If you’re looking for queer rep, and diverse rep this book is fantastic. I saw the reviews were mixed, and those books are usually ones I really like. Sure some of the scenes were kind of ridiculous, but it gave me a good laugh. I fell in love with Mila and Ari! Their relationship was so complicated, but the way the author wrote the story was so believable and I felt so wrapped up in the story!

I really can’t wait to read more from the author. So many characters were quirky and just fun! The characters grew and learned from their mistakes and behaviors. I don’t want to give anything away, but I really enjoyed it!

I just reviewed Baby Bank by Sarah Robinson. #BabyBank #NetGalley

Mila is a 34 year old woman who feels like her biological clock is running out. She embarks on the journey to have a baby. She downloads an app to find the perfect sperm donor and has quite the adventure afterwards. This is a fun, quick read and I really enjoyed it.

Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to have any advanced copy of this book.

This was such a fun and wonderful read for Pride Month! It’s a great rom com about a Hispanic pansexual lawyer who moonlights as a comedian who decides her biological clock is ticking, so she looks for a sperm donor using an app called Baby Bank. So many themes are covered, from found family to women’s rights and gender identity, yet not at all preachy. Plus there’s no trauma, as seems to find its way into so many queer romance stories. Just blissful love and happily ever afters. I look forward to reading more of this series and Sarah Robinson.

Nope. Had to DNF after the white woman said she was experiencing a hate crime because the bar's AC was off. There were many instances up until this point that made me want to quit but I always do feel obligated to finish Netgalley books. The pacing was off, the characters were bland, the wording in a lot of places was hard to understand. The writing itself was just awful.

i really liked this book! it was a simple short heart warming queer love story. the characters seemed cool and real and the plot felt real. i will say that the central romance felt very rushed (understandable as it was a short book) and there seemed to be no real proof that these women had amazing chemistry or were perfect together, so for them to get engaged as soon as they decided they wanted to be together before even dating felt a bit forced, although i guess kinda realistic for sapphics. the side characters were cool and the dialogue and narration were kinda funny. the stand up wasn’t great. overall though it was cute and an easy read and i don’t expect my rom coms to be masterpieces, just generally entertaining. i enjoyed.

This book was super entertaining! The author is new to me, but this plot and concept is so fun.

I really enjoyed the characters.

This was a cute little book. It’s funny, the characters are engaging, but also quite a predictable story. Still, a fun little read.

I had already scoffed, laughed, and aww-ed in the first few pages of this book.

I really loved how this slight enemies to lovers storyline took place and how intertwined the characters were.

the baby bank is something we should all have access to and i love how it makes it accessible for many people.

I didn't always like how Mila talks about her queer experience and it sometimes felt a little bit forced but that's probably just me. I would have loved to have a dual/multiple pov. it would have brought more depth to hear Aston and Ari side of the story, especially in the end.

the fact that Mila's sexuality isn't the main subject of the book was so refreshing. I love how nuanced it all was and I also really enjoyed having two strong women talking about their own struggles in their respective lives. bonus point for the gender topics as well.

I usually run from rom-com as they often make me cringe and give me second-hand embarrassment but this one did not!

2.75⭐️

Mila is a single woman in her mid-30s who is feeling stalled in her career and love life but doesn’t let that stand in the way of her desire to become a mother. She finds a sperm donor through an app and takes the plunge into motherhood only to find a new love interest.

I loved the premise of this book but I didn’t love the execution. The MC is not super likable and mentioned being a lawyer or law school like three times in the first chapter. Also, for a book with a comedian MC, it wasn’t all that funny. And I didn’t love that despite the love interest repeatedly saying she wasn’t interested in a relationship with the MC, she kept pursuing her and ignoring her boundaries. The only character I really enjoyed was Chicky; all of Mila’s friends were unmemorable and I didn’t really bother to remember who was who. For a short book, it kinda dragged. There was some spice and those parts were good.

thank u to netgalley for this book!

3.5 stars

baby bank is about a pan woman who decides it’s time to have a baby, but falls in love with her sperm donors sister

this book was fun! i loved the friendships and found family vibes, and that the baby will grow up surrounded by love.

however, there was also some stuff i disliked. the mc felt quite immature, more like a teenager than someone in her mid 30s. i also struggled to believe in the romance, as it felt like a quick jump to being in love, especially when there were multiple parts of the book where they wouldn’t talk for weeks, and a big lack of communication.

the mcs job was another thing i wish was giving more attention. she seems to enjoy being a lawyer and says she thinks she’s found her dream firm, yet when she has to give it up we don’t even see how she feels, instead it’s brought up in the middle of another conversation then forgotten about. things like this made it hard to feel immersed in the book.

also it could really have used some tws. yes it may have spoiled some stuff (so spoiler warning for this) but talking about how someone died from an at home abortion is a big deal, and unexpected for a romcom.

Baby Bank by Sarah Robinson
Publisher: Books by Sarah Robinson
Genre: LGBTQIAP+, Multicultural Interest, Romance
Expected Publication Date: September 19, 2023

Baby Bank by Sarah Robinson is one of my favorite books I've read this year! This quick read is funny, heartwarming, and overall, is a feel good book.

There were so many times I actually laughed out loud while reading. (Be cautioned, drinking and reading can be dangerous LOL) I found this to be so funny, and at the same time, so real and raw.

I absolutely loved the characters and I loved how the author brought them all together so they could grow and learn. I loved the messaging around family and how it is so much more than the family you are born into. I also loved how the romance was developed. The chemistry felt real and I enjoyed seeing things develop. The NSFW parts were tastefully written and were meant to drive the story forward.

