A Necessary End by Holly Brown

Story Line - 5

Writing Style - 4

Characters - 4.5

Excitement Factor - 5

Believability for type and topics - 4.5

Similarity to other books - 5

Cover art: 4; Dust Jacket Art - 5

Title Relevance - 4.5

Goodreads users gave this book a 3.52. I think it was more deserving of a 4.65.

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Published in 2015.

Pages: 386.

Number of books by author: 3.

Genre: Fiction.

Adrienne is dying to have a child. And after a major let down from their former-chosen-birth-mom, she is constantly updating her and her husband's adoption profile. But when Gabe doesn't really want to be a father, how will he handle an odd arrangement with the birth mother?

You may like this book if you like the following sub-genres:

• Adoption Stories

• Suspense

• Family Drama

Much like the first book I read by Holly Brown, this served up some suspense and helped you see just how far a person will go to get the only thing they've ever wanted. I loved this book, and if not for a few minor things, this would've easily been given a 5.

If you aren't adopted, or haven't been through an adoption situation, this book may seem very far fetched. After all the trying, after all the failing, they finally meet the birth mother who seems like a good fit for both parties. But what makes this story unbelievable to the un-adopted-eye is that arrangement that's set up. And I thought about this as separately as I could since I am adopted - I even struck up the synopsis of the book with my dad, and he said he wouldn't have done it. BUT, you never really know until you're in that position. I think this is a more modern story, for sure. I can't see this happening in the 90s by any means, but they bring in really good parts to the adoption process. But aside from the adoption process, we get all these little components of family drama - and how people really handle being pushed to their limits, or better yet, their spouses' limits. Overall, this story line was just really well done. However, I really hated all the poker talk. There were a few chapters that were all poker, and I kind of wanted to stab my eyes out. But trust me, if you like poker-talk, there's detailed events taking place in this book. If this could've been done in brief or less of it, I would've been much happier with the story line... (not that you can get any higher than a 5)

The characters were really well done in this (as were they in her first book). Usually when we get family stories, it can feel really "meh" and "blah." But, Brown did a great job of showing us that (a) a family can be defined in many ways, which I think is such an important component of this book - challenging the statement of "you're not his/her real mom is something said often in adoption stories, (b) spouses can disagree on the largest wants/dreams for themselves and their future and how spouses truly handle those situations, which I found to be a really telling portion of want and desire, and the opposing want and desire on the other end; and finally, for me, the most important thing is to see how individuals grow and change and, yes, regress. In Brown's first

novel, Don't Try to Find Me, the character development and character details were so well done. It wasn't even just descriptions of the characters. It was that we felt for each character. And they weren't all the same! There was a specific difference Gabe and Trevor; and Leah and Adrienne; and Patty had her own kind of thing going. The secondary characters even prove to have a really large role in this book, which was surprising for me because so much of the things you feel about Adrienne and Gabe are based on these secondary characters who seem to hold very little presence and value in the story itself. The one thing I really didn't care for was that a specific moment (now that I'm really thinking, maybe two moments) was brushed over when it really should've held more by way of closure. I felt like we just hit these moments on the tip of the tongue then said, "OK, back to the family life." But overall, the character exploration was done fantastically.

This story line was certainly unique. And I think based on the uniqueness of the adoption terms, the story itself just grew even more unique. I've read one another adoption story (And Then I Found You by Patti Callahan Henry) and this just felt very different. Maybe it was the stage of the adoption, or maybe it was the circumstances, but this felt so alone in the possibility of likeness to other books, which for me, was a great asset. I'm sure for others, it would've been comforting to have it more alike other books. But let's be honest, adoption isn't the first topic you think about when picking up a new read. And it wasn't just unique, it was exciting (excluding the long moments discussing Poker). From the beginning, you're kind of cheering this family on, hoping they get their baby (at least Adrienne has our support anyways). And then things just keep happening and you're like, "Seriously?" It's an -on-the-edge-of-your-seat- kind of read.

The hardcover was bland - dark spine, light blue covers (with a tiny inscription of the publishing company's logo on the front... which I thought was kind of greedy, but that doesn't reflect the author, because it is probably part of the contract or some bullshit like that). But the dust jacket wasn't anything revealing. It felt like looking out a rainy window, although, I'm not sure what it was intended to reflect on in the book. It just felt kind calm when the book was anything but.

Holly Brown's first book, Don't Try To Find Me, received 4 stars; the review can be read here.

#adoption #hollybrown #truelifetuesday #womancrushwednesday