I adored Laurie Frankel’s last book so I was excited but also nervous to read her new book, sometimes repeat performances disappoint. But oh how I loved this book. I loved it so much.
The dialogue! The banter! The characters! It’s all so good, and such a relief to just let go and put yourself in this authors safe and capable hands and go along for ride. I haven’t read a book this joyful and loving and delightful and thoughtful and full of so many people I was so crazy about in a very long time. So fun and also sad and also wonderful.

I wanted to love this book as much as I loved This is How It Always Is. Sadly, I did not even like Family Family much. It felt disjointed and extremely implausible... in every aspect.

The premise of the story is that 16 year old India Allwood gets pregnant her senior year of high school and she ... of her own volition ... chooses to release that child for adoption. She picks "the perfect mom" for this baby and then heads off to college... where, in her senior year of college, she finds herself in the same predicament... pregnant. She again picks the "perfect parents" for this baby and begins her career in acting.

She is cast in the part of a person who has given a child up for adoption and has not had a successful life, but one that is filled with doubts, depression, and substance abuse... which India finds ludicrous (because, for her it was not that way ... ever.)

This begins the downward spiral of the book for me. India has adopted two children (fraternal twins) who, though young, are internet savvy. They find the first child India released for adoption and what follows is the most inconceivable portion of the story.

India finds herself reunited with Baby Daddy #1 and #2, and she never once asks them about how they dealt with the release of their children... if she had, she might have discovered that the part she was playing was closer to the truth.

This was a 2.5 star book for me, rounded up to three.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Henry Holt and Co. for the digital copy of this book. It was published January 23, 2024.

I am always going to be excited for a new Laurie Frankel book — she writes about tough topics with (what seems like) ease, and creates characters that stay with me for a long time. Family Family tackles adoption, something she has experience with as an adoptive mom, and what “family” really means. I loved the focus on India, and the peeks into what other characters were thinking (but I will say that Jack’s commentary about his birth mother and the model minority myth struck me as out of place and a little …off). The book was imbued with so much love and the story kept me wanting to keep reading until I closed it with a happy sigh.

Family Family by Laurie Frankel
🌟🌟🌟💫 (3.5 stars)
Favorite Quotes:
🎭 “They were entangled like fibers woven into threads spun into yarn knit into patches bound into quilts worn into heirlooms, something to pass down, to pass on, to inherit.”
🎭 “Families come in all kinds, varied as leaves.”
🎭 “There was sorrow and heartache and loss. But there was also joy and solace and wonder.”

SYNOPSIS: India Allwood is a TV and movie star that has just caused quite the media storm after sharing her own opinion on the film she is starring in. She believes that the film was just another portrayal of adoption as a negative trauma for all involved. Using dual timelines, it is slowly revealed to the reader that adoption has been a huge part of India’s life, a secret that has been kept from the public and her adoring fans. Everything becomes chaos in her life as she, her agent, her children, and the network she works for all try to clean up the mess she created.

MY THOUGHTS: Overall, I enjoyed this book, but I’m not sure that I would recommend it to just anyone.

Throughout the book there were opinions about adoption, abortion, and the choices a woman/couple makes when faced with an unplanned pregnancy. When speaking about family dynamics and adoption the author leans heavily on her own opinions and experiences with adoption. I do believe that adoption is a wonderful choice and I have personally seen in my own family how incredible (albeit sometimes challenging) it can be.

I did appreciate the fact that the main message of this book is that we should be hearing the positive aspects of adoption and normalizing it as a choice versus a last resort. I also know that family is complex no matter how your family was formed. Everybody has their own challenges whether you come from your parents biologically or not. In most of the book I was open to hearing the different sides and perspectives. After all, that’s part of why I read books! In the end, this book got extremely preachy and didactic, therefore decreasing its likability.

It was also about 100 pages too long, in my opinion. There were a cast of characters that were not all thought through and ended up being more like stereotypes than relatable people. I really wanted to like this book more than I did.

Having not read any of Laurie Frankel’s books, her style was a complete surprise to me. Thankfully, she’s a skilled writer, and the plot was quite engaging. I found it so interesting that the fictional character was held to impossible standards, like many women, for simply making choices that were the best for her at the time. The story is told through flashback and current day in 3rd person. I didn’t find either of those characteristics to be distracting. I enjoyed the book, but it took me a little longer than I’d like to wade through the middle section, and I will say that I didn’t see the resolution playing out the way that it did. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I absolutely loved this book and could not stop reading! It’s a beautiful novel that spans over a decade as India Allwood launches her acting career and defines what it means to be family. I loved the refreshing take on adoption and how it was portrayed in many different ways. I enjoyed all the characters, the witty banter between them, and how the story all comes together at the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Laurie Frankel is a must-read author for me, and this new novel is no exception. Warm, humorous and emotional, this dives into the messy and complicated beauty of family relationships, and how there are multiple narratives to adoption stories other than regret.

