I love finding a new author!

Josh and Gemma Make a Baby is the first novel I've read by Sarah Ready...and I'm a fan. This novel had me swooning and laughing from the start. While this is a topic/premise that will not be for everyone, I found it to be sweet and fun all around. Josh was a complete sweetheart who remembered little things about Gemma from when they were younger, and it was just perfection.

I look forward to more from this author.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced ecopy of this novel.

Basic plot: Gemma grew up around Josh. He is a family friend, her brothers best friend. When Gemma decides that she wants to have a baby, who better to ask than a family friend?

Rating: 5/5

What I enjoyed the most: I was able to dive into this book and read it within a few days. It kept me interested and engaged for the whole story. I really liked that we saw their relationship flourish and change before our eyes. Of course, I very much liked the ending.

“Josh and Gemma Make a Baby” was a very good book and I will recommend it to all!

Thank you to NetGalley for granting me permission for an advanced copy of this wonderful book!

Thank you for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Josh and Gemma Make a Baby is a comedic, light rom-com that I think many will find a fun read. You follow Gemma through the process of IVF and the decision to become a mother with a sperm donor.

However, I went through a wide range of emotions before I stopped at the 30% mark of this book and DNF. Want to be upfront about this so you take it into consideration while reading my review.

What I liked from what I did read:
- I thought the open approach to IVF was great. I don't know that much about it, so hearing from a first hand experience what the process could be like was interesting.
- I also loved the concept of a woman who has had a really rough go of it just deciding that she can be a mom on her own and taking the initiative despite what others may think or say.
- There are some true LOL moments that will have you heavily entertained.
- It has some Bridget Jones vibes mixed with Leslie Mann's character from How to Be Single. This is very specific but I feel very strongly about the comparison.
- The promise of a man who has clearly been pining after our MC for some time!!

Why I stopped reading:
- Why Gemma wanted to have a baby felt unclear to me.
From the beginning I never really bought into the WHY of Gemma wanting to have a baby. She receives a call from her mom letting her know that her ex-husband (who cheated after he found out she couldn't have kids) is having his third child. And it's like a switch flips in her head after having virtually no interest in being a mother that she needs to become a mom and that she will do it on her own. I was really interested in this story because of this plot line specifically. I had read The Friend Zone by Abby Jiminez, which received a lot a critique because of the way pregnancy was handled. I wanted to see how this author would approach such a sensitive topic.

- Gemma's bar for herself, her life and her loved ones was incredibly low, and I found it hard to continue to be empathetic to her.
Her mother speaks down to her and said things like "no one is interested in you", "everyone feels bad for you", "no one wants to marry a chubby woman who has been divorced" and "this is the best you can do". I know there are plenty of nasty people in the world who still feel this way, I don't live under a rock, but the entire plot is built on this point. Her self-worth is being challenged because she is told that being 'divorced and chubby' has brought her to a dead end road in life, and she takes it to heart. She doesn't even stop to question why someone she loves would speak to her this way. And that's the real problem I had with the story. Gemma's bar for herself, for the people in her life and her expectations is just so incredibly low. It's not just that people were mean to her, it was her reaction to them. She was clearly conditioned not to accept this is okay which I understood, and it makes you empathetic to a degree, but I did not enjoy reading about her.

But then we're supposed to believe that her boss has actually been dying to sleep with her? I mean, good for her, but what??

I just found it difficult to be invested in Gemma's character and did not wish to continue the book. Her lack of self-esteem made me empathetic to her, but I didn't entirely care for a character who refused to stand up for herself and lacked the confidence and awareness to question the way people were treating her.

Gemma works for a self-proclaimed self-help guru, was cheated on by her ex-husband seven years ago and her mother keeps setting her up with the rude, “left-over” singles in her village. At her parents’ New Year’s Eve party Gemma decides on her New Years resolution: she is going to have a baby. Having been diagnosed with endometriosis years ago and also due to the little fact that she is single, she asks her brother’s best friend to be the sperm donor - and he says yes!

