What an utterly heartbreaking and captivating story - I couldn't put the book down! It will pull at your heart strings and keep you reading. It is a very powerful story.

Could you carry your husband's first wifes child? This is the question I have to ask myself. With emotional family drama you will be sobbing. Totally heart destroying and honest.

My first book by the author Emma Robinson—TO BE A MOTHER, is a beautifully written, heartbreaking emotional family saga about motherhood, marriage, love, loss, secrets, and second chances.

Hannah is married to David, and they want children; however, they have not been able to get pregnant. Hannah wants her biological child and has dreamed of it her entire life.

However, Hannah dreams of Katherine all the time, David's first wife, who died, and feels like she always has to live up to her.

As a last resort option, David informs Hannah that his wife Katherine also had fertility issues, and before Katherine died, she had undergone fertility treatment. Now her eggs legally belong to David and Hannah.

Four embryos are still in storage. Her eggs and his sperm are ready for implantation. It was not what Hannah wanted.

Hannah had spent the last two years worrying whether she was living up to David's first wife, and now was she considering giving birth to her child?

The dilemma: Will Hannah agree to this? It could be her only chance to be a mother, but can she carry Katherine (the first wife's baby)? What else was David hiding? What if the embryos do not take?

We hear from Hannah's POV and Katherine's.

Maybe Saint Katherine was not the perfect wife after all. She had lied to everyone about events leading up to two weeks before the accident, or was there something else? OR was she completely selfless?

So many secrets. Families can be messy. A happy ending!

Loved this quote from Hannah's mom:
"But the thing is, love—and it took me a while to learn this—your child doesn't really ever belong to you. You get to borrow them for a while. You get to guide them a little. But one day, they will leave and become their own person, and, if you're lucky, you get to watch them spread their wings and fly. And sometimes, if you've done it right, they fly home and sit in your spare room, and you get to hold them again for a little while."


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My Rating: 4 Stars
Pub Date: Oct 11, 2022

Compelling, emotional and moving. This book was a rollercoaster of emotions. I was so invested and couldn't read it fast enough. Loved it.

Readers are going be blown away by the latest heart-breaking family drama by Emma Robinson: To Be a Mother.

Having a child of her own is all Hannah has ever wanted. Holding her baby in her arms has been her most cherished dream for as long as she can remember, but despite everything Hannah simply cannot fall pregnant. She has tried everything and been through numerous rounds of fertility treatment alongside her beloved husband, David, but to no avail. Hope had been the only thing keeping them going, but even that has been extinguished now when the doctors inform David and Hannah that there is nothing more they can do.

With her heart breaking into a million tiny pieces, Hannah is beside herself. She will never have a baby of her own – until David drops a bombshell: before his wife Katherine died, she had gone through fertility treatment and her eggs are now in David’s possession. Using her predecessor’s eggs could give her the baby she has yearned for for so long, but is Hannah willing to carry her husband’s first wife’s baby?

How far is she willing to go to be a mother?

Emma Robinson puts her readers through the emotional wringer with To Be a Mother. As always, she writes with great humanity, sensitivity and compassion and explores the complexities of the human condition with flair, understanding and style. A book that will stay with readers for a very long time, Emma Robinson has pulled an absolute blinder with her latest novel, To Be a Mother.

I was lucky to receive an advance copy of To Be a Mother by Emma Robinson from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review and opinion. This book has all the feels and deals with infertility which I know many people struggle with. My advice to you is to keep a box of kleenex close by as a few tears will be shed towards the end of the book. I absolutely loved this book!

Emma always writes brilliant, thought provoking family dramas and this certainly didn’t disappoint, Hannah and David are a newly wed couple. David tragically lost his first wife Katherine and his friends are worried that he married Hannah too quickly and she feels that she is living in Katherine’s shadow. Hannah and David are desperate to start a family but after attending a fertility clinic they are devastated with the news that Hannah can’t have children. She starts to think of her options when David drops a bombshell. Apparently he and Katherine had also gone through fertility treatment and had had her eggs frozen. They now belong to David and he suggests that maybe Hannah could use them. She is shocked and horrified initially as she couldn’t imagine having David and Katherine’s baby especially as the baby may look like Katherine. So they now have difficult choices to make. This was an emotional rollercoaster of a read with great characters. A powerfully uplifting book.
Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

I absolutely loved To Be a Mother, such an emotional, heartbreaking read, I couldn't put my kindle down I had to find out what was going to happen!