The dueling timelines for the main character, India, were a good way to illustrate her youth and naïveté while emphasizing her unique ambition. I liked how it ultimately intertwined with the present day, and I was able to read about her journey while also knowing what she had achieved. I found all the other characters had fun and unique voices, and were shining stars in their own right.

Frankel delicately addresses the complicated emotions for the female and male perspectives surrounding pregnancy/career and how there is not black and white clear-cut path regarding these decisions. She also illustrates the emotions of the child being adopted and how these journeys are different for everyone involved.

The writing has a fast-paced wit that could give Mrs Maisel a run for her money while remaining thoughtful and tender. This book deserves a giant toss of pocket confetti! IYKYK

10/10! Five Stars! Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. I am so grateful that I was able to read this book. I loved it, couldn't put it down. My mother is adopted and my husband is adopted and it was so interesting to hear a different version of the adoption story because like Frankel says "we are multitudes". I love the message behind the story - we need more stories that represent different perspectives on topics and I think Frankel nailed it with this one. I'm screaming it from the roof tops ... read this book.

This book surprised me because of how much I liked it. India is a 16-year-old girl who gets pregnant. She loves her boyfriend and he loves her but she dreams of being an actor on Broadway and has just been accepted to all the colleges she applied for. She decides that in order for her to be happy and her daughter to have a good life she places her with Camille all while fulfilling Camille's dream to have a child. Robbie, being wiser than his years, realizes that this time love isn't going to be enough to keep them together. India is a great character. She is complex but straight forward and I love her sense of humor. She keeps her head during an emergency but never tells anything but her truth. Actually I liked all the characters and the way they all related to one another. Even though it had a contemporary setting masks were mentioned and Covid was mentioned in a few paragraphs. I found that kind of unnecessary. The story would have been just as good without it.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Henry Holt and Co. for providing me with a digital copy.

Once again the author does it and has written another great novel.

The story is about a woman and her life and dream of being an actor and i didn't know much about this subject but it is well written and makes you understand. Add this to your TBR because this is such a beautiful and complex read.

I will continue to read from this author! I would def recommend this book to anyone and this would be a great book club read.

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review.

Family Family is a messy, complex yet beautiful story that explores adoption and what it truly means to be part of a family. India Allwood is a celebrated TV star in the middle of a media controversy. As an adoptive mother, she wants nothing more than to protect her ten year old twins from it all, but her twins have other plans and enlist the help from their ‘family’.

I really enjoyed how this story presented itself. Frankel does a great job of creating characters that we can’t help but root for. The banter is witty and funny, and the plot has some surprising twists that help keep me engaged. While this story centers around adoption, it is more of an examination of family- the challenges and the hardships and who will show up for you when it truly matters most.

Thanks to @netgalley and @henryholtbooks for the #gifted e-galley!

I am once again blown away by Laurie Frankel and her ability to capture and represent family complexities in such a beautiful, meaningful way.

“Family Family” is a story of adoption, but not in the misrepresented “tragic” or “tragic turned miraculous” way. India Allwood is a woman whose true love is theater, and she is determined to have her dreams come true. When she finds herself pregnant at sixteen and accepted into her dream acting programs, she decides to follow her dreams, and make someone else’s dream come true by placing her baby up for adoption rather than choosing termination. Fast forward 16 years to India as a Hollywood A-lister who is on the verge of cancellation for voicing her true opinion of her recent movie which centers around a tragic adoption story.

I cannot recommend Laurie Frankel’s novels enough. “This Is How It Always Is,” One, Two, Three,” and now “Family Family” are among the top of my favorite novels centered around what it means to be a family, unconditional love, and shedding light on underrepresented populations in literature. If you’re already a fan of Frankel, then this book is perfect for you. If you haven’t had the pleasure of reading her books yet, then I advise you to run to your library or local bookstore and consume this book immediately. This is an easy 5 star book for me, a frontrunner for my favorite fiction novel of 2024, and a book that solidifies Laurie Frankel as one of my favorite authors of all time.

“Not all stories of adoption are stories of pain and regret. Not even most of them. Why don’t we ever get that movie?”
India Allwood is one of a kind. She's a well-known TV star and just hoping to launch a movie career when aspects of her teenage life are brought to life. They aren't secrets, but they weren't broadcast and suddenly India finds herself in a public position of discussing choice, adoption and more.
Bursting with heart, laughter, wit, and connection; Frankel has shone a light on a topic that isn't talked about much: adoption. And gosh, does it shine bright like the sun. The characters in this book are so real and fully formed. Laurie Frankel writes the best family-affirming stories, hands down. A special contemporary novel I will be pushing into people's hands.

Gosh, I loved Family Family. This is the second book I've read by Laurie Frankel, and I liked it even more than the first. Family Family is about the different ways families are started, more specifically, the role adoption can play in starting families. India Allwood is convinced she's going to be a famous actress one day. So when she ends up pregnant her senior year of high school, she is determined not to derail her dream. India decides to make an adoption plan, giving birth in the summer after she graduates, and starting NYU in the fall as she originally planned. And she does. The results are wonderful and play out over the course of this book.

