TW: 18+, Miscarriage, infertility
Gemma has her thirties, a divorce, infertility diagnosis and the desire to have a baby. She asks Josh, her childhood friend to be the sperm donor for IVF because he is fabulous. It isn't an easy journey; comes with a lot of twists and turns. Parents or couple or friends, how will they finally end up forms the story.
When I read the blurb and the premise about a single woman trying for IVF, I knew I am reading it. I haven't heard of any romance like this.
The author perfectly describes how tough infertility is, through Gemma and also her fertility support group. It reminds us that we should be kinder to women who cannot have biological kids because they are not less than any other. I appreciate the author for narrating how they struggle, running around fertility clinics and craving for the good news every single day. It drains them mentally. The least we can do is let them be.
The romance is flawless and should be picked if you are in the mood for something lighthearted yet serious in its theme. I love how most people around Gemma don't judge her for wanting to be a single mom; this is difficult to see in reality. Josh and Gemma aren't perfect characters - they are people.
If you see the number of pages, you already know it is quite a long one. So I would recommend reading it slowly. It isn't something you'd sit for hours and finish off. I feel it is better enjoyed slowly.
This is my first book of Sarah Ready and I believe she is a pro in romance genre. I reduced one star only because I didn't particularly love any character. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a new-age romance with zero prejudice.
I received a review copy on Netgalley and I am posting this review voluntarily.

4 ⭐️
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Thank you so much to NetGalley and Swift & Lewis Publishing for the e-ARC and audio-ARC copies of this book! I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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Well this wound up being a fun, heartfelt surprise! I started this as an audiobook just to shake things up, and while it was a bit of a rocky beginning, this turned out to be a very sweet story.

"Josh and Gemma Make a Baby" is a pretty straightforward story when you first think about it: Gemma is a 32-year-old infertile divorcée whose life is pretty average at first glance, but after years of family treating her like the single black sheep, she wants to start a family of her own and have a baby - without a husband. Gemma takes matters into her own hands and decides that even though she had endometriosis and was told it would never happen for her, she wants to try for a baby. When she's asked if she has a sperm donor, her brother's best friend (and coincidentally the man who took her virginity before going off to college), Josh, seems like a great option. What follows is a story of seeing past your initial judgements, fertility struggles, new friendships, and maybe finding the person you were always meant to be with but needed a second chance to see clearly.

To tell the truth, I wasn't a fan of this book at first. The opening didn't start as strong as I expected and the characters just didn't grasp me. I didn't love the narrator's tone, but I'm glad I stuck with it because of how I warmed up to her as well as the characters themselves. I don't want to give away too much, but I will say that characters who seemed extremely one-dimensional at the beginning just needed the time to become fully fleshed-out and well-rounded - just like the process of having a baby itself. I'd give this one a solid 4 stars because it was a rough beginning, but ended up having such a big heart.

Definitely interested to see what else this author brings to the table for her next book!

I didn't know what to expect going into this book but I honestly came out with my heart being completely melted.

Josh and Gemma's individual stories are so powerful and raw that as a reader you just wanted them to get their happy ending the entire time. This is the first book I've read that deals with these topics and I thought it was beautifully done. You can see the pain of what the characters have gone through and how that has shaped their lives and perceptions of themselves.

I found myself completely hooked and crying towards the end. I truly fell in love with josh and gemma!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

The book sounded interesting but the whole premise of the book was honestly so weird and I couldn’t get into it. You just randomly decide you need your brothers old best friends sperm??? If you can get past the whole premise of it…. The book is fine. Not my cup of tea and I wouldn’t recommend it.

A nice escape, with a different premise than your typical romcom. Some of the things that happen to Gemma seem unnecessary or irrelevant (flashing the camera on the work Zoom, the especially harsh comments from friends and family). I really liked both Gemma and Josh though, and I wish there was more interaction between them to make their relationship build more organically, and to get to know them a little more. Overall I enjoyed the story, and was pleasantly surprised not having heard about it prior to seeing it on NetGalley.

If you need a book to get you out of your reading slump, it's this! Reading Gemma and Josh's love story unveil in a romantic, comedic, and heart-warming manner was such a fun experience.

