This was such a cute, heartwarming read! To me it was really interesting to have a storyline incorporating the journey of infertility and IVF as one of the main plots bringing the love interests together. Gemma was in a way so likable because she was imperfect and had some stuff to work through, Josh on the other hand was such a big softie and down to do whatever for Gemma which made him an instant favorite! Another thing that added positively to the story was the friendship group around the Fertility Support Group, 4 very different women dealing with the same heartbreaks of infertility and disappointment of IVF but still forming beautiful friendships.

I really, really enjoyed this book. Josh is probably one of my favorite romance heroes so far this year and Gemma absolutely doesn't deserve him. I was nervous going in to this because I had seen reviews saying Gemma sucks, and while she definitely has a lot to work through and wasn't always likeable, I think Ready did a great job with her. Sometimes we suck as humans and aren't always our best selves. Gemma screws up, and apologizes, just like we all do.

I loved that you could see that Josh absolutely adored her from the beginning and I love a clueless heroine. The little twist at the end??? To die for.

Overall this was a 4.5/5 star read for me and I'd absolutely recommend it. It's a slow burn that's filled with longing and banter.

**4.5 stars**

This was my first book by the author and definitely enjoyed the relationship building and the little moments of complicity.

Josh and Gemma have been knowing each other for many years, he is her brother’s best friend and has been a constant in her family (although they have not been really close). When she decides to have a baby following her struggles with infertility, he is the person that she thinks about. At the same time, her boss (with which she has been dreaming for some time), asks her on a date. The rest, as they say, is (part of this) history.

The book felt in a way like a slow burn. It showed the experience of someone going through an IVF process while trying to juggle the rest of activities. I loved the character’s journey and the self-discovery, and even if certain aspects felt predictable, I enjoyed how thoughtful and funny it could be.

I alternated between listening and reading. The narrator of the audiobook (which I have heard before) was very good and made me enjoy even more certain parts of the book.


Of note: I voluntarily read a free copy of this book (and respective audiobook) in exchange of an honest review.

Seeing that this was a rom-com about infertility and IVF immediately drew me in and knew I had to read it! I loved how sweet and patient Josh was about his feelings for Gemma and how Gemma came to find out how he felt for her. I’m a comic convention nerd and loved that he was a comic artist!!

The only reason I did not give this 5 stars was due to Gemma’s family, especially her awful mother. None of them stuck up for her and constantly put her down like it was just a normal everyday thing to call her fat and infertile! Gemma took this way better than I’ve seen anyone do. And the whole town knowing about these personal details as well?? Nope. The family’s gotta go. Sure they may have redeemed themselves in the end but if they had actually been treating her that way for 32 years until she found ‘the one’ that’s just revolting.

Overall it was a sweet story about maturity and learning not to judge a book by its cover.

This was so wonderful to read!! I could not stop reading it the minute I picked it up.

So in this story, we follow Gemma’s POV, Gemma as a main character was really fun and although she had her flaws she found her way towards the end of the book and it was perfect.
Her main love interest, Josh, is literally the most perfect man to exist. No joke. Everything about him made me remember why I prefer fictional men over real men. He was so caring and thoughtful, he remembered all the tiny little details about Gemma and it was so so cute!!!

One thing to add, I really disliked her mother. She was always fat shaming Gemma and sexualizing her which is not a one time occurrence in this book, however sadly talk like this is very normalized towards young women in real life so it may be a trigger.

Finally, this book was a joy to read, it was so funny and charming. It hooked me on the spot and i’m very glad to have picked this up. Definitely going to be reading more from this author!!!

Gemma works for a motivational guru and has decided she wants a baby, despite her fertility issues. She thinks her brother’s best mate, Josh, would be ideal as a sperm donor. Because they aren’t close after a one-night stand years ago, she just doesn’t know if he’ll say yes.
I was initially uncertain about selecting this book but finally decided to take the plunge. And I am so glad I did. I really enjoyed Ready’s writing style and she delivers an engaging story, with witty banter and plenty of chemistry between the main characters. A workplace love interest (giving Daniel v Mark Darcy vibes) and a fertility support group add to the delightful mix.

