"The Good Daughters" by Joyce Maynard is a compelling and emotionally resonant novel that explores the complexities of family, identity, and the passage of time. Maynard's characters are vividly drawn and deeply relatable, each one grappling with their own hopes, dreams, and regrets. Set against the backdrop of a rural New Hampshire farm, the atmosphere is richly evoked, immersing readers in a world where the bonds of family are tested and ultimately strengthened.

Maynard's writing style is both lyrical and introspective, with prose that captures the beauty and harshness of farm life with equal precision. The plot of "The Good Daughters" unfolds with a perfect blend of mystery and emotional depth, as the protagonists navigate the secrets and betrayals that have shaped their lives. The pacing is expertly handled, keeping readers engaged and invested in the outcome of the story. Overall, "The Good Daughters" is a poignant and thought-provoking novel that will resonate with readers long after they've turned the final page.

I enjoy this author’s books and the development of her characters. This was a fast read and I liked the alternating voices of Ruth and Dana over the course of their lifetime. They were raised under completely different backgrounds and by parents very unlike each other. It was fairly obvious from early in the novel that they were switched at birth. I remained curious about a few things. One, it was nice twist that Edwin turned out to be the father of both girls, which makes sense given the book’s title, But it leaves one to wonder if his wife ever knew the full truth, even though she knew she raised the wrong daughter. I believe that she suspected but never knew for sure. Second, I was not sure why they never told Ruth and Dana the truth after they became adults, especially when Connie had to break-up Ruth and Ray, given that he was Ruth’s brother. Third, I found it odd that Ruth was not more shocked by the revelation that she was a Dickerson, given her passionate affair with Ray.

Born on the same day, in a small NH hospital, into two completely different families. Ruth is an artist and a romantic, born to a farming family. Dana is a scientist and realist raised by a pair of drifters who are unable to provide stability. Both girls try to make sense of who they are and to find their places in the world.

A story about family secrets and a look at the debate of nature vs nurture. There are unexpected twists and turns - I'll leave it at that. It's quite a sad read and quite complex as well, so you'd have to be in the right mindset to read this one.

Thank to William Morrow for my digital copy.

I am a fan of Joyce Marnard and I usually love her books, unfortunately this one was not one of my favorites. Yes, the writing is wonderful as usual, and the premise of the book is good, but I didn't like the characters, found them not relatable and felt that the book lacked an oomph to keep my interest in it.

Although this is not something I normally pick up to read, this was a very emotional and beautifully written novel.

I got this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.The relationship between two families, is obvious from the start, the characters are written with depth and compassion. A truly enjoyable read.

I’m not really sure why this book has such poor reviews because I found it to be a very enjoyable story. The Good Daughters by Joyce Maynard is the story of Ruth and Dana. Two girls born on the same day in the same hospital. Somehow they end up being switched and sent home with the wrong parents. The one mother Connie realizes, call it maternal instinct, that she has the wrong baby but her husband Edwin doesn’t want to do anything about it. Ruth, the baby that Connie raises never feels like she’s loved by her mother or that she fits in with her 4 other sisters. However, there is always a closeness between Ruth and the father Edwin though. This is a story filled with a lifetime of secrets. It isn’t until close to the end that both girls come to learn the truth about everything and the conclusion is shocking! I really enjoyed reading this, it held my interest the whole way through. I could see the way the story was heading but didn’t foresee the ending at all. It’s definitely a book I’d recommend to others. I’d like to thank the Book Club Girl Free Reads Friday program, William Morrow Marketing, and NetGalley for the arc to read, review and enjoy. I’m giving this story a 5 star rating and look forward to reading more by this author in the future!

We follow two girls throughout their lives with a unique start point of being born just hours apart. The story toggles between Ruth and Dana as they navigate family, relationships and finding themselves. While their lives are tenuously held together by the smallest of threads, it’s really the adults strained interactions that keep them even remotely connected. Both girls feel out of place in their respective families and grow into a truer version of themselves. Sadly, had the girls been able to stay more connected they may have been able to form a bond that would’ve helped insulate them better and allowed them see they had more commonalities than differences. The Good Daughters is a story that stays with you.

I requested this book through the Book
Club Girls, thinking this was a new book. I had read this one years ago and didn’t remember much except that I liked it.
The book told in alternating chapters about two daughters who were born on the same day but into very different lives. The author is a good writer.

The Good Daughters tells the story of Ruth and Dana, birthday sisters born on the same day, and in the same hospital. Their families were linked through the years, and this story begins from when they were born, until when they are in older age. Told in each of their voices, both never felt fully a part of their own families. Ruth always felt like her mother favored Dana instead of her, and really did not care for Dana at all growing up. Dana's family moved frequently, following her fathers money making schemes. This story follows their paths, mostly separate, but inevitably coming together, in the end.

There is a HUGE twist in this book, and although I don't want to give it away, it definitely made for interesting reading. At times, I felt like I knew what the twist was going to be, so I wasn't entirely shocked when it was revealed. I thought the author could have alluded to it a little less before the big reveal, and it might have been even more shocking. I really liked the voice of Ruth, and felt like she was a very relatable character. It seemed like she really was lost-- not feeling a part of her family, but also not really knowing her place in the world. She never felt loved by her mother, and goes looking for love with Dana's brother, to a tragic end. Dana was a little less relatable, for me, and I felt like her story was not quite as interesting as Ruth's. Still, everything came together in a very dramatic fashion in the end!

Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I liked the authors writing style. She was great at her character development,. But the plot was way too predictable It became boring ad difficult to finish.. Some of the plot twists just seemed added in an attempt to make it a contemporary story. with some sense of relevance.. That attempt was wasted on me. I do not know tht I would be tempted to read another book by this author.

The Good Daughters by Joyce Maynard is the story of two girls/women who were born on the same day: Dana and Ruth. One, Ruth, had sensible farming parents. She had four older sisters but she never bonded with her mother. She always felt left out. She did love her father and he always encouraged her, even with her art, which he had no understanding of. Dana had hippies for parents. They didn't work, they took no responsibility. They eventually separated. She had an older brother. Ruth's mother found a way to stay in touch, even as Dana's mother and father moved from place to place. This is the story of heir lives: Ruth's and Dana's, through hardship, relationships, and the death of their parents. There are plenty of surprises along the way, as there are in most lives.

The characters here are brilliant: Ruth's mother, Connie, had been sexually abused by her father and so had no love for her family and really didn't care to make love with her husband. He hung in and honored her as his wife, no matter what. Dana's mother, Valerie (Val) was an artist and never really was a mother to either of her kids. They raised themselves. You know someone like that, we all do. Her father, George, was always in search of his next deal, and was gone much of the time. Dana did spend some time, not much, with Ruth's father, Edwin Plank, and he instilled in her a love for farming. When she got out of college, she farmed. It was a very odd slice-of-life novel until it became more, and each of them figured it out for themselves. It was a brilliant story.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of the Good Daughters by Harper Collins e-books, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. #netgalley #harpercollins, #thegooddaughters

This story of two baby girls who were born on the same day in the same hospital come and go in each other's lives as the years go by. It is not until their adult lives that they realize the significance of their birth. The book goes back and forth from sister to sister as they grow up in and around the rural Northeast. It is a well written, engaging book.

One of the best novels I have ever read. I could not put this book down, and read it through from start to finish. Highly recommend Joyce Maynard's work but this novel is, to me, an outstanding achievement. Her characters and storyline are so real as to feel the reader is an observing, interested person watching two families and the incredible twists and turns of their lives. And it ends perfectly. Wonderful book!

Hmm, I don’t know. I didn’t like any of the characters, and when you get to the plot twist, it just becomes cringeworthy. I finished the book because I wanted to understand the mix up, but overall, it just felt wrong. Not my favorite.

I know this was a pretty popular book, the premise was somewhat interesting, and I really wanted to like it, but I found it to be a slow slog to get to the part where the mystery was revealed. I didn't really like any of the characters, and felt like we had so many hints about the big "twist" that it wasn't a surprise when it was finally revealed. It just felt flat, and maybe Maynard just isn't for me.

Thank you to the publisher and author for the opportunity to read The Good Daughters by Joyce Maynard.

The writing in this book was really well done, but I felt the story was missing a little of the oomph I was expecting for one with such a shocking plot point. I really wanted to like it more than I did. I think maybe I wasn’t in the right headspace for it. Some of the topics hit a little too close to home with me (forced abortion, undiagnosed mentally ill brother, estranged mother, adultery). Even though they occurred in ways completely unrelated to this book, I was still a little triggered by it and couldn’t focus on continuity with the story on the page. Again, that’s all on me. The author did a beautiful job touching on some of those points without over-sensationalizing them. Unfortunately, I think the timing of my reading this one definitely affected my overall opinion of it.

I completely enjoyed this book. It does start a little slowly, introducing a whole bunch of characters all at once, but once you get those straightened out, the book is a breeze to read. It struck me as reading a series of conversations, or diary entries, and each one shares so much useful information about the various characters. It really helped me understand them, who they were, and why they did what they did. It follows the families Plank and Dickerson. For all their quirks and, sometimes, strangeness, I came to love them all.

The author included such incredible detail to help flesh out the characters. It wasn’t provided in a dry and text-book-y manner, but it was included so naturally, that at times I didn’t realize it was there, until I found myself referring back to it in my mind. It was so helpful that I feel that were I to pass any of these characters on the street, I’d recognize them.

The book holds many surprises, but they all fit in naturally. Nothing felt forced or out of place. The biggest surprise is the one that comes toward the end of the book. By that point though, it’s not nearly as big of a jolt as it would have been earlier on, but it explains so much, and so well.

The best words I can come up with to describe reading this book are entrancing and captivating. Once I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down. It was a very satisfying read, and I highly recommend it.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley. I thank them for their generosity, but it had no effect on this review. All opinions in this review reflect my true and honest reactions to reading this book.

This story follows two girls, both born on the same day, in the same hospital, throughout their lives. They had very different families and very different upbringings. I liked both of the girls and particularly liked the father who was a farmer. I found the ending rather predictable.

I can say the writing is exceptional and it’s an interesting story. Ruth nor Dana, however, were not very likable characters. I didn’t have much sympathy for them. I think I may have had more for the secondary characters. And then, all of a sudden, it was over. The ending was just so matter-of-fact I was surprised I was done.