Josh and Gemma Make a Baby

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage …. 

Scratch that.  Gemma Jacobs has a plan and it doesn’t look like that.

Gemma, a thirty-two year old unlucky-in-love divorcee working for self-help guru and secret crush, Ian Fortune,  wants nothing more in life than to have a baby.  The only problem?  Her medical condition necessitates her using in vitro fertilization - IVF - and she needs sperm. She’s not looking for love or a baby daddy to help raise her child - she just needs his ‘little swimmers’ and she’ll take care of the rest.  She could use an anonymous donor, but then another option comes to mind …

Josh Lewenthal, her brother’s best friend and long-time friend of her family.  

Why not?  He’s gorgeous, smart, familiar, definitely not marriage material, and besides … they’ve already had long-ago “history” (that’s a euphemism 😉). Imagine her surprise when after years of only seeing each other at the occasional family gathering, Josh agrees to be Gemma’s donor.  

It’s purely business, right?  They’ll be friends, sign contracts for who will play what part in the baby’s life, Gemma will raise her daughter (that’s her dream), and everything will be clean and neat. No strings, no problem.

As can be expected in a rom-com, nothing ever goes quite to plan.  Gemma’s boss, Ian, has his own designs on her, a quirky group of fellow IVF ladies enters her life, and her feelings toward Josh get complicated.  She thought she had it all figured out, but does she?

This is sweet, charming, funny and has decent emotional depth for a rom-com, not to mention some “steam your glasses”, cha-cha-cha moments!  *blush*  There were aspects of the story that gave me Bridget Jones’ Diary vibes, especially where Ian and Josh were concerned, but I love that story so the similarities were a bonus.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Erin Mallon, who did a wonderful job with the large cast of characters.  My only minor issue was getting used to her gender voicing, since all the male characters basically sound exactly the same, but I quickly adjusted and enjoyed how she brought everyone to life.

Shout out to my friend, Terrie, whose wonderful review put this one on my radar.  It was just what I needed after two ‘blah’ reads!

Thanks to Swift & Lewis Publishing, LLC, NetGalley and author Sarah Ready for this ALC to review.  My opinions are given honestly and freely.  This book is now available!