I’ll be honest with you, I logged onto Netgalley looking for an easy listen while I cleaned my house to boost my percentage by the end of the year. So when I saw JOSH AND GEMMA MAKE A BABY as a “listen now” audiobook option, I thought, “okay this will be cute a simple.”

No. Well, yes. But no. It was not cute and simple, there was SO much more to this story! I feel like this has the parallels of a romcom, but since I’m not a movie buff, I have no idea what the title is. Truth be told, I didn’t do a whole lot of cleaning, I did a lot more laying on the couch imaging what Josh looked like.

Content warnings: infertility, infidelity, toxic work environments, miscarriage, death, divorce

I really enjoyed this story because I felt like this was a modern day story for women. Ready touches on being single in your 30’s, not finding “Mr. Right,” and wanting to have a baby after doctors tell you it’ll be difficult to conceive by sex.

As someone who hopes to one day have a child, I think about infertility a lot and also, it seems less and less of a taboo topic. Having friends who struggle, I do my best to offer support, but most of the time, I have no idea what to say of do.

This story gave me a glimpse into what it’s like being at the doctors, injections, tracking symptoms, and more.

But above all, this story was about love, doing what you want with your life on your own time, and not feeding into what society expects you to do.

Big thank you to Swift & Lewis Publishing and Netgalley for the ALC! You can get your copy on January 25, 2022.

Josh and Gemma Make a Baby
by Sarah Ready
Was a cute read!
I must say, this audio version was amazing.
The narrator did such a great job and made me feel more connected to Gemma
The story was well developed and realistic honestly I didn't want to stop playing the book.
This was a quick read and one I enjoyed alot!

Swift & Lewis Publishing,
Thank You for this audio book

I had both the ebook and the audiobook so I switched back and forth between the two.

The narrator, Erin Mallon is really good. She was kind of breathy at the beginning of the book and sometimes and that really bugs me but other than those first few minutes I really enjoyed this narrator.

This was my first book by this author and I could see myself reading another one of her books in the future as I enjoyed this book for the most part.

I didn’t really care for Gemma and the whole OM drama seemed completely unnecessary and made me question her judgment.

I feel like one of the big themes of this book was that Gemma realized she didn’t really know Josh but I feel like after she realized that, there wasn’t much effort made to get to know him and it could be that this story was only told in her POV but I feel like I could count the number of things I knew about Josh at the end of this book on one hand.

There were some funny parts in this book and I really enjoyed the women she became friends with from the fertility support group.

Content warnings are below, please be aware that some of the content warnings may be spoilers.

CW: false pregnancy, miscarriage, Endometriosis, infertility, IVF, death of a parent.

I Received an eARC and an audiobook ARC from NetGalley and the publisher.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to listen to Josh and Gemma Make a Baby. I very much enjoyed this audiobook, and could not stop listening to it.
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From the very first chapter, this book grabbed me and pulled me in. I was laughing so hard my mom had to ask me what was happening. Then I had to tell her the name of the book through my laughter. Speaking of the name of the book the story is exactly what the title says, but a lot different. Gemma can’t have a baby “the natural way”, plus she is also single. So she sets out on her IVF journey, and somehow ends up roping her brothers best friend in. Josh, seems like the perfect option for a sperm donor, so she just goes right out and asks him. After some convincing he agrees and they set out on their journey. It’s wild, messy, and so funny. Definitely pick this one up!

Thank-you NetGalley and Swift & Lewis Publishing, LLC for the chance to review this ALC.

5/5 for both story and narration.

I was not ready for what Josh and Gemma Make a Baby was going to do to my emotions. I thought it was going to be this fun romcom and it is fun and funny but it’s also emotional and real!
I loved this story and its characters and the message that it gives.

Gemma was an interesting character. Gemma wants kinds and a family but she’s divorced cant get pregnant the old-fashioned way and she’s losing the hope of finding someone. Add a mother that isn’t very understanding and yeah Gemma has a lot going on. I had moments where I really liked Gemma and others where I wanted to shake her and make her see what was right in front of her.