The book moves back and forth from young India to present-day India, a single mother of two - Jack and Fig - who is now a successful actress. India's high school pregnancy leaks to the media (despite that she never kept it a secret) and drama ensues.

This book is about the upside of adoption. Frankel details in the afterword how she was struck by the number of adoption stories that depict adoption as a terrible, last-choice resort, for the birthing parent and the adoptive parent. Frankel, through India, Camille (adoptive mother) and Andy and Drew (adoptive fathers), depicts the beauty of adoption and how it can be the foundation of a strong, loving family.

The writing is smart and funny. I laughed throughout. The banter is constantly witty in a way that could annoy me, but didn't because it was oh-so-good. While this book moved slowly, I didn't look forward to finishing it. Highly recommended. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thought the writing in this book was so good – clever turns of phrase, some vivid metaphors, and descriptive language that established a vibrant sense of place. Some of the characters had some laugh-out-loud-funny dialog and inner monologue, and to write such comedic timing is a very hard thing to do. Despite these positive aspects of the book, however, I had trouble getting through it. For me, the narrative was in lockstep with the main character, India—a tangled mess. I was less interested in India (who showed little to no character growth throughout the story) and would have been more vested if the story dug more deeply into the lives of all the children as well as the relationships and experiences with Camille and the Andrews. These were the adoptive relationships I wanted to learn more about.

I appreciate the author’s want to put forth a positive story on adoption, but, in this case, while the writing was strong I didn’t feel the story executed.

Thank you to Henry Holt and Net Galley for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Laurie Frankel truly sets herself apart in the family drama genre with her endearing characters that you can’t help but root wholeheartedly for. This isn’t my first book of hers, but like all the others it’s made me more compassionate towards others and has made me think of my own internal biases and challenged me to overcome them. She writes a masterpiece of humanity each time, and this is certainly no exception.

Thank you so much to the early copy of Family Family that I was given. Laurie Frankel’s whip smart and comedic writing gripped me from the first page. I found myself laughing at the wit one moment and stopping at the next page to take in the depth of dialogue at the next. Books centered around adoption are not new thematically, but somehow in Family Family, Laurie Frankel crafts something new. I truly wanted this book to last and spent much longer than usual reading it, settling in with the characters, and finding myself surprised and yet saying, “YES!” As each surprise unfolded. This was an easy five star rating for me and I truly hope many will enjoy it as much as I did.

"Family Family" by Laurie Frankel looks at the issue of adoption from the vantage point of: what if the "traditional" portrayal of adoption isn't the only adoption story? What if it isn't something that is traumatic? What if it is a positive experience for both the adoptee and the person who places a child up for adoption?

In this book, India Allwood finds herself pregnant at 16 and makes the choice to place her child up for adoption. Sixteen years later, a series of events lead to her reuniting with the child she gave birth to, and bring back several other people from her past as well.

I really enjoyed this story and the characters, and I had a hard time putting the book down. I also enjoyed it stylistically, how Frankel alternated chapters between present and past to tell a cohesive story from beginning to end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for an ARC of this book!

Thank you to Henry Holt & Company for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

India Allwood as the main character is dramatic, direct, pragmatic and driven. When the high school guidance counselor won’t help her prepare for college she researches, studies and makes it happen because she wants to go to college in NY and become an actress. She falls in love and senior year of high school she gets pregnant and they decide (mostly her) that placing the baby through adoption she can make their dreams come true with her baby and her own as well. India is a complex and fascinating character with her successful career and the choices she makes along the way. Laurie Frankel does an amazing job of creating such interesting characters and interweaving them with the process of adoption and the broad meaning of family and love. I adored this book!

#NetGalley. #Familyfamily
@Susannas.bookshelf

What denotes a family and who can tell you how to feel about how your family came about?

All India Allwood has wanted is to be an actress. She has worked hard for herself to get there. The best laid plans....India get pregnant when she is a senior in high school after getting accepted into every college she has applied for. She decides to give her baby up for adoption so the baby has a chance to live out her dreams as well. She finds the mother she feels is perfect for her baby. She goes to college and dreams about being on Broadway and living out her hopes and dreams. Best laid plans again... she becomes pregnant when she is a senior. She gives this baby to a couple who have dreams of family and she makes it to Broadway. Not that she doesn't think about her babies, she knows she did right by them. She makes it to Hollywood and a starring role in a tv show and decides she should become a mother and adopts twins who have been through a lot of trauma. She works hard at her career and as a mother but when a movie she makes about adoption causes a lot of press because of something she says, it throws all their lives in another direction.

I loved how family is shown in so many different ways. I loved the spunk of the kids. I loved how it showed family period. India is very flawed but she loved deeply. Another really good read from Laurie Frankel.

Thanks to Netgalley and Henry Holt and Co. for a copy for review.