A Million Reasons Why is the fourth book in four years for Jessica Strawser (after Almost Missed You, Not That I Could Tell, and Forget You Know Me), and although I couldn’t off the top of my head tell you the plot of any one of the previous ones, I recalled liking them, so I was pleased to receive a copy of A Million Reasons Why in return for my honest review.
Her prior books were great “beach reads”- pure escapist fiction, and I expected something similar. I thought “PERFECT pandemic reading”! Then I started reading. I admit I hadn’t read anything about this book — no publisher’s blurb, no email promo, nothing. I had no idea one of the two main characters would have a CKD diagnosis and would be looking for a kidney donor. Because I lost a kidney about a year ago, this isn’t a topic I’m really excited about, but I plowed on.
Caroline receives a Christmas present: a mail-in DNA test. To anyone looking at her life, it’s pretty good: she’s the only child of a happy couple, with a great husband and some perfect children. Then she gets a message from a woman claiming to be her half sister, and she starts to question everything about that pretty good life. Turns out she does have a half sister named Sela. Her life’s not so perfect. In addition to a failed marriage and the recent death of her mother, she has irreversible kidney failure.
At that point, I was not very far into the book, and I thought “I know where this is going: one of Caroline’s kidneys is going to Sela, and they will be part of a big happy family by the end of this book that has Lifetime movie written all over it.” I was not inclined to finish it, thinking it would be totally predictable and a bit sappy. But I continued, and I’m glad I did. There are a few surprises and it’s thought-provoking. Probably good for book groups, with lots of topics related to family, responsibility, love, and obligation. After the recent acquisition of Ancestry by an investment group, many people are wondering who exactly owns their DNA data. So the many questions raised by this book are timely. It wasn’t for me, and even though I have always been a notoriously easy grader, this one gets three stars from me. To be kind, I think it is me more than Jessica, and I will happily read her next book, and recommend this one to many people. Just not for me.