A Million Reasons Why by Jessica Strawser. While thought provoking with an interest premise, the story did not draw me in. The pace was slow. The characters were well defined. A well written book, just not for me.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

There have been a lot of books written with the plot of someone finding family that they didn’t know they had via a mail in DNA test kit. This may be the best one yet !
Do not miss this book!

Quite possibly the best read of 2020! I devoured it in one day. I’ll be honest, I kept looking at the percentage/hours of the book left on my Kindle and many times consciously decided to put the book down in an effort to stretch out such a fantastic read. The mini-breaks from the book today also gave me time to digest what I’d just read. You need this thought-provoking, deeply emotional read. Really. Put March 23, 2021, on your calendar; you won’t want to miss this publication.

Caroline’s world is turned upside down when she receives the results of a DNA testing kit her husband, Walt, unwittingly gifted at Christmas. (Come on, you’ve been curious about those commercials for Ancestry.ca, haven’t you?) Caroline, an only child, soon finds herself embroiled in a difficult family situation and has to tread lightly if she’s going to find answers. You see, she’s just opened an email from someone claiming to be her half-sister! Putting fear and uncertainty aside, Caroline reaches out to Sela and soon finds they both have an opportunity to gain something from the relationship. It’s not without its struggles and forging that sibling bond takes work – work that’s made even more difficult when Caroline learns of family manipulation and infidelity.

Sela has one last chance before dialysis. A last chance to find a familial match for a kidney transplant. A last chance for 'The Big Ask'. Since her pregnancy, Sela’s kidney failure has worsened and she’s running out of options. She’s already experienced so much loss in such a short time. Pursuing a relationship with her half-sister will undoubtedly cause problems for Caroline and Sela can’t risk anything going wrong.

What constitutes a family? What obligations do we have to those we love? What secrets are unforgivable? Jessica Strawser shows us through her expertly crafted storyline, with multiple plot twists, that there are no easy answers. This author has been writing for most of her life and it shows; the alternating chapters with different perspectives flow seamlessly. You’ll care deeply about her characters as they face these moral dilemmas and you’ll appreciate an absolutely great read that will make time stand still.

Thank you Jessica Strawser, Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this wonderful gift of an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Well-developed characters, an absorbing plot, and thought provoking.

What do you do when your DNA kit finds a sibling you never knew? Isn't that something you should be prepared for when using one of those test?

There are consequences to every action and this consequence leads the family on a wild, uncomfortable, unpredictable ride.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. It was definitely thought provoking. It made you really think about how you would react if you were in these situations. It was a good read if you enjoy stories about family dynamics and how events cause them to change. The big twist was slightly predictable but overall this was a strong book.

I love this author! This is a great story, with great character development and lots of plot twists. Carolina and Sela- 1/2 sisters not known to each other until a DNA test. Love reading how the results effect their lives. Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the opportunity to read the advance copy.

This is one of 2021's most anticipated novels, a beautifully written family drama by Jessica Strawser that I couldn't wait to pick up when I got the email from Netgalley! This would make an excellent book club book choice with so much to unpack and discuss.
Caroline submitted her DNA sample to an ancestry site; the whole family got one as a gift and submitted together. But she is caught totally by surprise when the sample uncovers a woman name Sela is her biological sister! This revelation blindsides her and shocks her to the core. But there's more, Sela needs a kidney transplant, and since their related....what a favor to ask of a complete stranger...who also is your blood relative!
The dilemmas don't stop there. Every character has decisions to make. Everyone has an opinion. The revelations just won't stop and I didn't want them to! I don't want to spoil a thing- you won't see the twists and turns coming. What an emotional and wonderful novel!
Thanks to Netgalley, Jessica Strawser and the publisher for this rollercoaster of emotion!

The layers of complex character motivation and gut-wrenching betrayals in this book are beautifully crafted. They culminate in a series of shocking twists that will have you reconsidering the meaning of family, love, and forgiveness. Jessica Strawser at her finest.

Organ transplants come with enough questions and decisions to be made. Add in the bombshell of finding out you have a half sister and you’ve definitely got an interesting story! This is such a heartfelt and wonderfully complex story. Highly recommend!

I drifted out of my typical literary fiction genre to give Jessica Strawser's work a try, and I loved it. She explores the very real dangers of DNA testing and puts readers through the emotional ringer. Writing around an engaging "What if?" she leads us up and down the complex dynamics of what it means to be "family." Well crafted and engaging. I'll read more of this author's work.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC ecopy for my Kindle!
I've read all of Jessica Strawser's books, but this one is my favorite.
The story of family and deception is only the beginning of this great story. The only thing I didn't like about the book was that it ended too soon!
An easy read and a complete engulfing story for me.