Gemma is the female protagonist you want to read and follow along her story as she's quick-witted, independent, and career-driven. She's an established women who doesn't let life's shortcomings stop her from her goal. After a failed marriage and the realization of her fertility issues, Gemma is tired of being set up with old men to follow marital traditions and ultimately decides she's going to be a mom via sperm donor and IVF.

and, that's where our male lead, Josh, comes to play. Gemma doesn't want her pregnancy to feel impersonal. She wants a sperm donor she knows that fits her checklist of the perfect sperm-donor, which is Josh! Gemma always had a little thing for Josh. He was her brother's best friend, her first fling, and the man who always stayed in contact with the family. After things go rough for Josh, he finds himself back in Gemma's sphere as he's picking his life back up. Now that Josh's around, he's the perfect fit as Gemma's sperm-donor!

He says yes! At first apprehensive, but he says yes. Now that Gemma's New Year's resolution of having a baby is in motion, it should be smooth sailing........ it's not. Gemma and Josh's rekindled budding relationship is thrown major curveballs as the both navigate this new time in their lives. Gemma deals with gross bosses (one of whom is connected to Josh - big yikes -), and Josh has to break his previous facade as non-marriage-material.

The two learn to grow into the best versions of themselves, together. ISN'T THAT THE CUTEST?!?!? There are so many hardships (TW: infertility, miscarriage, body shaming) but Gemma learns to grow above that. She stands up to her body-shaming mother, learns more about the struggles of her sister, and gives herself the permission to love again.

ALSO THE BANTER?! DID I MENTION THE BANTER? It's phenomenal. The plot is endearing and page-turning. The pacing doesn't leave you bored. The characters come to life in such wonderful ways. Sarah Ready does a wonderful job juggling an intense moment in a woman's life with outside factors like family, friends, and romance without losing focus of Gemma's growth.

PLEASE PICK UP THIS BOOK!! I promise, you'll find yourself relating to the story even if you're so detached from it! I personally have never read Sarah Ready's works BUT SHE IS NOW ON MY AUTOMATIC TO BUY LIST! Welcome Sarah Ready to your auto-buy author's club!

Josh and Gemma Make a baby addresses both IVF and miscarriages, which I appreciated. But it was not a realistic view of them and if you are sensitive to those issues. I advise that you take that into consideration. Consequently, I gave it this review. But I did understand that Josh and Gemma Make a Baby is fiction.
Nevertheless, I was moved both by sadness and by joy.
I found the fat shaming to be disappointing. Some of the characters made me cringe, such as the husbands of the women in the support group. And Ian was a total douche-bag. I did enjoy Gemma's Character. Although it took her a while to realize how she felt about Josh. Overall it was enjoyable. An easy read with a fast paced romance.

Thanks to NetGalley and Swift & Lewis Publishing, LLC. This was a honest review.

How addictive, exciting and amazing is Josh and Gemma make a baby, dear readers get ready for a new lifestyle after such a rich and realistic read

Gemma is a 32-year-old woman facing an infertility diagnosis and a disastrous marriage followed by a divorce.

Josh is the old boy you shouldn't go near, or your panties will be down, a comic book writer with a broken family.

What do they have in common? An old love, unmatched chemistry, an otherworldly friendship, and a baby.

It is difficult to describe how much I loved this book in a few words, at certain moments scenes passed under my eyes like scenes from a popular sitcom, it is a book with so many nuances and themes treated in a simple and didactic way, with an extraordinary sensitive appeal. Here we discover how women deal with fertility diagnosis, their struggles to realize a dream said by many to be impossible, we also have intellectual theft, difficulties in motherhood, parental loss and grief, the difficulty of dealing with feelings, and much more. The book also features a lot of humor, and I laughed so hard I won't be able to express

Gemma was very surprising to me, in certain scenes I wanted to slap her face, but we all make mistakes, especially with our friends, and that makes her so real and open.
Josh is shown as womanizing, funny and sarcastic, but we also see a sensitive, hardworking side, and with a family appeal that makes you want to order one on Amazon.

The secondary characters bring with them parallel stories, that even if not narrated by themselves have a beginning and end in a skillful way, Carly and her story in specific captivated me too much and even if it is a remote possibility, and already knowing her story, I would love a book and read it suffering and laughing with happiness.

