at first glance i wasn't sure what to expect, maybe a lil rom com or something but it ended up being this really emotional journey about life and the choices we make. i don't want to give too much away but it truly pulled on my heartstrings and kept making me either tear up or just opening weep, especially towards the end.

this was such a heartwarming book. you immediately fall for a girl in the toughest of situations. at the young age of 16, she was making the most mature decisions even though they were hard.

even though this book covered difficult topics, it was done in a way that you understood where the character was coming from and could put yourself in her shoes.

i feel in love with each character as they were introduced. i continuously thought to myself, i wish i had someone like this in my life. in other reviews i’ve seen people thinking the mc was repetitive/annoying; i couldn’t disagree more. yes, her actions were repetitive, but this is how people react to stressful situations. we rerun things in our mind over and over to protect our heart. i really connected with her on that, maybe not with the same habits.

finally, the narrator was EVERYTHING. she really made the perfect voices for each character. normally I get the ick when narrators do this, but i honestly forgot it was even the same person.

i would highly recommend this to those who love found family and a fmc who overcomes a dark past.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC. another 5/5 added to my list🩷

An engaging read, I enjoyed hearing the search for the daughter as well as how the MC moved on from such a traumatic childhood.

I really loved this. As an adoptive parent, I am often apprehensive about books dealing with adoption, foster care, birth parents, and the like because it is so complex. But this book was sweet and hopeful, without being trite. It approached everything with both gentleness and authenticity. I really loved the concept of found family and I absolutely adored the romance subplot. I would definitely recommend this book!
The audiobook was very well-done.

Gemma’s life, by all accounts, is a statistical anomaly. She grew up in and out of the foster care system and got pregnant at sixteen. Knowing the likelihood that teenage mothers fall into a cycle of poverty and hardship without a strong support system behind them, Gemma made the impossible decision to surrender her daughter for adoption, to give them both a fighting chance at a normal life. Gemma went on to graduate from university, and later, to teach all over the UK. Now, eighteen years after giving up her baby, Gemma teaches A-Level History at a secondary school in Liverpool. She has a flat to call home, a friendly (if inquisitive) neighbor with an even friendlier dog, and a cohort of bright, engaged students. When she learns that her new student is adopted, and that she was born on the same day as Gemma’s baby… Well, what are the odds?

This story hooked me from the beginning. The first two chapters open with Gemma at sixteen, meeting and subsequently saying goodbye to her daughter. It grounds Gemma as a character, giving the reader insight into her guilt over her decisions, and her hesitance to make herself vulnerable - emotionally, financially, or physically. But then, little interactions help her to come out of her shell. She offers to walk her neighbor’s dog. She meets a coworker for a trivia night. She grabs a coffee with a lady from her yoga class. On the surface, these are small moments, but they combine to give Gemma a sense of community, a group of people she can lean on. This book reminded me to reach out to my loved ones in times of stress.

I received the audiobook e-ARC for Statistically Speaking. The narrator, Louise Williams, skillfully navigates the accents across Great Britain. Her voices across different characters were distinct, easy to tell apart, and she delivered the humorous and serious scenes with equal skill. I really enjoyed experiencing the book in this format.

The themes of the story - making connections with others and supporting them with little acts of kindness, giving yourself grace for mistakes you’ve made, and that happiness involves taking a risk that you’ll be hurt - will ring true for most readers. If you’re looking for a cozy, wholehearted story about a woman healing from childhood trauma and finding family in a city by the sea, Statistically Speaking is a great novel to pick up.

**Thank you to Harpercollins Focus (Harper Muse Imprint) and Debbie Johnson for providing this audiobook for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.**

A wonderful story about Gemma. Her life is stacked against her. Her mom is a drug addict, she finds herself pregnant at 16 and trust no one. She is doing life on her own, inviting no one into her life until she ends up in on the coast of Wales, and suddenly she has people in her life that start to matter to her.
It is a kind of coming of age book, but for someone who is 30 years old. It is also a very interesting look at adoption, not only from the child's perspective, but also from a mother who did the right thing, knows she did the right thing, but still wonders what happened to Baby.
Debbie Johnson, through her writing, made me spend some time in the shoes of a birth mother who just wanted to know that her child was okay. She loved her from the moment she saw her, but knew she still could not offer a life that would be great. Mostly because she herself was living that life and knew what a struggle it is.
This is the second book that I have read written by Johnson, I recommend them not only because they are well written, but because they are real life. Maybe not your own, but maybe someone you need to understand a bit better.

