4.5 Stars

Jen Bailey's Unexpecting is a very different kind of coming of age story.

Ben is obviously on the spectrum, and thinks of everything in a scientific, fact based way. Honestly, the author absolutely nailed this aspect of Ben. Seriously, over and over, every little thing Ben thinks is well written.
This story revolves around Ben getting his best friend pregnant. They are teens and in school. Both are science geeks. Ben sleeps with her to prove if he's gay or not. Guess what? He is. Meanwhile, she slept with him for research purposes too.
Obviously, these are not your typical characters. And all of their actions prove so.
There's a huge depth as to why Ben reacts the way he does to everything. Not only does his "science" brain take over, but he also basis everything on his experiences of not having a father.
Both families are well written, with reasons behind everyone's actions.
And in the end, Ben's mom is just amazing. I truly love her. She absolutely makes the story in the end.

Why read it? It's a unique story that fully puts you in the brain of an autistic teen who's struggling with life. Not many teen pregnancy story will ever give you these feels. The writing is well done, both in being honest and authentic, but also in the writing style.

The only thing I didn't love about this book is the way it was too close to home for me. Ben is my son. That is why I can honestly say the author nailed the way he thinks. So, as much as I enjoyed reading this, it also hurt.

But I am still thrilled I found this book.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was quite an emotional read, but I did find myself relating to most - if not all of the characters. The description of this book is Heartstopper meets Juno, and I found this to be very accurate. The author did an amazing job portraying the complications of highschool and the main character, Ben, was incredibly relatable. I think this is a good read for anyone who is looking for a sweet coming of age story about young love and find themselves.

Unexpecting by Jen Bailey is an emotional, heartbreaking but heart repairing story about what family really means, what defines family and how you have to make hard choices for your family, even if it's not the choice you want to make.

Benjamin is gay, and he knows this for a fact after he sleeps with one of his best friends, Maxine. But when she finds out she's pregnant, Ben does everything he can and fully gets ready to be a father until he finds out that the baby will be put up for adoption instead.

He does everything he can to fight this, even being preprepared to bring lawyers into the situation until he has a conversation with his step-dad, who was also adopted and finally agrees to let it go through as long as it's open.

There's also a really sweet b-plot about him falling in love with a co-worker at his job that I just adored.

If you love found family, this is the book for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really liked this book. It was a very quick read and kept me engaged throughout the story. I enjoyed that this story took the teenage pregnancy from a male POV. I appreciated the writing, in both style and ease of reading. The plot was a bit predictable, and this story used many tropes (unexpected pregnancy, family disfunction, LGBTQ+, coming of age) but that did not take my enjoyment away from the story.
The characters were likeable. I especially enjoyed Ben the main character and Gio, the ex-stepbrother and the relationship that develops between Roger and Ben. The story gives you hope and good feeling upon completion of reading and I would hope there is a follow up including these characters.
3.75

This was a one-day book, and given the way my focus has been recently that’s quite a feat. The title of Unexpecting immediately caught my attention, and I am always a sucker for books featuring chosen family. This wasn’t quite the story I expected on that front, but I did love the way it explores different types of family and what family means for different people. This is such an emotional ride, but also such a good one. All around a good story, and the kind of story I’d like to see more iterations of.

This book was refreshing. It was a lighthearted and pleasant read. Somewhat predictable but I can't say I'm mad about that. We all need a read like that sometimes.

The novel is marketed as Juno meets Heartstopper. While I do see the similarities to Juno, it doesn't quite intersect with something like Heartstopper so I feel this is misleading. This did catch my eye due to the comparison but it isn't the most accurate so if that is what you're looking for then maybe pass on the book. It is a good read on its own and would be better off without that comparison.

Overall there are sweet rom-com vibes in this book and it touches upon deeper topics like teen pregnancy and juggling relationships (romantic and platonic) in an excellent way. I love the LGBTQ+ representation in this book too. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a somewhat lighthearted and quick read. Really great palate cleanser to read between dark or heavy books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for an ARC of the book in exchange for my honest review.

