Gail is desperate to become a mother. After years of trying to adopt, she and her husband Jon finally meet Carli, a rudderless 18 year old with a baby bump and an abusive mother. Ready to be parents at long last, Carli gives birth and Gail and Jon take home their new baby Maya. But Carli's mother pressures her to reclaim the newborn before the adoption finalizes. Then, chaos. Maya becomes the eye of a hurricane of jealousy, pain, and desperate love.

Other People’s Children wastes no time getting to the real story. The reader does not have to wait long for the baby to arrive and then when she does, the story kicks into high gear. What could have become a drawn-out tale of courtroom tragedy becomes a breakneck thriller as the three mothers demand the family they believe is rightfully theirs: Maya.

Every mother, from Gail to Carli all the way to Gail's critical mother and Jon's Aunt Carol, embodies maternal love -- they just have different ways of showing it. I loved that Gail was all show and no substance while Carli was the picture of emotional maturity in the face of adversity. I do wish we could have met Marla before she and Jon had their waiting-room confrontation; I’m sure she could have been as dimensional as the other mother. Even Paige, the social worker, offers a nuanced perspective of what it means to be a parent.

There is plenty of foreshadowing for the story ahead, which makes it fun to watch the story play out in its entirety later on. Frankly, I did not expect this book about the meaning of motherhood to be such a page-turner. Other People’s Children started as a family drama, then turned on a dime into a heart-racing thriller. This debut novel is a whirlwind, to say the least.

CW: abuse

Ups. Downs. Twists. Turns. That’s just your emotions. If you’ve ever been through pregnancy and conception issues this might be a hard read, just a warning.

This is a story about families, about children, and the difficult and oftentimes impossible task of deciding whether to give up your child to be raised by someone else. This debut novel explores the multiple perspectives of the adoption journey - the joy, the heartbreak, and the fact that someone always loses.

I am astounded that the author, a man, was able to portray the feelings of the women so poignantly in this book. This book evokes so many nuanced and tender emotions that are seldom talked about when the topic of adoption is broached. The story was well-paced and had a very satisfying ending.

Wow! What a gut wrenching story! I couldn't help but to be pissed off at every.single.adult in Carli's life. They all wanted something from her but were unwilling to be unselfish. This poor girl needed guidance and love and she got neither from anyone that claim to be doing what was best for her.

Her mother was disgusting. So disgusting. She should have been arrested for child endangerment and abuse. The way she talked to Carli made my stomach hurt.

The Durbins... I love a dysfunctional functional family but WOW! they take the cake. They had no business wanting a child until they got their own lives under control.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book prior to its release. I really enjoyed the story of a couple wanting to have a baby and a young girl who decides to give her baby to be up for adoption. It was a quick read and very enjoyable.

This is a heart-warming and heart-wrenching story that I think a lot of families going through the adoption process can relate to on a personal level.

Gail and Jon Durbin are determined to start a family of their own, but after three miscarriages, they were beginning to lose hope. They turn to adoption and after several attempts fall through, they finally meet Carli. She is a pregnant teenager in a less-than-perfect home situation and dreams of going to college. When she meets the Durbins, they appear to be a perfect match for her baby, but Carli’s mother, Marla, is convinced her daughter has made a huge mistake by giving up her first and only granddaughter.

The chaos that ensues throughout this story seems almost impossible to believe, but a mother will do anything for her children and the reader gets a front and center view of this from both families involved in the adoption. The story didn’t end the way I thought it would, but overall I was happy with how it turned out. Definitely recommending this one!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3865939667

This book follows a couple, Gail & Jon, through their painful story of trying to conceive, adoption, and how it all goes wrong. This was a very interesting take on adoption, and I enjoyed reading all of the perspectives. I loved and hated every character at some point, which I think made it an even more amazing book. Definitely worth the read!