✨ Statistically Speaking by Debbie Johnson ✨
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book took me on such an emotional rollercoaster! 🎢 Statistically Speaking is a heartwarming, feel-good story that blends humor, family drama, and self-discovery. It follows Gemma Jones, a high school teacher who’s built a life around her love for history and order—until the chance to reconnect with her long-lost daughter shakes everything up. A journey of second chances, redemption, and realizing that sometimes the numbers don’t add up the way we expect!
The characters are lovable, especially Gemma and her adorable neighbor Margie, and the writing is filled with both heartfelt moments and laughs. The connection between Gemma and the people around her made this a truly heartwarming read.

📝 What you’ll find:
Second-chance family
Hidden identity
Slow-burn romance
Adoption
Self-discovery
Unlikely friendships
Quirky small-town vibes

What I loved most was the emotional depth of Gemma’s journey, especially her reconciling with the past while building new relationships. It was the perfect balance of romance, laughter, and touching moments.

If you're a fan of character-driven stories with a lot of heart, this one's definitely for you!

I really enjoyed this audiobook. The narrator was fantastic. It was quick paced and kept me listening!

**3 stars**
"Statistically Speaking" offers an emotionally rich exploration of identity and the unresolved complexities of the past. Gemma's journey as a teacher with a deep love for history contrasts poignantly with the uncertainty surrounding her own life story. While the premise of potentially reconnecting with her birth daughter adds an intriguing layer, the pacing felt uneven, and some of the connections between characters leaned on predictable tropes.

The novel shines in its depiction of Gemma's struggles with anxiety, her endearing relationship with her neighbor Margie, and her charming yet hesitant romance with Karim. However, the resolution felt rushed, leaving some emotional threads underexplored. A solid read for fans of heartfelt contemporary fiction, but it didn’t quite reach its full potential.

Oh, Gemma. This main character is one not to be missed. The audio version narrated by Louise Williams will have you immersed in Gemma’s life of order that behind the scenes is not so orderly. Early on in her life, she has learned that life can be a bit messy. In her youth, her mother was unpredictable, and she experienced life in foster homes. As a teen, Gemma gave up her infant daughter who she has never forgotten. Through the support of a heartwarming cast, she navigates the eighteen year anniversary of the birth of her daughter and the uncertainty it brings. This found family with a small dash of romance was an enjoyable read.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins Focus for the advance copy. All opinions are my own.

What a beautiful story! Gemma is the heroine you really want to root for, and it was just such a wonderfully told tale, the narration was perfect!

This book had me on the edge of my proverbial seat in so many different ways. Just when you think you know the twist and you're mentally going through the same process as the MC, there's a slightly different twist and the way all the different things are handled and all the different friendships, the relationships, the past and present dynamics are all beautifully explored and wonderfully written in human ways, not just the magic of the story. I loved it and have recommended it already several times.

#arc
#netgalley
#statisticallyspeaking

This book (and audiobook) has so much to love. Debbie Johnson is one heck of a writer! Sometimes, I wish I was one of those reviewers that comes up with all the big fancy words to describe books…but then I remember that I set out to NOT do that. So, I’ll try to explain what I love about Johnson’s writing in plain, uncomplicated English.

Here goes.

Johnson’s writing is just so…smooth. Her descriptions are detailed but not overdone, everything has a flow to it that made sense to me, and the characters are believable. There’s also a lot of wit, which I really appreciate.

Let’s take a peek at an excerpt. Here’s the opening paragraphs of chapter 11:

The Royal Albert dock is glittering in the early evening dusk. Lights from the busy bars and restaurants are dancing shadows across the grand colonnades and the covered walkways. And the wind is whipping up the dark water–eddies bumping the moored boats up against the dark walls, flags snapping, bells tinkling. It’s been a moody day with dark gray skies and wind that made the sand howl along the beach this morning. It is almost October, and it is showing.

We are a small and battered group, fighting the breeze as we walk. The students are chattering and excited, still on a high from our tour of the old dock. Discovered and excavated during the construction of the new shopping center, it was built in 1715, a precursor to the grand venue we are now exploring.

The docks have always been a favorite place of mine, the sense of immense history, of the coming and going of humanity over hundreds of years. Of the trade, the hope, the dreams. The sometimes dark past, the constant change and evolution. Of course, I also enjoy the numbers: the statistics of space and time. 23 million bricks, 3 football pitches, cast iron columns that are 25 feet high.

These passages, when read aloud by narrator Louise Williams, were just plain captivating. I loved them.

Now, our main character, Gemma, is also an object of my affection. Having gone through a pretty traumatic childhood, she allows one night of poor decision making and ends up pregnant. We meet her about 18 years after giving birth to the child and promptly giving her up for adoption. Although broken in some ways, she still manages to have a decent (although quite sequestered) life as a school teacher.

