A Million Reasons Why really made me second guess ever doing a DNA test! But it solidified my opinion of wanting to be an organ donor. Caroline and Sela were thrown into a crazy predicament and I feel like the author made their relationship very realistic- curious but wary. There were a few twists along the way I never suspected but it did feel true to the story. I am glad mental health was discussed. The more we can discuss the less stigmatized people will feel. Perhaps a sequel explaining how difficult getting thru transplant surgery can be!

What fascinated me about this newest book by Jessica Strawser was that the story revolved around a DNA test. These tests have proven to be groundbreaking in solving crimes and proving genealogical lineage. But they have also opened a pandora’s box of secrets for some families.

In this story, Caroline’s husband gifts the family with DNA tests for Christmas. Caroline thought is was a bit odd, but she knew he meant well, and the entire family participated. Some time later, Caroline gets a notification of a close relative. It turns out she has a half sister.

Once the secret is out, her parents have a huge marital blowup. Caroline, caught in the middle, is also fascinated to learn she has a sister. She has always wanted a sister. She arranges for them to meet and they make a connection. Sela, her newly found sister, is a single mother and has no other family. Caroline is sensitive to her situation. Then Sela drops a sobering bombshell on the family that threatens to ruin their new relationship and causes Caroline to wonder if Vela’s feelings for her are sincere. Not only that, they find out Sela has a huge secret regarding her recent past that threatens everything going forward.

I liked this, but the big twist near the end definitely grabbed my attention. Readers who love family drama and contemporary fiction will enjoy this book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read an advance copy and give my honest review.

One of the things I really enjoy in a book is character development - why they do what they do, how they feel, what makes them tick, etc. This is VERY much the case in this book, the characters and their interactions/relationships take center stage, and it is really not a plot/suspense based book.

I really enjoyed the unraveling of the past as Sela and Caroline find out about each other, and get to know one another. There a number of twists and surprises that I learned throughout the course of the story; I liked that I didn’t see them coming!

Another solid story from Jessica Strawser - bravo!

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

This is the story of a family who finds out by DNA tests that there is another person born of the father and a friend of the mother. Their only child, a daughter, wants to meet this other daughter. She's always wanted a sister. What she gets is so much more.

Check on us #readerfriends we are not@ok 😭 #netgalley #amillionreasonswhy #stmartinspress #jessicastrawser talk about a #bookhangover #if you need a good cry. To feel ALL the feels. This is THE book you want. Imagine gifting silly #ancestrydna kits to the family for #christmas now imagine the results returning and #surprise you have a sister 😱 this beautiful story that unfolds is absolutely magical and will make you think. #netgalleyreview #organdonationsaveslives #organawareness #donate #bookstagrammer #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #readersofig #bookrecommendations out the 23rd of March.

A beautifully written and completely heartfelt story of two sisters who connected as a result of mail-in DNA tests. Finding out the existence of the other turns both of their worlds completely upside-down. Sela has significant health problems and is need of a kidney, Caroline learns of her father's infidelity and the lengths her mother went to protect their marriage. Highlights for me are the complex questions it raises about our health care system and organ donation.

Perfect for fans of character driven stories. Book clubs will devour it!

This book was a deep, emotional journey. Both Sela and Caroline felt so vulnerable, real, and raw. I’m still processing that twist and everything that happened, but this was a fantastic book. An excellent option for discussion and deep conversation.

2.5 stars

I thought I'd love this book, but it didn't hit the mark for me. First off, there was too much narration and not enough dialogue to move things along. There were also some subplots that really weren't necessary and just bogged things down a bit. The characters were okay, for parts of the book, but they were a bit annoying at other times. The premise was interesting, but things just didn't quite come together for me overall.

I really thought this book was going to be a hit for me but the writing style just didn't suit me. I enjoy a dialogue-heavy book and that is not this. The plot itself is interesting but I felt like I had to pull myself to read it. So if you enjoy dialogue-light books, this is for you.

After Caroline’s husband buys the family DNA test for Christmas, they move on and forget their results. That is, until Caroline receives an email from a newly matched, long lost half-sister, Sela.

Caroline learns her parents are keeping a lot of secrets and needs to figure out how to navigate life after this complete bomb was dropped on her. But it only gets crazier. Sela is in need of a donor for a kidney transplant.

