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A Necessary End

A Novel

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

How far would you go to get what you wanted? The author of Don't Try to Find Me returns with a taut, riveting novel of psychological suspense—a domestic drama full of secrets and twists—about a woman determined to have a child, her ambivalent husband, and a pregnant teenager with a secret agenda of her own.

"I know now that there was no other way things could have turned out. Tragedies are inevitable, just like the great love stories, like us."

Thirty-nine-year-old Adrienne is desperate to be a mother. And this time, nothing is going to get in her way.

Sure, her husband, Gabe, is ambivalent about fatherhood. But she knows that once he holds their baby, he'll come around. He's just feeling a little threatened, that's all. Because once upon a time, it was Gabe that Adrienne wanted more than anything; she was willing to do anything. . . . But that was half a lifetime ago. She's a different person now, and so is Gabe. There are lines she wouldn't cross, not without extreme provocation.

And sure, she was bitten once before by another birth mother—clear to the bone—and for most people, it's once bitten, twice shy. But Adrienne isn't exactly the retiring type.

At nineteen, Leah bears a remarkable resemblance to the young woman Adrienne once was. Which is why Adrienne knows the baby Leah is carrying is meant to be hers. But Leah's got ideas of her own: Her baby's going to get a life in California; why shouldn't she? All she wants is to live in Adrienne's house for a year after the baby's born, and get a fresh start.

It seems like a small price for Adrienne to pay to get their baby. And with Gabe suddenly on board, what could possibly go wrong?

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    • Library Journal

      February 1, 2015

      Soon-to-be-40 Adrienne is so desperate for a baby that she allows a pregnant teenager whose child she will adopt to move into her and husband Gabe's California home. Does this sound like a good idea? From the author of Don't Try To Find Me, a licensed therapist whose blog Bonding Time has 1.5 million visitors a month; a 50,000-copy first printing.

      Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Kirkus

      May 1, 2015
      What could go wrong with an open adoption among a woman desperate for a baby, her less-enthusiastic husband, and the strange young woman who demands a very special price for relinquishing her child? In Brown's second novel, just about everything. Adrienne wants a baby more than anything. As she approaches middle age unable to have one of her own, she and husband Gabe are still licking their wounds following a terrible experience with another soon-to-be mother, Patty. Although Gabe is indifferent to the idea of fatherhood and happy with his life as a car salesman living about 40 minutes from San Francisco, Adrienne, a second-grade teacher, has become obsessed with motherhood. So when Leah, a beautiful, pregnant teen, gets in touch with them and asks for a ticket to California, Adrienne is more than happy to spring for it. When Leah arrives, both Gabe and Adrienne are stunned to see how much she resembles Adrienne. Soon, the newcomer-due to give birth in a couple of weeks-puts her cards on the table and demands that she be allowed to live with the new parents for a year after the child's birth. Although initially resistant, they capitulate, and, from there, things go from simply strange to diabolical. While Brown (Don't Try to Find Me, 2014) has a winning writing style, she hasn't managed to correct the one major flaw that marred her first novel: she fails to create sympathetic people. Not one of the characters-Adrienne, Gabe, Leah-has a single redeeming characteristic. They're all presented as selfish, opportunistic, and interested only in themselves, placing the reader in the unenviable position of having no one to root for and, thus, no stake in the book's eventual disastrous outcome. Unlikable people doing bad things to one another.

      COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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