A beautiful story and an important perspective. I have many close family friends who chose adoption as their first choice, and I was excited to share this with them. Messy, real, genuine, quirky, and likeable characters. I really enjoyed it.

4.25/5

Thank you to NetGalley, author Laurie Frankel, and Henry Holt and Co for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

I read This is How it Always is by Laurie Frankel two years ago, and it was one of my favorite books of the year. In fact, I still find myself thinking of it from time to time, which is a rarity given how many books I consume on a weekly/monthly/yearly basis. Family Family is going to be no different, and I'm thrilled I was able to start off 2024 by reading this masterpiece. This is a complex story with lots of characters and big topics that gets a little long-winded and talks in circles sometimes, but all of that is forgiven due to the sheer beauty in Frankel's prose and character development. I cannot begin to say how much I loved every single character but especially India, Bex, and Fig. There is so much heart and life and love within these pages, and I think it is an important take on an adoption story. Reading Frankel's author's note at the end and seeing how much of her personal experience she once again embedded in the book made me respect it even more. As someone who has always felt led to adoption if I choose to have children, this book gave me a lot to reflect on. I was able to relate to India in a lot of ways, and I liked that Frankel chose to follow her story across the years. Telling it in tandem with the chaos in present-day was a smart move in order to best understand all characters and never confusing to follow. I am even more driven now to read Frankel's back catalog, and I already can't wait to read this one again.

I first read Laurie Frankels “This is How it Always is” and was floored by the accurate portrayal of the joys and trials of parenting.

In “Family Family” I am again awed by her ability to display the complicated relationship dynamics of family and what makes people family.

The plot was a bit fantastical at times in terms of the likely hood it would actually happen. The characters were over the top. And I loved every minute.

I have a feeling Bex, India, Fig, Jack, Davis , Robbie, the Drews, Lewis and Celeste will stick with me for a long time.

Laurie Frankel has a gift for framing complex social issues in a way that encourages examining traditional perspectives. In Family Family she combines sharp dialogue and quirky characterizations to craft a story focused on adoption. It’s becomes so much more as it looks at how families are built, how they shift over time, and how they endure.

This is India Allwood’s story. As a child she dreamed of being an actress. She follows her dreams to Hollywood where she stars in a movie which paints a dark picture of adoption. India, an adoptive mom, gets herself in trouble by admitting that the movie is neither good nor accurate. She finds herself at the center of a storm which is spiraling out of control. It’s time for her family, in all its messy unconventional forms, to come to her rescue.

I love Frankel’s characters. They’re warm, funny, flawed, and endearing. They’re complicated and nuanced and stay with you long after the final chapter.

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt and Co. for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I am an adoptive parent so the premise of this novel interested me right away! It tells the story of India Allwood a famous actress and adoptive mother who finds herself in a mess of trouble when she voices her opinion on her new movie, about what else…adoption! India is tired of the same old take on movies involving adoption: tragedy, pain and regret. Not all adoption stories are tragedies. “Why don’t we ever get that movie?” India asks.
The novel is told in a dual timeline as we follow India in present day and as she grows through her teenage years to the present. I enjoyed following her rise to stardom despite (or perhaps because of) two challenging life events and the people she meets along the way. The characters were interesting and the dialogue fun! The setting is both the NYC theatre world and Hollywood which kept me intrigued. The novel does challenge many preconceived notions of adoption and addresses the process quite well I think. It looks at what makes family family, and I could relate to so much of the story line. Frankel writes from experience as she is an adoptive parent herself and did a really great job of giving depth and emotion to all involved in the process; from adopters, birthmothers, the adoptees, and birthfathers who are often left out of the process altogether. I found their perspectives especially enlightening. I think anyone curious about or involved in some way with adoption would enjoy this novel as would those who like a story about family dynamics told through an honest and open outlook with warmth and humor. Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt Co. for the chance to read Family Family.

