LIKE FAMILY by Erin O. White

5 stars

Just LOVED this debut book- an unexpected charming, cozy, deeply heart-warming read about three couples living in Hudson Valley north of New York City. The book captures the dazzling highs, infuriation, anxiety, and hovering love of today’s parents. To complicate things further, two of the couples are lesbians – which lends insight into a world I personally had not read much about.

Ruth and Wyn Scwartz are raising four kids and have recently moved out of the small town to a more rural farm. The oldest of their kids, Siddha, who Ruth had during a brief fling with a local man Elliot Jenkins, finds out her Dad’s identity via a bequest from his will when he dies suddenly. After moving out of the area for years, he returned several years back to run a hardware store with his wife Hope, while raising their two young boys. Ruth had been waiting for the right time to tell Siddha, but dealing with a rambunctious rebellious teen had never lent itself to the revelation. Siddha rebels and focuses on bonding with Hope and her boys, while Ruth has a mid-life crisis that spirals her to reconnect with Florence, Elliot’s best friend at the time she knew him, and as well as trigger a schism in her best friendship with Caroline Caruso.

Caroline, meanwhile, is constantly worried about her seven-year-old son Lucas, who struggles to make friends. She also struggles with her husband’s best friendship with his female cousin Tobi Fynch, with whom he went to live in his teens after losing his parents. Tobi turned to Mike to be the sperm donor for her wife Evie Gold, and as the kids learn about this sends the couples into emotional spirals of how to explain. Tobi struggles with unhappiness with her body, while her wife Evie plunges into turning their pottery business into a multi-million-dollar venture.

But step aside from the plot complexities- which compellingly draw you in- to the raw vulnerabilities of all the characters. They each in turn wrestle with jealousy, insecurity, distrust, lust amidst the unstoppable chaos of parenting young kids. Every character gets their moment in the sun where we plunge into their own perspectives, struggles and deep love.

As the complexities get untangled and sorted emotionally, all fall into the sustaining warmth of their newly constructed sense of collective family. I finished the book glowing with their love for each other and bravery in facing the messy uncertainty of parenting.

Thanks to Random House, The Dial Press, and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy.

Stacy DeBroff

Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central.com and social and digital consultancy, Influence Central, is a social media strategist, attorney, and best-selling parenting author. A sought-after expert for national media, she trend-spots regularly with national brands and speaks frequently to national and international audiences on a wide range of subjects, including influencer marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and consumer trends. A passionate cook, gardener, reader, and tennis player, she adores this new chapter of post-college-age parenting.