This book was very absurd at times, had a great cast of women in the IVF self-help group Gemma joins, and I knowingly laughed at the descriptions of her job; they were eerily similar to my experiences in the past. But ultimately the plot was very predictable. Not just Rom-com levels of predictability but down to the small details predictable.

Some readers may find it a bit insensitive how little Gemma researches the process of going through IVF and may roll their eyes at how she never catches on to how Josh feels.

Surprisingly I liked the “baby trope” however, usually that is one of my least liked tropes.

3/5 for Josh and Gemma Make a Baby

Where to I begin? I picked this book up because of the title and cover. Baby making is an intriguing business (hehe) and to be honest I was just expecting a spicy book, definitely not this. There was so much more than just tension here, there was real life problems. I felt what Gemma was feeling on a personal level, especially in the way she perceived herself. Not going to lie though, she was slightly annoying in certain parts. How can someone be so BLIND. Josh was everything though, he carried the book up to four stars for me. Not only is he gentle and attentive, he is also nonjudgmental...exactly the type of person I would want to be my therapist (Josh if you can hear me maybe you need a career change).

Final thoughts: Was this book crazy and perhaps unrealistic too? Yes
Would I read it again? Yes, especially on a plane ride or on a park bench (iykyk)

"Josh and Gemma Make a Baby" by Sarah Ready is an awesome book, which made me ugly cry and laugh really hard.

I expected it to be a swoony, cute story about having a baby with a best friend's brother...and it was that, but also so much more!

I’ve never read a romance book where infertility and IVF were the main issues. I'm the kind of person who’s always dreamed (and still dreams) about having a family and babies. Being infertile is my biggest fear.

I'm so happy that I got to read this book, because it gave me so much hope and I know it will have a place in my heart forever.

Gemma is a woman who looks at the situation and find positivity even if it's hard. She’s known Josh for a very long time. As soon as she makes the decision to have a baby through IVF, she can't help but ask him to be the sperm donor.

The story is extremely heartwarming. I absolutely adored it. It's filled with many romantic situations, but we also find some very realistic situations and watch the character’s struggles.

"Josh and Gemma Make a Baby" is not only a story about the main couple, but it also tells us the stories of Gemma's friends.

Each one of them has a similar problem but different ways of handling the situation. I think it's very important to understand that it's the same thing in real life and I'm glad Sarah Ready accurately showed it in her book.

#JoshandGemmaMakeaBaby #NetGalley

This is a winner of a novel full of love and doubt and warm feelings. Such a fun and enjoyable read that will satisfy you on many levels.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

New Year’s Resolution:
Have a baby
Preferably with Josh Lewenthal

Meet Gemma Jacobs. She’s driven, energetic, and a positive thinker. She has a great career working for famed self-help guru Ian Fortune, she lives in a cute studio apartment in Manhattan, and her family is supportive and loving (albeit a little kooky). Her life is perfect. Absolutely wonderful.

Except for one tiny little thing.

After a decade of disastrous relationships and an infertility diagnosis, Gemma doesn’t want a Mr. Right (or even a Mr. Right Now), she just wants a baby.

And all she needs is an egg, some sperm, and IVF.

So Gemma makes a New Year’s resolution: have a baby.

Josh Lewenthal is a laid back, relaxed, find-the-humor-in-life kind of guy. The polar opposite of Gemma. He’s also her brother’s best friend. For the past twenty years Josh has attended every Jacobs’ family birthday, holiday, and event – he’s always around.

Gemma knows him. He’s nice (enough), he’s funny (-ish), he’s healthy (she thinks) and he didn’t burn any ants with a magnifying glass as a kid. Which, in Gemma’s mind, makes him the perfect option for a sperm donor.

So Gemma wants to make a deal. An unemotional, business-like arrangement. No commitments, just a baby.

To Gemma’s surprise, Josh agrees.

They have nothing in common, except their agreement to make a baby and their desire to keep things businesslike.

