en-US Sun, 27 Apr 2025 12:24:20 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg ReadStatus9359114510 Sun, 27 Apr 2025 12:24:20 -0700 /review/show/7523510433 Joey has read How to Slay at Work by Sarah Bonner
]]> ReadStatus9331624215 Sun, 20 Apr 2025 13:49:34 -0700 /review/show/7467280041 Joey finished reading Small Island by Andrea Levy
]]> ReadStatus9277958084 Sun, 06 Apr 2025 10:28:58 -0700 /review/show/7467280041 Joey is currently reading Small Island by Andrea Levy
]]> ReadStatus9271062488 Fri, 04 Apr 2025 13:26:01 -0700 /review/show/7462496059 Joey has read Nobody Told Me: Poetry and Parenthood by Hollie McNish
]]> ReadStatus9255035034 Mon, 31 Mar 2025 12:58:16 -0700 /review/show/7451178186 Joey has read Notes on Heartbreak by Annie Lord
]]> Review7424676239 Mon, 31 Mar 2025 09:50:24 -0700 /review/show/7424676239 Joey gave 5 stars to In the Family Way (Hardcover) by Laney Katz Becker
bookshelves: 2025, netgalley
In Ohio 1965, Betsy - fifteen and pregnant- arrives in the home of Lily, a married mother who also has a child on the way. Lily has a sister Rose, a teacher whose husband begins to show his true colours, and a friend called Becca who finds herself pregnant with a fourth child she does not want.

This novel has a lot of heart. You will want to hug all of the main characters. Betsy, a teenager who says 'groovy' to everything, particularly touched me. Pregnant via a lacklustre encounter with a boy from out of town and still painfully unaware of many biological realities, her friendship with the older Lily allows her to begin to understand what has happened to her and what her future will be like.

Thematically, this novel reminded me of 'Confessions' by Catherine Airey (set in Ireland) which I reviewed last year, in that it's about multiple generations of women and how they are affected by the state of reproductive rights in their respective countries. As a woman in the UK, it's easy to forget the rights that we have and often take for granted. This novel is a sobering reminder of that, whilst also being infused with hope, and having one of the loveliest and most life-affirming epilogue style endings I've ever read in a novel.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and HQ for the ARC!
]]> ReadStatus9190539506 Sat, 15 Mar 2025 14:56:54 -0700 /review/show/7406036834 Joey has read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
]]> ReadStatus9184848326 Fri, 14 Mar 2025 02:46:33 -0700 /review/show/7402041154 Joey wants to read Picture Imperfect by Jacqueline Wilson
]]> ReadStatus9182558164 Thu, 13 Mar 2025 12:10:15 -0700 /review/show/7399839509 Joey finished reading Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors
]]> ReadStatus9137853967 Sun, 02 Mar 2025 12:40:56 -0800 /review/show/7368023290 Joey finished reading Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors
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