Great idea for a book and really well executed. A thoroughly good read. Highly recommended. .

From the cover to the title of the book to the words this book will make you smile and just happy. Enjoyable

The main character of this novel, Nina is a single woman in her mid 30s who has never felt like she really belonged even though she had a loving adoptive family. When her mom dies, she decides to go in search of her birth mother, along the way finding a birth sister she never knew about, along with juggling a new relationship with a guy with two teenage children. I really enjoyed the writing style, a very enjoyable contemporary women's novel written with a light touch but with real emotions. This is the first book I have read by Maddie Dawson but I will definitely be checking out her other books as well.

I cannot tell you how many times I have picked up A Survivor's Guide to Family Happiness by Maddie Dawson and not read it. It has been sitting on my Kindle just waiting for me to get to it, but it never sounded like what I wanted to read at the time. I was so wrong! Why did I waste so much time without these characters in my life?

Nina Popkin has just buried her much-beloved adoptive mother and is trying to get over the recent dissolution of her six month marriage when she feels an undeniable urge to find her birth mother. When she discovers she has a sister, she is anxious to build the bonds of sorority. Unfortunately, her sister Lindy doesn't feel the same. Nina is also at the beginning of a new relationship with an older man who has two children of his own. There is so much family, and not enough family all at once and Nina is doing her best to survive it all.

The premise sounded good, but it just wasn't at the top of the list. When I finally just decided to dive in, I was rewarded with a wry humor that is deserving of Olympic gold. Nina's character is hilarious! This book produced actual out-loud laughter, even in public. Nina is trying so hard to get through some of the most difficult situations in life all at once and she faces it with humor and sarcasm. A girl after my own heart.

And yet it wasn't all belly laughs- there are heartbreaking moments, too. We learn how Nina came to be adopted, how her birth mother could give her up and why, and we learn what it has been like for Nina and Lindy to know all their lives that they were adopted. We also get to know the teenage children of Nina's new boyfriend. They are right in the midst of their own coming of age battle and are having varying degrees of success. This book is about family- the ones we're born into and the ones we make. Or, as Nina's mother would say:
You have to choose happiness. Happiness is a matter of making up your mind.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to preview this ARC of The Survivor's Guide to Family Happiness by Maddie Dawson.

I'm sad to say that this is a DNF for me. I was already rubbed wrong when the protagonist kept referring to her biological mother that gave her away for adoption as her REAL mom. There is a different between birthing a child and raising one, and her real mom is the one her raised her. This come with no disrespect to women who give their children up for adoption, but referring to them as their real mom diminishes the role of their adoptive parents.

The dialogue was campy, the characters were a bit too silly and I found the whole thing to be a bit out there. Just not for me.

The Survivor's Guide to Family Happiness is an overall lovely novel about grief, life, and what it means to be family. It explores themes of adoption, loss/grief, and mother-daughter relationships. The characters feel real and true-to-life. Great read for people who enjoy family dramas.

Thank you Netgalley for giving me this advanced copy.

I loved this book. I really enjoyed the characters. Another author that I always forget about.

I gave it four stars almost like an A for effort. It was OK, it didn't kill me to finish it, but it just wasn't as good as her first two books. They were unbelievable and I waited FOREVER for her to release another book but this one for me fell short. I didn't fall in love with the story the way I have her o others. However, with all that being said, this author is still a powerhouse and I'll read anything she writes.

I had all the feels with this book - both positive and negative. One moment I was cheering for the characters and the next moment I didn't care whether it went their way or not. All that to say, I was invested in the book most of the time, so well done Ms. Dawson, well done.

A sweet read about what it means to be a family and finding out who you are in the process.

Thank you to Net Galley and Lake Union Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This book tells the story of Nina who is feeling a little lost in her life after a divorce and how her decision to find her birth mother throws her whole world upside down. She finds out that she has a sister who was given up for adoption as well and Nina reluctantly convinces her to join the search for their birth mother. What happens next is a story full of humor, drama, secrets and discovering that the family is not always determined by blood.
The characters were all very real and relatable, nothing cliche about this book.

Loved this book
Didn't want it to end
Highly doubt

Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of The Survivor's Guide to Family Happiness. This is my honest opinion of the book.

Nina Popkin, having recently lost her husband to divorce and her adoptive mother to illness, is looking to fill the void in her life. Embarking on a quest to find her birth mother, Nina discovers a whole part of her early life that she never knew existed. As she opens her heart to the possibilities, with regards to her early relationship with Carter and with her long lost family, will Nina find where she fits in the world? Will her search end up in a series of disappointments?

My favorite lines in the book are "You have to choose happiness. Happiness is a matter of making up your mind." (p. 101) The Survivor's Guide to Family Happiness is written in multiple perspectives, but Nina is clearly at the center of the universe that the author has created. The search for her past, for love, and for acceptance all start with Nina. Her character is complete, but the others are less so. The author never explores Lindy's husband's apprehension or her sometimes contemptuous relationship with her adoptive mother. Examples of both are mentioned, but not fully explained. Overall, The Survivor's Guide to Family Happiness was a good book and one that readers of women's fiction may enjoy.