I voluntarily read an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This is a compelling story of teen pregnancy from the perspective of the father. It pulled me in immediately and kept my attention so much that I didn't want to put it down. It took me on a roller coaster of emotions and ripped my heart out in the best way. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would based on the description. I recommend it to readers of all ages!

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is the unique story of a teen pregnancy through the eyes of the father, Ben. Ben goes through a range of emotions when he learns that Maxie is pregnant. As a boy who did not have a positive male role model in his life, Ben decides that he does not want adoption to be an option for his child. I found it very interesting to read from the father's perspective of this situation, however at times, did find it a bit frustrating that we did not learn much about Maxie and that her perspective was lost.

*Received an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review*. The book was an interesting tale of teen pregnancy. It felt like an twist on the movie Juno. The author does a good job conveying the physical and mental struggle a teen goes through when faced with an unexpected pregnancy, the roller coaster of it all, and how it affects a whole family. The social stigma of it. The one thing I really struggled with in the book though was Benjamin's reaction. It took till almost 3/4 of the book before we figure out his reason why he was determined to go with raining this baby, and the reason seemed really out of left field. There wasn't a whole lot leading up to it. I wet back to flip through to see if I missed anything but found a couple of vague hints, but that was it. That's my one hang up without giving it away. All in all though it was a pretty good book.

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

First off, WOW. I can't believe this is a debut, it was so well written.
Benjamin Morrison is 16 and a junior, balancing high school, robotics club, and friends when he finds out that he accidentally got his best friend Maxie pregnant. Why is this particularly significant? Because he's gay.
ᴛʜɪs ʙᴏᴏᴋ ʀɪᴘᴘᴇᴅ ᴍʏ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ ᴏᴜᴛ. Juno meet Heartstopper is a very accurate description. The concept was fascinating- we really never see teen pregnancy from the father's perspective. Ben is 16 and you feel it. He comes off very immature and almost autistic. It takes w͟a͟y͟ t͟o͟o͟ l͟o͟n͟g͟ for him to realize the consequences of his actions, and you almost want to cry with him when he does. I also didn't love the relationship with Gio. I know it wasn't, but it felt incestuous.
Overall I thought it was an excellent exploration of the struggles of teen pregnancy, and the adoption route but I gave it 3.9 out of 5 stars because Maxie, the teen mother, gets pushed to the background. She's given no choices. No one talks to her or listens to her whatsoever. Granted, her part of the science camp experiment [virginity as a social construct] was STUPID AF, but you really end up wanting to save this girl from her parents.

This book gives us an inside look at a side of teen pregnancy we don’t always get to see and that’s the side of the father. As both a teen parent (I was 19 but still) and an adoptee I really enjoyed seeing things through Ben’s eyes. Ben is just a teenage boy who loves robotics and really wants to prove to people that he can raise his son. He spends most of the book juggling all of these hats; father to be, coding genius, restaurant worker, and friend and honestly he’s doing his best.

I loved seeing Ben develop his relationship with his stepdad Roger, who is one of my favorite characters of the whole book. I also loved the way adoption was portrayed throughout the book. It reflected the experiences of so many teenage birthing parents and was done really well.

My only complaints involve Ben and his relationship with Gio. While I know Ben is a young parent it almost feels like he was written younger. He’s incredibly immature and doesn’t seem to always understand just how serious this situation is. I also wish that Ben and Gio’s relationship was more developed romantically because it just didn’t feel like there was any chemistry there.

Overall this is an enjoyable book. Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for sending me an eARC of this book. This is my honest review.

Unexpecting put a new twist on teen pregnancy, with our main character, Ben, being the father of the baby. Adding yet another layer to the story is the fact that Ben identifies as gay... When Ben finds out that his friend Maxie is pregnant and he's the father, he experiences a range of emotions but at the forefront is the need to be in this baby's life. He quickly learns that Maxie's parents see adoption as the best way to eliminate this "problem" and Ben, who has lacked a strong father figure in his life, is determined that won't happen to his baby. The story follows Ben as he tries to figure out how his life will have to change if he takes over parenting, including balancing work and school, realizing his college plans will change, and wondering if he can actually do this even though he really wants too.