What an emotional READ! My goodness, this book was pulling away my heart strings constantly. I loved the characters, except for Marla, and Jon, I don’t know why I couldn’t love Jon, even though he is Gail’s husband. Lets get down to the knitty gritty right now: Gail and Jon finally got chi send by this teen mom to adopt her baby. She is not ready to be a mom, and being that she doesn’t have the best of role models, and environment to raise a baby she wanted to give it a better life. So she chose the Durbins. You can tell that Gail has this obsession and she wants to be a mother so damn bad, after so many failed miscarriages, I just felt so bad for Gail. Anyway they get chosen and the we get to find out more about the birth mom Carli, and her life and upbringing, and also we get to know about why she decided she wanted her baby back. And finally Gail becomes the woman i know she really is (i made her sound like she is a real person with that sentence alone lol) and does the right thing.

I didn’t think this book would have a happy ending, but it sure did, such a great read. Thanks Netgalley and the Publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

WOW. This book was a roller coaster of emotion from the start. It was amazing. And I loved it! I'm struggling to find words to describe the journey that this book took me on but I loved it!

This book was very suspenseful and thrilling. I didn’t agree with the characters motives throughout the story and sometimes it really angered me; but I imagine being in such a heartbreaking situation, a person may not act logical.
Overall, I thought the book was ok. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t dislike it either.

I’d like to thank #NetGalley & #SimonSchuster for providing me with an ARC of this debut novel. I really enjoyed this book; at first, I was hesitant of the writing style and being tossed between narrators but as the plot developed I felt like I really got to know each character and their individual narratives boosted my connection with each individual. The storyline centers around an adoption scenario that never occurred to me as possible but really drew me in. Having the social worker (Paige) so heavily included in the story really helped to bring things full circle. Overall this book was really well done; my only complaint is that I felt that the ending was sort of sudden and I would have really enjoyed a prologue to bring closure and see where the characters were at after some time had passed.

Gail and Jon have suffered several miscarriages over the course of their marriage and have decided to adopt so they reach out to an agency who finds them a young college student named Carli, who picks them to adopt her baby. Carli comes from a rough family and dreams of making something of herself and that’s what prompts her decision to place her baby with Gail and Jon.
The sadness radiates off the couple until the day that the baby is finally born and they actually get to hold her and name her and take her home and realize that they may actually finally have a baby. Carli’s mom doesn’t agree with the adoption and sets out to sabotage Carli’s plan, despite the hard working social worker who is taking care of the case. Everyone has different motives in this case and eventually it all breaks down and they all feel the aftershocks of grief and loss and trauma.
Sad to think that this actually happens in real life.
My only complaint, if you could call it that, is that the ending was a little lacking. After everything that had gone on, it wrapped up quickly and didn’t leave me satisfied but it may be just me.
Thanks to Simon & Schuster and Netgalley for this arc in exchange for my review.

It’s not a new story. There are many books about women who are unable to give birth (for a variety of reasons) and turn to adoption. And there are also many books that tell the story of teenage girls who get pregnant and decide not to keep their babies.
But, in Other People’s Children, the author tackles these subjects in a fresh way and with more of a focus on the mothers in the book - good ones and bad ones; those with mental health or substance abuse issues; and those who are single, married and adoptive. It’s up to the reader to decide who’s the best mother in the book, amid rapidly changing circumstances.
It can be a hard book to read at times (you feel pain for a number of the characters) and there are a number of beautifully written paragraphs that are a straight shot to your heart. It’s also a compulsive story, despite the fact that parts of the last quarter of the book were a bit over the top for me.
Overall, Other People’s Children was a solid debut and thanks to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review.

Many thanks to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for the advanced copy!

Beautifully written. As someone who does not want children, I was amazed at how I connected to the story. The writing was so vivid, you could really feel what Gail, Jon, and Carli were going through. I really enjoyed the ending to this and how authentic it was. It doesn’t try to force real life to feel like a Full House episode where everything gets tied up in a pretty bow at the end. Excellent and I look forward to reading more by Hoffmann.

Other People's Children is a sweet story, a roller coaster of emotion, with a satisfying ending. Gail and Jon, after a series of miscarriages, find a young unwed pregnant girl, Carli, who needs a home for her baby. They make plans to adopt and once the baby girl is delivered, Carli waivers on her desire to give the baby up. The story proceeds with Gail and Jon making some very bad decisions with regard to Baby Maya. Ultimately, Maya ends up where she belongs.

