I had thought that this book was going to be a lighthearted romantic comedy based on the cover and the blurb on it. Boy was I wrong. This book got very dark, and honestly I think it could have used some content warnings. If it had, I would not have chosen it at all. I didn't give it one star, because I can see how people would like it, I'm just not the target audience I guess.

This book has an intriguing premise, but the disjointed plot makes it difficult to stay engaged. However, the author's vivid descriptions of the characters' emotions and inner struggles add depth to the story, making it an overall good read.

Conceiving Hope by Olive McMahon is a bold and emotional exploration of love, fertility, and the complexities of modern relationships. After the collapse of her marriage, Margo Davis is determined to become a mother, even if it means pursuing unconventional options. When she decides to use a sperm donor, she unexpectedly develops feelings for Lukas, a handsome photographer with a troubled past. As Margo navigates her desire for Lukas and her deep friendship with Rexford, she faces difficult choices about love, family, and self-discovery. McMahon crafts a compelling story with emotional depth and relatable characters, making Conceiving Hope a thought-provoking read about second chances and the complexities of the heart.

Very slow burn romance, however I didn’t feel any sort of connection between the characters unfortunately.
Also the main character heroine makes some questionable choices - sometimes it was hard to believe she was a grown lawyer.

This was a cute and easy read. Following Margo, a divorce attorney, whom ends up divorced herself. She yearned for a baby as she was approaching 40. She meets and becomes best friends with Rexford at a coffee shop.

The book was a slow burn romance that had enexpected twists. Margo frustrated me a lot while reading but I loved Rexford.

A great debut for Olive McMahon. Thank you Olive and NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Pub Date: 05/01/24

Overall: 3

This book was slow and drawn out. You don't feel the connection between the characters. it was slow and hard to push through. You will find a few interesting parts but doesn't make up for the overall slowness.

This was a cute second chance love story. You could feel the emotion and frustration with how life was going with Margo and having a baby. All she wanted was a family and love and instead just finds empty promises. I can relate!

This was a very enjoyable read and I highly recommend.

"Conceiving Hope" by Olive McMahon is a deeply moving and heartfelt novel that delves into the emotional complexities of fertility, hope, and the resilience of the human spirit. McMahon’s sensitive and compassionate writing brings to life the struggles, dreams, and triumphs of her characters as they navigate the often tumultuous journey of trying to conceive. The novel offers a poignant exploration of the different paths to parenthood and the profound impact these experiences have on relationships and self-identity. With its rich emotional depth and honest portrayal of both heartbreak and hope, "Conceiving Hope" is a compelling and inspiring read that resonates with anyone who has faced challenges in their quest to create a family.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this first half of this book better than the second half, but overall, it was a good book!

I think I need to say that I have a background in law – for decades, in fact – so knowing that our FMC was an attorney and then comparing her actions and decisions to my personal knowledge and assumed knowledge of the FMC, well…..I got a wee bit irritated by the ridiculousness.

Anyway, this read was cute, easy, I laughed in parts and related in parts, at other times I was irritated. I understand the breakdown of relationships, life being thrown in disarray, yearning for a child and the stress you feel trying to achieve all the things, but also given what we are told about the FMC in the beginning, the flags waving in the breeze should be shouting a warning, they should have drawn her attention and she should have seen what could/would happen. Despite being an ‘easy’ read it does have its moments, and some of those moments can be dark and little bit deeper that what you expect.

Overall I was entertained and I think if you don't have the 'law' background, or can let things go (something I am not great at), then you would enjoy this one on a level different to mine.

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This story follows Margo, a family lawyer who ends up getting divorced herself. At the same time, she really wants a baby given she’s approaching 40. Margo meets Rexford and they become best friends. This is a slow burn second chance romance. There is a few twists through the story.

The book was okay , nothing extraordinary. I found the characters really boring . The last 30% was a little better to read

Thank you netgalley , the publisher and Oliver Mchon for this Arc . The Arc was provided in exchange for my honest review .

I really enjoyed this second chance love story. I felt for Margo in her fertility and love journey. You rarely read about fertility troubles in romance books but it was a breath of fresh air. I can completely sympathise with Margo as I am struggling myself. This was a great read.

3.5 rounded up! Honestly such a fun debut novel! I’m not an editor and my “job” as a reviewer isn’t to comment on write style too much. Better than anything I ever could do, and lots of wild plot twists and turns. There’s infidelity, a murder, sperm donor struggles, dating, emotional abuse, you name it — this book has it.

I’m sure that as this author continues to write, their writing style will change. “…” was used sooooo much. Though this book was really easy to read, the writing style was a bit distracting with a surplus of adjectives and additional descriptions. “I couldn’t believe my eyes, unable to process what I found, stunned by my discovery… my bewilderment” all in the same paragraph was like DANG we get it!! “I want to pull my hair out in frustration” — like yes that’s typically the only emotion that accompanies hair pulling.

Anyway, this was such a solid premise to have the main character be a divorce lawyer who wants to find love to start a family. The case she takes on becomes relevant for Margo’s personal storyline, but even if it wasn’t — it was good gossip!

The many plot twists in this book could be stories on their own. I could have done with one less so we could dwell on others longer. For example, someone dies and rather than being sad for a prolonged period of time, a character just moves on with the next plot twist!

Some of Olive’s wording could be politically better, she calls people who struggle with addiction “anchors around their neck” and has her characters say they’re going to “k*ll themselves” in an unserious way, among other things.