But the thing about baby-making…it’s hard to keep it businesslike, it’s nearly impossible to keep it unemotional, and it’s definitely impossible to keep your heart out of the mix. Because when you’re making a baby together, things have a way of starting to feel like you’re making other things too – like life, and a family, and love. And when the baby-making ends, you wish that everything else didn’t have to end too.

4.5 Stars ⭐️
This book was mind altering, heartfelt, and hilarious. I thoroughly enjoyed every second and could not put it down. I also shed many tears

Gemma is a 32 year old divorcee and is not content with her love life, she wants to find love and have children, but unfortunately she has endometriosis. All Gemma wants is a baby to love and give love to, so she decides to do IVF.
She recruits Josh Lewenthal, her brothers best friend to be the donor. Josh has always been around like a house plant sitting in the corner. In Gemmas eyes he is the best candidate, the process will be quick and easy, no strings attached. Well that’s what she believed.

This book was truly different from anything I have ever read. The plot and the story line of IVF, I have never seen in a book. There were plot twists and turns that I was not expecting and I could not stop reading. There was also secret pining which made this book all the better.

Do not let the cover fool you! This book was emotional and reflective as well. Gemma had a lot of character development and I loved the new perspective I had after reading. It was a cute romance but also handles topic of loss and I loved every second. I highly recommend this book for those who love romance books but also want something a little more!

I could not put this book down! The storyline follows Gemma, who has the New Years Resolution to make a baby. As the title implies, she selects Josh, her brother’s best friend, as a suitable donor. I think we all can guess what’s bound to happen… The journey there though is so sweet. I found myself giggling & cheering them on. There is mention of IVF & miscarriage in this book. If you’re not in a headspace to read it, that’s okay. I do think that the way Sarah Ready writes about these heavy topics is relatable though. It’s a fun & cute read that I highly recommend!

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Overall this was a solid story. I laughed and I cried (i'm talking ugly cry) and I finished it over the course of one day! Gemma is a great protagonist who shows a realistic perspective on how relationships in our lives can effect us either negatively or positively long after the relationship is over. She decides at the beginning of the year to go through the process of IVF to have a baby and the author did a lovely job of showing as well as explaining how this is all Gemma has wanted for most of her adult life. She's got the job, she's got a great family, she just wants a baby of her own to love unconditionally. Josh, is an interesting love interest. He's definitely a type that pretends to take nothing seriously, but in reality only takes the important things seriously, the rest doesn't matter. Observing these two characters navigate through the process of producing a baby (along with the other side characters along for the ride) was very engaging. It says in the description that this is book 1, so i'm hoping we'll get more in this universe.

*Thank you to Netgalley for this advanced copy, in exchange of an honest review*

3,5 stars, rounded up.

Firstly, this was quite a journey and definitely gave me more than a little emotion throughout the book. It has some very similar “Bridget Jones’ Diary” themes, where I more than once saw some similarities between the two. I liked it nevertheless, but it wasn’t so original as I had hoped for.

There were some themes in this book that was quite cliché, but at the same time its not that easy to come up with a new trope for a romance book.

To come after that I really fell in love with the characters, and I especially loved the main characters, Josh, and Gemma. Josh made the whole book very heartful but also very entertaining. I laughed out loud multiple times, and the author made me fell in love with him, with his funny come backs and the way she described his attitude and looks.

It has some meaningful themes and messages, where we are with Gemma on a journey to accept herself and the loss and love she meets. The author describes Gemma’s feelings and thoughts in a lovely way, and they don’t feel too written-out and unrealistic. I felt with her a lot of times, and I understood her anger and loss, but also her joy and love. I actually think it was too short, because I didn’t really want the story to end, but at the same time it had a genuine ending, and I didn’t see the ending coming and that felt delightful that I couldn’t guess the ending and I was questioning myself how the ending would be. If an author can do that, the book needs to be quite good.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for sending me an advanced readers digital copy and audiobook in exchange of a honest review.

This book should be read by every romcom fan (specially by Christina Lauren fans), it's amazing and it's a story that I haven't seen (or read) before.

