Publisher Synopsis: Rowan Kelly knows she’s lucky. After all, if she hadn’t been adopted, she could have spent her days in a rice paddy, or a windowless warehouse assembling iPhones–they make iPhones in Korea, right? Either way, slowly dying of boredom on Long Island is surely better than the alternative. But as she matures, she realizes that she’ll never know if she has her mother’s eyes, or if she’d be in America at all had her adoptive parents been able to conceive.

Rowan sets out to prove that she can be someone’s first choice. After running away from home–and her parents’ rules–and ending up beaten, barefoot, and topless on a Pennsylvania street courtesy of Bad Boy Number One, Rowan attaches herself to Never-Going-to-Commit. When that doesn’t work out, she fully abandons self-respect and begins browsing Craigslist personals. But as Rowan dives deeper into the world of casual encounters with strangers, she discovers what she’s really looking for.

With a fresh voice and a quick wit, Lauren J. Sharkey dispels the myths surrounding transracial adoption, the ties that bind, and what it means to belong.

Review:

I was in desperate need of a book that had me glued to the pages from start to finish, and Lauren J Sharkey has delivered. This sombre tale of an adopted Asian girl is similar to the works of Hanya Yanagihara, and had A Little Life vibes throughout.

Normally, when writing reviews I like to keep notes as i’m progressing through the book, however like I previously said, I was glued to this one, so much so that I didn’t make any notes.

This book, in it’s entirety is flawless. The writing is perfect and the story is gripping. You do truly feel the emotions of the characters and empathise with them. I am not adopted, but I could certainly relate to a low of Rowans feelings throughout adolescence. By the end of the book though, my heart hurt the most for Rowans Mum.

Gripping from start to finish, with a different kind of happy ending that what we are all used to.

My sincerest thanks to Netgalley and Akashic Books for a copy of this book in exchange for my review.

5 stars.

Well wow first of all this book is A LOT. Rowan is a Korean girl who was adopted very young by her white American family. Interracial adoption has always intrigued me as I used to be a childcare provider in a very privileged area and was wondering how some of the kids would fare later in life. Without giving too much away... I don't feel like the way Rowan goes on later in life has anything to do with her adoptive mom. I wish there was more background and in depth look at the relationship with her mom, I feel we readers were were only given the surface level so it seemed like Rowan was just being extreme. I read this book in one sitting so it did have my attention. The plot goes back and forth with the past and present and most of the time it was easy to tell, but sometimes I had no idea which "life of Rowan" I was reading about. In the end I feel like I finished this book being like that's it? Felt myself wanting more, but I won't take away from how it was an overall captivating read.

*for this book TRIGGER WARNING: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE*

"Rowan Kelly knows she's lucky. After all, if she hadn't been adopted, she could have spent her days in a rice paddy, or a windowless warehouse assembling iPhones--they make iPhones in Korea, right? As she matures, she realizes that she'll never know if she has her mother's eyes, or if she'd be in America at all had her adoptive parents been able to conceive. Rowan sets out to prove that she can be someone's first choice"

Trigger warnings for this book include: Physical abuse, emotional abuse, mental abuse, depression, Sexual assault

I first chose to read this book because the premise sounded interesting and it is Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage Month.

The first thing that I liked about this book was the take on the view from an adopted child. Seeing how the basis of this book is based on Sharkey's experience I think that the emotions Rowan had were believable, although raw and angry.

It was also very easy to read this book. I found myself being surprised at just how quickly I was reading the book. I finished it in two days.

My biggest issue with this book is the unclear and frequent jumps in time. most chapters begin in a present tense and then suddenly change to past flashbacks without any warning. It started to get messy when we flashed back to the past, then the future, then further back into the past. It was just hard to keep the timeline straight.

I also wish that we would have spent less time in Rowan's childhood and had more time in her mid to late 20's. We also are frequently alluded to the fact that her mother had her own pain and struggles that she was dealing with, but I really wanted to see that. I also would have liked to know how Rowan's actions effected her Father and brother, Aiden who was also adopted.

Overall, I liked this book and would suggest it to people, but I wouldn't read it again due to the confusing time jumps and lack of story outside of Rowan's own experiences.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book. This book is very intense and I recommend caution to those that sexual trauma will be extremely triggering. At times very difficult to read but very powerful in its narrative description and development of the plot. I think that this is an author who has many stories to tell and I look forward to reading more of them

This was a great read. I finished it within 48 hours of receiving it from NetGalley.

This book is about a young woman navigating growing up as a transracially adopted child and struggling to find acceptance, love and belonging. A lot of it is extremely relatable because deep down, even if it’s just a little bit, sometimes we all feel like we are not enough and we are all craving to belong. Today people are more easily connected than ever, but also more isolated than ever.