I thought I was going to find this book hard to read (IYKYK), but I realized I have done some healing and growing of my own. There were many parts of this book that I could relate to and while I looked back at my own life with fondness and a little sadness, I also saw the happiness of my life as it is right now.

I definitely recommend reading Baby Bank! It is filled with so much heart!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I really did not get too far in this one before DNFing. The writing style just wasn't for me, which is a bummer, just because I was very excited about finding a sapphic book with the premise of falling for a guy's sister (truly a sapphic trope that I love)

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and Sarah Robinson for providing me with an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This is the second book I've read by Sarah and sadly I am extremely disappointed with this one. I found it really difficult to get through this and it took me 2+ weeks to finally get to the end.

I was very intrigued by the concept and liked the whole "family reunions" with all the mums that Aston has donated his sperm to however, I didn't feel any chemistry between Ari and Mila and not a lot happened. I thought it was rushed through at the end where they suddenly solved all their problems and although it was a nice sentiment, I thought that naming their child Gracie was a bit cliché especially considering for 90% of the book Mila was single and didn't know anything about Ari's past.

Overall, this book was a miss for me but I have enjoyed previous stories by Sarah.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review.
Very funny and sweet rom-com. Really enjoyed it, actually laughed out loud and am looking forward to the next two books in the series (I don’t usually care for series either). Characters were all fun. Recommend to all !!

There were so many elements in this book that I loved. The desire to create a family, the family that is built in this world, the many great and full characters. Plus it was funny!

My only complaint was that it felt a little long. I will definitely be recommending to my book friends!

A woman in her mid-thirties decides she doesn't need to wait for her life to be perfect before having a baby. This was only 2 stars for me. The pacing was off, it was so fast and skipped over so much. The romance was not properly developed. The FMC went to her annual vaginal checkup and her doctor mentioned she might want to think about freezing her eggs due to her age and then immediately, and I do mean immediately, she decides she is having a baby and gets pregnant that weekend?!? That is not how adults make life-altering decisions. The whole Baby Bank thing was meant to be funny but it was just odd and having the entire extended "family" of her baby daddy was too much. There were so many sub-plots and characters going on in this book it was chaotic and took away from what could have been a cute rom-com. There were several scenes in the book that were very off-putting to me because of how far-fetched they were (I get it that it's a rom-com, but I mean the experience itself was not realistic) and it detracted from the story for me. Overall, again, too many things going on, too many pacing issues, and most of all I just didn't connect with the characters and did not believe or care about their love story. Thank you to Net Galley for the chance to read this ARC and give my honest opinion.

A fun story, lovable characters, and encyclopedia of queer humor and culture in 2022.
Writing is a bit of mixed bag perspective wise, and the time jumps and episodic breaks make it read a bit like fanfiction.
The thickness of millennial queer humor in Mila's internal dialogue feels a bit forced at time, and not enough decision making is shown to make her actions not give me whiplash.
A queer book where the character's sexuality isn't the cause of their conflicts is a good refresher for anyone living in America in 2023.

Provided an ARC by publisher.

Not included in published review, but added for NetGalley:
There are several editing mistakes in the ARC, slight detail changes, name switches for minor characters. And despite Mila calling out several times in the book that she is pansexual, not bisexual, the book description says bisexual, and then the formal title of the book says lesbian. All details that are a little confusing.

I do first of all want to thank the author and Netgalley for this advance copy. It was a big honor to get to read this early.
I really wanted to like this book, the premise sounded funny. This book though did not do it for me. The pacing was really rough. I felt no connection to the characters because of this. The main characters meet one day and are magically in love? I didn’t understand, the growth of an actual relationship just wasn’t there.
There were also things about the story that felt unneeded. The secret service? Why? It didn’t advance the story.
That being said this world does need as many diverse authors as we can get so I would read more in the series when they come out.

I had such high hopes for this book going in based on the description and anticipation surrounding its release, but unfortunately I just wasn’t able to connect with the characters and I didn’t finish it.

The writing is technically and grammatically good, the problem is that for a romantic comedy it misses the mark in both. The romance felt underdeveloped and the humor was often times, well…not funny. Even the comedy show jokes were lackluster and I wouldn’t have known the audience was laughing unless she said so. Although the Pitch Perfect acca-scuse me jokes were a bright spot.

The author relies on humor A LOT and often at inopportune times. You would think something as universally relatable as wanting to be a parent would be believable, but it was difficult to take seriously when the mc was constantly making a joke of it and herself.

Another problem is that for a romance there was very little build up and chemistry between the two mc’s before they hopped into bed. I felt I knew very little about Ari and even less why Mila was attracted to her (besides being pretty). I kept hoping the romance would overshadow the choppy humor but alas, there just wasn’t any chemistry or connection for me.

I do think the author shows promise and I would be willing to try her next book if she works on her characterization more. However this book I just couldn’t get into and was a dnf 40% in.

title: Baby Bank

author: Sarah Robinson

publisher: books by Sarah Robinson

publication date: September 19, 2023

pages: 320

peppers: 3 (on this scale)

warnings:

talk of nausea
talk of past sexual assault and maternal death

summary: Mila, current lawyer and up-and-coming stand-up comic decides to use an app to find a donor so that she can become pregnant. At the same time, journalist Ari is hounding her about revealing information about a hypocritical, evil, anti-choice senator her firm represents. Too late for her not to already have caught feelings for the journalist, Mila discovers that the journalist is the sperm donor's sister. 

tropes:

funny, domineering mothers
repeated chance encounters
doing what's right and paying the consequences

found family

what I liked:

The main characters both had to get over a lot and learn about themselves. 
Pro-queer messages and cast of characters
funny side characters
supportive family

what I didn’t like:

The two main characters aren't on-page enough for me to believe their relationship

overall rating: 3 (of 5 stars)