Thursday, August 18, 2016

Forever Lily

Author: Beth Nonte Russell
Stars: 4
Review by: Mandy Apgar


I would rate this about a 1 at times but that is not "the fault" per se of the author, just what happened really ticked me off. She had a friend, Alex, who was a trained nurse and apparently wanted nothing more than to adopt a daughter from China. The reason I said "apparently" as Alex - who is a whiny, self centered jerk with the ethics of a mushroom, promptly decides that she does not want the child upon seeing it. In between throwing temper tantrums about how she doesn't want to go to Gymboree with the kid (seriously) and complaining endlessly about how she is too small for a 13 month old, thusly meaning that officials lied to her, Alex just shines forth as one of those entitled people you can't but help to want to smack really hard upside the head. She is extremely irritating, nonetheless for her habit of going back and forth as to whether she wants the baby or not. The author and her husband agree to take her instead and after consulting with umpteen lawyers (during which time Alex changes her mind like 3 times) they realize that the baby, Lily, must be surrendered to the foster system upon arrival in the US so the Russells can foster her and then do a domestic adoption. Elsewise Alex would go to prison for fraud in China, which the idiot deserved, but it is much better the child go with a family who is somewhat sane. During the process Alex vents about her life and reveals that she coerced her husband into signing the papers by threatening to leave him and take their son. What a classy lady. After changing her mind a few more times, and even showing up unannounced asking if she could borrow Lily for a day or two "to help make up my mind" she is finally out of everyone's life for good. Eventually the Russells adopt another daughter, Jaden, also from China. Book would've been a lot better if not for Alex, which is not its fault so I will discount that, but for the author's endless mentioning of dreams she has supposedly coming out of nowhere convincing her to take the child. Having dreams about being mother to a Chinese baby is to me something perfectly natural granted the circumstances but she interprets it as a divine sign. Good for her, but all the same she doesn't shut up about the things and they take up a lot of space in the book and drag things down.
 

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