While searching for a way to help support her young family, Amanda Lisandra decides to act as a gestational carrier for a childless couple. After she finally establishes a pregnancy with another couple’s embryo, her soldier husband is killed on a special forces mission. Devastated by grief, she surrenders the child she was carrying and struggles to regain her emotional equilibrium.
Two years later she studies a photograph of the child she bore and wonders if the unthinkable has happened—could she have given birth to her own biological child and inadvertently given him away? Over the next few months Amanda struggles to decide between the desires of her grief-stricken heart and what’s best for the little boy she has never known."
Angela Hunt tackles a difficult and emotional topic with creativity and empathy. This book centers around real characters with real emotions and struggles. The descriptions are vivid and placed me right in the middle of the turmoil. I love books like this that make me wrestle with all of the "what ifs." Wow! I am a huge fan of Angela Hunt and would strongly recommend "The Offering" or any of her other books. I did receive this book free in exchange for my honest review.

The Offering by Angela Hunt is a novel that I had high expectations for since she has written so many novels and is such a popular author. Unfortunately I was disappointed. The back cover gave away the plot and left nothing for the reader to figure out. Yes, there's a twist at the end but by the time I got there I had known for awhile what was going to happen so it came as no surprise to me. I do feel that this a very well-researched novel about being a surrogate and I don't know that I've ever seen another fiction novel written on the subject. The story did suck me in and I couldn't stop reading even though I knew what was going to happen. With that said I don't enjoy reading a novel knowing how things will unfold so if you are like that too I don't recommend this novel. If you don't mind that then you'll probably enjoy reading this or if surrogacy is something that appeals to you then you may enjoy this novel. Honestly this book speaks to such a small target audience and I believe many people will have a difficult time relating to many of the topics covered in this novel.

I received this book from Litfuse Publicity Group in exchange for my honest review.

Once I started reading this book, I could not put it down. Even though a lot is given away, by reading the back of the book, I kept hoping it wasn't true. It was almost like waiting for the other shoe to drop.
While I was questioning my Christian beliefs, with regard to the unused embryos. This is thorough talked about in the story. Not that I agree with it, but it does give thought.
What would you do? When my daughter experienced fertility, I thought about doing what Mandy did, but is it morally right? Each person has to answers these questions on their own. Also, once she felt that she and her husbands were the parents of the little one. What great harm is she going to do pulling him away from the only parents he has known. On the other hand, this little boy is a surviving part of her husband. Oh my, somehow someones heart will be broken.
There are some very tender loving moments here, the extended, wonderful Cuban family her husband comes from. We spend time with their gifted and talented daughter Marilee. We grieve for Gideon, and feel his loss.
Through out the book a poigant theme is spoken "Meet at the river." "Yeah, I'll be waiting under the tree."

I received this book through Litfuse Publicity Book Tours, and was not required to give a positive review.

Would have been SO much better had the back cover blurb not given away over 75% of the plot.

This could have been a great novel, but unfortunately, the book description gives away most of the plot. It detracts from the enjoyment of an unfolding story and its twists and turns. However, the medical and cultural details are fascinating and add to the drama.
Amanda and her soldier husband have a difficult time making ends meet. When Amanda hears of becoming a gestational carrier for an infertile couple, she knows this could be the answer to their money woes. After some discussion, her husband and his large extended Cuban family see the benefits. Amanda discovers her husband has been killed in action on the day she delivers the other couple’s child, and years later comes to the shocking realization that the child she surrendered may have been her own.

Angela Hunt is an incredible writer whose books never fail to captivate me. That doesn't mean I always enjoy what I'm reading, but I'm totally engrossed in it. The Offering is quite different from the other books of Hunt's that I've read, the last two of which focused on middle-aged sisters. But I found this book to be just as believable and just as heart wrenching as those books were.

The Offering deals with a topic I was basically unfamiliar with prior to reading the novel—gestational surrogacy. Hunt does an excellent job of exploring this topic fully—the pros, the cons, and the moral dilemmas. And she does it by telling a compelling story of one family's journey with surrogacy, which takes a completely unexpected twist. (I'm dying to tell you about the twist, but it will be so much better if you just read the book for yourself!)

If I could change one thing about the book, it would be to speed things up a bit. The baby Mandy is carrying isn't born until nearly 2/3 of the way through the book. I would rather have spent more time with Mandy after the baby's birth, as that's when most of the important action happens.

I must also comment on my feelings for Mandy, who is not an incredibly likable main character. Throughout most of the book, I just wanted to tell Mandy to grow up. She kept patting herself on the back for doing this wonderful thing for the French couple, but she just seemed so selfish to me. I identified much more closely with the other women (her cousin Amelia, who struggled with infertility, and Simone, the woman Mandy carried the child for). This is probably because I have several friends and relatives who have struggled with infertility and/or the agony of adoption. As the story progressed, Mandy did grow up ... and she ended up making some very mature decisions. The change in Mandy from the book's beginning to end is remarkable—yet it's completely believable. I enjoyed discovering—along with Mandy—the events that made her the woman she was, and when she finally put everything together and understood what she needed to do, I wanted to stand up and cheer for her!

The Offering is a compelling novel that will force you to think. It will also make you cry. It's one of those books that will stick with you long after you've read the epilogue! 4-1/2 stars.