I especially found the protagonist’s relationship with her mother touching and I’m not going to lie, some parts brought tears to my eyes. Since I know that this novel is written based on some of Sharkey’s experience, my heart ached for the protagonist and her mom.

All in all, a great debut and I can’t wait to see what else Sharkey will write about next!

Thank you to NetGalley and Kaylie Jones Books for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book tells the story of Rowan, a girl from South Korea, who was adopted at 3 months old into a White American family. Throughout the book, the author (Lauren J. Sharkey) beautifully weaves in her own experiences as a transracial adopted girl, to tell the story of a girl grappling with the sense of not being enough. This is something that is experienced by girls in all situations, adopted or not, but Sharkey poignantly encapsulates the struggles when you have no sense of belonging. Rowan doesn't feel good enough for her biological mother (BioMom) or her adoptive mother (mom), and how her choices in the past are influencing her presently.

I liked this story, and it was a good example of a debut novel that has been well done for the most part and provokes thought. Having said this, at times the weaving between present and past was confusing - there was not always a clear separation that allowed me to understand what was happening presently and what was in the past. I also felt that the ending, while it worked, was a bit disappointing.

I would recommend this book if you are looking for a contemporary book that explores relatable issues in an interesting, multicultural way.

This started off so well but ended up being disappointing.

I have read a few memoirs on transracial adoption so I was really excited to see the issues it can raise explored in fiction, but this didn’t quite do that for me.

Rowan is adopted and so grows up feeling unwanted. This leads to her internalising negative messages about her worth and value. All this makes sense and I can imagine is pretty common among adoptees.

However Rowan as a teenager starts to act out and it spirals alarmingly to where we find Rowan at the beginning of the book.

A real issue for me was understanding the link between her transracial adoption and how she came to think of herself. From the book, it’s clear that Rowan understands that she is loved. At least on some level anyway. Sadly this character has no sense of self preservation whatsoever and it’s heart breaking actually.

Perhaps it’s the loss of culture and not seeing yourself in your own world.

However the escalation just doesn’t quite make sense to me. it’s weird because the sort of high risk behaviour Rowan exhibits is common in children who have been sexually assaulted so I did wonder if this could have ever been the case but by the end it’s clear that Rowan’s family weren’t abusive towards her.

Some of her actions smack more of a certain kind of privilege that she has no idea she possesses. Ultimately, the story lacks depth and is rather a surface exploration of fleeting and ever changing emotions.

The first person writing style helps readers to see things from her perspective and it’s quite harrowing to view everything she goes through. Additionally in terms of writing style, it is fast paced and flits from past to present. The time jumps don’t quite work for me because it is confusing; at first I was looking out for demarcations or chapter changes.

I liked that she expresses conflicting emotions surrounding identity and shows how complex mother daughter relationships can be.

I the book could work well for a younger audience.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC

Thank you to Kaylie Jones Books & NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!

Available June 23rd 2020

Like any good drama show, Lauren J Sharkey's "Inconvenient Daughter" centers itself around a primary conflict. In Sharkey's case, it's the endless series of misunderstandings between Rowan Joy Kelly, a Korean adoptee, and her well-intentioned mother. Beginning with Rowan's teenage years, Sharkey shows us Rowan's complicated battle to her own identity as she grows up in a majority white community and struggles to overcome self-doubt. Always, whether she is going to her classes at her Catholic high school or she is partying in Cabrini College, Rowan questions her own self-worth. Despite the best intentions of her mother, she feels isolated and unable to cope. "Inconvenient Daughter" is a tender, emotional and realistic read about mothers and daughters that gives no easy answers.

Adoption is seen as a wonderful time for all involved especially as the promotion is so positive.
However, the dynamics between both involved when a young Korean girl is raised in an Anglo-Saxon enviroment becomes splintered when doubt, jealousy, love and parenting becomes an obstacle with conseqences for all involved.
The family breakdown leads to a heartrending time with Rowan searching for love making choices driven by the knowledge that her bio mom gave her away. Feeling rejected with self esteem gone leads to decisions to replace the love missing in her life.
This is an independent review thanks to NetGalley / Akashic Books / Kaylie Jones Books

Thanks to NetGalley and Kaylie Jones books for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Inconvenient Daughter is a beautifully written book which keeps the reader engaged until the end.

The story follows Rowan, an adopted Korean girl to caucasian American parents. Rowan struggles with identity, family dynamics and the feeling of belonging, causing great problems with her self esteem.

