Book Love

A raw, second-person memoir of adoption and identity. Gruben rewrites her past with clarity and courage—reflecting a truth many adoptees will instantly recognize.

Reading You'll See by Samantha Groves was like holding a mirror up to the shadows of my own past. With razor-sharp wit and raw honesty, Groves crafts a story that dances between heartbreak and hilarity — often in the same breath. Her inner monologue, tucked inside...

I was adopted through the closed system in South Africa in April 1966. Though Laura Engel’s story unfolds in another country, her words felt like a mirror reflecting my own origins. A different continent, the same era—where secrecy reigned, young mothers were hidden...

As a fellow South African adoptee, Lucky Bastard struck a rare and personal chord—this is the first memoir I’ve read by another South African adoptee, and that alone made it an extraordinary experience. Anthony Akerman doesn’t just tell a story; he pulls you into his...

Some books inform. Others inspire. But this one? It remembered me to myself. Reading Proof of Heaven by Eben Alexander wasn’t a stretch of belief for me—it was a homecoming. Page after page, I found myself whispering, "Yes. Yes. This is what I’ve always known." His...

From the first page, Twice the Family by Julie McGue pulled me into a world both intimate and expansive, written with a grace that mirrors the warmth of the adoptive home Julie and her twin sister, Jenny, grew up in. The memoir exudes quiet strength, unfolding gently...

Julie Ryan McGue’s Twice a Daughter isn’t just a memoir — it’s a heart-call. A truth-quest. A soul-hunt for the missing pieces. As a fellow adoptee, I felt her every frustration, every glimmer of hope, every gut-punch of rejection and silence. But what struck me most...

“I may have been unplanned, but not unwanted.” This single line from I Am Who I Am Because of Them wrapped itself around my heart and wouldn’t let go. It holds the kind of truth that lingers in the air like a whisper from the universe — gentle, yet impossible to...

Lisa Chism’s The Adopted Nurse is a memoir that doesn’t hold back—it’s raw, intense, and deeply honest. As an adoptee myself, I felt her words in my bones. She masterfully weaves together the personal and the professional, exposing the often-unspoken wounds of...

I devoured Anne Heffron’s You Don’t Look Adopted in October 2024, and it was nothing short of a revelation. As a fellow adoptee, I saw myself in her words, her struggles, and her triumphs. Her courage to share her story with such vulnerability and honesty was the...