I absolutely love Laurie Frankel's writing and this book is no exception. It has been a long time since I read a book that I truly could not put down, but this one was so gripping I just had to keep going. The way she bounces between timelines made me so eager to keep reading and find out what happens next in each one. All the characters were lovable, but something about the way Frankel writes children is just so endearing. I loved the chapters from the perspectives of the kids, which is not typically the case for me. I cannot recommend this book enough.

Based on the synopsis, I expected to love this book but it turned out to be poorly written with little to no character development and I had to force myself to finish it.

The first 25% was strong; I was hooked right off the bat. As it went on, however, the story felt redundant and it became clear that the plot wasn’t going much of anywhere. This could be forgiven if there had been significant character development, but I didn’t feel that way by the end of the book. I’m still giving 2.75 stars rounded up for the fact that I mostly enjoyed the book while reading it and it certainly was thought-provoking.

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt and Co. for the early copy!

As a teen India Allwood wanted to be an actor, but when she got pregnant, she had to make a decision that would be life-altering.

Later, after India Allwood is working on a movie that deals with adoption, everyone (media, pro-lifers, pro-choicers, the network, and everyone it seems), has an opinion about how adoption is portrayed in the show.

But as India comes to reveal in the tale, she knows more about the topic than most. Throughout the story, Laurie Frankel hoped to write a story that had positively portrayed adoption, which she does, but maybe a little too much.

The characters are well-developed, interesting, and detailed (to the point where we learn of certain character quirks, like India’s penchant for carrying around index cards, tearing them up, and tossing them to throw a celebration at any time), but the interactions between characters seem too tidy.

The tale is complex and there are a LOT of moving parts, the dialogue is funny (but often unbelievable especially from ten year-old twins Fig and Jack), and maybe it’s just India’s circle of positivity, but everything seems to be wrapped up too neatly with no objections by any of the characters, which makes this seem more like a utopian novel about adoption and less like a realistically-positive one.

Laurie Frankel’s books are likely to stay in your mind for a long time. Family, Family is an excellent entry in her oeuvre. Frankel addresses the many stereotypes related to adoption. Her main character wants to overthrow all the stereotypes and open people’s eyes to the spectrum of adoption stories. However, her celebrity is an impediment because none of her advisers want her to make waves. I will definitely recommend this layered story.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book so much! It’s all about the families we have, choose, and make. I initially found some of the plot line a little difficult to believe but I came around to it and was rooting so hard for everyone in it. It was a sweet read full of love, humor, and heart.

Frankel writes stories that I love to read with larger-than-life characters. I inhaled this novel about family and adoption that doesn’t tread the usual adoption-is-trauma-for-all-involved storyline that is popular in media. India always wanted to be an actor, and in her thirties she seems to have it made, playing a wildly popular superhero on television and being an adoptive mother to twin ten-year-olds at home. India suddenly finds herself in the middle of a PR controversy after some comments she has made about an adoption-is-trauma movie that she starred in, and the book goes back and forth between the past and present to reveal India’s varied and fascinating life history and decisions. There’s a whole host of interesting characters, and I really enjoyed the entire book from start to finish. Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for a digital review copy.

Family Family by Laurie Frankel is a funny and quirky family drama that covers the topics of adoption and family. It was a captivating story full of memorable characters that I fully enjoyed.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this great book!

As an adoptee myself, and a reader of Laurie Frankel's novel This Is How It Always is, I knew I would have to read this book. I am well aware of the school that says that adoption is always traumatic for the child and as an adoptee, I can dispute that, understanding that life with my adoptive parents wasn't necessarily ideal but now knowing my life with my birth mother would not have been either. The whole experience is grayer than either side portrays it. My biggest problem with the book is not the position that it takes but that admittedly, Ms. Frankel is an adoptive parent so that it is hard for me to credit her with understanding that makes the position credible. In other words, it would be easier for me to judge its merits on the topic had Ms. Frankel been an adoptee instead of an adoptive parent. With that out of the way, I am going to address the literary aspects of the book.
In comparison to This Is How It Always Is, I did not enjoy it as much, which was a little disappointing because I was very eager to read it. Some of the reason why might be a preference--I think I am not as keen on books that go forward and past in times because I find it confusing. I also found the pacing to be a little uneven--it was a little slower at the start, then it picked up, and then slowed and picked up at the end. I also had a little trouble connecting emotionally with the main character. I had a good grip on her personality, which was wonderful, but there were ways in which I had trouble getting her or understanding her.
That said, the plot was appealing and I loved all of the "side" characters, especially Fig and the ex boyfriends. They were connected and appealing.
I would give this 3 1/2 stars.

