Twice a Daughter is a lovely, heart breaking, thought provoking and heart warming memoir.

Julie and Jen are adopted twins. The adoption occurred in 19’s. Not surprisingly for the time in history, this was a closed adoption. The girls are now in their late 40’s and health issues are beginning to manifest. For this reason, Julie wants to learn the health history of she and her twin’s background. She is facing some pretty serious health issues.


Julie approaches her sister to talk things over, and they make a pact: Julie will approach their adoptive parents for the adoption paperwork and investigate search options, and the sisters will split the costs involved in locating their birth relatives. But their adoptive parents aren’t completely on board. that their daughters want to locate their birth parents. Especially her mother, now in her 70’s feels threatened things will change if they are located. Here I note they are wonderful adoptive parents and are truly mom and dad. Well this is the first of many hurdles Julie will come up against as she embarks on this difficult, intricate and complicated journey.

Julie’s search for her birth relatives spans years and involves a search agency, a private investigator, a confidential intermediary, a judge, an adoption agency, a social worker, and a genealogist. By journey’s end, what began as a simple desire for a family medical history has evolved into a complicated quest. The probe unearths secrets, lies, and family members that are much closer than you’d ever dream.

This story is not exciting but rather it is intriguing enough for readers to want to stick along to find the birth parents identity and history. As a reader/listener I became frustrated along with Julie as she came up against obstacle after obstacle, yet she persevered. There are several big surprises along the way that I would find almost unbelievable except the entire account is a true story.

This memoir is sure evoke many emotions in the reader.

Thank you to Books Fluent and NetGalley for the ARC. This audiobook was a delight to listen to the story of Julie and Jenny and how their search for their birth parents opened up unknown relationships.

This book left me wanting to know my personal genealogy and how everyone we meet in our lives is meant to be there at that given moment.

This is a wonderful memoir. I wanted to read this book because the purpose of Julie's search was to understand her medical history. I listened to this on audio and am glad I did. As I listened, I felt empathy for their situation and for how important finding this information was in an era when details wanted to be forgotten. The book is well written and keeps your attention. I could feel the weight of this enormous task and rooted for Julie the entire time.

I am struck by how small the world really is. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves an honest story about how persistence pays off.

This was an interesting glimpse into the world of growing up as an adopted child and trying to find your birth parents. Julie's story is unique in that not only is she a twin, but her adoption was a "closed" adoption - meaning that she had absolutely no info about her birth parents. She was fortunate to be adopted and raised by a very loving couple who took in both her and her twin sister.

What most intrigued me about the synopsis was the fact that her search led her family members that were literally next door. I will admit that while I did keep waiting for that aspect to present itself, I really enjoyed hearing about Julie's and Jenny's experiences trying to track down any bit of information about their birth parents (initially brought on by an effort to learn health history of their biological relatives). I couldn't believe the tenacity that Julie had. Thanks to her tireless work, she was able to get answers and so much more from all of her efforts.

I think this book will really hit home for anyone that has been adopted or even gave a child up for adoption. While neither of these situations apply to me, I still found it to be an interesting story that taught me a lot about what it feels like to be in the shoes of someone who was adopted and grew up never knowing their birth parents or anything about them.

This book had sad moments and happy moments. Ultimately it was a book filled with hope and left me feeling happy for everyone involved. I have considered, though, that this is not the case for everyone in Julie's situation. I am really happy for her that her search proved fruitful and rewarding, and can only hope that this is the story for many other adoptees who want to know more about their birth parents.

Thank you to Books Fluent and NetGalley for an advanced listening copy of this title. As an adoptive parent and the niece of an adoptee also from St. Vincent's Orphanage in Chicago, I had a particularly strong interest in hearing Julie's story of searching for her birth parents. There were a lot of hurdles in her way, but Julie never gave up. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing the details of her search for her biological family.

This book really captured my attention and held it. There is something so fascinating about true stories. This one is about twins who were given up at birth, but due to health concerns start looking for their birth parents just before their 50th birthday. It covers the emotions of the twins, their birth parents and others, as well as exploring some of the ins and outs of adoption, genealogy, laws about privacy. There were a couple parts where it got a bit slow or did some re-capping, but overall it flowed and kept momentum.

I enjoyed listening to this book, and would recommend both the content and the narrator.

A beautiful book full of highs and lows; the ultimate emotional rollercoaster. It’s a story full of twists and turns, of suspense, and plenty of love and support. The search for the Ryan twin’s birth parents is long with lots of challenges (legal and emotional ones) that are thrown their way. Julie was so tenacious and persistent, never giving up, so that she may one day meet her birth parents, or at least, hoping to find them enough to gain insight to her medical background for herself and her children. An admirable and very inspiring story, I loved both the story and the narrator that did a fantastic job making sure the book was bleeding with emotions. I felt every pain and joy through her voice and through Julie’s words.

