was where things started to unravel and I didn't end up loving the ending. I felt like there were lots of questions left unanswered and the epilogue tried to tie everything together with a neat bow, but it ended up feeling forced and unrealistic in my opinion. And at that point, it started feeling more like a 3 star read for me.

So overall, I really loved the concept and enjoyed the main characters. I appreciated the multiple perspectives, and thought that format worked for this type of story. And there was so many great things happening and so much potential. But when all was said and done, it kind of flopped in the end.

I would still recommend this to many women. Joanne Ramos hits on some interesting content surrounding race and class which was thought provoking. And the topic of surrogacy... where the line is drawn between a surrogate making decisions that affect their body versus the client making decisions that affect their growing fetus... lots to consider here as well. I would read Joanne Ramos's work in the future.

-I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Joanne Ramos, and Random House Publishing for the opportunity to review.-

The Farm was a compelling story that had me glued to my kindle. The topic of pregnancy and motherhood is a hot topic with many areas that are branded as passé to discuss so I was happy that Joanne Ramos tackled them in The Farm. Now as a mom of lost I must disclaimer that this book maybe a bit of a trigger if you have experienced a pregnancy loss.
This book was compelling and the characters were written so well that I really felt something for all of them, weather it was empathy for their heartbreak, love for their hearts and even hatred. I felt an attached to everyone and their stories.
I look forward to reading more from Joanne Ramos!

I received a free e-copy of The Farm by Joanne Ramos from NetGalley for my honest review.

I was so excited to get a copy of this book. It sounded like it was going to be a good, thrilling, dystopian type of book. Unfortunately it fell flat for me.

The Farm is an interesting read about a resort for surrogate mothers of very wealthy clients. The book is told from the perspective of four different women. The first is the creator/president of The Farm, two others are surrogates, and the last one is a recruiter for the program.

You get to learn how the "farm" came to be, why surrogates have been selected, why the surrogates choose to be surrogates and information regarding who the clients are. You learn difficulties and struggles the surrogates go through. These women are drawn in by a big payout, and they agree to become surrogates for a variety of reasons. But there are rules they must follow. Each one of them conforming differently.

POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING FOR ABORTION/MISCARRIAGE

While this was not the post-apocalyptic book I was expecting, I thought it was a very readable book about a surrogacy “farm” told from 4 different perspectives: Jane, a poor immigrant surrogate with a young daughter at home; Ate, her older aunt who hustles and struggles to help herself, her family, and other immigrants around her; Raegan, a well off, white, Dartmouth grad who is most concerned with “doing the right thing”; and Mae, the operator of “The Farm” and this novels voice of the wealthy and in charge. I thought this book switched view points well and I was interested in all 4 people’s stories equally.

As a new mom, I enjoyed Janes short time as a baby nurse and could actually put myself in her position as she desperately tried to juggle all the things going wrong around her. While the stakes have never been as high for me, I was able to put myself in her shoes. When she joined The Farm, I was almost jealous that she would experience pregnancy with massages, work out classes, cashmere, and time to rest. But I enjoyed the mounting dread as the story progressed and we would see the dark side of what this job entailed. Although, it did seem that some of the darker things were buried. For instance, there was a minor character who was forced to abort when the baby had trisomy 21. I would have been very interested to hear more from that character and being put in that position. There was another part that bothered me. Trying to avoid spoilers, but there was something that almost happened to Raegan that could have been very unethical. It would have been interesting to see how it would have been handled with someone like her, whose father was very wealthy and could bring legal action and other consequences against “the Farm” versus someone like Jane, who would not have had as many options. So I guess I feel like this book dodged a few issues that would have been harder to deal with but would have made the book more interesting. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this read and wanted to see how everything would end.

Thank you to netgalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Compelling story! I was captivated and enthralled while reading. The author fully developed her characters in a way that I was engrossed in their story and felt like I knew them. The book brings up many issues mostly dealing with race, pregnancy, surrogacy, the American dream and the disparity between the poor and wealthy. The characters are relatable and I found myself thinking about this story and the issues presented long after I had finished.

