Heartwarming story that shares the realistic struggles of a couple on a journey to conceive a child. Nora and her husband have tried it all, all that’s left is one frozen embryo and the need for a surrogate. Money is unbelievably tight, so the possibility of finding one seems nearly impossible.

Eleanor whisks into the shop Nora works at one evening, demanding to buy all of the finest and most expensive items. She also really hits it off with Nora. From there, their friendship takes off. While the privilege from Eleanor causes some awkward moments between the two of them, for the most part Eleanor truly loves spending time with her.

Interesting surrogacy plot, with the hint at a possible mysterious happening between the couples.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC, my opinions are my own.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for an ARC of this book, in exchange for my opinion.

To be completely honest, I feel indifferent about this book. I didn’t enjoy it, but I didn’t dislike it. It’s technically a women’s fiction book, but most of the book read like a thriller… it felt like you were constantly waiting for the shoe to drop.

After striking up a friendship with socialite Evelyn, Nora feels like the luckiest girl alive. She’s swept off her feet in a new lifestyle that Evelyn has made possible for her. Nora’s husband Jacob isn’t the biggest fan of Evelyn, or their budding friendship. But soon Evie approaches them with a deal to good to pass up. She would like to be their surrogate, carrying their last stored embryo after numerous unsuccessful attempts at IVF. The rest of the story is all about how Evie, Nora, and Jacob navigate the waters of their surrogacy to hopefully arrive at a happy ending for everyone.

Evelyn in my opinion was a very hard character to like. At times her behavior seemed irrational, and her actions towards Nora were cruel. Because of this it was hard to ever feel happy with this story.

**A trigger warning should be included for the NICU. If you have experienced a baby born prematurely this content could be hard to read.

The Favor by Adele Griffin tells the story of Nora who works in a vintage shop and has unsuccessfully tried IVF. In comes Evelyn Elliott a very wealthy customer. It’s discovered they like the same author, there is a connection between them. I’m not sure if it’s a friendship but they seem to think so. I was very tempted to put this book down and not finish. It seemed very superficial.

The second part of the story was a bit more substantial. Where Evelyn becomes a surrogate which the author explains the process clearly. So I kept reading. I still found the friendship between the two of them not genuine. Evelyn just likes to throw money around. Some of the other characters were better.

Thank you to NetGallery for letting me review this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

Review: The Favor by Adele Griffin
Pub date: June 12

✨: 4/5
Genre: contemporary
1️⃣ word: messy ( the relationships, not the writing!)
Format: ARC from NetGalley

Nora and her husband have been struggling with infertility for years, and they have one embryo left and mountains of debt. In whirls Evelyn, a mega rich heiress, who takes an immediate liking to Nora after meeting her at the vintage designers clothes store where Nora works. Nora gets swept into Evelyn’s world of wealth, both as her friend and as her paid help, styling her and helping plan her events. Evelyn has oodles of money but wants to be beloved by the world, and decides that the best way to launch her influencer status is to volunteer to be Nora’s surrogate.

I liked: I loved the subject- I don’t think I’ve ever read a book about surrogate pregnancy. The power dynamic of a friendship between a rich lady and the poor woman she was paying was messy and interesting. I also liked the exploration of the question that if charity is exploited for publicity, is it still an act of kindness? The voice in the story is decently witty and there’s lots of trendy name dropping.

I didn’t like: Sometimes the characters were very superficial, and obsessed around designer clothes, which I have never been that into. I often found the main character and her husband annoying and obsessed over dumb things.

Adele Griffin managed to convey real friendship between two women. As Nora grappled with her reality of not being able to conceive a child and carrying the baby to term, both she and her husband came to the realization that they would have to hire a surrogate. The cost was prohibitive as they were already deep in debt. Nora begins helping her friend Evelyn with her work as a favor, only to be surprised when Evelyn pays her handsomely for her expertise. This allows the couple to start paying off their debt and start to dream about finally make their dream of a family come true! Out of the blue Evelyn offers to become their surrogate for free!! Although this is beyond awesome many twists and turns ensued. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and so will you when you read it!
Irene G

A great story of friendship, both old and new and how it changes over time. You never know who will cross your path that will remain in you life and enrich it.

The Favor was a slow burn for me. Took about 100 pages in for me to really start getting into it. Once the plot picked up I couldn’t put it down. Definitely recommend!

This was a little outside my comfort zone genre wise. There are some trigger warning of fertility issues. But overall I feel like I couldn’t connect with the characters much in this. It was good but not great.

The Favor
Adele Griffin
June 13, 2023
Sourcebooks
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
The Favor blends themes of friendship, family, infertility and surrogacy against a glamorous background.
Don’t let the cover fool you however, it felt more like a thriller to me.
4 stars

I really enjoyed the Favor. The cover feels like it would skew towards a light and fluffy book--but this read to me almost like a thriller! I found myself unable to put it down, especially in the chapters leading up to Evelyn's revelation that she would carry the baby.

