The People We Choose by Katelyn Detweiler - Sheaf & Ink

“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 Story

From the Publisher

When Calliope Silversmith meets her new neighbor Max, their chemistry is instantaneous, but the revelation of her biological father’s identity throws her whole life into disarray.

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.

But when Max and his family move into the sad old house across the woods from Calliope, she realizes it’s nice to get to know someone new, so nice that she decides to break her no dating rule. The stability of her longtime trio wavers as she and Max start to spend more and more time together.

When Calliope finally finds out who her sperm donor is, she learns a truth more shocking and unfathomable than she could have ever dreamed: her donor is Max’s father. How is this even possible? As she and Max struggle to redefine their friendship, Calliope realizes that she can turn a horrific situation into something positive by recognizing and accepting that family is both the one we are born into and the one we choose to make.

My Review: The People We Choose

Have you ever thought of being a donor?

As someone with my own family, I’ve never thought of it. Perhaps maybe vital organs if someone needed it and at the time those organs are viable.

But, I’ve 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.

Happy Reading ̴ Cece

RATING: – Satisfyingly Inked