A terrific read! Seventeen-year-old twins Thomas and Savannah lost their mother to a car accident several years ago. Their eccentric but loving grandmother, Maggie, is raising them, but Thomas in particular wonders about the birth father they've never met. The twins decide to search for him using a variety of sources, including their own podcast about it. Of course, things get complicated quickly, and old family secrets and tensions threaten to tear the McClains apart.

This is a hilarious book, although I also cried more than once while reading. The story is told from several perspectives, and Anthony manages to give each a distinct voice. The twins definitely think and act like teenagers, which means sometimes they're extremely frustrating, but better than books where kids more like small adults. I would love to know what happens next with their family!

This was a pretty good book. The plot was different enough to make me interested. The characters for the most part were like able and well developed.

It took me awhile to get into this book but once I did, I found The Kids Are Gonna Ask to be entertaining, and fun. The dynamic between the twins and their grandmother was funny, poignant, and original. The twins' search for their biological father was interesting and I enjoyed the podcast and all of the eclectic characters they met on their search.

4 out of 5 stars for The Kids Are Gonna Ask by Gretchen Anthony. Thank you to Harlequin/Park Row and NetGalley for the copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you Netgalley, HARLEQUIN – Trade Publishing (U.S. & Canada) Park Row and Gretchen Anthony for free e-ARC in return of my honest review.

Thomas and Savannah McClair find themselves lost when they reach 18. They are twins who lost their mother at 13 in a horrific accident, live with their amazing grandmother but they never knew anything about their biological father. When they their mother, she was illusive probably waiting out for older age. Their grandmother never got her answers too, so at one point in their lives kids decided to find their bio-father via a unique approach - public podcast. I guess it is a new age of a research.

I find the story interesting and engaging. First of all, I think the whole idea for the story line to be a public podcast is pretty cool and new age. Secondly, I think that main protagonists, Thomas and Sarah, were well-done, they were nicely developed and came to life through the pages of the book. Biofather was interesting too, I assumed him to be worse and surprised that the author decided on a positive picture. I wish the media mogul story would be better developed, on the other hand it was not about him.

Overall, I enjoyed The Kids Are Gonna Ask.

I'm not going to rehash the story here as the blurb for the book does that better and I don't want to give any spoilers away, but I LOVED this story!

I loved everything about this book. I loved the twins Savannah and Thomas. Both were relatable characters. I especially loved the fact that Savannah was a strong character (stronger than Thomas in my opinion).

What really was great for me, was their grandmother. Maggie, she stole the show and made me miss my grandmother something awful.

Thank you so much to #NetGalley and the publisher Park Row for the arc!

*Quick Take*

Twin siblings Savanna andThomas searching for their biological father using their podcast. After losing their mother Savanna and Thomas are living with their grandmother and decide it is time to figure out who their biological father is. The twins bring it to their podcast that ends up going viral. There was a definite young adult feel to the story, because most of it is told from the twins perspectives. I did like both of these characters and really enjoyed the podcast episode sprinkled throughout the book. The mystery as to who the bio dad was may have been answered a little too early in the book. The twins crazy fame also was pretty exaggerated in my humble opinion. This was a good book, just not the best I’ve ever read.

*** Big thank you to Harlequin for my gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own. ***

The rise in popularity of books featuring podcasts has opened the door for novels like "The Kids Are Gonna Ask," a story following two twins using the format to broadcast their search for their biological father, the identity of which their mother gave no clue to before her untimely death.

Exploring fame and family, "The Kids Are Gonna Ask" switches perspectives between the two siblings, Thomas and Savannah, and other characters as the podcast makes their personal search very much public...and divisive.

The unfolding of the mystery of who their father is creates a great momentum to move the plot forward despite the novel's somewhat-too-drawn-out 400+ pages. But the length also allows plenty of time to build the main characters and watch them grow. Although the real strength of the book is actually the sections of the podcast script sprinkled throughout, which I’d be interested to hear in audiobook form, and which add a dynamic layer to the book.

But despite the well-rounded characters, the story is very much plot-forward, a trait that ends up working against the story overall. Readers will have to suspend their disbelief when it comes to how much fame the podcast garners and the amount of input people have on the kids’ lives, as well some other oddly placed details of the book, such as that the family has a personal chef that makes intricate and high-end dishes despite the fact that no one in the household seems to have any stable income.

Even more so, the story doesn’t seem to know exactly what it wants to be. Without enough intrigue to be a full-on mystery, and with a reveal that comes too soon for the genre, the book also feels oddly placed in the ‘domestic drama’ territory. Hints of magical realism also arise within the novel but aren’t fully realized for the book to be considered fantastical, and end up feeling incomplete and odd. And, an adult fiction in its pacing and themes, the story follows the teens in the novel more than any adults and takes on their younger perspectives most of the time.

I rated "The Kids Are Gonna Ask" 2.5 out of 5 stars.

