Welcome to my stop of the @turnthepagebts The People We Choose Blog Tour. I’m here to spotlight The People We Choose on my blog and share a few of my thoughts with my fellow bookworms.
“The People We Choose is a poignant novel about family, friendship, and the meaning of choosing the people we want to keep in our lives.”
Cecelia Beckman, Sheaf & Ink
The People We Choose Blog Tour
Contemporary fiction has been my life jacket this past year-and-a-half.
Taking in story after story about relationships across the spectrum that includes romance.
Though, there are these rare few that have a kernel of an idea I may never have read before, but glad I did. A book that surprises you in how the focus is on friendships, those lifechanging ones. And more specifically, salvaging and building on relationships, turning them into something new and much more meaningful.
Which is why I’m here to spotlight Katelyn Detweiler’s novel, The People We Choose.
Let’s dive in:
When 17-year-old Calliope meets her new neighbor Max, their connection is instantaneous, but the revelation of her sperm donor’s identity changes everything.
Calliope Silversmith has always had just two friends in her small Pennsylvania town, Ginger and Noah, and she’s fine with that. She’s never wanted anything more than her best friends, her moms, their house in the woods, and their family-run yoga studio—except maybe knowing who her sperm donor is. Her curiosity has been building for years, and she can finally find out this summer when she turns eighteen.
Then Max and his family move into the house across the woods from Calliope, and she immediately feels a special connection with her new neighbor, one that feels different than just friendship. The stability of her longtime trio wavers over the next few weeks as she and Max start to spend more time together.
But when Calliope makes contact with her sperm donor she learns a surprising truth: her donor is Max’s father. How is this even possible?
As she and Max struggle to redefine their friendship now that they know they’re half-siblings, Calliope realizes she has much to gain by recognizing and accepting that family is both the one she has been born into, and the one she chooses to make.
Perfect for readers looking for stories about family dynamics and fans of The Other F-Word by Natasha Friend.
The People We Choose Blog Tour Sheaf & Ink Book Review
Have you ever thought of being a donor?
As someone with my own family, I never thought of it. Perhaps maybe vital organs if someone needed it and they are viable. But, I’d never put any thought of donating my eggs.
Nevertheless, I think it’s such a unique concept to focus on and how Katelyn Detweiler crafted her story around it (but, in this case, a sperm donor for to two moms). Where the story isn’t about the main character finding a father figure or the need for one, it was the niggling question of who is this person who shares Calliope’s DNA.
For her it is almost like a science-experiment. Writing out the pros and cons of knowing who the donor is, and then once she knows, understanding the genetics of her biological donors history. And this route is not for everyone, but it was one that Calliope wanted and chooses.
What’s so refreshing is how Calliope fiercely fights for those connections that initially may seem lost after she does find out who the donor is. Where she realizes the full worth and weight behind those relationships, regardless of the messy, confusing, and weird aftermath of knowing who the donor really is. It’s making the choice that these people in her life matter and they mean more being part of Calliope’s life despite the circumstances that got them there.
And families are tricky. They aren’t perfect or simple. The beauty though in this novel is the relationships between parents, friends, and siblings.
There are those utterly heartbreaking moments where you’re agonizing over a what could be. But also hopeful for what will be.
Find Full Review Here >>
Happy Reading ̴ Cece
RATING: 
– Satisfyingly Inked
Publication Details
- Title: The People We Choose
- Author: Katelyn Detweiler
- Publication day: May 4, 2021
- Publisher: Margaret Ferguson Books
- Genres: YA Fiction, Contemporary, Romance
- ISBN: 978-0823446643
- Pages: 304
- Age Group: 14+
- Hardcopy: $18.99
- Buy Links: ⬇️
About the Author
Katelyn Detweiler was born and raised in Pennsylvania, living in a centuries-old farmhouse surrounded by fields and woods—a setting that fueled her childhood imagination and, many years later, inspired her YA debut, Immaculate. Katelyn is a writer by night (and weekend) and a literary agent by day, representing books for all ages and across all genres. She currently lives, works, and writes in Brooklyn.
You can find Katelyn Detweiler online on:
BOOK BLOG TOUR
June 21
Turn the Page Tours – Welcome Post/Author Interview
June 22
Read Her Reviews – Book Review
June 23
Upon the Book Tower – Book Review, Favorite Quotes
June 24
Kait Plus Books – Author Interview
June 25
Brinns Books – Book Review, Favorite Quotes
June 26
Sheaf & Ink – Book Review
June 27
The Reading Corner for All – Book Review, Favorite Quotes
Books, Tea, Healthy Me – Author Interview
Need More Book Recommendations?
Sheaf & Ink has reviewed a number of Young Adult novels in contemporary fiction. Read The People We Choose , Summer in the City of Roses, and One Last Stop book reviews to find your next favorite read.
And join the conversation. We love hearing from you.
