Review: Josh and Gemma Make a Baby

• Title: Josh and Gemma Make a Baby

• Author: Sarah Ready

• Series: N/A

• Genre: Adult Romance / Contemporary Romance

• Trigger warnings: infertility and miscarriage.

• Rating: ☆☆☆☆

**I was gifted a free eARC of this story from NetGalley for an honest review.**

As soon as I read the synopsis of this book, I knew I was going to consume it in one go and absolutely love it. And I was right! As someone who has looked into the route Gemma attempts to take, I felt a sense of comfort knowing women like myself were being represented in a novel. Of course, this isn’t how it always goes, if at all for most SMBC women on this journey, but I really appreciated Sarah Ready’s attempt to bring attention to it. I adored both Gemma and Josh a great deal. I liked their connection, and the fact that they had known each other for most of their lives, but in Gemma’s case, there was also so much to learn about Josh too. Gemma has faced a great deal in her 32 years of life. She’s been ridiculed, cheated on, suffered from a failed marriage, had constant opinions about her life - both good and bad - and she finally chooses to do something for herself that she has wanted, and that’s to make a baby. Of course, she chooses Josh, her brother’s best friend to be the donor sperm of said baby, for all the wrong reasons to begin with. As she travels down the fertility route with Josh by her side, you get to see those reasons fall away and her affections for him take over. What I liked most about this is that Gemma is held accountable for her actions later into the novel and she does something about it instead of wallowing. Josh equally is fantastic support, not only as someone who loves Gemma but accepting her choice to make this baby in a non-traditional way. I found his part in this journey to be truly wonderful and made me smile a great deal. This is a typical rom-com, and whilst the overall story is heartwarming and endearing, I did appreciate the angstier moments and the heartbreak that comes along with infertility. Even though it was ridiculously tough to navigate the hardships in this novel when in the moment, I’m grateful to the author for putting them in there. Because this is a topic around something that affects so many women around the world and isn’t talked about enough. The only “complaint” I could have over this story is Gemma’s sheer oblivious and judgmental behaviour. Although she rectifies it (a little too smoothly in some ways, I think), and I liked that she comes to realise how awful she’s been to a whole lot of people, I just found it a little off-putting how easily she bounces back from it and how accepting everyone is. I don’t know if that was wholly realistic enough for me. But it’s such a small flaw in an overall cliche yet wonderfully written romance.