Family secrets abound in this tale of two half-sisters who never knew of each other's existence until they are reunited by a DNA test. For Caroline the revelation and other resulting discoveries shed a whole new harsh light on the past and for Sela who is desperately in need of a kidney transplant, her very existence may depend on the way things go with her newfound sister. At first, this book was a little hard to get through because it is very wordy and has a lot of exhaustingly long sentences. However, you will soon find yourself so caught up in the brilliantly crafted story that you won't even think about that anymore. This is a beautiful book about acceptance and forgiveness and what it means to be a family.

2.5 stars. Couldn’t buy into it.

Caroline’s husband purchases DNA testing kits for the extended family as a Christmas present. They are shocked by the results which lead to the unraveling of several long hidden family secrets.

This is a thought-provoking read that will ask you many tough questions. I enjoyed being challenged in my thinking and putting myself in the characters shoes to analyze my thoughts and feelings. I learned a lot about chronic kidney disease which I thought the author did a respectful and informative job presenting.

Unfortunately, right from the start I had believability issues with the plot and my doubts continued throughout. I liked the idea of the story but the execution didn’t work for me. I just couldn’t buy into it and much of it felt predictable. The dialogue and characters actions didn’t ring true to me which prevented me from feeling invested and engaged. I felt there was some unnecessary plot detail which made the novel drag at times. This family had so many buried secrets that it became far too dramatic, especially near the end. Overall, it was just too much for me. This is my first book by this author. I have a couple of her other books on my shelves that I’d like to try out to see if perhaps this was a one-off. Please read the many raving reviews, as I know I’m the outlier on this one.

Thank you to St Martins Press and NetGalley for my review copy!

Family secrets, domestic drama, and DNA tests all add up to a story that I could not put down. Caroline’s husband buys a great present for her family. Unfortunately, the present brings drama and hurt. The DNA test shows a surprise connection that Caroline is not able to let go. As she learns more about Sela, Sela’s mother, and the mother’s relationship to her family she realizes that there are many things about her own family that she did not know about. Family secrets are let out, feelings are hurt, and relationships are tested.

I enjoyed seeing Caroline and Sela learn to be sisters. Their relationship was not easy. They did not even know about each other, they find each other, and immediately their relationship was put to the test. The people surrounding Caroline and Sela put stress on the relationship and they both had to stand strong to their selves.

As the story went along, I thought I could see where it would end until the twist happen. The twist…amazingly perfect. It added just the right ah ha at the right time to make me want to talk to everyone about this book.

A Million Reasons Why by Jessica Strawser

When Caroline’s husband selected the Christmas gift they would give her family, he had no reason to believe it would result in anything but interesting information. He had no way of knowing the heartbreaking secrets that would be unlocked by that simple test.

The information sends this family into chaos that includes infidelity and illegitimate children, to lies told to keep the secrets hidden. Along the way, complex characters tangled together in a web of love and secrecy gamble with what they hold most dear. And the plot continues to twist.

Strawser had treated moral issues most people never consider with tenderness and compassion. What would you do if you could save someone’s life…and only you could do it? This book not only explores the morality of its characters, but also of how our society treats people with medical crises, particularly those in need of organ donation.

This book will grab you and keep you until the end. You won’t want to put it down.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this copy to me. Publication date is March 23, 2021.

This is a story about two half-sisters, Caroline and Sela who find each other through a DNA kit. Family secrets come out and past choices are revisited. The "What Ifs" examined. It gives the vibes of Wandavision without the literal magic.

The real magic of the story is the strong character development and the several running plots that work in tandem to create a story tender and true.

Thank you to NetGalley & St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for a honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

In A Million Reasons Why, Jessica Strawser writes a domestic drama which deals with medical issues, morality, personal and professional ethics, secrets, betrayals, what makes family family, how much you're willing to do for another person, and forgiveness. WHEW!!! Yes, fellow readers, this one is LOADED with twists and moral dilemmas. The characters are wonderfully and fully drawn, complex and realistic. This is an emotional read and one that is quite thought-provoking. It is an excellent selection for buddy-reads or book clubs as it will easily generate discussion.

The only thing I didn't like about it is the unethical portrayal of the transplant team, which is a disservice to all of those who work so hard to match organs with those who so desperately need them.