In this story we follow Gemma, a 32 year-old woman that is divorced and has been diagnosed with infertility, but she knows she wants to be a mother, she doesn't want another husband or a boyfriend, she wants a child, so she decides going on IVF.

This is where Josh appears at scene, he's her brother's best friend, has always been there and Gemma knows he's a pretty decent guy, perfect to have a child with.

To her surprise Josh accepts and they start to go to IVF, they're not in love, not a couple, not nothing. It's a business thing. He gives her sperm, they have a child and Josh can decide if he's going to be a parent or not.

But having a baby is not a business, is forming a family, so Gemma gets backfired with her plan when she can no longer ignore her feelings for Josh, what is she going to do?

Starting here there are going to be some spoilers:

First of all, I absolutely loved Josh, and let me tell you, if the guy you like doesn't show his love for you by writing a webcomic that is basically he screaming everyone how much he loves you, he ain't worth it.

Josh was my favorite character, definitely, and even though we don't have Josh's point of view we can still get to know him at the same time Gemma gets to know him.

The character I disliked the most was without a doubt, Ian, Gemma's boss, also I didn't quite like Gemma's mother, but I usually don't like anyone's mother at most of romcoms so it's more of a me problem.

It's fast-paced, it's funny, we have great character development and this has officially become one of my favorite books of the year.

Gemma Jacobs is coming into the new year with a plan: have a baby she can love who will love her back. She doesn't need a relationship to finally fulfill her dream of becoming a mom. She just needs Josh Lewenthal. Her brother's best friend since childhood--the bum living in his dad's basement. He's smart. He's handsome. He'd be the perfect choice to ask for a sperm donation, right?

After seeing the description for this book (and sneaking a peek at some other early reviews) I was so hoping I'd get approved, because I know a lot of people hate it, but I am a <i>total</i> schmoop for surprise babies, baby making, daddy swoons, etc... you get my point.

So, thank you, Berkley, for the advanced copy of Josh and Gemma Make a Baby because I loved it!

As someone who has experienced intertility, and has no children of her own, I knew for sure this one would hit me in the feels--and it did--in all of the best ways. We've already covered that I love baby tropes, but I also love a slow burn with a lot of buildup, and that's exactly what Sarah Ready crafted here.

My only complaint was I wanted more out of Josh!! He had the potential to be a number one book boyfriend; but I felt like he was way too much in the background with his feelings in some aspects. Other than that, I absolutely loved this one and I'll be looking forward to more of Sarah's books in the future.

Zzzzzz, blurg, glug, snore....
And it's all this book's fault.

Why?
Because I started reading it at bedtime and couldn't stop until I finished the story at 4.30am

Sarah Ready, another new author for me after Josie Silver - a very different book, but another winner!
Plot synopsis:
We have two main characters who have known each other for the better part of their lives - the guy is the girl's older brother's BFF.
Girl (Gemma) used to have a crush on the guy when they were younger. Guy (Josh) wasn't immune. However, they never dated, traversing their separate paths, whilst staying connected on the periphery of each others' lives.
Gemma has gone through a bad divorce soon after being handed a soul-crushing infertility diagnosis. She realises that she desperately wants a baby, but is not so desperate to continue trying her luck with the bottom of the dating barrel. She needs a baby daddy, and decides that her super-intelligent, athletic and handsome "houseplant" (*giggle*) of a teenage crush would be a great sperm donor. Josh initially balks, but then agrees to go along for reasons of his own.

As they go through the baby-making process, the peripheral existence in each other's lives becomes more central. Humorous situations follow, what with extreme reactions to hormones and dismal non-reactions to the "production room" (you have to read the book to find out more). They learn more about themselves and each other all the way through to their HEA.

What I loved:
Quite a lot! There is banter, there is humour, there is a loving but slightly demented family, a loving and fully demented group of friends in Gemma's fertility support group... and there is the backdrop of NYC! The baby-making has been dealt with using sensitivity and humour, and a large dose of optimism for Gemma. There are parts where you have to suspend disbelief - but, are you really reading a feel-good romance to have life's bitter truths doled out?