The Kids Are Gonna Ask was decidedly meh for me, unfortunately. While I initially really enjoyed the story, particularly the podcast conceit, reminiscent of Courtney Summers' Sadie, the last third of the book fell pretty flat. The plotline about the twins' skeezy podcast producer Sam didn't really do much for me, and I found the way they finally dealt with that problem--no spoilers--pretty unrealistic. I felt like the book was constantly poking at the real meat of what trauma does to people, particularly with Nadine and the twins' response to their mom's death, but it never quite achieved the level of depth I was hoping for. The book also lost a lot of steam once the text let us know who their real father was--too early, in my opinion. All in all, probably better suited for someone who wants something fluffy that tugs at the heartstrings.

It took me a little while to get to this ARC, missing the pub date, but I finally sat down with it in earnest this weekend and I am SO GLAD I DID! It was a great read. I found it to be so, so good. Each character on their own was intriguing and unique and worth every bit of my attention while reading. There were no 'throw away' characters. I loved that and I loved that, while the cast was moderately sized, I didn't get lost with the introduction of each one. The way Jack is handled is wonderful. The humanization of Bess as the story draws to a close, blending her great 'badass' spirit with her life-ending choice to be see Tad. Dang. Loved it. I kept thinking Maggie was going to do I and I was going to be SO MAD if that happened. This was a great read and would be a great book club read, too. Thanks for the ARC!

Gretchen Anthony has done it again with this fabulous novel about family secrets and how far one might go to find answers. Anthony's characters are realistic in their desires and reactions and she lets the reader slowly unfold the plot along with Thomas, Savannah and Maggie. I would recommend both this novel and her previous work, especially if stories about families, drama, and the complications that can come with it all are what you seek.

I enjoyed The Kids Are Gonna Ask well enough. It feels a lot like The Kids Are All Right with Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo, but with the focus on the teens. As an avid podcast listener and a film director, the Hollywood element of this felt very close to home, though, of course, sanitized for a younger audience. Gretchen Anthony is a solid writer, which is nice to see in a world of YA fan fiction written by non-authors. It’s a tough environment in which to release YA, as so much of the material out right now is so politically-charged and edgy, that a more wholesome book like this feels a bit immature. That being said, I would much prefer my future kids deal with struggles more akin to those faced by the twins, and the world they inhabit, than the one painted in most of the contemporary fiction today.

Family fiction about teens who are searching for their biological father. Their podcast goes viral. Really terrific characters.

This is a great bridge between YA and New Adult fiction. It's got a creepy mystery and engaging characters. I loved it.

Thomas and Savannah have a podcast where they interview the eclectic people their grandmother brings home for dinner. One evening, they get the idea to create a new podcast to document the search for their biological father. Their mother died when they were thirteen years old, and they have lived with their grandmother since then. They work with a media company to develop their podcast to find their father, which is called The Kids Are Gonna Ask. However, it brings them a lot of attention that they weren’t expecting and they don’t know how to cope with it.

Though this story has two seventeen-year-old main characters, it’s an adult novel rather than a young adult novel. Some of the chapters were writing from the perspective of adults, which I don’t think young adult readers would be interested in. Since this story has both teenage and elderly characters, it could appeal to a wide variety of age groups.

I liked the mystery of this story that slowly unfolded as Thomas and Savannah learned more about their mom and their biological dad. The identity of their bio dad was revealed fairly early on in the story, which cut out the suspense of wondering who he could be. The pacing slowed down after they found each other, though there were still some surprising events to come.

This story shows the dangers of doing a public search for someone. Thomas and Savannah had to make some serious decisions about how much privacy they were willing to give up in the search for their father. They were also criticized for possibly revealing the identity of their father and affecting him and his family. It’s important to recognize that others can be affected when embarking on a public search for someone through a podcast.

I really enjoyed this story.

Thank you HarperCollins for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A whip-smart, entertaining novel about twin siblings who become a national phenomenon after launching a podcast to find the biological father they never knew.

The death of Thomas and Savannah McClair’s mother turns their world upside down. Raised to be fiercely curious by their grandmother Maggie, the twins become determined to learn the identity of their biological father. And when their mission goes viral, an eccentric producer offers them a dream platform: a fully sponsored podcast called The Kids Are Gonna Ask. To discover the truth, Thomas and Savannah begin interviewing people from their mother’s past and are shocked when the podcast ignites in popularity. As the attention mounts, they get caught in a national debate they never asked for—but nothing compares to the mayhem that ensues when they find him.

Cleverly constructed, emotionally perceptive and sharply funny, The Kids Are Gonna Ask is a rollicking coming-of-age story and a moving exploration of all the ways we can go from lost to found.

About the author



GRETCHEN ANTHONY is the author of Evergreen Tidings from the Baumgartners, which was a Midwestern Connections Pick and a best books pick by Amazon, BookBub, PopSugar, and the New York Post. Her work has been featured in The Washington Post, Medium, and The Write Life, among others. She lives in Minneapolis with her family.

