I really enjoyed this propulsive speculative fiction. It’s set 20 years in the future when parents are able to select their designer baby from IVF made embryos. Even a trace amount of DNA inadvertently left behind can be turned into a gamete and be used to produce a baby. I enjoyed seeing how the different story lines came together. It was interesting, fast paced, and would be a good fit for fans of John Marrs.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advances reader copy.

Baby X is a sci fi thriller that manages to straddle the line between the two genres so well.
Since technology has increased, pregnancy is now down to a science. New parents can select an embryo that perfectly matches their hopes for their child without the threat of genetic disease that are now being eradicated. However, this means if you have enough of a person's DNA you can have a child with a person without even meeting them. Ember has started a biosecurity company that promises to protect celebrity's DNA from being stolen.
This was so twisty and interesting. The science fiction elements were so well crafted and realistic and the thriller aspects made it a fantastic read.

Imaginative and intricate, this sci-fi thriller blends a near-future world of inventive hi-tech gadgets and norms (fantastical, but perhaps only barely), with a thoughtful commentary on engineered procreation - in this case labeled “precision reproduction” - and its affect on the fragile identities of the generations of these humans “selected” for the privilege of birth.

Told in the third-person POV voices of three women, each of them struggling with “baby” related issues, the story winds and weaves on separate tracks, right up to an unexpected finale, that culminates in (no spoilers here) a satisfying and well-crafted conclusion.

- Lily Thompson is a wanna be journalist, recently graduated from college, and desperately looking for the byline that will turn her internship at the well-esteemed Vanguard magazine into a full-time gig.

- Ember Ryan is a Biochemist, a PHD, with the remarkable job of protecting celebrities from stolen DNA, which in this advanced world, can be used (illegally and without consent) to unleash all sorts of privacy issues, including its lab-driven extraction into what may become new humans.

- Quinn Corrigan is a copper-haired, somewhat naive, surrogate mom, looking for nothing more than a pregnancy-funded respite from financial worry.

With the tech-creativity of “Black Mirror”, meeting dystopian breeding capabilities much advanced beyond “Brave New World” , this is a fun and interesting read, recommended for those who enjoy near-worlds sci-fi and the not-too-implausible world of futuristic biotechnology.

A great big thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.

Baby X by Kira Peikoff’s premise intrigued me from the start, but I didn’t think it would drag me in the way it did.

In the near future, reproductive advanced technology has evolved to where any person’s cells can create an egg or sperm, making it so celebrities may come face to face with a child they never conceived. This is made possible by The Vault, a black market website which has made its way by stealing the DNA of celebrities and selling it to the highest bidder. Singer Trace Thorne is tired of being paying ransom money to keep his cells protected, so he hires bio-security guard Ember Ryan to ensure his biological safety. When the two are confronted though by a pregnant woman named Quinn, who claims she is pregnant with Thorne’s baby, all bets are off and Thorne and Ember are pulled into a messy web of deceit and betrayal.

This book was very well written and the pacing was really well done. The plot definitely felt eerie at times as the whole scenario of this book definitely felt like it could be real. The author did a fantastic job painting this world and the processes in place. She also makes it very easy to understand. I could visualize it all perfectly.

We follow this story through three perspectives: Ember’s, Quinn’s and also through Lily, a young woman who is trying to make her way through the world of journalism, investigating a piece on the bias of “selection clinics,” the process of choosing the perfect embryo for implantation. If I could give one criticism, there were times that Lily’s story didn’t fully fit in with the rest of the story, though the end ties it together very neatly. I felt there wasn’t enough there to fully keep me engaged with Lily’s story. That said, I thought that Ember and Quinn’s stories were well put together and I really liked seeing how they melted together. As far as twists go, which this story has multiple I didn’t see that final one coming, it was definitely well executed!

Overall though, this book was super engaging and definitely held my interest until the end! Definitely would recommend this one to others.