Because Laurie Frankel wrote one of my all-time favorite books, 2017's This Is How It Always Is, I will continue to read everything she writes. Although I didn't love Family Family as much as TIHIAI, I did like it more than 2021's One Two Three. Family Family is a complex and nuanced exploration of adoption and family, told through movie star India Allwood's life. Not only does she place two babies for adoption, one at age 16 and another at age 20, but she herself adopts a set of twins as a single mother once she is ready for parenthood. Narrated from an omniscient perspective in both the past and present timelines, we follow all the twists and turns of India's life as well as her biological and adoptive children's and all the associated biological and adoptive parents. This leads to a complicated storyline with many, many characters, but I was invested and couldn't stop turning the pages. At times the story comes off a bit preachy, but overall this was a fresh take on an adoption narrative we don't often see. Don't miss the author's note at the end.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Family Family by Laurie Frankel--this upcoming novel is about adoption in all of its complicated aspects. India is an actress who recently starred in a movie about adoption. After she makes some less-than-flattering comments about the movie people have varied outraged opinions about her online and her career is threatened. The reader then learns India's backstory of placing a child for adoption as a 16-yo and how her life unfolded from there. We see India as a person who placed a child for adoption and later adopted children herself. The plot has several surprises and I loved the examination of what makes family family. India has a perspective on adoption that isn't seen in media often--yes, adoption can have trauma associated with it but that is not all it is. Adoption is complex because family is complex. How a family comes to be is not what makes it complex. Family is family. There were some parts of the plot that seemed a bit unbelievable but I could overlook them as they served the plot well. The kids in the story were very charming.

A book about families in all the forms they may take.

Superstar actress India Allwood is happily raising two adopted children away from the spotlight of Hollywood. While promoting her latest movie, her comments get her into hot water on the subject of adoption; suddenly she's the latest victim of "cancel culture" and has to do damage control. As the media whirlwind gets more intense, eventually the world discovers that India had previously given up a child for adoption, long before she was famous. Several family units, all connected by adoptions and blood relations, end up drawn into the media storm, and each of them must work out for themselves what family really means.

Simultaneously heartfelt and full of humor, this book features an unforgettable cast of characters, particularly kids, and will have you rooting for the bonds of family.

I really liked this novel that follows TV star India Allwood from her high school days in Seattle to her college days in NYC to her life in LA as a TV actress and mom whose remarks about her debut film set off a media scandal. Focused on the issue of what makes a family and the need for representation of all types of stories about all types of families, this was a good read — only taken down a star by the author’s get a bit preachy toward the end when subtlety would have made her point just as effectively.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free advance readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

Family Family tackles adoption unlike any book I’ve read before, and it was refreshing to see it discussed in a positive light and not shown as "a last resort" or tinged as an anti-choice talking point. The book shows that adopted families are just as real, special, and messy as biological families.

India Allwood, famous TV star and recent movie star, is under fire by the media after she speaks her mind, specifically about her movie deals with adoption. We alternate between the past and present to uncover just how close this topic is to India and the rationale behind all the choices she's made.

I enjoyed the book, but it felt like it could have used a little editing. It would have benefited from being condensed (in my opinion), and I exceeded my tolerance of precocious children's quips by the time I finished. Despite that, it was an interesting story that touched on several hot topics with a refreshing, lighter approach.

India is an adoptive mother of two children who appears in a movie that makes adoption advocates angry. Her comments after the movie make them even angrier. As India becomes a pariah online, or “cancelled” as her kids say, they try to help her in ways that she could not imagine. Who is family? Why are all adoptions pictured as stories of pain and regret? This is a family story that I have not read before and I adored. It is so different and thought provoking.