I love family sagas so I might be a tad biased on this review but I loved this story and following Dana and as they grew up. I knew there was a plot twist somewhere, but I didn't see it coming which made me enjoy it even more. Of course some parts of it seemed unrealistic, but in the end I though this was a wonderful story with wonderful characters. ( )

The story of two girls that were switched at birth. Really good maybe went on a bit but that was possibly a good thing. Very well written and draws you into their lives. ( )

This was a bit weird. Two very different families - one a farming family with five daughters and a strictly religious mum, the other an arty mum and a useless inventor dad - are pulled together when their daughters are born within two hours of each other. Ruth is the daughter of the farming lot but is very arty and Dana is the artists' daughter but she really likes farming. It is very very obvious from the opening chapters that the two have been switched at birth, but I still enjoyed the first half or so of this book, with alternating chapters between the two daughters who oddly hardly ever come into contact throughout the book.
But then the book progresses through the years and it gets a bit bogged down in the characters getting old. And the twist is still not revealed until the end even though it's obvious. Maybe didn;t quite live up to its potential. ( )

This book is a tale of family relationships, acceptance, finding yourself, and, most of all, love. When two babies born on the same day and in the same hospital are switched at birth, the lives of the 'birthday sisters' are impacted dramatically as each one grows up feeling like she doesn't belong. Since there are numerous hints that neither girl resembles her parents or siblings, it's not hard to suspect where the plot is heading. Even though the story is heartfelt and, at times, very emotional, the text is a little boring in places as the entire story is told in first-person narratives by Ruth and Dana in alternating chapters. In my opinion, the author could have used more dialog to make some of the scenes more real and move the story along at a faster pace. All-in-all, I found it a warm, thought-provoking book, even if predictable. ( )

This book is a bit more of a literary style than what I usually choose to read. The basic story is that two girls were born on the same day at the same hospital and that, through the years, the one mother kept trying to keep the two families in touch with each other. I guessed the plot twist before it was revealed, and before the daughters in the book figured it out.

The first family (the Planks) is a farming family with 5 girls--only the youngest daughter feels out of place in her family. She likes art but also seems to be the only one of the daughters who cares much about the farm. This family runs a roadside stand to sell items produced on their farm, particularly strawberries. The father even works at creating a new variety of strawberries. The mother insists on a yearly visit to the second family (the Dickersons), in particular to see how the "birthday sister" is getting on.

The Dickersons consist of a mother who is an artist (who often seems to ignore her children for her art) and a father who is always seeming to have a get-rich-quick scheme that never quite works out (who eventually leaves the family). The children are a son (who eventually ends up attracted to the Planks youngest daughter) and a daughter born on the same day as the Planks' youngest daughter. For a while, the Dickerson family visits the roadside stand to buy strawberries. The Dickerson daughter is interested in growing things and raising animals (vs. the Barbies her mother is buying her at every opportunity). Eventually, the Planks father passes his strawberry project on to the Dickerson daughter.

In the end, the two "birthday sisters" unite over the Plank family farm. ( )