Josh and Gemma. Gemma thinks she knows exactly who Josh is. The perfect sperm donor, nothing more.
But is Josh more than meets the eye?
Gemma is ready to make her New Year's resolution come true all on her own. And Josh agrees to help.
This story is super sweet. The characters drew me in, and I just couldn't put the book down. The elements of real-life struggle help bring this book to life even more.

Loved, loved, loved, this book. It made me laugh, cry, happy, sad, angry, just all the feels lol. I wished it would of shown more of the financial struggles of IVF as most insurances don’t cover most of the cost but other than that this story was great . Couldn’t put it down read it in one sitting.

woahhhh did i finish this book in 2 hours? yes, yes I did.
that’s how addicting and easy this book was to read. gemma was such a funny character , i truly enjoyed reading about her. topics about infertility are always so hard to read about because it’s a struggle that a lot of women face and it truly hurts, so check out some of the trigger warnings before you read this! overall this book was lighthearted and just great. it made me laugh but also got me in my feels. i recommend if you’re looking for a easy read to pass time!

A slow burn love story where the boy falls first.

And I can’t be the only one who hated Ian from the moment he was introduced, surely?!

Gemma and Josh’s love story is one for the ages and it hit me in places I never realised existed.

Gem’s story of infertility was her own and it was lovely to see this from someone else’s perspective.

Sarah captured love, loss and heartache so well.

5/5 stars

TW: Infertility, Miscarriage

This is now my favorite romance I have ever read. I loved the dialogue absolutely hilarious and wholesome. I finished the book in 4 hours and loved every second of it. I loved the little illustrations and the perfect quotes. I loved the character growth and how the progression of the leads’ relationship was actually realistic (which is so rare in romance). The story is very well written and describes NY so well. I even felt like I understood the quaint upstate town well through Ready’s description. Absolutely perfect! Ready to devour more Ready novels. Thank you to Net Galley and Swift & Lewis Publishing, LLC, for the advanced copy for my honest review.

#JoshandGemmaMakeaBaby #NetGalley

This was such a cute and heartfelt story. I originally started the book because I love the cover and Erin Mallon was solo narrating, all told from Gemma's POV.

Gemma wants a baby. After finding she needs medical help, she turns to IVF. Instead of using an anonymous doner, she asks her childhood next door neighbor, Josh. Josh agrees and the two start the process together.

This was such a different kind of friends to lovers and pregnancy trope. It wasn't an accidental pregnancy and the two hadn't been longing after each for years and years. I loved how it was a modern approach to how a lot of families are now started. It's a fun and sweet story that certainly bring out all kinds of emotions. Josh is so dreamy and the perfect baby daddy for Gemma. Josh and Gemma are so sweet together and I loved this story so much.

First read of 2022 and it was a great one. I will first start with why I gave this book 4 stars. I really want to give this a 5 stars, but I was bothered by the way they mentioned Gemma’s (the main character) weight and how it was viewed as a bad thing to be curvy.

Apart from that, this romance is very important in my opinion. It talks about pregnancy and every struggle that comes with it and for that I think and hope people will read and enjoy it. It was predictable but exactly what I wanted and I think that’s the beauty of romance.

Gemma who has complications getting pregnant decides to try and have a child. As the title suggest she turns to Josh for it. I won’t give much away about why because that’s the fun part of reading this story.

Both Josh and Gemma are really funny yet very touching and struggle with a lot of things. I went from crying to laughing out loud in just seconds. Josh is a character I could really relate to throughout and I think everyone will love him. Gemma is also very lovable. I had a lot of second embarrassment bc this is still a romcom and it was amazing. There are a lot of positivity quotes and even though I’m not about all that it grew on me and I appreciated that.