I did love that this book spanned over multiple years! My summary is that Margo’s dating life is brutal, but she also trusts people way too fast.

The logistics of the “sperm daddy” were so wild. That’s all I have to say. If you don’t have enough money for a sperm bank / IVF i would highly consider looking at the costs to raise a child for 18+ years! It was for the plot though so I get it.

Each chapter had a very page turning cliff hanger! So fun. Overall, this book kept me on my toes and it would definitely read another book by Olive McMahon. I don’t know what Olive looks like, and they don’t have any socials — I can only hope we get to know more about them as they feel comfortable. :)

I loved Rex. Though Margo annoyed me sometimes, I felt like I really got to know her and I was rooting for her big time. I honestly was so invested by the end. I liked the ending!

Content warning (there’s definitely more than this, so look it up): substance abuse, gun violence, domestic abuse

thank you NetGalley and Olive McMahon for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I loved this story! I was very intrigued by the main characters way of deciding to tind a biological father for her baby...at times I was laughing put loud!
And the love story that develops is beautiful from start to finish...friends to lovers at its best!
I was equally, if not more so, involved with the story she was dealing with as a family lawyer...and that gets a little chaotic as well...a chapter could even say it took on a Thriller twist!

Book Review 📚

Conceiving Hope By Olivia McMahon ☕️👩🏻‍💼📑🔫🤰🏻🗞️🍕🍻

Margo is family defense lawyer and has a high winning streak when it comes to divorce and custody agreements. She’s now facing her own divorce at age 35, it’s weighing heavy on her mind that her internal clock of having a baby is running out. Now that she has to start all over she has an idea of finding a sperm donor, conceiving the natural way and then said person would not have anything to do with her or their future child no strings attached. This seems simple but still ended up with consequences. I felt that this book had a slow start, it wasn’t until 67% in that things took a turn. Overall I loved how this story played out, it kept me wondering if Margo would ever get what she wanted!
If you like friends to lovers, mystery, and don’t mind guns, addiction and crimes you’ll like this one!!

Out now!!

Thank you @netgalley 🤍
#ConceivingHope #NetGalley

It was good, cute, and a quick, easy read. This is a story that many women can resonate with when it comes to the trials and tribulations of relationships, self-love, and being on the journey to motherhood. The story did make me laugh several times, but I would have liked to see less detail of her failed marriage and more of her failed dates. I wanted to like this book, but it wasn’t for me.

I always love the friends to lovers trope in a book, so this one was a hit for me! It definitely went fast once I got into the first couple of chapters. I felt like there were quite a few things going on with the storyline, but it was easy to keep up with. I enjoyed it, and I would recommend this book to other readers.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I received this ARC from Netgalley and I'm voluntarily leaving a review.

So this one was very interesting. I think it was well written. I liked the dialogue. The characters felt realistic...at least initially. It's probably more between a 3.5 - 4 stars for me.

What has me undecided on a rating is the turns the second half of the book took. I was really relating to Margo and her feelings of longing to be a mother and how when it's something you want in your soul you see babies everywhere. And how she felt life passed her by. I sympathized with all of this so much. She's lonely with few friends. (also relatable). And then she meets Rexford by chance and he's so great. They become very fast best friends. He has gone through similar heartache before. I think I just really liked Rexford as a character. He's too good of a person.

I understand her not wanting to ruin the relationship with Rex by thinking of him romantically, but I could tell he probably felt strongly for her since the beginning. This is where I feel like he deserved better and the other things I didn't love about the book: I feel like she kind of used Rex. He became her go to. And he had to watch her go through other failed relationships. He was always at her disposal. Whatever she needed he was there. Even if he was busy with work he rushed to her. I feel like even tho he tried to date he couldn't fully commit to anyone else. And I'm sure his other partners knew Margo was more than just a friend in his mind. And then when he offers to become her sperm donor she's very cruel about it to him. And she finally gives in to be with him after the mess with Markus/Lukas and that's only because she sees another woman flirting with him. And then he agrees to help her raise her daughter. I wish she would have had a biological child with Rex. Also the side story with Ethan and how that all ended was just crazy and I felt like it was a way to kill off characters so Margo and Norma had happy endings.

Lukas was a bizarre character. It was so out of left field that I kind of was like 'is this really happening?' It definitely creates drama and intrigue. I just found his character to be strange. And I feel like she overlooks the blaring red flags because she wants a baby so bad and he's hot. Also it was so odd to me that Lukas had just witnessed his girlfriend fall to her death not too long before meeting Margo, yet he was willing to be the father to her kid. I get that he needed to have a hideaway spot and was using her to have a safe place to stay, but it just seemed like he'd be more torn up about his girlfriend. It just seemed like for a highly intelligent person she was making strange decisions, but I can also see that she was just desperate for a baby.

It's definitely an interesting book. Not your typical romance. I was pretty enthralled throughout wanting to find out what happens. I felt it was a tad long for a romance, but she packs a lot in it. I do recommend it. I will probably think of it again. I'm not sure I'd read it again though.

I’m so sorry this is a tad late!

This was a very light, easy read.

We’re following a divorce attorney named Margo who ironically is going through a divorce. And she wants a baby.
After many failed relationships, and now divorce, she’s determined to do this with or without a man.
Enter Rex, a stranger turned friend she met at a coffee shop. Will this be her happily ever after?
4/5