3-1/2 stars. Nice interesting chick fic; thinking about the characters provided an escape from all the stuff I should be doing right now. ;-) ( )

When India, the new wife of billionaire Marcus is unsuccessful at becoming pregnant, they enlist an egg donor and a surrogate. The money Jules will get from her egg will put her addict father through rehab. Annie will garner enough money as the surrogate to change her little family’s lives, but Bettina, Marcus’ 23-year-old daughter, is hell-bent on proving to her father and the world that India is not who she says she is.

When Marcus suddenly dies just days before the baby is born, India is nowhere to be found. Left to raise the baby, Bettina finds a new, supportive family in Jules and Annie. And months after Rory is settling in as the baby to multiple mom-figures, in saunters India to take up her place as Rory’s rightful mother. The four women work to find the space to allow each other a place in Rory’s life.

Then Came You is unlike any other book i’ve Read regarding family - and I loved it. It’s hard to find something truly unique with so many wonderful books out there, but Jennifer Weiner has done just that. There was a moment in the last pages were I almost allowed myself to hate the ending, but I leaned into what the author was doing and it turned out beautifully.

Then Came You sounds like it is super deep, but it isn’t, just a beautifully written story about the lives of several women who become unwittingly entwined forever through the love of a child. Beautiful concept. Beautiful story. ( )

Romance

I read this one quickly and found it somewhat of a roller coaster of enjoying, then getting super annoyed, then enjoying again.

Part of it was my own issues with knowing too much about the Philadelphia references and being irked by some of them (like I doubt there are many kids from Somerton who bother to drive all the way to the Mann Music Center to make out) and part of it is the same issue I've had with Jennifer Weiner's last few books: I feel like she's trying too hard to be clever and funny.

I LOVED her first few novels but the characters in these last few seem less developed than others and I feel like maybe she's just writing these books too quickly and they aren't getting the full measure of her storytelling skill. Oh, and while I don't have a problem with sex scenes in books, most of the ones in this book made me think "oh gross" more than "oh wow".

Bottom line, I didn't hate it but I didn't like it as much as I wanted to. ( )

DNF ( )