I did feel frustrated that no one really listened to Maxie or asked about her in the story - I know the author was working to present the story from Ben's perspective, but it did feel like Maxie was sort of shoved the back in the story and we hard far more from the voices of the other characters comparatively. The other thing I wondered about was the portrayal of adoption in the book. I would be curious what adoptees would think about the story that was told and how the book wrapped up.

Overall, I thought the book was well-written and presented from a unique viewpoint.

This was such a great book! i really enjoyed it and couldn’t put it down. this is a really unique story and i thought it was really well written. i felt like all of the characters were well written and i could understand all of them.
Thank you to the publishers and netgalley for providing me with an e-arc of this in exchange for an honest review!

Unexpecting is such a lovely read. I enjoyed this refreshing take on high school dynamics and the consequences of young adults engaging in adult activities. The concept of chosen family is very well described and intertwined throughout the book. The main character is not the typical hero/protagonist type but you fall in love with him more and more as you read the book and you even sometimes forget that he is 16 years old. I recommend this to anyone who wants to read something real and something with true emotion.

Navigating teenage life choices such as college, drivers tests, SATs, friendships and relationships all while dealing with real adult problems is what makes this book so good.

Thank you to NetGalley for access to this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I did not finish this, not for lack of trying. The writing was fine, but I just couldn't bring myself to find any plausibility in the premise or care about any of the characters except for Maxie. From reading other reviews, she doesn't seem to get much of a look in for the entirety of the book. Unfortunately, this one is just not for me.

I really enjoyed Jen Bailey's debut novel Unexpecting. It follows Ben, a gay sixteen year old boy, who has impregnated his best female friend, Maxie. Maxie's parents want the baby to be given up for adoption, but Ben, who doesn't want the baby to feel unwanted as he has without a permanent father figure, wants custody of the child when the baby is born. So he sets off on learning what it will mean for him to be a parent -- baby books, parenting classes, getting a job, and realizing that he will need to sacrifice his own dreams for the baby.

I thought the synopsis sounded interesting, but I admit my hopes were not set too high when I started the book. However, Unexpecting turned out to be a very well written book, especially for it being a debut. I enjoyed the characters, and loved the way Ben was written. He is complex, and while immature (which is to be expected), he was a character I felt I could root for. And the character growth was fantastic! He grew into a mature teenager that truly was able to put others first.

I've mentioned twice that this was Bailey's debut, and if this is how she starts, I can see her turning out to have more successful books in the future. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for future projects.

I loved the development of the characters and relationships in this book! It’s not often we get a book from the perspective of a teen male. I felt for Ben with each page turn and definitely recommend this one!

This book had me sold from the first page. I was curious and excited to see how this book would play out from the male perspective and it was hit out of the ball park. I just loved Ben and my heart ached watching him be forced to learn so many hard lessons so quickly at a young age. I just felt like the author put so much effort into writing such an emotionally charged book from start to finish. So well done!

Thank you for netgalley and the publishers for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review

3.75
This book while predictable, has really hard to put down.
Jen Bailey I think captured Ben journey to very from finding out he is going to be a father and how he went going about find what was the best option for the baby. While the books comes from Ben's pov, I really wish we could get a little more character development from Maxine.

Thanks to Netgalley for the free e-ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

Ben is a junior in high school and is an expectant father. Not what his mother thought she would be dealing with after Ben came out as gay to her and his stepfather. He and his best friend, Maxie, decided to do a science experiment to make sure he was gay and get her virginity out of the way as she thought it was a social construct. Unfortunately, their experiment had an unexpected outcome. Ben is gay and Maxie is no longer a virgin, but now she's pregnant. When she gives legal papers to Ben to sign over his parental rights, he makes the decision to raise the baby. His mother is supportive and helps him understand all that will entail.

This part is in response to some of the negative reviews saying that Ben is immature, stupid, etc. My thought is that Ben is on the autism spectrum. The author never states that, but his behaviors seem to indicate that to me. He's very focused on certain things, can't always read facial expressions, doesn't think of others, along with other behaviors. I was a special education teacher for nine years and have been a school librarian for twelve years and have had a lot of experience with students who have autism.