Thank you to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Release Date: 3/5/24

Unique sci fi thriller! Advanced technology in the near future allows eggs or sperm to be created from anyone’s cells. This makes leaving behind anything as obscure as a stray hair, eyelash or used straw a commodity worth stealing, especially if you’re a celebrity. Bio security guard, Ember Ryan, is hired by celebrity clients to protect against DNA theft. But even Ember is outwitted by one pregnant woman claiming her client is the father of her baby. This was a cleverly and well thought out speculation of what the future could hold for us. I think fans of John Marrs and Blake Crouch will love this one. Thank you Netgalley, The Quick Brown Fox and Co, and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be available for purchase on March 5, 2024

Dnf'd. Couldn't get in to it at all. Was a little too science fictiony for me. But that's just my personal preferences. Others that read this genre alot will probably love it!

Uhmmm I did like the idea of this dystopian story, I got a bit lost because we had lots of characters and sometimes I didn’t understand why their point of view was important or even relevant to the main story (only in the end),… yeah I didn’t like Lilly and though she was pointless to the story… if I had to chose someone would be amber…

I did like the world building, in that point I need to say that the author was point on, I could imagine perfectly this world and I dread if we manage to live this reality… I can imagine what the ADN of certain people would be worth, if this became true... I just felt that to me, I got so lost with going back and forth and I really dislike Lilly, that I cant go more than 3,5 starts for this story.

my advice to the author is, to tell a story you don’t need to put all your cards on the same hand, most of the time we only need a point of view or at the most two, if you feel the need to go deeper on your story, write a novella on the same world, I feel that if you had keep it simple I would have enjoyed it much more. But that being said, a book isn't written for individuals but mostly for the author, what happens is, we the readers love a good story. It was still a good story, just it wasn't my favourite.

Thank you Netgalley and The Quick Brown Fox & CO, Crooked Lane Books, for the free ARC and this is my honest opinion.

I had a difficult time getting into this one. Although I loved the premise, I found the head hopping to be a bit distracting. I’m sure lovers of sci-fi thrillers will enjoy it however

Baby X reads like a modern day 1984, a warning about what happens when you give up too much of your privacy and freedoms in exchange for things that may appear better than they actually are. Set in the not so distant future of 2050, technology has advanced in such a way that transforms the world as we know it as something unrecognizable; and it's scary to realize that it's not all that inconceivable for this to actually happen.

Baby X provides a good guy vs bad guy storyline alongside a heart wrenching family drama simultaneously and I felt the way they intersected to be unbelievable. Personally, I didn't care about either storyline that much, but the black mirror feel of the advancement of society kept my interest the same way it peaked it from the beginning.

For me, a story that is realistic and makes you think and/or gives you a lot to discuss afterward is a book that is done well and even without enjoying the drama of either storyline, it still managed to provide me with both. Packed with several ethical dilemmas and eye-opening decisions, this book offers something unique and thought provoking at the very least.

Prepare yourself for a while futuristic ride into the future where you can preselect desirable traits for your children and ensure they are born healthy through genetic DNA modifications. In this futuristic story a person’s biological material can be obtained to create a baby in a lab. As you can guess, everyone who wants a baby is not always forthcoming about why. This story is told from 3 different points of view.

Thorne is a super popular down to earth singer, songwriter and performer who is admired by the masses. Some of his fans would desire nothing more than to say they have conceived a child with Thorn. To protect his DNA Thorne hires the beautiful Ember Ryan to protect his DNA while out touring the country and preforming at concerts.

Ember runs her own bio-security business which protects and prevents DNA from entering the wrong hands. She is very familiar with how the Vault works. She does her very best to swab his microphone, pick up discarded water bottles and throw away any straws he uses. She doesn’t what him to pay millions of dollars to the Vault to buy his DNA back.

The Vault, a shady black-market site is known to buy DNA cells from clients and sells these cells to the highest bidder to create embryos and sperm. The Vault has created some ethical issues stemming from what is right and wrong when it comes to genetically modifying and creating a child.

Thornes world is shattered when a mysterious woman, Quinn, pops up claiming to be pregnant with Thornes child. Ember now is tasked with figuring out where she went wrong and how she could have let this happen. Most importantly she needs to fix this. Buckle up buttercup because the wild ride is just about to start!

