While I'm not generally a fan of memoirs - I really enjoyed this one. I was often irritated, sad, overjoyed, excited, despondent -- over Julie's search for her birth parents. Her feelings so clearly came through the pages, that I felt them with her. She was MUCH MORE generous with grace and mercy than I believe I would have been, had I been in her situation. It's hard enough to have to go through a health scare - but then to have to literally jump through endless hoops for answers (that I believe she should have been entitled to from day 1) is surely additional trauma that one shouldn't have to go through. I'm thankful that Julie's (and her sister's) search was successful and that Julie had the fighting persona that kept her going. This is an honest review of Twice A Daughter by Julie Ryan McGue and was tendered in exchange for a digital copy from Netgalley.

#TwiceaDaughter #NetGalley.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and She Writes Press for my copy of Twice a Daughter by Julie McGue in exchange for an honest review. It published May 11, 2021.
Wow! I could not put this book down. I was so enthralled. I really appreciated the raw emotion and honesty that was conveyed. It taught me a lot about being adopted, and what the experience can be like for the adoptee. It definitely grew my empathy.
I highly recommend this to anyone who loves memoirs! .

Given up for adoption as babies this leaves twins Julie and Jenny with some questions, so begins a mystery begging to be solved aka who are the birth parents? Why did they give up their twins? Are there other siblings out there in the world? Did they stay together?

All of these questions are begging to be answered in this book, knowing this was a real search for truth and identity kept me reading through the night for answers. Every roadblock the author hit I felt deep in my gut!

The writing sucked me in and I left this book feeling happy that they got some resolution for a journey that started mostly due to trying to get a full health background after a cancer scare.

4 Stars
I received a free copy of this book via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to BooksForward PR and Netgally for my gifted copy.

Memoirs are my favourite type of nonfiction. Twice a Daughter is Julie's story as she searches for her birth parents after experiencing a medical scare. This is not an easy process and comes with many highs and lows and emotional challenges for herself, her twin sister and family.

It's an intriguing story, especially the discussion of the adoption laws regarding the right to know their birth details versus the rights of privacy for the birth parents. Told in the first person, it is a slower-paced read with minimal tension coming through the writing even during what I am sure were very tense moments.

While the topic is fascinating, the book wasn't a match with my personal reading style from a delivery perspective, but know others will connect well with it.

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A true story where Julie, after enduring a health scare, starts to search for her birth mom and birth father. The reader follows Julie's journey as she fights to uncover her truth. Will she find her birth mom and dad? Will they meet her with open arms? Will she find them before it's too late?

Julie Ryan McGue's debut novel, the plot of this book was very intriguing - it had child abandonment issues, obstacles, set-backs, a health crisis, a debate over a right to privacy versus a right to know. The author clearly has an extensive vocabulary with a wide range of words. However, the pacing was a bit off in this book. It was told in the first person, but it would have been better written from a third person. Additionally, the story telling could have been crafted and fine tuned. For example, Julie would be waiting for a phone call and the reader is just waiting for the phone to ring instead the editor should have cut right to the phone ringing. The author also could have punched up the drama a bit by adding a bit of foreshadowing like "Little did I know that this conversation would delay my search by 3 years."

Overall, Twice a Daughter is a solid debut novel and did challenge my ideas around what to disclose to my family regarding my own personal health situation. Best wishes to the author in her future writing endeavors and wishing many years of healthy bliss to come!

A book about twins and adoption and it's a memoir! Sounds perfect for me. I liked reading about the issues Julie and Jenny faced due to conflict between their desire to know their birth and medical history and the birth parents' right to privacy. I did feel like the book was very one-sided. They felt very entitled to know everything and didn't seem to have any sympathy for the birth parent(s) who had been told that everything would be kept private. Its a tricky situation but I'm not sure if their wishes really trump that of the woman who gave birth to them.

I have always been drawn to memoirs, but I don't ever remember one that kept me turning the pages like Twice a Daughter did. The author's search for her birth parents almost read like a detective novel as I followed the emotional ups and downs and twists and turns. It was also interesting to learn a bit of the history of adoption practices. Thanks to NetGalley, She Writes Press and the author for an advance copy to read and review.

When Julie Ryan McGue, a mother of four children, faced serious health issues that could include a cancer diagnosis, she had to agree with her husband Steve that obtaining her full medical history was necessary. In 1959, Julie and her identical twin sister Jenny had been adopted through Catholic Charities, and were grateful for the policy that required twins remain together, they were raised in a loving home. However, the twin’s adoption was “closed”. The privacy of their birth parents was legally protected, it could be impossible to obtain any vital medical information. “Twice A Daughter: A Search for Identity, Family, and Belonging” (2021) is McGue’s courageous memoir of her search to gain access to her birth records and learn her medical history.

The International Soundex Reunion Registry (ISRR) is the International non-profit humanitarian agency database that supports efforts of adults to reunite with next-of-kin by birth. McGue entered her information and hoped for results. Each case is an individual as a fingerprint, and not all birthparents are eagerly seeking their lost biological children, or welcome the possibility of hearing from them. Any unwanted adopted individual can carry the sorrow and the emotional scars of rejection, which is truly heartbreaking.

An experienced adoption counselor explained to McGue that if she could talk to a birth mother that initially refused contact with her adult child, more often than not, contact was established. In 2017, the ability to discover genetic history through DNA testing was widely advertized and available to the public through several online registry’s that offered affordable DNA testing kits. In addition to genetic testing, McGue hired a genealogist, who she referred to as her “intermediary and esteemed search angel”-- she was able to extract additional clues from the minimal information provided, which was really interesting. Overall, this is a heartwarming story of search and discovery, of love, acceptance, and unwavering support within biological and adoptive family members. **With thanks to She Writes Press via NetGalley for the DDC for the purpose of review.

