Nobody writes this type of book like Amanda Prowse. An emotional rollercoaster of a read, which follows Lucy and Jonah as they try to conceive a child of their own.

Have a box of tissues at the ready. Emotions run high as Lucy and Jonah try for a baby. The writing flows along and highs and lows are frequent.

I received an eARC of this book from Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing.
Summary:
Nearing forty, Lucy Carpenter finally feels like she can have it all. She has a great job, and a fantastic husband in Jonah; all she needs to complete this is a baby. This, though, is harder to achieve than she thought. After several miscarriages, Lucy is feeling fragile. It’s now that Jonah’s teen daughter comes to stay, bringing her own dynamic into the family. Can Lucy keep it together at work, and keep her family together while she herself is unraveling? Added to this is a secret heartache from the past, one that she never told a soul, that just might be the ruin of her world.
My thoughts:
I loved this book, even as it broke me. I loved Lucy, I wept for her and her great desire to be a mother. Each miscarriage tore me apart, as if it were happening to a friend. The pain, and the characters were very real, and the premise was perfect. Without giving anything away, I will also say that I loved the ending and how Lucy grew through the book.
Interspersed through the book are snippets of a letter that Lucy is writing. It reads like a journal entry almost, and gives us great insight into her feelings toward motherhood. I really liked that aspect, and felt like it added a lot to the story. This was definitely a five star book for me!
On the adult content scale, there’s language and some sexual content though it is fairly tame. I give it a four.

Amanda Prowse never fails to make her readers think. Her books cannot easily be skimmed over.

At times, many times, this book made me overwhelmingly sad. Any woman who has experience of the situations covered cannot fail to be affected.

I think the ending is supposed to be a happy ever after. I felt resigned, content. Not happy.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read the book prior to publishing.

Thanks to Net Galley & Lake Union for an ARC of this lovely book in an exchange for a review.
A powerful story of Lucy & Jonahs love and their longing for a baby
Arriving for the summer is Jonah's teenage daughter from his previous marriage and their lives dramatically change, their peaceful home now includes a messy teenager, sulky moods and fireworks between Lucy and her stepdaughter Camille.
Heartache for Lucy and Jonah as Lucy has several miscarriages.
Lucy has been carrying a secret for many years which has caused her more heartache and this secret spills out when Camille & Lucy are breaking the news to Jonah that a baby is expected in their home, though Lucy is not the expectant mum.
Preparing for the baby brings happiness and joy & strengthens relationships especially between Lucy and Camille. A lovely read.

***SPOILERS***

This book had so many layers I wasn't prepared for. It's a story of a family: a man's voyage as a husband and a father; a woman finding her way as a stepmother and a wife, a daughter coming of age, navigating her way in a new home with her father and stepmother. While the story centers on pregnancy, miscarriages, and the idea of what to expect during pregnancy and letters written from a mother to her unborn child, The Idea of You takes the reader on Lucy Carpenter's journey of multiple miscarriages and a hugh secret that's revealed towards the end of the book.

Lucy and her husband Jonah have a seven year age gap and have been married a little over a year. Jonah also has a sixteen year old daughter by a previous relationship. Lucy and Jonah are looking forward to the day when they have a child together especially since he missed out of raising his daughter Camille.

Even though I empathized with Lucy, her confussion, and disappointment over her body betraying her time and time again due to miscarrying I didn't fully relate to this character because I've never been pregnant. While I understood the devastation she felt after each loss I also felt she was blinded by sorrow and missed the daily joys and blessings that surrounded her after the loss.

Lucy's grief stricken heart immobilized her to the point of causing insecurities and emotional turmoil with her husband where none where and she alienated people who cared about her. Like I said I understood Lucy's feelings after each loss and I believed Jonah supported his wife to the best of his ability. For me personally, the story didn't truly feel authentic until conversations between Camille, Lucy, and Jonah began.

I loved the family dynamics. Lucy felt like an outcast and at times out right disrespected by Camille while Camille felt like Lucy didn't want her around and Jonah was the man between the two ladies he loved. Here was a prime example of a blessing in disguise. It bothered me that Lucy couldn't or wouldn't see beyond her own pain to help Camille connect with her and it saddened me the Jonah didn't have Lucy's back when it came to Camille. I was glad to see this dynamic change by the end of the book and how close Lucy and Camille became especially when Camille really needed a parent.

Overrall, this was an ok read for me simply because I didn't find myself connecting with any of the characters and I felt more development was needed for Jonah and explanations for certain storylines. The message I will take away from reading this book is when one door closes another one opens. Even though Lucy didn't have a child of her own she ended up with a beautiful relationship with her stepdaughter and her son.

The Idea of You gets 3.5 you don't have to give birth to a child to experience motherhood stars

***I received a free copy of this book from Lake Union Publishing via Netgalley for an honest review***

I think the subject of miscarriage and adoption is sensitively dealt with in this book. The main character, Lucy, has to deal with this, along with a tempremental teenage stepdaughter who moves into her house.

I'm surprised in some ways that she remains sane. One thing I wondered about, she didn't seem to have many female friends to share the burden with, just an over enthusiastic colleague. This was a sad thing too.

It was a very easy read and I very much enjoyed it. I have not read her books before but will now as the story will stay with me. Not glamorous or flashy, just real. That's a r

Lucy is obsessed with having a child, it is her goal, and when she finally meets the right man and quickly gets married, she is on her way. The path was not smooth or easy, paved with miscarriage and recriminations over the baby she had given up for adoption. Life became even more complicated when her husband's daughter Camille comes to live with them and has her own little boy.

Lucy learns to love Camille and the baby...guess they live happily ever after, pretty trite, which was how I felt about this saccharine book. I was disappointed in this novel.

