The Offering by Angela Hunt ~ Book Review

Amanda Lisandra and her soldier husband want a big family.  They have one young daughter but have decided to wait to have more children until Gideon retires from the military.  Serving on a special forces unit that comes and goes randomly as needed around the world, they want to have Gideon home and safe permanently before growing their family. And right now they can't afford to have more children.   Meanwhile, Amanda works in Gideon's family's Cuban grocery store.  When Amanda runs into another military wife who is pregnant it sets off a plan to help her raise funds so that they can purchase a home of their own more quickly.  But first she must sell the plan to her husband, and then to his conservative family.

Once Gideon is okay with the idea of Mandy becoming a gestational carrier for a childless couple, Mandy quickly sets the ball in motion.  She chooses a couple from France who are well to do and who desire a child to be heir to their generational vineyards.  Mandy's pregnancy with the couple's child is pretty routine and normal other than a day or so of spotting which she also had with her own daughter.  Happy and dreaming of the soon to be new life her own family can start, Mandy is happy and feels fulfilled to be able to help another couple have a child.  She has no problem with attachment issues to the baby and fully thinks she has a handle on understanding that this is not her child and that the pregnancy is her "job".

Then tragedy strikes and Mandy dreams are devastated.  In shock, Mandy has no time to grieve.  When the baby makes it's appearance early, she surrenders the him to his parents as quickly as possible and tries to get past what seems to be continuous loss and on with her life.  But the depression and continuous nightmares won't let go.  Two years later when she finally gets a card from the French family with a photograph Mandy is overcome with feelings that she may have given away her own biological child fathered by her late husband.  She sets herself on the path to find the truth and if her instincts are correct, retrieve her child no matter the cost.

This story really made me think.  I told no spoilers in the description as that is all on the back of the book description also.  It delves into all the issues of being a gestational carrier, the emotions, the legalities and what happens if there might be a mistake made in spite of all the contingencies put in place that that wouldn't happen.  It's a story of untold grief, a mother's instincts, a person's past affecting their future, and doing what's right and best for another person.  Though the story at times ran a little slow for me during Mandy's pregnancy, I would say it definitely was a page turner because of the anticipation of what you kinda of knew was coming.  I had to find out what happened and if Mandy's instinct was correct and what would happen either way.  I love Angela Hunt's contemporary stories.  They deal with real issues and she writes the emotions that would be involved so well.  She does her research into the topic and I as the reader always learn something.

I gave this a 7.5/ 10