A cute but quirky story of Mila’s journey for her own Happily Ever After. Mila is single, successful lawyer plus late night comedian who is ready for a baby. There’s an app for that! Mila finds the perfect sperm match & it turns out, she has a teensy crush on Mr. Sperm’s sister. Add a few work related complications & a lot of jokes for a whole new spin on that HEA!

The premise is what drew me to this book. Using an app to find a sperm donor and falling for the donor’s sister sounded different and fun. And it is, mostly, if you read this as queer chick-lit. However, if you read it as a romance, as I did, it falls flat.

Like I said above, it’s better if you read this as chick-lit. This is told from Mila’s first-person point of view. And you follow her as she changes just about all the aspects of her life. As a lawyer she’s dealing with a case that goes against her ethics while also juggling her side job as a comedian. She then decides she wants to get pregnant on top of that. Mila and her group of friends were entertaining as they helped her deal with all of it.

As for the romance, Mila meets Ari, the sister of her sperm donor. She recognizes her as a journalist who has been hounding her to talk about a case that Mila is working on. They have a spark from the beginning and I liked their chemistry. However, they spend very little time together on-page and there’s no growth or emotional connection. There are weeks and months between chapters so I can only assume that they spend more time together off-page? I also didn’t like how little Mila respected Ari’s boundaries when she told her she wanted to be just friends. The romance was completely disappointing.

I would be interested in following this series if the romances have more depth to them than this did.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Baby Bank can be a very relatable view into feeling the biological clock ticking away. Mila Torres is 34, and her doctor makes a comment about freezing her eggs/other option to have a child, and she takes it very seriously. There's one major problem: she's very single. Add in her Capitol Hill work for a crappy senator who really doesn't respect women or their rights, Mila is dealing with a lot on her plate. This is a fun look into supportive friends, tough decisions, and learning about your bad tendencies with the goal to do better.

Thank you to NetGalley for the book!

I’m still trying to decide whether I liked this book or not. Humour is a very personal thing, keep that in mind while reading this review, not everyone laughs at the same jokes, so what didn’t work for me may very well be what makes you laugh out loud. Baby Bank is marketed as a “comedic story of LGBTQIA+ romance and millennial-specific drama”, and it took me a while to find anything funny. Maybe I’m too old for “millennial-specific drama”.

Mila is thirty-four, a divorce lawyer by day, a comedian by night. Her doctor suggests that she’s at an age when she should start thinking about whether she wants to have children, suggests she might want to freeze her eggs, but suddenly she decides right now is the right time and a week or so later has found a sperm donor, Aston, on an app and inseminates herself.

The romance comes in the form of the sperm donor’s sister, Ali, a journalist who has been hounding Mila for an article she’s writing about one of her clients, an anti-abortion politician.

I won’t lie, reading this book required a lot of suspension of disbelief. A lot. The whole donor thing is over the top and kinda creepy, even if the author manages to make Aston sound sweet. As the story goes on, Mila is shown as having wanted children all her life, as if being a mother was her goal along, yet when her doctor mentioned it, she seemed completely surprised. To be fair, she could have been stunned by his vagina jokes.

All this asides however, once I stopped trying to make sense of things, it was a fun read, efficiently written and with character growth. 3.5⭐️

Maybe 3.5 ⭐️ This was fun and fast to read. An interesting look into the beginnings of motherhood and a great cast.
I think it fell a little short on developing depth in relationships, making it feel a tad rushed. But it is happy, and that's awesome.
I'm happy it's a series

Is this book believable? Not really. Did I enjoy it? Yes. The pieces fit together too perfectly for me to really believe it, but it was a cute concept. I look forward to more books by this author.

Mila Torres is 34, a successful divorce attorney in Washington DC and lives with her best friends. She also does a comic stand up act on the side. After a visit to her OBG she realizes that it is time for the one thing that she has always wanted to do, become a mom. With the help of her friends she selects a sperm donor via an app and makes contact. In the mean time she meets Ari Elliott a reporter for the Washington Tims. She wants some inside information on one of her firms clients. I wouldn’t have spoiled, but it is in the blurb, Ali is also the sister of the chosen donor.

There is a lot of representation here in ethnicity and queerness. Mila is drawn to Ari and she responds physically and with emotional support. But Ari puts boundaries in place seemingly not wanting more than friendship. There are lots of laugh and humor in the book from comic bits to friends antics and unique situations. But there is some series topics to, especially concerning reproductive rights. Mila makes some questionable personal choices and I like that Robinson doesn’t make the consequences magically disappear.

This is the first book I’ve read by Sarah Robinson and I really liked it!! there so many funny scenes that made me laugh out loud. Definitely looking forward to her future work. It may not be for everyone based on reviews I’ve seen but I think it was pretty good read for pride month(that’s when I read it lololol)

Baby Bank by Sarah Robinson

Published: September 19, 2023
Sarah Robinson
Genre: LGBTQ+
Pages: 324
KKECReads Rating: 4/5
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.

Sarah Robinson first started her writing career as a published poet in high school, and then continued in college, winning several poetry awards and being published in multiple local literary journals. Never expecting to make a career of it, a freelance writing Craigslist job accidentally introduced her to the world of book publishing. Lengthening her writing from poetry to novels, Robinson published her first book through a small press publisher, before moving into self-publishing, and then finally accepting a contract from Penguin Random House two years later.

“These next nine months are going to be interesting.”

This was a cute book. I loved the positivity and inclusion. It’s always so lovely seeing the queer community being represented in such a positive, non-spotlight way where the characters are treated like ordinary characters.