The power dynamic and relationship between the protagonist Nora and Evelyn was written beautifully. Nora's near-infatuation with Evelyn was relatable in that way that so many of us follow along with our favorite influencers. I also thought the writing of Nora's husband, Jacob, was well done. He was a loving and supporting husband, but also a bit set in his homebody and comfortable ways and unwilling to step outside his social stratosphere.

I wish there had been more attention to the characters post-birth, it felt like we just glossed from month-to-month and I would have liked seeing the development of relationships and self after the new baby. All in all, I loved the homage to fashion icons and thrifting and the detail in which New York City was written. I enjoyed this!

The Favor was both what I thought it would be and not what I thought it would be. From reading the synopsis, I thought I would be getting a more warm and fuzzy story than I did. The story centers around Nora, who works in a boutique resale store. One day, larger than life Evelyn waltzes into the store and buys up the most expensive designer pieces and lodges herself deep into Nora's life. Living on a tight budget with her husband, Jacob, Nora craves the excitement and exclusivity that Evelyn brings to her life. Evelyn offers her first money, then the role of surrogate for the child Nora and Jacob desperately want, as a means of keeping the two women connected. It's not really a warm and fuzzy book. Evelyn may like the novelty of Nora, and carrying Nora's baby (especially as a way to become a social media influencer), but it never feels like a true friendship between the pair. Nora is terrified of doing something to scare Evelyn off, and is willing to do just about anything to maintain her connection. Evelyn is going to do whatever Evelyn wants, because she's so rich that's she not concerned about having deep relationships. Everything comes to a head when Nora sells something Evelyn gave her to help pay off debt and it puts Nora in a precarious position as the baby's due date approaches. Evelyn also makes a decision late in the pregnancy that has reverberating effects for Nora and Jacob and exposes how tenuous the relationship really is. The book definitely looks at the risks and worries involved with infertility and surrogacy in a more realistic way, but I can't say that I really enjoyed the evolution of Nora and Evelyn's friendship throughout the book. A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I did finish this book but only to see what, if any, surprises were in store. The relationship between the infertile mom and her surrogate was strange, to say the least, and left me tense just reading about it. I had trouble relating. It had a semi-satisfactory ending.

I received this book from the publisher via net galley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone looking for a quick read.


Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I have very mixed feelings about this book: on one hand the topics explored were so well done. the story deals with family, and especially found family, friendship, infertility and surrogacy. It was funny, heartwarming and quick to read. On the other hand, some relationships weren't developed as fully as they could've been. Evelyn especially, her only characteristics was "being rich" and I found her quite manipulative with Nora. A good book but not a very memorable one. 3 stars.

This book read as two stories: fashion and fertility. The designers mentioned are fabulous. I could have read a book about the dynamic between Nora and one of her main clients. The understanding of infertility, whether its plight or empathy, did not resonate enough.

There are solid pop culture references. The writing is simple and grounded.

Wow was this book a surprise! The story, the way it unfolded, definitely kept me on my toes. I could never guess what was going to happen next and for a little while I was nervous that Jacob & Nora would suffer more heartbreak on their journey to become parents. Evelyn, their surrogate, a socialite and relatively unknown to them, was a real wild card. Even the twist at the end was a surprise. I would definitely put this in your TBR pile.

Thank you #netgalley and to the publisher for allowing me to read an early copy of this book!

This book pulled at my heartstrings and I was rooting for Nora and Jacob the entire time. Although this book is not in the thriller genre, it did read this way to me. I loved it!

I enjoyed this book. It was a quick read for me because I enjoyed the characters and was anxious to see how it would all end. I found the parts about vintage clothing and the lives of the super rich very interesting

The Favor is a story about unlikely friendships, unconditional love, found family, fertility struggles, and surrogacy.

I appreciate the uniqueness of this book and how it was a fast read full of warmth, love and humor. I think many of the themes above can make for great conversations and book club discussions. There was a social media aspect integrated into the plot that felt very realistic in today’s age and fun to follow, and I enjoyed learning about the world of vintage shopping.

However, I did struggle with Nora and Evelyn’s friendship, especially towards the end of the book. Evelyn seemed to be phony and manipulative while Nora seemed too nonchalant about the entire surrogacy process. There was also such a big emphasis on Nora and her husband’s lack of finances, which felt repetitive and part of every conversation. Further, a lot of story centered around a famous dead poet/ perfume line I just didn’t care much about. While I know this was meant to keep the tone lighter, it made me feel more detached from the characters.

The story is very slow to start - I had to put it down and pick it up several times however once I got about a third of the way through I was hooked. The friendship between more and Evelyn evolves throughout the story. I loved the references to the vintage fashion.
At the core though, I think a number of women can relate to the fertility struggles, wanting to be happy for friends having kids but still feeling out of place when it doesn’t work for you.
Overall great story.