I missed an ending with narration of the birth and their life with a baby, especially them finding out if it was a girl or a boy, I don't understand why it didn't if that was the main focus of the book.

In conclusion, this is a book to laugh a lot and get emotional at the same level, it brings with it emotional baggage that holds you and does not cause you discomfort because it is treated in a light and respectful way, you will not be able to stop reading.

Rating: 4,7 ⭐

I don't read a lot of romance books, and I thought this one was... strange? The whole situation felt weird to me. Certain parts of the premise didn't exactly sit right with me. Confused why the protagonist needs the sperm of her brother's best friend beyond literally being a reason for the rest of the book to exist. The thing I did like was the fertility group Gemma went to - the women were cool.

Josh and Gemma Make a Baby was a cute read and I binged it all in one day! I really enjoyed the neighbor dynamic between Josh and Gemma, but do wish the brother's best friend had been played up just a little bit more. I loved seeing Gemma navigate her infertility journey and that she didn't let her past/current relationship status stand in the way of her dream. Gemma's relationship with the other man (purposely vague because of spoilers) was definitely cringe (though I'm sure that was the intent), but I was happy the person we least expected ended up being in Gemma's corner in the end.

There are definitely some trigger warnings that should be noted, including infertility, early pregnancy loss, and sick/dying parent.

This was an easy to get through romance perfect to carry me through my Sunday. I liked how the book centered around IVF, as I don't often read about that in books. I wasn't a fan of a lot of the side characters, and found the dialogue cringe sometimes, but it ultimately wasn't enough to make me DNF. I read the ebook in conjunction with the audiobook and enjoyed both. Thank you!

My Rate: 5/5

I have to say, this was my first book by Sarah Ready and Oh my God, I think I found a new favorite author. This book was AMAZING. It made me laugh, made me cry, made me swoon and be mad, I had all the feelings! But in an extraordinary way. Some books make you cry and leave you in a fetal position on the floor, but this book is not like that, it shows you the hard realities of life, but it builds you up again, it gives you hope again, and when you finish it, there are only good feelings.

One thing I did miss was Josh’s POV, I would love to have his POV, but I also understand the author’s choice, and it worked really well. Being in Gemma’s read was incredibly interesting, and it was so real, she had a complex mind, and I believe many people, myself included, might have related to her a lot. This book was deep but soooo sweet, it handled heavy topics, but in a funny and light way, and I honestly think this would give an amazing movie, I kept thinking about this during the book.

Feminist rate: 5/5

This book deserves 11 stars! This is the kind of book I’ve been saying is necessary. This is a prime example of one of the jobs of the romance genre, sharing, in deep, heartbreaking detail, a struggle so many women go through, but nobody talks about it. It shows us all the parts, the good and happy parts, the funny parts, the uncomfortable parts, the bad and sad parts. This is a book that teaches us so much, empathy, respect, friendship, and especially love, not only romantic love, all kinds of love. Infertility is an experience I hope to never have, however after reading this book I believe I understand at least 1% better what these women go through, I believe I felt 0,0000001% of the pain they do and experience some of the happiness by the end too.

And I loved that I was not only about infertility, Gemma and Josh are complex characters, with many issues to work through like self-acceptance, body shaming, past traumas, grief, prejudice, toxic positivity, feminism, and the “role” of the “modern woman” in society, what a normal family is, so many important subjects are handled here, with so much care, it’s incredible (and just a small note, this book unleashed a huge argument in my house about traditional families, religion and God’s wishes, which was, to me, a great reaffirming opportunity)

To me, this is the greatest thing about romance, we get to feel pain, fear, and loss, but there is the promise of a happy ending. This is a safe space to feel all these emotions, and at the end of this book, I only felt happy and refreshed. I think I’m rambling too much, but this is also something this book does to you, makes you think about life.

Anyway, loved it, it is one of the best books I’ve ever read, will forever have a special place in my heart and my recommendations and I’m looking forward to reading more from this author.

Recommend this to Anyone who is not afraid to cry, laugh, and swoon all at the same time, who is willing to learn and reflect on life. Also, anyone who loved All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover, the themes are similar, but the books are different in their writing, their mood, but not the lessons they teach, but you won’t be destroyed at the end of this book as it happens to me at the end of every Colleen Hoover book.

"𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞."

Gemma wants a baby but due to her endometriosis, she is unable too. However, with the help of IVF, she’s determined to do it. And not with just anyone random but with her brother’s best friend, Josh.

I adore this book. I don’t normally read romance novels but I’m glad I took the chance too. It was funny, witty, heartwarming, and emotional. An easy read that I finished in a day. Sarah created a beautiful story that brings awareness to infertility and it’s an eye opener. To be able to see through someone’s eyes and what they have to deal with in the workplace and around family members.

I’m so glad I picked up this arc and finished it. If you love a good romance, I’d definitely recommend this one!

As someone who is going through my own infertility setbacks, I found it comforting to read a story about another woman’s journey to grow her family. I like the fact that this book normalises infertility by bringing this into a rom-com and I was even encouraged after reading it to reach out to some friends to talk about my own issues.

The romance was cute and predicatable and there were some funny moments and one liners throughout the book. Josh is very likeable and I was rooting for him whilst impatiently waiting for Gemma to realise what she had right in front of her.

What didn’t work for me in this book was that I found some parts of the plot too far fetched. For example, Josh has been in Gemma’s life for 25 years yet she seems to be one of the last people in New York to notice that he’s a famous comic writer. Nobody can be that self-conceited? Without giving the whole plot away, there were a few things like this in the story that didn’t sit right with me.

Overall, this was an easy, cheesey read that I flew through in 2 sittings and it provided some lightness to an otherwise heavy and emotional topic.

The title didn't capture my attention but another review did and I am glad I picked it up! I adored this emotional, sweet and hopeful story. It was filled with the realities of IVF and I really enjoyed hearing each woman's story through Gemma's IVF support group. The reality is so many go through this and I appreciated hearing the stories of other women through this fictional story. The other part of this is an adorable, swoony love story with a brother's best friend trope. Josh is sweet supportive and thoughtful. They had a great friendship and a natural chemistry and I was dying for that first kiss. There are a few great laugh out loud scenes between the two and I couldn't wait to see where the book took them. The over the top, rom com grand gesture ending worked in this one. I loved it and I look forward to reading more from this author.

I loved This book, It was so cute and funny in my opinion. it kinda gave me jane the virgin vibes. i dont know why it just did lol

I enjoyed the book, although I do think it could have used more romance if that makes sense. I feel like we didn't get enough of Josh, that being said, I liked their banter and dialogue. Also loved her friends and their dynamic and support of each other. Overall, I give the book 4 stars.

ADORED THIS BOOK!!!! i absolutely love how positive gemma was, was really refreshing to have seen how she deals with things! 🥰 and i adored even though gemma and josh were so different, the connection they had was unmatched! and i don't know about yall but i love when a child is involved!

absolutely recommend this book, please give it a read!

This book was funny, witty, and clever. I feel in love with it’s main character, Gemma, who is a goofy, hopeless romantic character who also doesn’t need a man. It was a cute love story between two friends, however in my opinion was predictable. Despite that, it was an easy read, let my mind wonder into the world of romance and distract from real life, and that’s exactly what a book should do!

Let me just start by saying, this is a must read for 2022 in my opinion!

The author of this book managed to bring awareness to the struggles surrounding infertility in such a beautiful way!
The book follows the life of Gemma, a single career girl who is desperate to start a family despite the fact she is infertile, and Josh, her best friends brother, who is laid back and doesn’t take life to seriously. The complete opposite of Gemma.

This book had me feeling ALL the emotions. I laughed, I cried, I basically went on the emotional journey with them!
Josh and Gemma’s relationship was just perfect! The banter, the funny moments they shared together, the emotion they felt, it was just written to perfection! The ‘will they, won’t they’ eliminate was also done so well! It had me shouting ‘JUST TELL HIM’ more than once, and I one point I was actually in TEARS!

One thing I will say is to check the trigger warnings before reading it. Maybe it was naive of me to not think that a book about infertility would contain other pregnancy problems, but one part left me really sad. Again, it was perfectly written and portrayed very well, but just be aware.


All in all, you NEED TO READ THIS BOOK, LIKE RIGHT NOW!