"The Offering" by Angela Hunt~Surrogacy & IVF Story

SUMMARY :

One innocent mistake . . . a lifetime of consequences.

After growing up an only child, Amanda Lisandra wants a big family. But since she and her soldier husband can’t afford to have more children right away, Mandy decides to earn money as a gestational carrier for a childless couple. She loves being pregnant, and while carrying the child, she dreams of having her own son and maybe another daughter. . . .

Just when the nearly perfect pregnancy is about to conclude, unexpected tragedy enters Mandy’s world and leaves her reeling. Devastated by grief, she surrenders the child she was carrying and struggles to regain her emotional equilibrium.

Two years later she studies a photograph of the baby she bore and wonders if the unthinkable has happened—could she have inadvertently given away her own biological child? Over the next few months Mandy struggles to decide between the desires of her grief-stricken heart and what’s best for the little boy she has never known.

PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :

Published by:  Howard Books/Simon & Schuster
Pages:  299  Plus Reading Group Guide
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction/Women's Fiction/Spiritual
Author:  Angela Hunt
Website:  Angela Hunt
Purchase Your Copy:   http://ow.ly/l6HiW


ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

Ms Hunt has sold over four million copies of her books worldwide.  She is the bestselling author of more than 100 titles including "The Tale of Three Trees," "The Note," and "The Nativity Story."  Her non-fiction book "Don't Bet Against Me," written with Deanna Favre, spent several weeks on the New York Times bestsellers list.  Angela frequently teaches writing workshops at schools and writers' conferences, and she served as the keynote speaker at an American Christian Fiction Writers' national conference.  She and her husband make their home in Florida.


THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

I had an idea this was going to be light reading when I picked this book up after the very intense, suspenseful reading of Jeffrey Deaver's "The Killing Room."  I thought it would be a relaxing change from that book.  In some ways, it was.  In other ways, it was a stunner.  Pleasantly surprising me, it captured my attention from the beginning and kept me hanging on until the last pages.  This book was every bit as piercing in its own way.  I was swept up in the story.

Ms Hunt is a new author for me.  She writes in a genre I rarely read, but the summary of the story grabbed me.  I'm the grandmother of three invetro fertilization children.  Wonderful, physically beautiful and very smart children, who are as natural and normal as the ordinary child.  I'm a strong believer in the process for those who aren't able to get pregnant otherwise, obviously.  And so, this book was a draw to my attention.

The moral and ethical conflicts the character of Amanda Lisandra faces as she seeks to become an IVF and surrogate parent are current issues.  Her personal struggles, those of her family and the impending, intentional parents were so beautifully handled by Angela Hunt.  So real, it seemed she had been in the process herself.  The novel held me rapt.

This is a book that looks at the questions of having children from all sides:  adoption, IVF, surrogacy, biological, and family inclusion.  Infinitely interesting, it's a book that will capture your heart and imagination.  It will cause you to question your own sense of right and wrong, as well as your moral and ethical stances.

I loved the story and the various characters.  While I found some of the particulars of the greater family reactions to be somewhat unrealistic in light of Amanda's circumstances at times, for the most part the story rang true.

Highly recommended and unusual book!  Amanda Hunt is a fine author of substance. A great book for book group discussions.

5 stars                          Deborah/TheBookishDame

"The Two Week Wait" by Sarah Rayner~A Moral Story

 

SUMMARY :

 

A memorable and moving page-turner about two very different women, each yearning to create a family of her own.

What if the thing you most longed for was resting on a two week wait? From the author of the international bestselling One Moment, One Morning, comes a moving portrait about what it truly means to be a family.

After a health scare, Brighton-based Lou is forced to confront the fact that her time to have a baby is running out. She can't imagine a future without children, but her partner doesn't seem to feel the same way, and she's not sure whether she could go it alone.

Meanwhile, in Yorkshire, Cath is longing to start a family with her husband, Rich. No one would be happier to have children than Rich, but Cath is infertile.

Could these strangers help one another?

With her deft exploration of raw emotions and her celebration of the joy and resilience of friendship, The Two Week Wait is Sarah Rayner at her best.

PARTICULARS OF THIS BOOK :
Published by:  St. Martin's Press
Pages:  432
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction
Purchase the book:  Barnes & Noble  or  Amazon


A BIT ABOUT MS RAYNOR :

 

 

SARAH RAYNER was born in London and now lives in Brighton with her partner. She worked for many years as an advertising copywriter, and now writes fiction full time.

 

 

 

JESSICA'S REVIEW :

 

I was immediately drawn to the storyline summarized on the cover of this novel.  I am a woman who myself has been through the ups and downs, joys and sadness of the journey of fertility treatments, and IVF.  I couldn’t wait to see if what Rayner wrote on was at all close to the complexity that fertility and IVF brings.

 I loved many many things about this novel, but the two things I will highlight are Rayner’s  incredible gift for creating complex characters, and her ability to draw a reader into the story so much so that I re-established what I thought were my clearly established ethics.

Rayner’s characters are masterfully created, she is deliberate and insightful.  Each of the women in the novel are individual in their thoughts and struggles, yet each experience the deep heartache and longing to be a mother.  The emotions that both the men and women characters share bind them to the reader.  I felt compelled to read on, experiencing this journey with them.  I felt an immediate connection to all of the characters, seeing them all as separate entities, yet connecting them in my mind by drawing on emotions that I have felt during the long years of waiting for it to be my turn to be a mother.

I was also fascinated by Rayner’s ability to make me question my own ethics.  Rayner quietly and intentionally creates human experiences, connections, and limitations.   I had no idea when I started the novel that one of the characters longing to be a mother was a lesbian.  When this life choice was revealed early on in the novel, I felt myself immediately make a judgment.  Until this, I had liked the character.  It stunned me that I would  immediately shut down my compassion for the circumstance based on that particular character’s  personal choices.  I began to feel myself siding with the heterosexual couple, consciously noting the distance I began to place between myself and the gay couple. 

Rayner was able to take me out of my comfort zone, and draw me in to questioning my own so called established ethics.  I realized the compassion I was feeling for the women was not because of the life style they made, but because they were characters written with such detailed complex emotions, ones that I have felt, and do feel.  It became apparent to me, that I had consciously made a decision as a reader to negate characters’ feelings based on her sexuality!  I thought a long time on that.  Rayner, and her gift for characterization, helped me to take down the dividing wall I had built in my mind, and see them openly  as women, as people with the same desires and longings  I have had.

I really savored this novel.  It was to me an eye opening look at not only the ethical rollercoaster that fertility creates, but also the dividing boundaries that society instills in people.  This  novel is a love story, but not in the traditional sense.  It is a story of women with the powerful desire to be a mother.

I would recommend the novel to anyone.  This novel will take you on a journey, one that will leave you with a deeper understanding of the soul wrenching decisions one makes in the ultimate hope to be a mother.  I hope it does for you what it did for me, made me question my own morals and ethics, and opened the doors of my heart.  Bravo Rayner!  I applaud your bravery, your compassion, and deep understanding of the complexities of the human heart.

 

5 stars                 Jessica/A Bookish Dame