The author takes on some delicate issues such as infertility and adoption to controlling relationships and abuse but with due care and sensitivity.

This powerful book is full of heartbreak and joy which brought tears to my eye.

A must read.

This novel tells the story of a transracially adopted girl, coming to terms with a sense of belonging and being enough. Sharkey manages to beautifully integrate her own experiences into the story of Rowan, and her relationships with others, especially her adoptive mother.

The book jumps in time from the here and now to Rowan's past, which I really liked since what is happening to her now is always connected somehow to what happened in the past. Although sometimes it wasn't executed very well which made it confusing to read. The book is very fast-paced, which makes you want to read more and more. However, I felt like the ending was a bit rushed and was not very satisfactory.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, especially since I could relate to Rowan's experiences a lot. As I said, it reads very fast and straightforward, making it an easy read, even though it deals with some heavier topics.

“All these years I thought I was trying to silence The Voice, but really, I was trying to deny what I already knew to be true: BioMom had regifted me like a scented candle reeking of gingerbread and sugar cookies. There was something inherent in me which made it easy for people to walk away.”

At times, “Inconvenient Daughter”, was hard to follow. The timeline jumped around and there was no real marker or distinction between the past and the present, so it often left me confused when I first started the book.

That being said, however, I was completely mesmerized by Lauren J. Sharkey’s novel. The protagonist, Rowan, searches for her life’s purpose. However, she finds that she can’t really do that when her whole life has been grown from her deepest insecurities of abandonment that came from adoption. This book is a story of self-discovery and self love, but also one of mother and daughter strife, finding the balance between healthy relationships and unhealthy, and knowing when and how to set boundaries for yourself. Sharkey doesn’t give all of the solutions to these dilemmas at the end of “Inconvenient Daughter” but the fact is, the real world may never give us those answers either.

I highly recommend this book, but I do caution people that there are triggers in here, especially if you are someone who has experienced an unhealthy/unsafe relationship, and if you have grown up in a family touched by adoption.

“I realized it wasn’t The Voice I was hearing—it was me. The Voice was the part of myself I refused to acknowledge—the part that knew who I was.”

Inconvenient Daughter by Lauren J Sharkey is the story of Rowan Kelly, the Korean-born adoptive daughter of an American couple. As she gets older Rowan struggles with feelings of "not belonging" and being unloved and continually rejected which lead her into a series of bad relationships as her self-worth plummets.
The book is very well-written but didn't really go anywhere. Rowan's life degenerated into a series of tawdry sexual encounters with strangers then she decided to stop for what seemed to a realisation of what she was doing and realising what she had all along .It seemed to me that there was no great dramatic moment, no amazing revelation and when it happened,the resolution seemed almost an afterthought, Rowan had a think and stopped,that was it. It doesn't help that Rowan is a rather unlikable character ,selfish , self-centred and hard to sympathise with even during her darkest moments.
Rowan's feelings as an adopted person were a big part of the book but gets so far then seems to be almost forgotten when it appeared to be a major theme in the book at the beginning. There were a number of ways the story could have gone but it didn't really go anywhere in the end.
This is Lauren J Sharkey's debut book and shows a great deal of promise,she can certainly write but for me this was a "good first effort" rather than something truly memorable.

Thanks to Lauren J. Sharkey, Kayleigh Jones Books and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

I got this book in Net Galley and was intrigued by the subject of an adopted child in a family of a different race. The story is about Rowan Kelly, who was adopted at 3 months old from Korea. Rowan grows up on Long Island with her Caucasian parents and an adopted brother also from Korea.

Rowan seems to be a typical kid, defiant at times and eager to lead her own life her own way. There is never any indication that her parents didn't love her or care for here, yet her behavior looks very much like, a clinical case of oppositional defiant disorder. Rowan is not particularly interested in her Korea heritage, but at some point looks into her background with information from the adoption agency, which helps to fuel her feelings of rejection and worthlessness.

Rowan acts out and takes off with on a long run of destruction. It is like a very long scream, raw and frightening as it is absence of any logic, as we read about the pain she inflicts on herself. Her parents seem to be MIA, and it only gets worse.

The writing is uneven, but does convey the pain Rowan was going through. The book runs out of steam at the end, without and conclusions, as Rowan just stops her destructive behavior.

The book is a fast read, not complicated and straight forward. It just leaves a lot of open questions, and would have been more satisfying if the writer had more depth in the development of the characters.