What I didn't love:
Ian. Conniving, un-loveable competition for Gemma's affections - tired plot-device in a book that was otherwise a refreshing take on the old trope of finding love with brother's BFF.

Final thoughts
Really liked the book for its frothiness, pace and humour, when dealing with a subject like infertility.
Definitely worth a read.

Oh, and thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC of this title - this has not influenced my review.

This is the first book I have read by this author, I really enjoyed it Josh and Gemma are both really likeable characters and the Journey they go on together in order to have a baby together is emotional, funny, relatable and easy to get along with.

Brothers best friend is one of my favourite tropes and add in the fact that these are both characters that have had some life experience, Josh and Gemma Make a Baby was a really enjoyable read.

A fun but emotional read.

Gemma wants a baby, and as she is single she decides to go it alone, until she ask Josh to help her. They both want something but will they get what they want?

I was just looking for a cute romcom but what I got was so much better!
I adored Josh. Gemma was a bit annoying in the first few chapters but she made up for it in the second half. The quotes thing was a little too much, but i did like the illustrations. Gemma's fertility support group was one of the best parts of this book.
This was so heartfelt and beautiful.

If the sole purpose of getting to know each other is to make a baby, is there a chance for love to grow?

In this rollercoaster story, Josh and Gemma are in a hustle and bustle situation of baby-making which they have agreed to be all business-like way and will be that way until the baby comes out. And so they thought they can maintain it that way.

The baby-making business doesn't only involve lab tests, check-ups, and forms to accomplish but also commitment, love, and a lot of responsibilities. Things they are not really prepared for. What ending awaits for Josh and Gemma?

Women of today have a say on everything. They have the power to decide for themselves specially on things that have to do with their bodies. I like the way Gemma's character is portrayed in the book. Women can have anything and everything on their own and Gemma have everything she deserve because she worked hard for to have the life she wanted. The issue of infertility never stopped her from wanting a child to prove that her instinct is right -- she can defy what the doctor and science told her about her body.

Josh is far away from being ready to be a father but he was man enough to help Gemma go through the process. I'd like to think that there are still a lot of Josh out there who have the courage to stand up for what is right ans take accountability not because they see women as damsels in distress but because they are adult enough to realize that life isn't about beds and roses.

This book is perfect for a beach read or for a bed-weather day. But whether a beach read or a light read, it's unmistakable that this book also presents us with one face and form of the trivial proces of adulting. I always see to it that I learned a lesson or two from whatever book I've read and this book taught me that we can never be prepared for everything life throws at us but we can be resilient and matured enough to deal with every situation to make the most our of it

“We only see the top of the icebergs; the faces we show the world, and the rest, all our inner lives and secret fears remain hidden underneath the surface.”

I absolutely loved that this book covered a topic like infertility. I feel it doesn’t get discussed often enough and I love that it was covered in such detail and that there were supporting characters that got to share their stories and struggles with infertility as well.

As far as the characters go, there were some characters I just really didn’t enjoy. I found myself saying “who says shit like this?” often throughout the book. Gemma’s mom and the male characters in her hometown were especially insufferable. Gemma also got under my skin here and there. I can’t quite explain why, but she did.

Josh, though, whew. I loved his character. I loved how kind and gentle he was. I really enjoyed how he shows his love throughout the book.

Overall, I feel like this book was great. It was kind of hard to get into in the beginning but I would say about 40% in I really started to get into it and enjoy it. I couldn’t put it down past that point (I say as I write this review at 3:15am). I definitely think it’s important to check out the trigger warnings for this book as it does mention miscarriage and deals with a hard topic such as infertility. I also loved that it serves as a reminder that you never know what someone else is going through, even in your own family. The reminder to be kind, understanding, and empathetic was something I really needed right now.

This was the first book that I have read by Sarah Ready and I am definitely going to check out some of their other books soon!