There were a lot of details to keep up with in this book. The author kept me on my toes, sliding hints and clues at whats to come along the way.

The only complaint I have is that some of the sub-plots seemed unnecessary. I’ve missed the point of including Keaton entirely. I also didn’t fully understand the agreement that Walt and Caroline had to... not fall in love?

This wasn’t my favorite book but the twists and turns throughout kept my attention well enough.

3.5 stars

In her fourth novel, author Jessica Strawser takes on the recently trend of mail-in DNA tests, which, in this story, becomes the catalyst that brings together two half-sisters who previously didn’t know each other existed. Caroline lives a happy but busy life with her husband and three kids as well as an extended family of parents and in-laws who dote on her. One year for Christmas, her husband Walt jokingly buys the entire family DNA test kits as gifts — not thinking anything of it, Caroline submits her test and is shocked to find out that she actually has a half-sister, born of the same father. Sela is an artist who lives a less-than-happy existence — in the face of a devastating health diagnosis a few years ago that caused her son to be born premature and her marriage to crumble under the constant stress of their situation, Sela also must grieve the death of her mother (who was also her best friend and fiercest supporter). In an act of desperation when her illness progresses to the point that it requires her to get a kidney transplant in order to live, Sela is driven to reach out to her long-lost half-sister Caroline for help. Suddenly, Caroline’s perfect life is upended as one secret after another comes to light, leading her to question what she thought she knew about her family.

Having read Jessica Strawser’s three previous works in addition to this one, I have to say that I still like her debut (Almost Missed You) the most. While all her novels so far have been enjoyable and engaging to the point that, at the moment I pick them up, they keep me wanting to continue reading — however, for some reason, her novels lack the memorability factor in that neither the stories nor the characters stay with me for long. With that said, I did end up liking this book — her fourth novel and newest release — more than her previous two, mostly because I felt there was a depth to her characters this time around that I didn’t really see with her other works. I like the way Strawser presented the relationship between Caroline and Sela — half-sisters who can’t help being drawn to each other, yet at the same time, understanding the precarious nature of what they have. I feel like the portrayal of their relationship — the various nuances that existed and the challenges that needed to be overcome — was the strongest aspect of the entire story. I mention this because the story overall was the “slow burn” type where I felt like some parts of the plot dragged a bit. Also, some sections of dialogue — specifically some of the scenes where the characters “reminisce” about the past — seemed unnecessary to me and bogged down the story rather than moved it along. In addition, I did feel that some parts of the plot were a bit melodramatic, especially as it pertained to Sela and her situation, but that might just be me.

I also continue to have the same issue with this book that I had with Strawser’s previous two books — namely that they are being categorized as “suspense” or “thriller” when in reality, they should go more appropriately into the contemporary fiction category. The main reason is that I feel like the story as written lacks the suspenseful atmosphere that I expect from works in the genre. With this book in particular— while there were indeed a few “surprise” elements in the story, none of them were “jaw-dropping twists” that brought me to the edge of my seat or elicited a strong reaction from me in the vein of what I would feel reading an actual suspense / thriller novel.

A few issues notwithstanding, this was still a good story overall and I continue to look forward to Strawser’s next novel.

Received ARC from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley.

I like how this book touches several topics at once - after doing a DNA test Caroline discovers a lot of lies in her past, including a half sibling she never heard of. But when she digs to find out why that sibling did the DNA test in the first place she finds herself even more tangled in the new sibling life. Other topics emerge from the discovery (can't tell them all without accidental spoilers), but basically I liked how the author stacked all together in one narrative.

A Million Reasons Why by Jessica Strawser is a story full of conundrums which felt like it was ripped from a newspaper headline. In this respect it reminded me of how Jodi Picoult writes about current, gripping headlines.

In this particular novel the topic is DNA testing. There is so much going on in this story. The reader can’t help but asking themselves what would I do? How would I handle this? DNA testing has become such a rich valley full of ideas. There have been ethnic backgrounds discovered, crimes which were solved and heretofore unknown family discovered. So many personal and life changing dilemmas which make for a very interesting read.