This book was absolutely amazing, and I gave it 5 starts. I enjoyed how the author writes this story from three different character perspectives. Each character is intertwined in the most intriguing thrilling way possible. I found the futuristic atmosphere to be creepy and tantalizing and most certainly a page turner that I couldn’t put down. Do yourself a favor and pick up Baby X by Kira Peikoff! I promise, you will not be disappointed.

Baby X is a wild ride. It follows multiple characters, yet never gets bogged down. If you like Black Mirror or Orphan Black, this book is for you.

Thank you The Quick Brown Fox for the ARC. Super interesting premise and although this doesn't apply to today's society, I'm sure it will in the near future. Great book for book club.

This was a great book that makes you think. This could totally happen down the road. Those thoughts kind of scare as to what our life would be like in that kind of society. This started out kinda slow and then took off like a jet plane! I really struggled in the beginning getting into the book, I encourage you to dive in and get through it, because it certainly does pick up and takes you on a heck of a ride. Thanks Netgalley and The Quick Brown Fox & CO, Crooked Lane Books for this advanced copy I thoroughly enjoyed it. #BabyX #NetGalley

This was a fun and fast read! The concept was what drew me in - in a world where you can create an embryo from any two peoples genetic material a crime ring stealing celebrities’ DNA emerges so stalker super fans can have their kids. Even without the celebrity element it got to explore some interesting ethical dilemmas. My only wish was that the fans were crazier - despite the description sounding batshit, all but one of the characters seemed like relatively normal people! I think there was an opportunity for this book to be a lot creepier, but just to set expectations for people picking this up: it’s definitely a thriller as advertised, and not overly scary/creepy/weird so that it makes it a difficult story to ingest.

The other thing that pulled me out of it was the story was told through 3 different characters perspectives, one of the three perspectives seemed to exist only for the purpose of exploring the ethics of this world and didn’t really tie to the rest of the story until the end, but I did enjoy the twist connection and didn’t see it coming at all!

Short chapters so super easy to get through, definitely a good slumpbuster. Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review!

TWs: reproductive coercion is the big one (duh), and small mentions/instances of stalking, domestic abuse, and attempted sexual assault

I found this book to be a really easy read. Definitely reminiscent of Black Mirror, and I love finding books like that. I was excited to read this ever since I heard about it, and thrilled to be able to receive an ARC! Every time I put it down, I wanted to pick it back up and read it to find out what was going on and how the stories connected, specifically with Lily. That said, in the end, I did feel like Lily's POV was only added for the need to have a "twist" ending. Other than that, her role was unnecessary. My only other wish was that it had a bit more prose and character development. But I did enjoy it and would recommend it to anyone looking for a quick read that comps to Black Mirror.

The fact is, there are a lot of interesting ideas being explored here in Baby X. It's hard to ignore where our current culture has us headed. The biggest issue, I believe, is the fact that you could argue this type of story has been done already, and done better. Great ideas are one thing, but there's a lack of execution here in the writing style that makes this the kind of thing that feels like a chore to read. The characters are difficult to connect with, the plot lines feel flimsy, and even with an interesting, futuristic world, I found myself not wanting to learn more. Kira Peikoff is in the right direction, but more work needs to be done on their craft before I can consider them a truly excellent science fiction writer.

I loved the futuristic feel and enjoyed pondering just how close our society is today to the world that was painted in this book. The concept of this book was so unique! I really enjoyed the perspective of 3 characters, and thought that not only their character development, but the side characters too were really well described. I did guess the connection between all 3 perspective characters about 70% of the way through the book. The ending was okay, and tied up all loose ends. Because I was able to guess the connection earlier in the book, the ending didn’t feel as impactful as it may have been intended.

I absolutely loved this book. I kept having to walk away while reading to get things done at home but my mind would keep trying to piece together the puzzle each time. The futurist setting was well thought out and detailed and the plot was full of twists and turns. Will recommend!

I'm SO disappointed. The general idea of the story was really appealing to even me, as someone who doesn't read much of sci-fi. The writing style just bored me to death, it was very monotonous and robotic. I got through 11% but I can't do this any longer, so that's a DNF from me.

A must read for Sci fi readers, especially those interested in futuristic versions of society.

This books contains multiple POVs and several twists that keep you on your toes. I was hooked from the beginning and was determined to unravel how each character was connected.