Thank you to Kirkus Review and the author.

I was crying happy tears until the end and then sad ones at the end.

What a journey for Julie and Jenny (twins) who were adopted and looking for their birth parents. It took a long long time and Julie did the extensive looking but Jenny was always there to support her and help when she could. Their adoptive parents were very supportive but her mother was reluctant at first.

It took a village for them to find first their birth mom and even harder to find their birth dad. Reunions were made both with birth mom and siblings.

By the epilogue I was sobbing like a baby and couldn't read until I dried my tears.

I don't think I've read any memoirs about adoptions especially with twins that were adopted by the same family.

Thank you Julie and Jenny for sharing your lovely story with your readers and especially me. ( )

Twice a Daughter is a well-written and fascinating memoir about Julie McGue's search for her birth parents. She and her twin, Jenny, were adopted through a closed adoption in the 1950s, a time when social mores were very different. Julie's initial incentive to search for her birth parents was to find out her family health history. As she embarked on the long and difficult process, she became interested in meeting and learning more about her biological family. Finding her biological families takes an enormous amount of persistence and patience. Twice a Daughter details the emotional and logistical issues involved for the birth and adoptive families. The reader learns empathy for people in this situation. Although interesting for anyone, this book would be particularly helpful for family members and professionals involved in adoption. @booksforwardpr #BooksForwardFriends ( )

Twice a Daughter follows the story of pair of identical twins, Julie and Jenny, adopted at birth together by the same couple, who begin the search for their birth parents at mid-life in an attempt to fill in the blanks surrounding their genetic medical history.

This true-life drama is absorbing, and I was interested in the challenges Julie and Jenny faced due to the ongoing conflict between the right to know their birth details, and the rights of others involved to privacy, and how these factors played out in the legal processes involved.

The story is told from Julie’s perspective as she takes the lead in the search, and flows along relatively quickly. There is a vulnerability we glimpse as Julie struggles with deep identity issues resulting from the feelings which surface around being unwanted and not important to her birth parents, and in particular, her birth mother. Overall, though, the story is told almost briskly, and although I cheered for Julie and wanted her search to be successful, there was a definite sense of entitlement pervading the memoir that I felt was unsympathetic. I would have appreciated the story more if the author could have widened her perspective to include more sensitivity and nuance to help us appreciate the experiences, fears, traumas and issues of all the family members involved - including both birth and adoptive relatives.

Overall this was an enjoyable read and it definitely made me feel for the multiple challenges faced by adoptees, birth parents, and adoptive families.

A big thank you to NetGalley, the publisher She Writes Press, and the author for an advance review copy of this book. ( )