📚 Book Review 📚

Hold My Girl
by Charlene Carr
@charlenecarrauthor
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
(4/5 stars)

*Thank you @netgalley and @bookmarked for this advanced copy!
Pub Date: 10/10/23

*Trigger Warnings: infertility, pregnancy loss, sexual assault, abortion

This uniquely plotted novel is about two women receiving IVF treatments when their eggs are switched without them knowing: Tess, a single woman, and Katherine, married to her husband Patrick. This truth is revealed to the reader early on in the story (it’s a year after the egg switch) and what follows is the aftermath of these unfathomable circumstances.

Part drama/part mystery and suspense, this was a captivating read. As the reader, you’re constantly questioning what you would do and how you would feel as you travel alongside these main characters through something completely unimaginable.

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Hold My Girl is a captivating and thought-provoking novel that deserves every bit of praise it receives. Charlene Carr's storytelling prowess shines through in this emotionally charged narrative. It is a book that will touch your heart, make you reflect on the complexities of human relationships, and leave a lasting impression. This is a must-read for anyone who appreciates powerful storytelling and compelling characters.

I truly loved this novel!
Katherine and Tess have both had IVF. This is their last chance to obtain their family.
Katherine and her husband do have their baby and life is wonderful- or is it?
Tess's little girl is stillborn and Tess is barely functioning these days.
. All she ever wanted was to be a mother.

Baby Rose is almost one, when both ladies get a phone call from the infertility clinic. They need to have their DNA checked. Why?

This is only the beginning, and truly, this story has so many layers and topics that will slowly peel away.
In the meantime- I was caught from the very first pages of this book with both ladies and their journeys to find out what in the world was really happening with Katherine and her perfect world and Tess and her world that is slowly shriveling.
I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed this book! It is sure to be a hit!
Thank you to @Netgalley and to @Sourcebooks Landmark for this ARC and allowing me to read and provide my own review.
Well done!

Wonderful! I loved this book, I advise you to read it with handkerchiefs at hand, be cause you’ ll need it. I loved all the characters, all the Flawed parts of them. Every one make mistakes and has secrets but that does not mean we are band persons. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT

This was quite the emotional read. At times my heart tugged siding with one mother onto the other. What a hard decision to make: making a choice what's right for a child, putting your personal feelings aside.
I liked how in-depth the author went with each of the women. You really got to know them and understand their background, their feelings and their motions.
A hard book to be read, but I recommend this story to others

Trigger warnings - infertility, IVF, stillbirth, infidelity

Ms. Carr is a gifted storyteller whose writing immediately pulled me in and I read this amazing novel in a day; I couldn’t put it down. Regardless of the fact that this isn’t an easy read.

While the topic of the novel is extremely difficult and thought-provoking, it’s never one against the other. The author weaves together the heartwarming, and heartbreaking with equal clarity. The main characters, Katherine and Tess, are both realistic, fleshed out characters that you feel for throughout the book.

Recommended!



Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the DRC

This is the type of story I love! As a mom that has adopted I just love books about how families are made. They are intriguing to me. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Carr gets five stars for her title Hold My Girl. I enjoyed this a lot.

In Hold My Girl, Charlene Carr unflinchingly pulls the reader into the broken hearts and spiraling minds of two mothers thrust into an unimaginable situation. With poignant insight and - at times - unsettling accuracy, Carr has crafted a compelling, intensely propulsive page-turner and a deeply emotional exploration into the very essence of what it means to be a mother. I was spellbound from start to finish.