No Names to Be Given is the story of three women from three very different walks of life: Sandy, Becca, and Faith. In three different circumstances, each of the women becomes unexpectedly pregnant and goes to Magnolia Home Hospital to have her baby in secret and place it for adoption in 1966.

Sandy is a runaway, currently working as a stripper, when she meets her child’s father, a mob boss by the name of Carlos. However, Carlos goes to prison and it’s revealed that he has a wife and two children already.

Becca has fallen in love with a black man, Zeke, but when their love affair is revealed, they lose contact. Becca finds herself pregnant in the aftermath.

Faith is sexually assaulted by someone who works for her father, but has to hide her pregnancy as her father is a famous Christian minister.

This book chronicles each of the women’s lives, from teenagers to middle age adults, where some will meet with the children they placed for adoption as eighteen-year-old women. We even eventually meet some of the children.

I really like the premise of this book but I don’t enjoy the execution as much as I had hoped. I really wish there had been more detail about the girls’ lives while in the home, and more around the time they meet their children. I felt that the emotion was lacking a bit, especially considering the depth of the feelings each of the women had to be having. I liked the knowledge Daily included at the end; I had no idea homes for mother’s even still existed in the United States!

Though I wished for more from this book, I am still glad I read it and I look forward to reading more of Daily’s work.

4.5 Stars

This is a compelling work of fiction rooted in fact. As the author confides in her endnote, her own history reflects the storyline of the book. She herself is an adopted child born in a maternity home in New Orleans and ultimately found her birth mother through a DNA test as well as her birth father’s family. Her personal experience, coupled with additional research, provides the foundation for a deeply moving novel. Kudos to the author for her courage and compassion in looking back at a time when unwed mothers were scorned and shamed. The question is: how far have we come in the last 55 years?

The year is 1966. Faith, Sandy and Becca all find themselves in an untenable position: they are teenagers who are pregnant. One the result of rape. One the outcome of an affair with a married man. And one the result of a passionate, forbidden college romance. Each young woman finds her way to the Magnolia Maternity Home where they bond through their seven months of confinement. When all three give birth on the same day, they are devastated that they are not allowed to see their children, nor are they even told their baby’s gender, before the newborns are whisked away for adoption.

The deep emotional scars of this experience color every aspect of their lives: their identities, their personal and professional relationships and their career choices. Then after twenty-five years of secrecy and deception, each woman receives a series of letters threatening to reveal the truth, which could completely upend their lives. How they handle this dilemma is enhanced by some interesting and unexpected twists.

I thoroughly enjoyed meeting these three protagonists through the alternating chapters of their stories. It is eye-opening to read the narrow-minded, shameful way in which unwed mothers were treated based on the moral codes of this time period. The characters were believable and the storyline is evocative and engaging.
There were a few plot points that left me questioning their validity, but this did not detract from my overall experience. I look forward to more offerings from this author.

My thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the privilege of reviewing an eARC. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This review is being posted immediately to my GoodReads account and will be posted on Amazon upon publication.

No Names to Be Given is a lovely, cute, charming story. Julia Brewer Daily writes a story for all to enjoy. This is the perfect book club read.

I can’t imagine a more difficult decision in life than to have to give up a child. This beautiful debut novel follows three women from youth through adulthood as they deal with the ramifications of giving their babies away to be raised by others.

The first half of the book moved slowly, but by the second half I was engrossed in each of these women’s lives. I was mostly drawn to the emotions they felt – guilt, sadness, emptiness, remorse, curiosity – and the bond the three had forged with each other. The decisions they made were sometimes questionable and several plot points felt pretty improbable, but overall this was an interesting and engaging story. I also really enjoyed reading the chapters that were told from the adopted children’s point of view and appreciated them all the more after reading that the author was herself a child of a maternity home like the one at the core of this book.

Four stars, and I look forward to more from Julia Brewer Daily.

I will share this review on Instagram closer to the publication day and will update this feedback with a link at that time.

3.5 Stars

This book isn’t for everyone, but I enjoyed it. I was born around the time these young women had their babies and I too had a baby very young, though I decided to keep mine. The juxtaposition of the three girls and their families made their stories each very clear and very interesting and I believe I would have liked all these women in real life. They had so much love to give, not only to their family...but to each other and even their babies. I really enjoyed all the characters because they are well developed considering the complicated issues and I could relate.

The stories are told with sensitivity with none of the extreme sellout shock value. Julia Brewer Daily is talented. The writing is smooth and enjoyable with interesting characters. The book is captivating in the unraveling of complicated relationships.

I did find the writing a little lacking (kinda like my review) and this book had so much potential but the writing style was a little pedestrian and I wish some of the very coincidental moments weren't in the book, it just didn't seem very plausible to me. I hope this is just the beginning for this new author as I would give her another chance, this was pretty good for debut.

Thank you NetGalley, Admission Press and Author for this advance ebook copy!

I just knew by reading the description No Names to Be Given by Daily was going to be freaking phenomenal!
I was silently praying to the NG and Publishing Gods that I would get approved to read and review this one.
So I seriously can't thank y'all enough for giving me the chance to read this book!

I immediately fell in love with this read. I loved the characters, their stories.
And the writing was amazing! It flowed beautifully and was so well done!

Thank you NetGalley, Publisher and Author for the chance to read and review this amazing book!
I'll post to my Goodreads, Bookstagram and Facebook account closer to pub date!
Juila did an excellent job bringing the story to life. The book is very descriptive.
Overall this was an amazing, quick, heartfelt read.

Thank you NetGalley, Publisher and Author for the chance to read and review this amazing book!
I'll post to my Goodreads, Bookstagram and Facebook account closer to pub date!

A sweet read that you won't be able to put down until the last page.
Who can resist an adoption tale that takes us from the 1960's until present time? It's a piece of history that is presented through the experiences of three young women who meet at a home for unwed mothers. Though the story's coincidences and happenings kind of defy belief, it is, after all fiction, and if you keep that in mind as you read, you'll enjoy the book. The author has a personal connection to the topic and she's done a lovely job here presenting this story.