All in all this book breathes positivity, lightheartedness but doesn’t shy away from sensitive subjects like grief or infertility. I hope this book gets the recognition it deserves. <3

I really enjoyed this super cute rom com and thought it was very charming! However, if you are going through infertility or have struggled with infertility I would be cautious going into this book because it does discuss a lot of heavy topics. But overall it was a delightful book that romance lovers will enjoy! Thank you NetGalley and Swift & Lewis Publishing, LLC for a free copy of this book via Kindle in return for an honest review.

Sarah Ready is a new to me author. I thought this book was well written. The characters were well developed. This book, while dealing with some heavy issues such as infertility, miscarriages, and infidelity, did not feel heavy. I loved the women in Gemma’s infertility group that she attended. I liked the chemistry between Gemma and Josh. I laughed out loud a few times. I read this book in less than 24 hours. I found it quite enjoyable.

"That's right. I disturbed a doctor that trained as a gynecologist and has probably seen and heard some of the weirdest stuff on the planet."

Overall, I enjoyed Josh and Gemma Make a Baby. It had a fairly predictable storyline, but that didn't make it any less enjoyable. Lots of humour, wholesome moments, and a good representation of infertility struggles. Josh and Gemma's relationship was the obviously best part of the book, but coming in close second was the fertility support group - those ladies had dimensions!
I will say the inspirational quotes throughout were quite cringy, and it was widely accepted by all the characters as being completely normal which was ... weird. I thought it was going to be Gemma's quirk, but it truly became the basis for the whole novel.

Gemma is 32, single and sick of waiting for the perfect man to show up so she can have the family she’s always dreamed of. After all, she’s already been married and divorced, and the men her mother keeps trying to set her up with are duds. But one day Gemma realises that she doesn’t need a husband to have a family – she just needs a man and a sperm donation. Gemma approaches Josh Lewenthal, her brother’s best friend. They’ve known each other almost their whole lives; he’s good-looking, athletic and smart – the perfect guy to make a baby with. Together, Josh and Gemma embark on an IVF journey that challenges everything they think they know about each other and maybe even leads to love.

I burned through this book in the final days of 2021. It was easy and fun; the perfect book for days when you’re feeling lazy and don’t want to engage with anything too strenuous. It’s an odd tone for a book that deals so heavily with a subject as heavy as infertility, but the humour helped ease what could have been a very difficult read. This is the second book I read in 2021 that has infertility as a central theme and it makes me wonder if we’ll see this as a trend for romance and contemporary women’s fiction in the next few years. It’s something I would embrace. Women’s fiction, and romance novels in particular, still have a reputation for being frivolous and lacking depth. Of course, that’s not true, but seeing these topics explored more openly has the potential to take the genre in a new direction.

There was a strong cast of characters in this book and I liked them all. My main character issue is that Josh felt a bit too perfect. Part of the point of this story is that Gemma has all these unfounded ideas about what kind of person Josh is, so she makes assumptions about him, but even when she didn’t think that highly of him, we didn’t really see any of his flaws. The male characters in the novel feel less fleshed out and more 2-dimensional than the women. Josh is set up as the perfect guy, the one Gemma should really be interested in, and Ian (her self-help guru boss and boyfriend) is clearly modelled as the sleazy guy she should steer clear of. I would have liked more nuance for them. The female characters are much more fully realised and complex. They have conflicting emotions and desires, they make mistakes, and they do bad things for good reasons. Ready might have done this deliberately, to put the focus on the women and their relationships, but when most of the story revolves around the relationship between Gemma and Josh, it doesn’t make for the most interesting reading experience when one of the characters lacks the characteristics that would make him interesting.

Overall, I enjoyed Josh and Gemma Make a Baby. It was funny and heart-warming, and I enjoyed seeing women supporting each other, even when they were struggling with their own lives. It got a bit overly earnest towards the end, when Gemma was learning the lessons that would help her grow, and that made me cringe, but some people like that sort of thing. I just prefer when the moral of the story isn’t being explicitly told to me. If you’re looking for an easy read to fill some time or get you out of a slump, Josh and Gemma Make a Baby is a great book to pick up.