Julie is adopted and she is a twin, while thankful that she has had her twin by her side her entire life, she had wished for answers for awhile about her birth parents and her medical history. A trip to a doctor and a push from her husband, Julie decides that now is the time to get answers and with the blessing from her twin, she starts the journey down many roads to get answers.

I can't imagine going as long as Julie and Jenny did in their lives without answers. And I was thankful to read in this book that because they pursued the truth so hard they made changes as to how adoptions are handled and how information is handled for future children.

There were many times while reading this book that I had to remind myself that this was all true - it could easily have had the makings of a great fiction book, but this was all true. Julie and Jenny dealt with a lot of feelings from a lot of individuals and there were many moments where I wanted to "pull" someone aside and remind them that this isn't about them!

I am thankful I read this book, it reminded me that I love reading true stories where authors pour out their hearts and soul and give us their truth in order to help others.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
Adoption stories always fascinate me and I loved this book. This book is very well written. And the author's story sends readers on rollercoaster of emotions. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in closed adoption and those who are adopted or adoptees.

Wow! Such an incredible story of adoption, the joy and heartache. Well written. Felt like I was sitting with the author as she told me the story!

I found this memoir compelling and was very moved by Julie and Jenny's search for their birth family. I shared in both the high and low points of their search. I am overjoyed that their search resulted in such in the forging of such a strong bond with their biological family.

An amazing memoir.

I actually first heard about this book from another Netgalley member. She posted in a memoirs group that she was reading an ARC, and it sounded like my sort of book. I grabbed it from Netgalley, started it, and found it impossible to put down. It was a really interesting and unpredictable read.

This is a combination of medical, and adoption memoir. It starts out where the author has had some tests, and it seemed not all was well. She'd had other medical issues in the past few years, too. She thinks it's time she pursued her family history; to get some answers; to see if these conditions were passed on through the genes. In tracing her birth mother and father, and their medical history, could she help her own children from developing these illnesses?

Julie, and twin sister Jenny had tried to find information about their biological parents 18 years ago, and had drawn a blank at that time. When they're nearing their 50s, it's time to try again. Family history, intrigue, possible family secrets emerging.....I love this type of book. This is often an emotional and involving read; there will be many twists and turns on their journey. It involves many years of searching and piecing clues together, yet the pace never let up; there were no filler flowery phrases, it was all vital, and a breathtaking journey.

A really excellent book, so interesting, and you just don't know what's going to happen next; which way things will go.

An amazing memoir.

I made it halfway though this book before I gave up. While I like the topic I just found it to be a bit boring

I received an advance copy of, Twice a Daughter, by Julie Ryan McGhue. This is such a good story. Twin girls who were adopted, one gets sicks and wants her medical background.

Wow, what a breathtaking - heart wrenching read. Julie we see has medical issues. Yet she can’t fully let the doctors know what her family health problems are. She’s adoptive, that leads her on a long journey to find her biological parents. Lead after lead gets her no where. Until finally she gets a tip that has her making leeway. Will all her and her twins hard work pay off.

Twice a Daughter follows the story of pair of identical twins, Julie and Jenny, adopted at birth together by the same couple, who begin the search for their birth parents at mid-life in an attempt to fill in the blanks surrounding their genetic medical history.

This true-life drama was absorbing, and I was interested in the challenges Julie and Jenny faced due to the ongoing conflict between the right to know their birth details, and the rights of others involved to privacy, and how these factors played out in the legal processes involved.

The story is told from Julie’s perspective as she takes the lead in the search, and flows along relatively quickly. There is a vulnerability we glimpse as Julie struggles with deep identity issues resulting from the feelings which surface around being unwanted and not important to her birth parents, and in particular, her birth mother. Overall, though, the story is told almost briskly, and although I cheered for Julie and wanted her search to be successful, there was a definite sense of entitlement pervading the memoir that I felt was unsympathetic. I would have appreciated the story more if the author could have widened her perspective to include more sensitivity and nuance to help us appreciate the experiences, fears, traumas and issues of all the family members involved - including both birth and adoptive relatives.

Overall this was an enjoyable read and it definitely made me feel for the multiple challenges faced by adoptees, birth parents, and adoptive families.

A big thank you to NetGalley, the publisher She Writes Press, and the author for an advance review copy of this book.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Julie and her sister were adopted in Chicago in the 1950's. When Julie was in her late forties she had a medical scare. She and her sister decided to find out who their birth parents were so would know more about their medical history. This book was very emotional and well written.

This is a very complicated adoption search and reunion story. Most adoption reunions are extremely complicated, and the author does a very good job of including every detail and every emotion experienced on her journey. The fact that the author and her twin sister were adopted together makes it all the more interesting.

As an adoptee myself, I understood every nuance of every detail of this story. The non-adopted public may not be able to grasp how emotional this search was for the author, but the story is amazing and I highly recommend it.

I enjoyed this book. I love reading about family history, sleuthing, and family mystery. McGue needed to complete her family medical history, but she was adopted. She and her twin sister search for answers. It was interesting to read the steps the author took to find the answers. I had no idea there were so many avenues. McGue shares a gamut of emotions with readers. My one criticism of the book is some points are belabored and make the story drag in places. There are also some very interesting twists to the story.