Grateful for what I take for granted, a full medical history that’s always been there for me, and for finding this beautiful gem of a story.

A huge thanks to the publisher and author for this copy.

If I could give this book more than 5 Stars I definitely would. What a lovely memoir. Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book. There was never a doubt in my mind I would love the book.
I am amazed at the hoops adopted children have to jump through to find their true roots. Thank goodness the laws have changed.

Julie has done a remarkable job at not only walking us through the journey and turmoil of searching for ones birth family, but also helps give anyone a peek into what it feels like to grow up not knowing part or all of your heritage. As a foster parent, these stories are not completely foreign to me, but walking the entire journey with someone put much into perspective I hadn't fully wrapped my mind around. This book is paced well. There was obvious lulls in the search process, but the writer crafter them in such a way that you felt the weight of the pause, but were not bogged down or bored in your reading. This is an important book and perspective for all to consider. I'm glad I took the time to read it.

I received a copy of this book digitally via NetGalley. I read and reviewed this book voluntarily, and all opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Books Fluent for gifting me an audiobook of the debut memoir by Julie Ryan McGue, narrated by Kate Hagman - 4 stars!

Julie and her twin, Jenny, have always known they were adopted but it was a closed adoption, so they had no information on their birth parents. Until Julie started going through health crises in middle age, she had never pursued investigating her biological origins. Those health issues spurred her to open difficult discussions with her adoptive parents and begin a years-long search for her birth parents.

This was a wonderful memoir, totally honest and forthcoming with the emotions and feelings of all involved parties. Julie was very diligent and methodical in her searches and it was obviously documented well in order to produce this book. The twins were always so respectful of their parents' feelings even through hurt and rejection. I appreciated her Catholic upbringing and faith and believe that God definitely had a hand in all that transpired - there are no coincidences!

Twice a Daughter isn’t a typical memoir. This story was suspenseful in addition to being emotional. The narrator brought the author’s story to life beautifully. Congratulations to author Julie McGue on her ability to tell her emotional family story with such grace.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, the narrator, and publisher for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook. The opinions in this review are entirely my own.

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An honest viewpoint from the eyes of an adoptee in her search to find medical answers. Great job of weaving together all the strands of the fabric and being respectful to all sides in this context.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Books Fluent for my audiobook copy of Twice a Daughter by Julie McGue Narrated by Katie Hagman 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!
Also, the narration was done very well.

Julie & her twin sister Jenny were adopted as babies and have grown up in a loving family, never really feeling the need to connect with their birth parents. However when Julie develops some medical issues, she realises that she does need answers – initially she is not so concerned about meeting her birth parents, she just wants a medical questionnaire completing to help her doctors treat her appropriately.
She commences her search with the support of her sister and her husband, though realises that it could be painful for her adoptive parents. Her search is not an easy one, over a period of around 5 years she goes through many disappointments and the answers are not always what she expected. Towards the end she uncovers some coincidences that would be unbelievable in a Hollywood film, yet they are reality!
Overall, this is a beautifully written true story that details the reality behind searches for birth families. It’s not always easy & adoptees need to have the strength & understanding to realise that contact may open old hurts and that their birth families may not want to rekindle a relationship. It was interesting to understand how Julie’s refusal to give up on obtaining the much-needed medical history ultimately led to changes in some adoption laws/procedures.
I always prefer audiobooks that are read by the author, but the narrator captured the essence of Julie’s search well and it was a good narration not a stilted reading.

#TwiceaDaughter #NetGalley

Twice a Daughter: A Search for Identity, Family and Belonging, by Julie Ryan Mcgue, is such a beautifully written emotional rollercoaster ride of a story. Julie and her identical twin sister, Jenny were adopted together in a domestic adoption. They were raised by loving parents and had a wonderful upbringing. But after Julie has two separate health scares she sets off on, what turns into, a five year search for family health records, as well as birth relatives. In detailed prose, she shares about the highs and the lows, that came with her search. She also writes about the wonderful people who helped her along the way. The love and appreciation that she feels for her mothers, her adoptive father and the rest of her extended family, just shines through so brightly.

I first read this book digitally and was excited to see the audiobook go up on here as I listened to it on audible and was able to experience the book in another way. I am still trying out fiction audiobooks, but non fiction listening has always come easy. I wish Julie had narrated it herself, but was still glad to have this book join me as I commuted or gardened.

Below is my review from my first read and my thoughts still ring true:

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.