A very sweet and heart wrenching story about adoption, found families, and forgiveness.

The main character was super relatable to me ane the pacing was good.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this ARC in return for my honest review.

Eighteen years ago, sixteen year old Gemma gave her baby girl up for adoption. Having been bounced around between foster homes she knows how hard it is to grown up with no stability and she wants her baby to grown up with the kind of home she never had. Thirty four year old Gemma is a history teacher with time shares in her downstairs neighbour’s rescues dog, an apartment she loves, and a very cute PE teacher looking for a date with her. Her daughter will be 18 this year and old enough to register to find her. When a bright new student joins her class, who is adopted, shares her build and distinctive red hair Gemma can’t help but wonder if this could be her daughter. When she learns her student has the same birthday as her baby she is hopeful and terrified this could really be her long lost daughter.
This was a heart wrenching story. Gemma has gone through so much and is just learning to break out of her shell and let people in, the character growth we get to see is fantastic. This book is full of tough storylines, adoption, abandonment, addiction but it opens up some beautiful storylines about found family, healing, inner strength. It’s a very balanced book that I couldn’t stop reading. There was a couple times I thought I knew what the author was going to do and I was pleasantly surprised when she went another direction.
Thank you to @netgalley and @harpermusebooks for letting me read this one early in exchange for a review. Look for #statisticallyspeaking December 3 2024
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It was good enough that I read it through in a short timeline. There were interesting characters and stories, and a happy ending. I just wasn't that invested in the central romantic relationship; needed to be developed more. And generally, it lacked some magical writing. The premise, and how it unfolded, felt fairly unbelievable - a stretch.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Muse for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This was a heartwarming and somewhat heart wrenching book. I loved Gemma and her cast of supporting characters (including Bill the adorable dog!) and I was almost immediately drawn into the story. Per usual, Johnson dealt with some serious issues in a graceful (non-cringy) way and also refrained from any preachiness about the characters' life decisions. That was very refreshing! The ending was more of a "hopefully, ever after" vs. a "happily ever after" but that, in the context of this story was fine.

So, bottom line is that it's not a story I'm going to read again and again like Johnson's "Comfort Food Cafe" series but it's definitely worth taking the time to read and enjoy.

A smattering of profanity and some PG-13 love scenes.

This book was so fun! I think we can all relate so well with the main character and her real emotions in this book! The sock drawer...loved this! It was such a great great.