CW: miscarriage, infertility, death of a parent

This book follows main character, Gemma, a woman in her 30’s who can’t have children. As her New Year’s resolution, she decides that she wants to have a baby. She just got out of a bad relationship, so she is not looking to start a new one, she just wants a baby. Then comes in Josh. Josh is Gemma’s brother’s best friend who Gemma reconnects with at her mother’s New Year’s party. When Gemma goes in to get IVF, she is allowed to choose a anonymous donor or have a partner that donates. Gemma decides that she does not want a random donor, and ends up offering Josh’s name as the donor. To Gemma’s surprise, Josh actually agrees to go through with it, leading to many other events along the way.

This book was everything I could have hoped it would be. It was funny, cute, and emotional all in one. I found the characters to both be very likeable. Another thing I appreciated was that it didn’t feel too rushed but the book wasn’t extremely long either. I find that sometimes when romance books aren’t super long they can feel a bit rushed, but the pacing of this book was perfect. I loved the author’s writing style, it definitely made me want to check out more of their books. I also enjoyed the fact that other side characters were well developed. I was just as invested in some of Gemma’s friends’s lives as I was hers. As for Josh, he was the perfect male lead. He was funny and sweet, not to mention him and Gemma had a history which just made everything all the more interesting. I did have a few doubts going into this book as I’m not always a fan of the pregnancy trope, but I think think that this one executed it very well.

I don’t have many criticisms for this book, it kept me interested all throughout, I enjoyed the characters, I found the writing style easy to read. This being the first book I read by Sarah Ready definitely makes me want to read more of her books in the future.

I’d like to say a big thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with this E-ARC.

Josh and Gemma Make a Baby is a lighthearted fluffy romcom that touches on heavier topics, such as infertility. Gemma is an interesting main character, she’s obsessed with positivity but shows that she’s actually fairly judgemental. Josh comes across as the perfect romance boyfriend to be.
The story focuses on the relationships in Gemma’s life. The meddling of her mother in her dating life, how her IVF support group interact with each other and their different situations, the budding relationship with her boss, and the effects of the IVF journey with Josh.
Altogether this was an enjoyable and easy read for me I was a little unable to put it down, however there were some trickier bits which may not be suitable for all readers, topics surrounding infertility and miscarriage are dealt with due to the plot of this book. Some parts of the story I wish were more fleshed out, such as Gemma’s divorce and the backstory with Josh. We learn some things but never why they didn’t see each other for six years, especially with him being a close friend of her family.
Overall this was a 3.5 star read and I would recommend to readers who enjoy a cute romance based around mid thirties protagonists.

This made me realize how a simple quote can change or destroy someone's life. It can change a life because that is its purpose right? to inspire. But sometimes quotes really have a negative in our life. One quote can lead us to live our life according to it to the point where it became toxic. I think that is what happened in this book. Gemma lived her life according to the inspirational quotes from her boss (spoiler: it's not her boss's word) and look where it lead her? She became a judgmental coward person. She fears that someone would not be able to live on to her values. She changed though, and I love that for her.

This isn't actually an emotional (maybe just a little) one but a witty and heartwarming book. I love love the vibes of this book. After reading mystery/thriller for weeks I am glad I pick up this one because this is just exactly what I need. It's so cozy, heartwarming, funny, and the romance, omfg its immaculate. I also love that Josh and Gemma's romance isn't perfect. They faced some struggles throughout the book, and I am glad that they resolved them. I rarely feel this on characters but I think Josh and Gemma are soulmates.

Honestly, this almost has all the tropes that I hate. The pregnancy trope, love triangle, and miscommunication (they did not communicate at all). Surprisingly I liked it, more than I expected I would. I think this book should get more hype. Definitely recommend this book if you want a cozy, witty, and heartwarming book.