Gemma has the same problem as a lot of women protagonists seem to have in not being able to properly let anyone into her life. However, she’s unique enough to make that totally okay in my book. She clearly has some neurodivergence in her love of statistics and counting things, and can remember numbers and dates easily, making her an awesome team member for trivia night. At any rate, she was super likable and I was very much in her corner.

After finishing the book, I read a few reviews written by others, and they mention a bit of a slowness in the middle of the book. I didn’t notice anything like that–probably because I was so wrapped up in the beautiful writing and just swept up in the whole experience of the audiobook.

Overall, I highly recommend this audiobook! The story itself is heartwarming without being cheesy, there’s a lovely friendship with the older lady next door (and did I mention she has a cute dog?), a love interest, a very loud yoga fart, a very charming student, and more. I fully enjoyed the whole thing and recommend it to anyone who likes heartwarming and slightly quirky fiction like Remarkably Bright Creatures.

A full 5 stars from me!

This story was a cute finding family story- biological and who she surrounds herself with. I liked seeing a character that has OCD with her anxiety but still loves her life. I also enjoy that she finds herself in more ways than one!

There are very few contemporary authors that are must reads for me, but Debbie Johnson is the exception. I find her books stir the emotions and leave me feeling uplifted. This one did not disappoint. In a world where most families have more than their fair share of dysfucntion, I love stories about found family. You know what I mean; novels where the main character creates a family from the friends in their life because their real family is gone or estranged.. Gemma's past is a constant burden in her present life as she wonders every day about the baby she was forced to give up at sixteen. And now that her little girl is about to turn eighteen, Gemma looks for her daughter in every red headed teenaged girl she sees. When a new student moves into the high school where Gemma teaches, she sees so many similiarities that she's convinced the new student, Katie, is her daughter. As Gemma's anxiety goes into overdrive, its her friends that help Gemma get the answers she's needed about her past so that she can look to the future with peace. This was just a lovely tale and I couldn't help but binge listen. The author always writes a heart warming novel with loveable characters that you hate to leave by the last chapter. The narrator was excellent and added to the enjoyment of the book. Highly recommend.

Statistically Speaking shows us the story of Gemma Jones and what it’s like to be a birth mother. Meaning the mother of a baby you’ve put up for adoption. This book starts off when her daughter was just born and then time jumps almost 18 years from then. You get to deep dive into the mind of a mother who selflessly gave up her daughter in hopes that someone else would be able to give her a better life. When Gemma gave birth and had to make this difficult decision she was only 16. Through the book you get to see Gemma healing from what she had to do almost 18 years ago and starting to open up and come out of her shell. What really seemed to haunt Gemma was that she always wondered if she made the right choice and if her daughter was having a life better than she could have provided. I was adopted at birth so this book meant a little bit more to me than any other book. I think it takes an extremely emotionally intelligent author to write about this topic. Debbie Johnson Captured all the emotions and thoughts perfectly. She thought about all the people involved in an adoption, the birth mother, the parents adopting the child, and the child. Obviously every person experiences things differently so it is not the same for everyone but nonetheless I think this book captured adoption at its core. Sometimes you read books that will just fade away in your mind or blend with others but this one stands uniquely by itself and I will forever remember it. Thank you HarperCollins for the opportunity to read this book.

This is a beautiful story about Gemma and her struggles to open up her life to relationships. We follow her from the difficult moment of giving birth to a baby girl she immediately gives up for adoption to adulthood where she is learning how relationships add beauty to our lives even if they're hard. This is a romance, a story of found family, of adoption, of friendships, and of growing up. I loved spending a book with Gemma and watching her grow rich in relationships. Narrator did a great job as well.

Statistically Speaking was an emotional ride. I found myself reflecting on my own past experiences and situations. The story starts strong, but I feel it got shaky in the middle before ending strong again. I would recommend this read to anyone with experience in the adoption world.

I really wanted to like this book. It had the potential to be a heartfelt, sappy tearjerker which I typically love. Unfortunately, I just did not connect with the main characters and felt her to be droning and whiny.

I read another ARC by Debbie Johnson before Christmas that I absolutely adored, so when I saw this one come up by her, I had to request it! This book started off with a bang with Gemma, as a sixteen year old, giving up her baby for adoption. Then, as an adult constantly wondering how her little girl's life turned out. The pacing in the middle of the book slowed down a bit too much for me to stay as engaged as I did in the beginning though. I was still really interested in the ending though and I will continue to look for more by this author!

Thank you to Netgalley, Debbie Johnson and HarperCollins Focus for this ALC in exchange for my honest review.