Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

Really enjoyable read. Good characters and a Good story. Well worth a read. Think others will enjoy.

A moving and emotional read about gender dismorphia. The characters were both believable and likeable. A great read for all teens.

The author covered such a difficult subject so brilliantly I was captivated by the story of Claude/Poppy who guided by Rosie and Penn was given the time and love to be the person they longed to be. I honestly didn't want this story to end and would absolutely love a sequel

An interesting emotional drama novel centred around a family whose fifth son wants to be a girl and the effects of this. A good read and interesting how the family dealt with it

A funny, thoughtful, and insightful novel about the highs and lows of raising a transgender child. It has a modern fairy tale feel to it and the story made me laugh one minute and cry the next. I loved the descriptions of family life; the characters are vivid and believable, it's not all roses with 5 children! I'll miss reading about these characters and seeing how Poppy thrives as she gets older. Perfect.

XThis book will stick with me. Beautifully written with so much love and understanding. The story centres around Claude/poppy and how the family live and support their child enabling them to be who they want to be In the world. Amazing it made me cry and kept me fully engaged till the last page ended

This is the story of Rosie, a doctor, and Penn, a writer. They have four boys and, wanting a girl, they have a fifth, Claude. From a very early age Claude is inclined towards not identifying as male. This is the story of the journey of Claude's parents and siblings dealing with Claude's identity issues.

Initially I found the style of writing took a little getting used to. Equally there were a few Americanisations that I was not familiar with. The characters were all fairly credible and largely interesting. I found the outline of this story appealing. I'm pleased that this general topic is now being written about in mainstream literature. All credit to the author for tackling this subject and very openly. Claude's insistence on wearing female clothes very early on in school certainly presented challenges

While the writing was perfectly good it was also very descriptive which slowed down the story for me. I found was never really fully engaged with the narrative unfortunately. It is not a bad read but some aspects of the story did strike me as less than credible. It is a pity because I do think the basic idea for this book is very good indeed. I notice that plenty of other readers find this a good story so it may simple be that it is a personal thing and I trust the book will be successful.

Absolute five star book. A gripping family saga simultaneously sensitively exploring the issues of gender identity. Definite must read. In fact I'd love a sequel

This Is How It Always Is is a novel about family, secrets, fairy tales, and gender. Rosie and Penn are busy parents—Rosie a doctor and Penn a writer—with five children, all boys. When it turns out their youngest wants to grow up to be a girl, Rosie and Penn do what they can to be supportive parents, but that turns out to involve making a big change for the entire family and keeping a secret that nobody sees lasting forever.

The book is focused particularly on being a parent of a transgender child, and particularly a set of parents trying to be as encouraging and accepting of all of their children as possible. The whole family is very important to the novel, as Frankel gives all of them—not only the parents and Poppy, the youngest—individual personalities and lives, which are all tangled together as families are. The narrative is split into separate parts, broadly different phases in the family’s life across five years, and the writing style is informal, meaning it is quite easy to read much of the book in one sitting.

Frankel says in the concluding Author’s Note that the book is not based on her own experiences with a trans daughter, but is a made up story that has sprinklings of her own life as well as imagination and research. Indeed, this idea of storytelling runs throughout the book, through Penn as a writer using stories to give morals to his children and through the stories that everyone tells to make situations seem less confusing.

It is a heartwarming and sad book that ultimately tries to give hope, using a happy ending and a running theme of fairy tales and telling stories to make sense of life. I’ve seen people claim the happiness is unrealistic and the parents “too” accepting, but that is why this book is an important one as well as an enjoyable read: if a trans child’s fictional happiness is seen as unrealistic, it shows the one, there’s maybe something wrong with reality, and two, then books are needed that show happiness and a future for trans people of all ages, and This Is How It Always Is is one of these books.