Josh is wonderful and I want to protect him with my life. I loved Josh he was wonderful and there was so much more to him than what we as readers could see through Gemma. I’ll say that I wasn’t sure what to expect when we first get introduced to the idea of Josh. But as the story progresses, we start to form our own idea of him while Gemma stays a little behind.
Their relationship has a little bit of everything, the buildup of their friendship, the angst of the slow burn and the heartache of the conflict that the story is trying to fix. I had my problems with Gemma because of the way she handled things and I would usually take off a star from the rating when there’s characters that handle/create the type of conflict, but I really loved the way the conflict comes with a realization that it’s been a constant issue from the start of the book. Gemma has always been this way, always had these thoughts but it’s not until we see her voice them to those who matter to her that we see that it’s a way to justify herself. She apologized and paid her dues as she should, and she made the grand gesture!
This story focus on infertility, pregnancy loss and I can’t speak on how accurate it is. But it felt very real, emotional, and raw. It wasn’t just a thing that was added as a background it was front and center and helped us learn more about the type of people these characters were. It helped them grow.

Narration,
Erin Mallon is PERFECTION. She’s the sole narrator here and she does a fantastic job at creating a distinct voice for each character. I’m always amazed at her incredible range as an actor.

Overall, this book has my heart. I laughed, swooned, cried, and wanted to throw my phone at the wall. It was a total rollercoaster of emotions. Sarah Ready has done such an amazing job here I can’t recommend this enough!

I read an advance copy of this book from NetGalley. I really really liked this. Josh and Gemma had me laughing and all in my feelings. This book is a slow burn, friends to lovers, and brothers best friend. The book does focus quite a bit on infertility so be aware if that is a trigger for you. I think the author handled it very well and it was realistic. There is a slightly spicy scene but it’s nothing too intense for those who prefer their romances on the cleaner side.
I definitely would recommend to romance readers! The release date is 1/25/22!

Gemma Jacobs has everything she could want in life, great job, supportive family, beautiful apartment in Manhattan.. but the one thing she wants is a baby. Who better to help her with that dilemma than her brothers best friend, Josh Lewenthal.
Josh will be the sperm donor, they work out logistics in a contract so Josh can also be involved in the baby's life, Josh attends the fertility appointments with her, it's all going perfectly.
Except that getting closer to Josh shakes up Gemma's entire world. The guy she thought she knew is so much more, and Gemma slowly realizes she's been judging everyone in her life the same harsh way she judges herself. When she discovers a truth about her life that affects Josh, she scrambles to make things right.

This was my first time listening to an audio book and I enjoyed Erin Mallon's narration very much. It was easy to distinguish between the characters and the pacing of the novel felt very natural.

3.5/5 rounded up
Would've ranked higher but it felt a little predictable to me and I guessed all of the major plot points. Still an enjoyable read!
🌶🌶🌶/5

Thank you to Swift & Lewis Publishing and Net Galley for the audio ARC! This is a voluntary review.

It makes complete sense that the narrator of this book has won awards. The audio quality was so perfectly aligned with the contemporary romance style of the book.

Josh and Gemma Make a Baby was truly outstanding. It was a book full of awkwardness, hope, awful quotes, and a dash of the reality of navigating infertility and holding out hope for a baby. Not following either trope of "older brother's best friend" or "enemies to lovers", this book was a great combination of both, focusing on the development of the relationship between Josh and Gemma from long term acquaintances, to friends, to babies.. My only critique is that i wish we knew more about Josh and his comic career!

I listened to the whole book in less than 24 hours. It was just so enticing and made me feel like i was hearing the stories of my friends trying to conceive.

TW: infertility, loss, fertility treatment
This book talks about IVF, infertility treatment and loss in many ways. It is a romance book but also talks about heavy topics. Gemma is divorced and wants a baby so she turns to her brother's best friend, Josh, and ask him to be her sperm donor. Josh eventually agrees and the IVF process starts. As someone who has dealt with donor sperm and fertility treatments this book hit a little hard but it was a cute story about how Gemma grows as she navigates this new part of her life.