I would give this 3.5 stars. I really liked the main character's voice. The novel does alternate at times and give us the point of view of other people but I really liked Nina's voice and perspective-even when I found her frustrating (her thoughts or actions) I still preferred her over any of the others. The story is interesting and while it deals with relationships, it is more an overall "finding yourself " and "family drama" with a side of romance. It does have a main relationship that has its ebbs and flows throughout that feels real and the story had a very satisfying conclusion.

I was expecting a little more fun and a little less drama in this book. Nina Popkin loses her adoptive mom right at the beginning of this book, and, for the first time in her life, is given a few clues about her birth mother. This leads Nina on a journey to find her mom, all while trying to manage her current life (which she's not very good at). I found myself shaking my head at her decisions constantly, and also maybe giving her older boyfriend all the heart eyes. In my head, he looks like George Clooney. ;-) Full of family drama, like The Two-Family House, but less polished.
*I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Love the family dynamics in this book, and the point of view chapters from the three women in the book were great. Nina is such a messed up character, and then you add the adoption/finding her birth parents aspect and it makes for great reading. The book is so compelling, I had a hard time putting it down!

The Survivor’s Guide To Family Happiness is a book about finding your family, whether you’re related genetically or not, and the sacrifices that you have to make to be with them. Thirty-five-year old Nina Popkin has just lost her adoptive mother–the only mother she’s ever known–and she’s left with an emptyness after caring for her sick mother in her final months of life. Having always known that she’d been adopted, Nina has always wondered who her birth mother was, and more importantly, why did she give Nina up all those years ago? When Nina’s mother gives her a direction to go in towards finding answers about her birth family as one final gift before she died, Nina decides to pursue the search for her roots. But she doesn’t anticipate finding out that she has a younger biological sister named Lindy who grew up mere blocks away from her, or that this successful, seemingly together family woman might not want to have anything to do with Nina–or her dogged search for their birth mother.

While Nina deals with her sadness and lack of purpose over her mother’s death, she returns to work at the real estate office her best friend owns. She begins to show condos to an older divorcee named Carter, and the two slowly begin to grow on each other until they fully jump into a relationship rather quickly where Nina moves in with Carter and his two teenaged children to help take care of them once the mother splits town. Nina always jumps into relationships too quickly, her need to belong to someone so deep that she can’t help herself. And so Nina’s crazy life begins, where she juggles being thrust right into the middle of surrogate mothering two kids and a boyfriend while trying to win over her sister, all while searching for a birth mother named Phoebe who seems to want nothing to do with either of the girls that she gave up thirty-three years ago.

Told from the perspectives of Nina, Lindy, and Phoebe, but focusing mostly on Nina, I really loved the dynamic between the characters and their distinct voices. The characters were unique, spunky, and full of life and experience. Nina’s story was more fleshed out while Lindy’s lost a bit of focus in the end. Nina’s search for a family to belong to takes her from being there for her pregnant best friend with a loving husband to a ready-made family featuring her fifteen-years older boyfriend Carter who has interesting ideas for parenting, all the way to her forcing herself on her sister Lindy until Nina hopes Lindy will love and accept her.

I give The Survivor’s Guide To Family Happiness a 4.5 out of 5. This book flowed nicely, and I knew from the first few pages that I was going to enjoy this journey. The characters were interesting and realistic, and their voices were distinct. The family Nina makes in the end wasn’t entirely predictable, and the journey had enough twists and turns to keep you guessing. I really enjoyed Carter’s daughter Indigo and Nina’s relationship with her. There’s a wonderful mix of humor, a bit of romance, teenage angst for Nina to deal with, and sticky situations that Nina and Lindy have to deal with in their lives. Maddie Dawson is certainly an author I’ll be looking for in the future.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.

This is Nina Popkin’s story of how her life begins after her divorce and her adopted mother’s death. She begins a search for her birth mother, as she has spent her whole life looking at people and wondering if they “belong” to her. Along the way, she finds her sister, a husband, two teen-aged stepchildren, and others that “belong” to her.

The story is told from her point of view, her birth mother’s (Phoebe) and her sister’s (Lindy). It begins with the pregnant teenaged Phoebe leaving Nina at home and sneaking out of the house, leading to a night of disaster that will change everyone’s life. Fast forward 30+ years, and Nina is opening the back door of the house to throw funeral casseroles (food, dish and all) out the door. I was all prepared to not like Nina, who was childish, impetuous and clingy. Not only did she fling the casseroles out the door, she’s still texting her remarried ex-husband. His new wife, oh yeah, the one he had an affair with, is upset with Nina as she isn’t respecting their boundaries. However, this was so out of character for her as she ended up being the fixer and it never really did make sense to me.

If it weren’t for the writing style, I wouldn’t have finished the book. The story is a cliche: there’s some angst along the way, but there’s a storybook ending to it and everyone lives happily ever. The writing, however, is witty and will make you laugh. Anyone who has raised teenagers will appreciate those passages in the book. You know, where you try to remain outwardly calm while trying to silence the really loud screams in your head like WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?? OVER MY DEAD BODY!! YOU ARE GROUNDED FOREVER MISTER!!

This was a little on the long side, and sometimes there was way too much detail about nothing, but it was still enjoyable. Quite a few storylines to keep you interested, and great character development.