My sincere thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read an e-copy of this book, published on 3/23/21. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Caroline’s world is turned upside down when a digital ancestry test reveals she has a half-sister named Sela. Her parents have been happily married for thirty years and she is reeling from the fact that her father was unfaithful. Things get more complicated when Caroline finds out Sela has kidney disease and is rapidly declining. Sela has been unable to find a match and her ex-husband made her do the ancestry test as a last ditch resort to find a donor for a new kidney. All of a sudden, Caroline must make one of the biggest decisions she has ever faced.

I am very grateful to @stmartinspress for my paper ARC copy! Thank you and shoutout to @netgalley for a digital copy as well. The characters made this story. Sela and Caroline both share their perspectives in alternating chapters as they struggle with many ethical dilemmas. There were some twists I was not expecting either which greatly added to my interest with this novel. It was a bit long for me and the ending seemed a little rushed, but overall I really enjoyed this contemporary drama that takes on some big issues.

(4.5/5)
What an interesting and thought-provoking book. Makes you wonder what you'd do if, after taking a DNA test, you find out that you have a half-sibling. And not only finding out about a half-sibling but also one that's in need of a kidney transplant. What would you do? I loved not only the two main characters in the book, Caroline and Sela, but the supporting cast of characters as well. I especially liked Caroline's husband, Walt, and nurse Janie, such kind and understanding souls. This was a moving and heart wrenching story about family secrets, betrayals, love and forgiveness. There were a couple of twists that I did not see coming at all. I highly recommend A Million Reasons Why.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the review copy.

Her husband’s Christmas gifts of a popular DNA test seemed to backfire when Caroline got a notification that she was related to Sela, a half-sister she knew nothing about. Upon asking her parents for clarification, Caroline learned a little about a dark time in her parents’ marriage, when both women were pregnant at the same time, and the adamant way Hannah, Caroline’s mother, refused to discuss it. Against the advice of everyone in Caroline’s life, including her husband and her best friend, Caroline reaches out to Sela, and the two half-sisters form a bond, made stronger by Sela’s illness.

This book provided all the feels, with love, loyalty, and betrayal on several levels running through the storyline. Both Caroline and Sela have so much unfinished business to deal with, and I enjoyed being a part of their journey. The women are worlds apart, Caroline a working mother with a very full plate, while Sela is a freelance graphic artist who is recently separated from her husband, and still their bond if sisterhood seems to prevail. Told from the alternating viewpoints of Caroline and Sela, the reader is able to understand the reasons behind Caroline’s indecision and Sela’s despair.

Caroline and Sela both take DNA tests which show they are half-sisters. Their parents have hidden the other’s existence for over thirty years. When they find each other they uncover a hornet’s nest of secrets involving both women and their parents. I found this especially interesting because my own family had something like this happen with an adopted child finding biological relatives though a DNA test site. I thought the author did an excellent job developing all of the characters and she provided unexpected plot twists. I highly recommend it. I thank the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC.

This book was awesome! The storyline was in my opinion so true to how it would be in life. That email you get from a half sister you never knew you had! Who would have thought that a DNA test given to everyone in the family for Christmas as a joke would render a half sister and how could that be?? And so the story goes on & gets more and more involved. Having been adopted myself, I really became involved with the story! It kept me turning the pages & was heartwarming and heartbreaking. I would highly recommend this book.

Thanks to #stmartinspress, #netgalley and #jessicastrawser for an ARC of this amazing book

This book took me almost a week to read, which is quite long for me. Pros-some very interesting what would I do and unexpected elements. I always like that, it keeps me thinking about it after I'm finished. Cons: a bit of overwriting and a little everything including the kitchen sink is in here.

Thanks to Netgalley for free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Caroline's hectic but well-ordered life is thrown into turmoil when she receives the results of the DNA test she took on a lark. As if the existence of a half-sister isn't shocking enough, her parents are unsurprised and shockingly uninterested.

Sela took the DNA test for completely different reasons. Suffering from late-stage kidney disease, she desperately needs to find a match to save her life.

As Caroline and Sela navigate their new relationship, Caroline finds her parents were keeping more secrets than she dreamed possible. She is forced to reevaluate not just her relationship with her parents, but her relationship with her husband.

Full of surprises and revelations about family, A MILLION REASONS WHY is an emotionally engaging page-turner. The only flaw is Pittsburgh-native author, Jessica Strawser, fails to to include any mention of our hometown. #AMillionReasonsWhy #NetGalley

One of my favorite authors is Jodi Picoult because she writes about complicated issues for which there are no easy answers. Jessica Strawser has accomplished the same in A Million Reasons Why. She tells the story of Caroline and Sela who discover they are half-sisters through a DNA test. To make things more complicated, Sela suffers from chronic kidney disease but is reluctant to ask her newly-found sister to sacrifice one of her own healthy kidneys. One shocking reveal after another left me gasping a number of times. I am now adding Jessica Strawser to my list of must-read authors. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the advance copy to read and review.