I enjoyed this one. Hannah has always wanted children and when she falls in love and marries a recent widower, David, they are ready to start a family. She finds out she is unable to bare children, but Davis has embryos form his late wife that would be ready to go. The story picked up for me when we started flashing to Katherine, the first wife's perspective. Everything did not seem as right in the marriage as Hannah always thought. The story will pull you in and makes for an easy read.

Wow….this one takes a bit of a different scenario with a common sensitive issue. I wept with Hannah as she grappled with all her emotions. This book is so tender, immersive and truly heart-wrenching. #EmmaRobinson has done a phenomenal job writing this unique story that stays with you.

I always love Emma Robinson’s novels and I know I feel as though I say it every time, but this one really is her best yet.

This story feels like you’re reading someone’s true story, it doesn’t feel like fiction at all, and I became so invested in the character’s lives.

Hannah really wants a baby and when it seems as if using the frozen embryos might be her best chance at being a mother it throws up a lot of dilemmas and quandaries.

There are a lot of secrets unveiled as the story unfolds, and they were not what I expected at all. With a dual timeline we get to know more about Katherine and I had a totally different perspective on her by the time the story ended.

The author mixes a completely engrossing story full of really relatable characters with moral dilemmas that anyone could easily end up facing in real life. As always, it’s done with sensitivity and care.

This is a beautiful book which held me completely captivated from start to finish. It’s an all-consuming read that will leave you smiling through your tears.

Emma Robinson and Bookouture already hyped me up for this book, and this was no let down. Women's fiction, motherhood, pain, all these are dealt with beautifully in all the books I have read by this author. To Be a Mother goes beyond this, and connecting us with the dilemma before entering motherhood, as is completely valid for Hannah in her situation.

Grab yourself a copy of this emotional book ASAP.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for a complementary copy of this e-book in return for an honest review.

Man, I almost stopped reading this a few chapters in because it was getting weird and uncomfortable thinking about this plot but I’m glad I kept going. It gives you a lot to think about and what you would do in the same circumstances. The author did a great job of pulling you in and making you understand this woman’s dilemma. The ending is perfect.

The storyline weaves and twists in ways I hadn't expected and boy did it send my emotions into overdrive. A beautifully written story that tugs on the heart strings!

This is a very well written, emotional. family drama about Hannah and David, a recently married couple who are desperate to have a child but are having trouble conceiving.
Told in a sensitive way, it is well researched and has a great cast of characters, all of whom you can relate to.
It is the story of love, loss, family, friendships and hope. and I think it will appeal to readers who like stories by Jojo Moyes, Tammy Robinson, Amanda Prowse etc

This is the first book I’ve read by the author Emma Robinson and I am hooked already. I wasn’t too sure if I would be able to read this book with it being about fertility issues and babies but it was written so well that I couldn’t stop reading. I didn’t want the story to end.

I rarely give 5 stars but this book deserves it. Very emotionally charged story about families and good friends. This is one book where the different timelines and voices of the different characters really worked. The character development was excellent. I loved how it all came together at the end.

This is a beautifully written, heartbreaking family saga about marriage and an unfulfilled child wish.

Hannah has been married to David for quite some time and they dream about children. However, luck is not on their side and they haven't been able to get pregnant. At the same time Hannah has vived dreams about David's first wife Katherine, who died.

When David informs Hannah that Katherine and him had eggs frozen before her death the dilemma they are faced with is heartbreaking. Because legally the four embryos are theirs. The eggs are ready for implantation, but will Hannah be able to carry a child that is not her own?

Another amazing read from Emma Robinson. Loved it. An emotional and uplifting 5 star read.
Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this ARC

A really good drama very cleverly told over different timescales and two POV. It was certainly a very original way of revealing the back story which oftentimes c@n drag a book down.