He Gets That From Me by Jacqueline Friedland

☆☆☆☆☆
.PDF, 304 pages
Expected Publication: September 14th 2021 by SparkPress

About the Book:
As a young mother with a toddler and a live-in boyfriend, Maggie Fisher’s job at a checkout counter in downtown Phoenix doesn’t afford her much financial flexibility. She dreams of going to college and becoming a teacher, options she squandered when she fled her family home as a teenager. When Maggie stumbles onto an ad offering thousands of dollars to women who are willing to gestate other people’s babies, she at first finds the concept laughable. Before long, however, she’s been seduced by all the ways the extra money could improve her life. Once she decides to go for it, it’s only a matter of months before she’s chosen as a gestational carrier by Chip and Donovan Rigsdale, a married couple from New York. After delivering twin babies and proudly handing them off to the Rigsdales, Maggie finally gets her life on a positive trajectory: she earns her degree, lands a great job, and builds a family of her own. She can’t fathom why, ten years after the fact, the fertility clinic is calling to ask for a follow-up DNA test.

My Review:

He Gets That From Me is heartbreaking...Just heartbreaking. Jacqueline Friedland’s beautifully written novel is compelling and intense. Each character is so fully described that you understand why they make certain choices. Some characters are unlikeable but Hoffman gives enough of their history to make you have some sympathy for them. From the blurb I knew what I would be reading about and knew it wouldn't be a straight forward tale. He Gets That From Me is a surrogacy story, but it is the characters that are the focus of the book. I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of Friedland's characterizations.

The difference between the two families, and who are really the parents, is the main theme. Friedland sees it in many layers, not black and white. And in the end...none of it matters. The characters are reduced to pure, desperate emotion. This is an amazing story that made me feel all the feels. All the stars.

Disclosure:
Thank you NetGalley, Jacqueline Friedland and SparkPress for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an impartial review; all opinions are my own.

#HeGetsThatfromMe #NetGalley