*Thank you to Net Galley and Kaylie Jones Books for this advance copy. Much appreciated!*

Inconvenient Daughter is a compelling debut from Lauren J. Sharkey. The book begins with 24-year-old Rowan Kelly undergoing an examination at the hospital after a sexual encounter. Sharkey then takes us back ten years to when Rowan is fourteen years old and taking her Catholic school entrance exams. Both Rowan and her younger brother, Aiden, were adopted, separately, from Korea by a white couple living on Long Island.

As Rowan goes through her formative years at an all girls’ Catholic school, her relationship with her adopted mother becomes strained. They have the usual mother-daughter fights, but Rowan escalates their arguments begins to feel unwanted by her adoptive mother. She then begins to wonder about her biological mom and why, in her view, she wasn’t wanted by her, either. This feeling of not being good enough Rowan accepts as truth and it becomes to foundation of her relationships with her friends, family, and the boys and men she dates throughout the next ten years.

Sharkey has written that is almost impossible to put down. Each chapter begins with a glimpse into the present day before going back to where the past left off in the previous chapter. It’s a rewarding form of storytelling as you can see who Rowan was and who has become. Rowan’s story is heartbreaking and you want to root for her, but she continuously makes poor choices. It’s easy to understand why given how little she values herself.

Rowan is a young lady from Korea, adopted by American parents. She knows she's lucky. As time goes on, though, she starts to blame her mom, and convinces herself that her mom hates her. This sends Rowan on a journey of searching for herself, and for the reason why her biological mother "abandoned" her.

The Review

I like the premise of this book. It reads very similar to The Bell Jar, in that it's all first person, and the reader is aware that as crazy as everything sounds, it also all makes perfect sense.

This book also reads like a memoir, even though it's fiction. Once I realized this, it made the book easier to read and figure out. 

Rowan is a good, complex character. I appreciate that, even though as she's searching for herself, she seems to come to conclusions rather abruptly. I feel like this would have made a better series, rather than a standalone book. She states how she thinks her mom feels about things, then states things like, "Mom wouldn't know for years that...." This feels abrupt as well. 

This book jumps all over the place. At points, I couldn't tell if we were reading about 5 year old Rowan, or 24 year old Rowan, or college Rowan. At one point, Rowan is in kindergarten, and suddenly jumps to High School, with no buffer. This made the book rather confusing. 

All in all, this book is good, but feels like it needs some further editing, to make the jumps between Rowan's ages a little more cohesive. She's a very good character; I found myself relating to her quite well in many different situations. I just wish the book read more like fiction, instead of a 16 year old's diary.

The Rating

I give this book 3 stars out of 5. I found the Rowan character believable and relatable, but the book felt stunted, and not very cohesive. It is worth reading once, but I probably won't read it again. I would like to see the Rowan character in another book about later in her life; after she grows up a bit.

Conclusion

I didn't like this book, but I also didn't hate it. Inconvenient Daughter had some really great parts, but had other parts that diminished the whole. I couldn't give this book a full 5 stars, but couldn't give it 1 either. For me, this book was average, and worth reading once. Unfortunately, I don't see myself reading it again.

This was an accomplished and well-paced debut that kept me interested until the end. I liked the structure and the time jumps between present day and filling in the character's back story. The author takes on some very big issues ranging from identity, belonging and self esteem to infertility, adoption and family relationships to abuse and control, all of which are dealt with in a sensitive and powerful way. I thought the mother-daughter dynamic was articulated particularly well. I did feel the ending was a bit abrupt, and I thought that more might have come of the present day storyline given the buildup throughout the book. Overall an enjoyable read with well developed characters.

Wow... there are so few words I can use to describe the raw intensity of this book. Filled with emotions and relatable situations, Lauren J. sharkey made it easy to feel what’s rowan was feeling, but also to feel what her mother was feeling, and to see the relationship fall apart and have to come back together again. If anything Rowans’s negative inner voice really spoke to mine as well, and brought worth tears I didn’t know I had to shed.

24-year-old Rowan Kelly is in the ER after a traumatic sexual encounter. From there, Rowan jumps back and forth through her life: her adoption from Korea, her childhood and teen years with white parents and a Korean brother on Long Island, and her Catholic school experiences. She also hints at her desperate desire to know why "BioMom" abandoned her, her troubled relationship with her mother, and her pattern of terrible romantic and sexual relationships. For the first half or so, Rowan's narration is a bit confusing and her purpose is unclear. She picks up narrative strength as she deep-dives into the events, thoughts, and feelings of an abusive relationship in college, and its connection to her self-talk and desperation for love from her mothers. Her later relationships and the crisis in the ER lead to a quick overview of the next ten years or so and the resolution of her status as a daughter.

How life can go entirely wrong - and the roots and misunderstandings that underpin it. A story of family, relationships, and understanding yourself.