As a genetic genealogist, I was interested in this book from the very first description. What I didn’t realize was how quickly it would suck me in. I’m finishing this book at almost 1 AM on a random weekday when I should be sleeping. It’s just too good to put down. There’s so many twists and turns that I did not see coming. I’m looking forward to purchasing this book in physical copy, and I am thankful to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review it. This has reinforced my wish to be a living donor.

Jessica Strawser's A Million Reasons Why/Too Much to Ask is a page turning conundrum with a complicated ending. Fans of Jodi Picoult will appreciate how Strawser presents the dilemma with multiple views of what is the right thing to do and then lets the story unfold. Caroline and Sela find each other later in life and must define their relationship as well as their responsibility to each other. It's complicated. Each must decide how to proceed when life deals them a shock. Characters' shallow sides as well as their developed feelings add to the story's unfolding drama. Readers will find it easy to put themselves in any of the character's shoes and try to figure out what to do. This will be an easy pick for book clubs given there is so much to discuss.

This was the first book that I have read by Jessica Strawser and it was excellent. Caroline and her parents are given mail-in DNA tests for Christmas by Caroline’s husband, As a result, Caroline later receives an email from a young woman, Sela, claiming to be a half-sister. This complicates her relationship with her parents and brings to light things from Caroline’s past.
Caroline’s life has been very busy with work and three children. She married Walt after a difficult breakup with a former boyfriend, but they have had an excellent marriage and gotten along well with the extended family. But the appearance of Sela challenges much of what Caroline believed about her past life, including a job she didn’t get in the town where she was going to move with her former boyfriend and why he broke up with her.
Sela has been having a difficult life; her husband has left her, her son was born prematurely, and her mother has died. On top of that, she is suffering with kidney failure. Caroline may be Sela’s best chance to improve her health and her life.
The story is told in alternating chapters by Sela and Caroline. The author does an excellent job of investigating and describing the emotions of love and forgiveness between Sela and Caroline and all their family members.
Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy. I will look for more books by Jessica Strawser.

This book was just not for me. I found it wordy and the story really dragged on and it was really close to being a DNF for me. Truthfully, I ended up skimming through the most of it. The characters just didn't click for me. And I just need to say every time I read "Ecca" I wanted to scream...it just seemed to be trying SO hard to be "fresh and new". I'm sorry!

There are TONS of really great reviews out there for this book so I'm the odd one out in not enjoying it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

Oh Caroline and Sela! Such different girls who find out they have the same father. An incredible and important story that helps us understand organ donation. Also, the grief that a couple encounters after losing a baby. And even though I wanted to punch Caroline’s mother through most of it, I was surprised at the end how she comes through. It was interesting how Caroline had to go through so much in her decision making. Good lessons there for those of us who haven’t had to do the same. Well done.

A Million Reasons Why was an interesting book. Caroline and Sela are two sisters who don't know each other, and are brought together when Sela contacts Caroline. Sela, and Caroline find themselves faced with a dilemma, and this makes the reader question what he/she might do in the same situation. While there's not much action in this book, there's plenty of dialogue shared. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

I thought the premise of this book was great. It did remind me of the type of book Jodi Picoult would write, but that didn't take a way from the story at all for me. I enjoyed this book, but I didn't LOVE it. The characters were well written, and I enjoyed the alternating voices. I didn't love either of Caroline's parents, Hannah and Fred. They were the weakest characters for me, although they are integral to the story. I also thought the ending was a cop-out, and took away from the seriousness of the story.

That being said, I loved the writing and am definitely going to go back and read earlier books by this author, and will look for new ones in the future.

I would first like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this ebook.

Caroline is married to Walt with three happy children. Their lives are humming along in a predictable fashion when Caroline receives an email from Sela claiming to be her half sister. This sets off a series of events that leaves Caroline questioning everything she knows about her life. The story unfolds through alternating chapters between Caroline and Sela. Caroline must confront her parents, her past, and what she thought she knew about her life. Sela is battling kidney disease and harboring secrets of her own.

This book takes on a lot of topics, but in a thoughtful, realistic way. Strawser gives life to the women in this story and you feel like you know them. I will not give any spoilers since this book takes some unexpected turns. It is best to discover them for yourself. If you enjoy books by Jodi Picoult or just family dramas then this book is for you!

I have read several of Jessica Strawser's novel's, and find she continues to develop as a novelist , she is an excellent writer with family drama's and women's fiction. Her latest, "A Million Reasons Why" centers on an intriguing premise of those DIY home-DNA tests and their potentially surprising results. In this book, we have two newly-discovered "half-sisters" just meeting up for the first hime as adults - one with a rich & full life who seeming has it all (or does she?) and the other, struggling and alone and desperately in need of a life-saving transplant. This book makes you think about what the meaning of "family is", and tests it's bounds as these two go through their journey and I highly recommend it. Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for my ARC.