My reviews are posted to Amazon.com and Goodreads.com under my name Judy Christiana.

I was chosen by Netgalley to read this book for an honest review. I joined Netgallery about a year ago and requested a book at that time. I was denied and was sort of turned off at that point. I did not request another book from them. Then this week I received an email that I was chosen to read this book. It was a total surprise and I accepted the book since I believe in fate.
I am not sure on what basis I was chosen, since that site does not know much about me. In my opinion, this book is definitely geared to women and I would add, probably women close to 40 years or older. So I guess that is why I was chosen.
I read the synopsis and it was appealing to me. I thought it was about a working woman juggling a marriage and children. It is a bit about that, but really more focused on a woman that wants a child with all her heart and can not carry to term to give birth.
That being said, I am in a group of women that made a decision to not have children, so I don’t really identify with the character’s desire to have a child. I wanted to state that, since it would seem that I would not like this book so focused on having a child. That was not the case. It shows how wonderful this author is, that I was so drawn into the story and the lives of the characters. My heart was broken for Lucy. At times I adored her husband, Jonah and at times I really disliked him. I disliked Jonah’s daughter, Camille almost during the entire book. I finally understood her near the end.
This was the first book that I have read by this author, Amanda Prowse. The story she wrote was so emotional and I was consumed by it, wanting to read constantly to find out the ending.
The characters are imperfect, as all people are in real life, that made the story believable. I cared about them, knowing that they tried but failed to make the correct decisions in their lives.

I do not write a summary of the book in my reviews, since a synopsis is always shown already.

I just finished the book. I liked it. At times I did find Lucy always the victim. It was well written and I was happy the ending was not as predictable as it could have been.

I loved this book by Amanda Prowse! I was given an ARC via NetGalley. I went somewhat blindly into this book only knowing to have some tissues on hand, so I knew this story was going to have the potential to gut me. I thought the story might progress a certain way, but the surprises and twists kept coming. This story of what defines a family and what to do with its pitfalls truly leaves you cheering on for Lucy's happily ever after. I loved this quote from the book: "This man I met - a wonderful man - picked up the snow globe of my life and gave it a really good shake". This book is a page turner that's very difficult to put down!

A story with heart about a woman wanting to be a mother, a secret and how it effects her life and relationships. I wasn't sure when this first started whether I would continue but the story slowly pulled me in - a book about family and relationships.

The Idea of You is a lovely, heartfelt, compelling story that I read in one day! Lucy is a forty-year-old woman, happily married to Jonah, longing for them to have a child. Dealing with disappointment after disappointment becomes even more difficult with the arrival of Jonah's teenage daughter, Camille. This book takes us on a poignant journey with Lucy and her family as they deal with the changes in their lives, forging loving relationships, and a devastating secret that Lucy has kept buried for decades. A wonderful insight into all the different ways a woman can become a mother, and what makes a group of people a family.

I was pre-approved by NetGalley for an advanced readers copy of this book so I thought I would give it a try even though I usually struggle with contemporary books deal with difficult issues. This kind of story takes a certain nuance for me to appreciate. Unfortuantely, I didn't find that here - it was just too sentimental for me and the dialogue felt stilted and unrealistic. I should have passed on the opportunity.

No review for this title as I was auto approved for the title but unfortunately it doesn't fall into the general genres of the books that I like to read and review on my blog.

This is a story about a woman trying to become a mother and struggling with every obstacle that life threw in her way.

I liked the book, I really did. From the start it was filled with so many emotions. My heart ached for her and everything that she was going through. I am not a mother and I had never went through anything similar to what was written in the book, but while I was reading I felt so connected to Lucy. I felt her pain, sorrow, yearning and her happiness. I liked the end of chapters with notes/letters dedicaded to her baby.

All I have to say is that this is a truly beautiful story full of emotions and really beautifully written.

~Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for allowing me to read the advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.~

This book really wasn't for me and I must have requested it by mistake as it was an automatic download. I don't want to add a bad review just because I made a mistake on Netgalley and downloaded a book that is not written for me. I know I'm the wrong audience for this novel but have no doubt it will be hugely successful..

The Idea of You by Amanda Prowse

This was a poignant family drama that was a feel good read with human realism. Lucy meets Jonah and they have a small wedding. Just the two of them with two witnesses. Jonah has been married and divorced and had the big wedding and three layer cake and the works and it didn't work out. This time around he wants to keep things simple.

The two have everything they could ever dream of and more except a baby of their own. When Jonah's sixteen year old daughter Camille come to live with them every thing changes. Camille is standoffish to Lucy who bends over backwards to welcome Camille. Camille is purposely cruel to Lucy who is going through a rough patch.

This book was written to be a very realistic blended family with everyday trials and tribulations. It is a book that is a cozy read with likeable characters but not too pollyannaish. I loved this story and I think the author is very talented. This is the first time I have read anything by this author but I highly recommend her for writing women's fiction and delving into the issues women unilaterally share as humans. I haven't told you what the plot is about but I can assure you that you are in good hands reading Amanda Prowse's work. She has published over sixteen novels and is worth pursuing for something to keep you glued to the pages throughout the book. Five Stars

Thank you to Net Galley, Amanda Prowse and Union Lake Publishing for my digital copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Another fabulous book by this wonderfully empathetic author. A very difficult subject but sensitively handled. An easy 5 stars from me.

I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. What a sweet and moving story. I have no idea how many tissues I went through. Lucy is a career woman, but longing for a family. Her day comes when she's meets and falls in love with Jonah. Now comes the trials of getting pregnant. This hit on a personal level for me as I have seen friends go through fertility issues. When her step daughter comes to stay, a whole dynamic happens. I wanted to strangle Camille initially, but getting this young girl was beautiful. Get some tissues, your favorite spot, and curl up with this fabulous book.