There are some books which make writing a review a challenge since even a hint would bring a huge spoiler alert. I will say there is so much depth to this story than you could ever possibly imagine. Could you do the “big ask” of a stranger?

Ms. Strawser’s writing is wonderful. I read this book in one day. The story drags you in and keeps drawing you in until you reach the last page.

While this is my first Jessica Strawser novel I know it will not be my last. Very well done.

Thank you Jessica Strawser, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I always love a good family drama and I'm generally drawn to medical dramas, so when I read the synopsis for A Million Reasons Why and saw that it had BOTH of these elements, I knew it was sure to be a hit for me!! And let me tell you, it did not disappoint.

Caroline is a mother to three young kids, wife to an empathetic and supportive husband, and a successful career woman. When her husband Walt gifts the entire family DNA Ancestry kits for Christmas, she's on board thinking it could be fun to learn a bit about their history. What she didn't expect was a message from an alleged half sister, suggesting that her doting and wonderful father wasn't exactly the husband and family man she had believed him to be.

Sela is a woman in her mid-thirties suffering from kidney failure. When she was pregnant with Brody, her kidneys started to fail and led to Brody being born prematurely and Sela's kidneys failing at a rapid rate. Determined to live past Brody's second birthday, Sela decides to do a DNA Ancestry test and see if there's any extended family with whom she can connect to identify a possible donor. Never knowing her father, she knew it was a possibility. When a match for a half sister pops up, Sela knows she needs to reach out and make "the big ask."

But asking a stranger is one thing, asking a family another. But what position does it put her in to ask a stranger that is family?

As Sela struggles to come to terms with needing to ask for the biggest favor / sacrifice from a woman with whom she's trying to develop a relationship, Caroline is grappling her own problems. Her mother and father are in denial about Sela and have decided to pretend she doesn't exist, leaving Caroline to deal with the consequences of her father's affair on her own.

Dredging up the past ends up being a dangerous game for them all. Not only are relationships at risk, but even Sela's life hangs in the balance.

Told from Sela's and Caroline's viewpoints, it was easy to get completely absorbed in Caroline's family drama and Sela's plight to find a donor. I thought Strawser did an incredible job with the character development and I could really feel Sela's inner turmoil over having to not only broach her illness with her newly found sibling, but also ask her to be tested as a donor. I could also empathize with Caroline who was struggling with the aftermath of finding out she wasn't an only child and discovering that much of her life had been a lie manufactured by her parents.

This was an emotional and gut wrenching story. It shed a lot of light on the donor and recipient process and felt well researched and authentic. The relationships were unique and occasionally felt odd, but they really worked well for the storyline. I also loved that there were related side plots scattered throughout the book - for example, Caroline's ex-boyfriend Keaton and Sela's relationship with her "ex" husband. It added layers to the story that helped deepen my connection to the characters and understand their decision making more.

This was a five star read all the way through for me. However, I had to drop off a star for the very end. The epilogue included a piece to the story that felt implausible and honestly, completely unnecessary. It really did end up taking away from the feeling of the story for me, so it was enough to make this end up a four star read.

Definitely still one I would highly recommend and I am excited to read more of Strawser's work and more novels about the donor/recipient process (I was particularly intrigued by donor swaps and would love to read a book with that in the plot line!!).

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for a copy of this wonderful novel.

5 stars / This review will be posted at BookwormishMe.com today.



What if you took an at-home DNA test just for fun and suddenly discovered you had an unknown sibling? More and more often this actual event is happening all over the world. Jessica Strawser artfully conveys the story of Caroline, whose birth family was picture perfect. Parents that whispered through arguments. Who doted on her and gave her everything she needed. Now Caroline has that same “perfect” marriage to Walt and three beautiful children.

Then there’s Sela. Raised by a single mom in an artist’s community in North Carolina. Sela who gave birth to a son from a short-lived marriage. Sela who suddenly found herself being diagnosed with a disease that would likely end her life without an organ donation. Her only hope might be an at-home DNA test. When Sela finds Caroline, everyone’s worlds are turned upside down.