Thank you NetGalley for this eARC in exhchange for an honest review.

I was NOT prepared for the emotional punch this book packed!! I picked it up on a whim and man did it impress! Don't let the cute cover fool you, this book gave me Christina Lauren and Abby Jimenez level feels. When Gemma decides she wants to try to have a baby via insemination she turns to a childhood friend not realizing the emotional journey they are about to embark on. Full of humor and so much heart I binged this book that was great on audio narrated by Erin Mallon.

Highly recommended, especially for readers who enjoy secret pining and second chance at love stories. Josh definitely makes the cut for top book boyfriends and the epilogue for this book was just chef's kiss perfection! Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance review copy! Sarah Ready is officially an auto-buy author for me.

CW: death of a parent, infertility, pregnancy loss

Anytime I’m up til three in the morning bingeing - straight up DEVOURING - a romance, you know it’s a great one. And I did exactly that with this. Ready is a new-to-me author, but something about the blurb had me really excited for this, so I turned on the audiobook as soon as it became available. I had no idea what was in store for me. This was such a layered read, with moments of lightness and humor, scenes that had me tearing up, multi-faceted characters, and a storyline that had me grinning by the end. We only get the heroine’s point of view, so I was getting definite Love Hypothesis/Spanish Love Deception vibes - and that is a very, very good thing. Even this couple’s messy history worked for me, and the book just got better and better as the story progressed. Pair that with Mallon’s one-woman powerhouse of an audio performance, and this was a truly satisfying romance.

The story follows Gemma, a woman who has started to realize that if she wants kids and a family, she’ll need to get creative. Gemma is not able to get pregnant the old-fashioned way, and her divorce has left her wary of relationships, so she’s two-for-two in disappointment. But on New Year’s Eve, Gemma makes a resolution to change that… she just needs a little help. Enter Josh, her brother’s best friend and the panty-dropper who took her v-card at 16. He’s practically part of the family already, and Gemma already knows that he’s got *ahem* baby-making skills. Even better? Josh is a carefree player who will make it easy for Gemma to keep things feeling like a business transaction… or so she thinks. Turns out, Josh has been in Gemma’s life for over twenty years, but she never really knew him at all.

The blurb didn’t mention that Josh is a player or that they’ve already slept together once, so I was immediately worried when that came up in the story. Manhoe brother’s best friend is one of my least favorite tropes, but it’s done in a way that didn’t bug me. Nothing about Josh screams “manhoe,” and Gemma has definitely NOT been pining over him, nor did they have some great love story in their teens. Plus, there are some interesting developments, and the twists on the tropes were pleasant surprises. There’s a bit of OM drama, but zero OW drama, so I had no trouble loving Josh. And you know what? Their history just makes the story richer, and as the pieces of this slow burn romance started coming together, I could totally see why that was the case. We may not get Josh’s perspective, but I could easily see that he’s a kind, loving, cinnamon roll of a hero. There are breadcrumbs sprinkled along the way that felt somewhat obvious to me (as a veteran romance reader), but even I was surprised with how everything came together. This has such a light and fresh feel throughout, though it needs to be said that there are also plenty of potential triggers along the way, particularly relating to all aspects of pregnancy. It put me through my paces emotionally, and I loved how it all progressed. I also loved these two together, and that made it a fulfilling, highly devourable read.

Audio note: The audio is excellent, I highly recommend that as well. Mallon is the sole narrator, but she is so great at changing up her voice to fit the characters. She made this easy and enjoyable to listen to, and her performance just enhances the story. It’s also the perfect runtime for me, around 9 hours, and the light feel and slow burn romance lend themselves to a relaxing listen. I was able to binge this in one day, and if I’d started earlier, then I wouldn’t have been up so late, lol. I was eager to do so though, and it was well worth my time.

This is such a cute and happy story! I really enjoyed Gemma’s family and her journey. It was refreshing to see infertility depicted in an honest way (not always fixed quickly and easily - if at all).

The narrator was excellent and it was a quick read.