After receiving DNA test kits for Christmas, 35 year old Caroline and her family are left reeling after the tests reveal she has a half sister, Sela, her same age! How is that possible? Did her father have an affair, and did her mother know about it?

Well, wow, there sure was a lot packed into this story about kidney donation. There were quite a few twists along the way that kept me intrigued. Towards the end, I felt the emotion of it all and teared up several times. I thought the ending was a bit improbable but I do have to admit that it also fit the motherhood theme extremely well. And, hello, I always love when my alma mater, Ohio University, is mentioned in a book! Pssst, the author also graduated from there. ;)

Location: Cincinnati, Ohio

I received an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Caroline has a vibrant, joyful, fulfilling life with her husband, three kids and her loving parents. But everything is about to be upended when she learns she has a half sister through DNA testing ✨
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This book is quite different than Jessica Strawser’s other books, so it wasn’t what I was expecting at all.

It’s a heavy family drama with a lot of moral issues to unpack and emotions to untangle.
It is beautifully written- there were times I wanted to write down phrases and metaphors the author used because they were so unique, poetic, emotive and poignant that I wanted to remember them.

So, although this is not my typical read, I still enjoyed it. It’s obvious the author poured her heart into this one.

A Million Reasons Why deals with how DNA testing can open a “pandora’s box.” Of course, DNA testing for medical purposes is a wonder of modern science but as this story shows, it can lead to unearthing family secrets.

Sela needs a miracle, her marriage has crumbled, her beloved mother has passed and she fears what will happen to her little boy. Sela has kidney disease and is at the point where she needs a kidney donor. Looking for possible viable matches she takes a DNA test.

Caroline is married with three children. When her father surprises the family with DNA kits for Christmas the family begrudgingly goes along. But when the results come back their lives are changed forever. Caroline has a half-sister she never knew she had - Sela.

We hear both Sela and Carolina’s stories as they come together. As you would suspect both women struggle with all the usual questions and emotions. But for Sela, it’s also a question of trying to stay alive. Caroline discovers that a half-sister isn’t the only thing that’s been hidden from her; she needs to make some big decisions, and it may split her family apart.

At times I felt like there was too much going on at once to give it a genuine feel. But the story raises some interesting questions and be prepared, your heart will definitely be tugged at!

TW: mental health, illness, child loss

Thank you to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for this digital arc for review.

Caroline receives an email that tells her that she has a sister. Not just a sister, but one almost exactly her age. Someone was naughty. Of course this causes some tension in Caroline’s family. By the time you are done, you will not like very many people in this book. There’s the mom, who is so concerned with keeping everything the same she is completely unfeeling to her own daughter. The dad, who even now is not willing to admit that he made some terrible choices and that continuing to give in to every single thing his wife says might be another. There’s the husband who pretends to be supportive but is really telling her how to feel and act at every turn. There’s the sister’s ex, who leaves her when she most needs someone. Whatever the reason, that sucks. I can appreciate Caroline, Sela, and maybe Caroline’s best friend.

As the story goes on, a lot of threads are added. Sela needs an organ donor. Of course everyone acts like she’s trying to steal the family fortune instead of trying to save her own life. And this is where the book becomes very interesting and very informative. There is a lot of information about what it is really like to live with serious kidney disease and what goes in to being a donor. The choices Caroline has to make are hard. Sela is at the mercy of everyone and left by everyone. She is just trying to survive.

The family drama and the medical drama would have been enough to make this book a really interesting read. It is thought provoking about so many things from those easy DNA tests to how much information fami”it’s owe each other to how many people really get a say in medical decisions to when you know you should give someone part of you to save their life. That would have been enough. Then this goes further. There is a lot thrown in at the end that put it way over the edge for me. The final reveals were unnecessary. I feel like someone told the author there needed to be a twist at the end. That decision didn’t ruin the entire book for me, but it did take away from it.

A Million Reasons Why is an excellent story of family, making mistakes, and offering forgiveness. It is also about the importance of growth and acceptance. It took me a little while to get to the meat of the story, but once I did, I held on tight and couldn't stop reading. I loved Caroline and Sela and their altruistic actions.

Great book with some twists and turns. The characters were relatable (we are all human) and the story felt real.