For me this book really hit home, because I found my birth family through an at-home DNA test. Most people take these tests for genealogical reasons. Find out where their ancestors are from. Learn some family history. But for some of us, it’s medical reasons that lead us to get tested. In this book each woman has a different reason. The way that they are brought together and the turmoil that ensues due to a simple spit test was a can’t put down read. When you have no family, biological or otherwise, finding that connection is earth-shattering. Strawser’s ability to show us all sides of this issue made for a great book.

I previously read and enjoyed another book by Strawser, so I was delighted to receive this book to review.

This is the story of Caroline and Sela - half sisters found through a mail-in DNA test. The premise sounded amazing as I have also used these DNA tests to try and find my half-brother! Count me in!

The characters all became very annoying pretty quickly and, although I was hoping they'd somehow get it together and learn how to live with this big secret, the secrets just kept on coming. It ended up becoming so much drama with so many added outside factors (Keaton, who seems so unnecessary) that the story became convoluted and unbelievable. It was loaded with "what-ifs."

I actually just think the book just had too many details when it really just needed to be simplified. Keep the story about what it is - family finding each other, and the consequences and actions that arise from that situation.

Unfortunately, this book was just not for me. It took me four weeks to get to the half-way point, and by then, I was already so over the story and characters that I decided it was best if I just stopped. I couldn't finish it. I will not be posting this review on my Instagram or goodreads since I didn't finish and don't want to prevent sales. I will still promote the book on the day it publishes.

I really enjoyed the character of Caroline. She is faced with so many revealed secrets in the story. The issues she faces with meeting her sister are unimaginable. It made me ask What If so many times during the book? The book moves quickly and was well plotted. The change of viewpoint between Caroline and Sela was well done. It helped fill in some of the missing pieces. The twist near the end truly surprised me. I liked the characters and proved that there are so many sides to a person and that we rarely know more than a small portion of them. The story was done well and is definitely one that I will remember. I received a copy from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Loved it! Absolutely my new favorite book of hers! I couldn’t put it down and when I did I had to grab it again to see what was going to happen next! So good!!

Caroline does a DNA test on a whim--as do her parents--as part of a Christmas gift. Little does she expect the results she receives: she has a half sister she had no idea about. As for that half-sister, Sela, she does the test looking for family. Now that her mother has passed away, Sela wants to know more--and her friends and husband, from whom she's separated--want her to find a possible donor. Because Sela suffers from chronic kidney disease, and she's going through the stages, fast. The test results overwhelm Caroline's once perfect family, angering and estranging her parents, and putting distance between her and her husband, Walt. But she reaches out to Sela nonetheless, finding surprising comfort in her newfound sister. Sela's life revolves around her two-year-old son, but she could see herself making room for Caroline. And Caroline suddenly finds herself with a new definition of family. What does it all mean--and will Sela live long enough for the two to get to know one another?

"This simply could not be true. It would mean Dad had somehow fathered another woman's child while he was a newlywed."

This was a really interesting, dramatic book that made me think-- a lot. I found it stressful at times, as I was worried for Sela and her health, worried about the burden Caroline was taking on, and more. I suppose it's the sign of a good read if the book creates tension and makes you feel for the characters.

"Caroline couldn't deflect the feeling that a stray cat had been let out of a bag that may or may not have been delivered by mistake."

This was a little slow at times--it rehashes things a bit much, with Caroline waffling over whether she wants to get to know Sela and Sela waffling over whether she wants Caroline her life. We go over and over about Caroline and Walt's relationship and more. There's a lot of drama. The theatrics between the sisters made sense (and honestly, they were the most likeable characters in the book), but the parents were insane at times. I won't go into it too much due to spoilers, but Caroline's parents were very hard to like, making ridiculous demands, and even her husband, who was attempting to be "protective," was a bit much.

Still, this book made me ponder a lot about "found" family and organ donation. It's emotional and sad. Some parts were a little over the top, but I found it intriguing and thoughtful. 3.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I have always enjoyed the author's books, and this one was equally liked.

Caroline has always lived a happy life, now married with 3 kids. What she doesn't know is that her dad fathered another daughter....and she finds this out by taking a DNA test and when the results come back....her close knit family as she knew it, starts falling apart.

Sela has always known that she had a half sister out there. She never thought she would have to seek her out, but she needs Caroline...to literally save her life.

Told from both sister's POV, this is a woven story that is beautifully crafted...with a twist at the end!

Would def recommend!