I didn’t like Mila for much of the book. She came across as very self-absorbed and wasn’t the great friend she expected others to be. She does have a significant bit of development, so she gets better.

I loved the character dynamics in this story. My favorite was Isa. Read this, and you’ll know why. I loved Chicky as well; she was such a hoot.

The plot moved smoothly, filled with humor, drama, and the daily mundane that kept things interesting. I enjoyed the concept of having a child alone. I love that that is an option for so many families.

I didn’t know baby banks were a real thing, but it is such a fantastic concept, and I love that there are people in the world who want to help others in such a hugely selfless way.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read, and I would reread this author. I liked her writing style and found her relevant.

Wow! First I didn’t know if I would like to book but absolutely loved it. I rarely read these kinds of books but when I do I eat them up. Huge ghanjs to netgalley for giving g me this arc for exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book and the humour and sarcasm throughout and in the way that it’s told at times had me laughing out loud.

I really liked the way it dealt with some difficult topics but in a really good and lighthearted way.

I also liked that there were some crazy circumstances but they way they were written made them work really well and at points were relatable.

I will definitely be looking out for more by this author.

DNF at 60%

I wanted to love this book so badly. I love sapphic romances and I was super excited to read this one. I just couldn't find anything that made me want to continue reading. I had no feelings for our main characters which sucks because I thought I would like them.

Mila Torres is 34 and during her latest Pap smear her gynaecologist suggests the idea of thinking if pregnancy and having a child is something she wants, as well as complimenting her on her latest stand up show as Tori Miles which is her night time job as a day time lawyer. Following thinking about getting pregnant Mila decides to go for it on her own. In order to get pregnant she finds a donor via a new free app - Baby Bank where people can donate their sperm to help people start their own families who need the extra help. Mila finds Aston who has developed his own growing family as an uncle as wanted, by offering out his sperm. Too bad it turns out that the hot reporter Ari is related to Aston.

Short, fast, sweet story about what different ways families can be created. If you’re seeking something that looks at diverse families this might be just right for you! I don’t know if I was in the wrong headspace at the time to not love this more, but it all just felt a bit happily ever after for me to want to love it more. Did I enjoy it? Definitely! Would I recommend it? Absolutely! Was it just a perfectly fine read for me? Yes.

This book definitely gives good romcom vibes! I’ve never read anything by the author but really enjoy the writing style! I will be giving her other books a try in the future.

It's one of the most enjoyable and funny books I've read in a few years. While the issues Mia faces are quite serious and life-changing on various fronts Sarah Robinson does a fantastic job interjecting some levity into the mix. I was really appreciative of the cultural nuances as a Latina who has spent way too much time on The Hill myself and could easily see aspects of my own friendships over the years.

The romance between Mia and Ari was fun to read, the storylines of Mia's career & family planning were done well, plus the friendships and expanding chosen family aspect were perfect. I will definitely be reading more from Sarah Robinson and the rest of this series!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy for an honest review.

First off I really appreciate any chance I get to review a book for NetGalley! The blurb of this book sounded super cute, and I loved the idea of an independent woman taking things into her own hands and getting pregnant via an app. However, the writing is this book seemed redundant with many phrases repeated several times.

The main character seemed fairly immature for a 35 year old attorney. She was also a part time comedian, but she never actually told jokes she just had conversations with the audience. There were a lot of side stories that were kind of glossed over.

For this to be labeled a rom-com, there wasn’t much romance until the very end that felt super rushed. Overall, this wasn’t a favorite of mine, and I don’t think I’d continue the series.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for my free copy in exchange for my review!

It was my first book from this author and I enjoyed it!! It was also a new type of book but I'm going to be looking for more!

Thank you, Netgalley and the author for the gifted e-book! ❤️ #gifted. My review is comprised of my honest thoughts.

Read this book if you like: LGBTQ representation, politics, emotional stories

This was an interesting spin on romance. It was a bit overwhelming because there was a ton of stuff happening. It had many slower parts. The pacing was all over. I liked it, I just wanted more. I recommend it.

I've read some cringe-worthy pregnancy-centered romances, but this one is quite charming and sweet (probably because it subverts heteronormative/patriarchal norms and concepts of the meaning of "family"). I loved reading about the evolution of Mila and Ari's relationship, especially as it pertains to Mila's evolving career, and the side characters are fun additions to their world. I took off a star because the pacing is fine up until 3/4 of the way through the book, when it moves at lightning speed to reach the climax. The placement of the epilogue and bonus scenes are also strange; I would have switched the two because it's a jarring read in its current iteration.

This book was so fun and lighthearted. It was full of cultural lessons and social issues, as well as banter and heartwarming relationships.

I would have appreciated less of a jump between major events. I think if the book was longer, and a few insignificant events were taken out (ie. The whole job interview storyline), I would have been more invested in Robin & Ari’s relationship. They had a lot of chemistry, but most of their time together in the book was them talking about why they could only be friends, and then their relationship went from 0-100z

With that being said, the romance parts gave me major rom com vibes, there were a lot of funny coincidences, quirky characters, and of course, the HEA. I also loved the DC setting and queer latine rep! Chicky was a hoot! I would definitely read a part 2 of this story if it was written (wink wink, Sarah Robinson).

This is a perfect vacation/beach read!

Thank you NetGalley & Books By Sarah Robinson for the digital ARC! A special thanks to Sarah Robinson herself! All opinions are my own.