Baby-making as a business is an interesting concept and one I don't think should be viewed as some futuristic notion, in fact, I think this novel is highly topical. This is not a dystopian novel. It only mirrors "Handmaid's Tale" in that women can be used and exploited for their reproductive capability. Imagine you are a wealthy business woman at the helm of your company. Pregnancy...labor and delivery....maternity leave....these are just things that would slow you down, put you at a disadvantage in a highly competitive world in which men do not have to consider these things. So why not farm it out? You want a family, you want your high profile career. All your wealthy friends have full-time and even live-in nannies. The wealthy and elite used to have wet nurses. Why not source the whole process out? And as the baby "farm", why not make huge profits providing women this type of service if they can afford it while providing surrogates an opportunity to receive large cash payouts they would never otherwise be able to earn? Win-win, right? This novel explores all of these questions and more. I found this novel unique and thought-provoking.

Though well written, this one did not grab me as I hoped it would. I must have expected something more intense than what the summary provided.

From the description of "The Farm", I expected a dystopian tale in the make of "The Handmaid's Tale." "The Farm" is a much more subtle and deeper expression of the same kinds of oppressive power structures, and one that could (without the hyperbole that goes along with someone saying the same about "The Handmaid's Tale") easily be occurring today without anyone knowing anything about it. The story is so believable, it's scary.

Ramos's writing is skillful and easy to read, and particularly evocative in many instances. When Jane found herself hurtling towards bad situations, for example, I found my stomach almost in knots and I had to rush through the pages to try to get it over with as quickly as possible, out of empathy for Jane. Ramos shifts between the various narrators in the book seamlessly, managing to make the reader understand their motivations (even when not entirely sympathetic).

In the end, the things that I liked best about the book may be also inextricably tied up with the things that I don't. It's a brutal, realistic, painful story in its juxtaposition of the immigrant workers that large cities like New York depend on (while simultaneously grinding them into the ground) with the high flying (literally, often, via helicopter), generally white, privileged classes. Ramos skillfully tells the story of the former, but the ultimate message of the book, and most particularly its ending, remind us that the cycle is incredibly hard to break. The rewarded often continue to get rewarded, while the people striving and pushing often find themselves sliding backwards and needing to strive and push even harder to even get back what little progress they were able to make and then lost. I only hoped to see a little something different for Jane -- but perhaps that is indeed what she gets in the end. After all, her life doesn't have to look like a millionaire's to be a good life.

Ultimately, I did enjoy this read, and I'm looking forward to more from Ramos in the future. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advanced reader copy.

Thank you Net Galley for providing me an advance reader copy for an honest review. This book had so much promise when I read the synopsis. However it falls short in execution. The topic of race disparity is clearly covered but the story itself and the idea of the farm was not executed as well. The characters fell flat and I was ready for it to be over before it was.

I requested this book due to the synopsis. When I began reading, I just couldn't interest myself in Amy of the characters or the plot. This book just wasn't for me.

This is a so-so story about a baby-making farm. Surrogates are paid to carry the babies of rich people. They must reside at Golden Oaks during the entire time, living under strict supervision and multiple rules. The story follows 3 pregnant women, their supervisor, and some relatives. Issues of race, wealth, immigration, and morality all arise. The premise is interesting but the execution does not hold up. Thanks to NetGalley for providing a preprint.

The Farm is not quite what I expected it to be. Based on the cover, and the very brief blurb I saw before reading, I assumed we were jumping into a dystopian future of procreative misery. The true plot is almost worse- it focuses on a young woman (well, a set of them) who run or are surrogates for a surrogacy farm. The novel brings up issues of race and class, as well as hints at the whys and hows of a market for babies. However, I'm not sure it fully lived up the promise of what it foretold at the start. The reader becomes somewhat invested in the first character we meet, Jane, and the strange circumstances that land her as a young mother-turned-surrogate. The other female characters represent various archetypes, and although the novel dances around serious issues, it does not pose any easy answers. Or, frankly, maybe any answers at all. Without spoilers, I can say I was worried throughout based on the tone that more dangerous or miserable things were afoot, but I needn't have been bothered - the reality isn't pleasant, but it felt very real and almost disturbingly realistic and commonplace.

Not a hit for me, but I think it's still worth a read. The style of the prose is quite good, despite my misgivings over the author's goal or how well she accomplished it. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC in return for this unbiased (and honest!) review.