I recommend this book highly. It shows how the public gets itself involved where it really doesn’t need to be. It shows how callous people can be. Life lesson here! The book brings up a valid point about the privacy of people but in the case of finding your bio parents it is a great question to ask.

Favorite Quotes:

Chef Bart served a buffet of appetizers and created a new cocktail called the “Truth Hurts”—one-part whiskey, three parts Fireball, and served in a glass rimmed with habanero pepper oil… He handed Maggie the inaugural glass. “You’re either swallowing fire or breathing it.”

George used to accuse her of being part earthworm— always making her way into the sun but forgetting how easily she wilted. “What am I going to do the day I come home to find you all shriveled up on the sidewalk?” he’d say.

For example, she found a white paper online about a woman named Sarah Adelbaum in Poplar Springs, Idaho, who had EKGs documenting her ability to match her heartbeat almost identically to Battle Hymn of the Republic and Yankee Doodle. Ms. Adelbaum’s quality of life was virtually unaffected and, even more, the only complaint she listed was that her heart didn’t have a wider catalog of music.

One woman, Alexis DuVrey posted a bedtime blessing for Thomas and Savannah every night at the same time. He only knew this, of course, because Sam Tamblin thought it was hysterical. “May the energy of the universe overwhelm those spirts that would do you hard,” she wrote one night. It was obviously an innocent and unfortunate series of typos, but ever since, Sam couldn’t resist calling on the “the spirts” to do him “hard.”

I may be dumb, but I’m not stupid.

My Review:

I am decidedly enamored with this author; I enjoyed her bitingly clever Evergreen Tidings from the Baumgartners and hoped I was in for a similar treat in picking her second offering. Ms. Anthony excels at unique and oddly enticing characters who are more than a tad off-center. And while the peculiar characters in this tale were not always admirable or likable, they were achingly realistic and gaining hard-won insights while learning painful life lessons in an extremely public manner. My favorite characters of The Kids Are Gonna Ask were the grandmother/guardian Maggie and the secondary cast members of Nadine and Chef Bart. Chef Bart, and in particular Nadine - while only a teen, were the type of human beings we all wished we were and or were even capable of being.

The writing was humorously and keenly perceptive, unfailingly engaging, and laced with cunning and witty scenarios and amusing brain-tickling twists such as the simple weekly Podcast that thrusts the teenage twins from obscurity into instant fame after their small independent production went viral when featuring an unusually odd dinner guest of their grandmother who imparted a rather bizarre in-utero twin-eating anecdote which was soon dubbed as “Zombie Baby.” The twins decided to parlay their sudden success into delving into their origin story to track down their biological father, who was completely unknown to them and had rarely been discussed by their deceased mother. Tested loyalties, anxieties, betrayals, revelations, humiliations, tears, devastations, and epiphanies occurred along their journey and the superbly evocative and emotive writing kept me right there with them every step of the way.

I am more than eager to see who and what the profoundly perceptive Ms. Anthony hones in on next.

A coming age / family drama featuring twin teen siblings. It was a fast read, but I wasn't overly invested in the story, but likeable characters.

Thanks NetGalley for the preview!

I was instantly drawn to this book-the idea of searching for a father they never knew. I liked the characters but felt like Maggie was written to make the reader suspicious. When the "secret" Maggie knew was revealed I thought it was a bit of a letdown. I also felt like the tone of the book constantly had me questioning-were they really twins if they looked so physically different? Did Maggie know who the father was? Did the podcast company create fake facts to make the story more interesting? I think that this book read more like a mystery than I was expecting and that kept it fresh. Overall, I don't know that I loved the book but the story kept me interested.

What a fun, engaging, and thoughtful story! I just loved getting lost in Gretchen Anthony's novel, The Kids Are Gonna Ask.

Thomas and Savannah are twins who live with their beloved grandmother, Maggie. They lost their mom a few years ago to a car accident. Since then, they have settled into life at Maggie's. They eat dinners at her red table and host a podcast. In fact, after one particular dinner, they find themselves dedicating their podcast to searching for their dad. Apparently, they never knew him and have always wondered who he was. And now, they have decided to embrace social media to track him down. What are they going to do when they finally meet him? Will he be what they always imagined? Or will this whole search have been a big mistake? So many questions for the twins to find answers to. Talk about a journey! These two definitely get a lot more than they bargained for thanks to their podcast.

Anthony has written a terrific story filled with heart, modern day dramas, and a bit of mystery. I absolutely enjoyed reading all about Savannah, Thomas, and Maggie. What a great book!

I was originally interested in this because it has to do with finding family and podcasts. Two things i generally enjoy. This book wasn't bad, i enjoyed it for what it was. A light YA read. I really loved the character of Savannah and empathized a lot with her. Maggie was also a character I liked. My only complaint is that I felt the story was wrapped up a little too conveniently but other than that I felt this was a heartwarming story overall.