This book is well written, but the story is quite depressing at times. The end offers some redemption, with a light at the end of the tunnel. I would only recommend this book to readers who are not in the situation where they are going through the agonizing emotions of adopting a baby.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book.

3.5 stars. The pain and sadness felt by Gail’s infertility was accurately portrayed as was Carli’s teenage indecisiveness. But I had a hard time rooting for any of these characters because they just weren’t likable. I was also thrown off by a lot of the inaccuracies dealing with pregnancy and newborns. I feel like the author should have done a little bit more research. For instance, none of the aftermath of childbirth is accurately portrayed. Hoffman refers to Carli’s nipples leaking but several days after childbirth a new mom faces much more than “leaking”; he also states that Carli hoists a 4 week old onto her hip (not accurate or safe) and the first few nights of baby Maya being home with Jon and Gail came across much like a fairytale.
Overall, I wasn’t a huge fan of this novel

Gail and Jon are thrilled when they are chosen to be the adoptive parents of teenage Carli’s baby, and once baby Maya is born, their lives are perfect.
All would end happily ever after except for Carli’s mom pressuring her to get her baby back and Carli deciding to reclaim Maya. Gail and Jon are unable to give Maya back and take off to raise “their” baby somewhere else. Of course, trouble ensues.
If I was looking to adopt a child, this is exactly the kind of book I wouldn’t want to read, as it seems like every adoptive parent’s worst nightmare. I was struck while reading it that there was really no way to end it in a way to make everyone happy. Sadly, some situations are just like that and I appreciated the author’s authenticity.
Thanks to #netgalley and #simonandschuster for this ARC of #otherpeopleschildren in exchange for an honest review.

This book is an amazing read on current issues facing many families today such as: family relationships, abuse, miscarriage, fertility issues, and adoption. Gail and Jon desperately want to adopt a child and they can provide a good life for a child. They are finally chosen by Carli, a teen living in an abusive home who wants more for her child and who wants to go to college and have a better life for herself. It seems like a match made in heaven for Gail, Jon, and Carli. However, Carli’s abusive and bitter mother, has different thoughts regarding what she wants to happen with the child. As the events unfold and twists and turns are presented, you will begin to realize and see that families are not made by blood and love of a child is instantaneous. What will a mother do to protect her child? The story is told by multiple viewpoints which really allows for exploration of each character. I could not put this book down as it was well developed and kept my interest until the very end. By the end, it is clear that there is no “bad” guy in the situation. I highly recommend this book. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Beautifully written. The emotional heartbreak you feel of all of the characters sings deeply. To feel the connection with both mothers is undeniable.

The story of a couple struggling with infertility who arrange to adopt a young woman’s baby, only to have her choose to reclaim the child a week later. The lengths they go to, and the personal struggles each character has faced in their past, create a multifaceted & nuanced look at the longing for family, connection, and to be understood.

This title had several themes that resonated with me - motherhood, fertility, parenting, adoption. Reading the back stories of the characters made my heart ache for them based on the struggles they’ve been through. Of course, there were some characters who I felt greater empathy for than others.

I found it interesting that every person who loved baby Maya associated a sweet scent with her – vanilla crème soda, pears, Milk Duds, pudding – all of which conjure warmth, comfort, and pleasant feelings. The desire she inspires in adults to start over fresh, do things the right way, seemed to be a thread that ran throughout the story.

Major takeaways:

People are not perfect, but they are each human with unique histories, experiences, perspectives, and rationale for making decisions in life, both big and small. People who try to connect with others, who attempt to empathize with them and take their feelings, wants, and needs into consideration when making decisions, will almost always make the right one. Those who make selfish decisions will more often find themselves on the losing end.

Nothing is guaranteed, but hope springs eternal, even in the face of great obstacles. This is an especially poignant takeaway from the very ending of the book, as the reader is left with a sense of closure, even though almost every character is facing major changes in their life moving forward.