I really enjoyed this book. I have never been disappointed by a Barbara Delinsky book, and have found her books to be a nice break from the cutesy little romance books that take place in small towns. There's nothing WRONG with those books at all, in fact I love them, however, sometimes its nice to change things up a bit.
Not My Daughter was quite an interesting read. Four highschool seniors and best friends, Lily, Mark Kate, Jessica, and Abby make a pact to become pregnant, much to the shock and dismay of their parents. Lily's mom, Sue, also happens to be the high school principal, who's gone to great lengths to educate and try to prevent teen pregnancy. SHE also became pregnant at the age of seventeen, the same age these girls are now. When word gets out, the families of the girls try to keep the names quiet, as there is alot of opinions and controversy right from the start. This also puts Lily's mom in an awkward position, having her credibility questioned, both as a principal AND as a mother. Some feel that Sue has enabled past mistakes to repeat themselves. This also creates tension among the mothers of the four girls who are also friends, as well as each of the moms and their husbands. Lily's mom is actually not married, but has support from Lily's dad, and instead of struggling in her relationship with her husband, she struggles with her relationship with her mother, after just losing her father.
toward the end of the book, we find out that Lily's baby suffers from a condition called Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia, in which the kidneys appear outside the abdominal cavity. It is not known whether or not this baby will survive. So, on top of the tension in her position as principal, her anger over Lily's pregnancy to begin with, Susan must also deal with this, and support Lily in dealing with this as well. They are able to do surgery before Lily gives birth, and the baby ends up being fine.
We get to the epilogue and find out that Mary Kate and Jessica have also given birth; Mary Kate has a boy, and Jessica, a girl. We also find out that Susan has married Lily's father, Rick.
Again, I really enjoyed this book. I wanted to strangle the girls on several occasions, yet at the same time, I could relate to how they were feeling. I was alot like them at that age, and when I was in my early 20s, I desperately wanted a child right then. (Now, I have gotten older, I still want children, I just value my freedom and SLEEP too much to have them now). The girls WERE very self-centered to go through with this, but thats really how kids that age are. And, I was honestly surprised to see how the parents reacted, I was surprised to see them so angry, I thought for sure they'd come to terms with this right away and forgive, and coddle their daughters from that point on, but instead they stayed mad. Jessica's mom didn't even want to see her.
At first I didn't think this storyline was very realistic, not so much teen pregnancy (because we all know that is VERY realistic), but more so the idea of the pregnancy pact. In the end of the book, it mentioned a smiliar case in Massachusetts that happened in 2008, where 17 girls made a pact to become pregnant. (I am now trying to google that news story for more information).
I can see how some people who prefer more "realistic" storylines may not like this book, because even though there are a high number of teen pregnancies, pregnancy "pacts" don't seem to happen very often. I, however, read to ESCAPE reality, and it really doesn't matter to me how realistic or unrealistic a book sounds. I read books based on the storyline, and also based on the authors who write them.
finished this book on 1/17/2010
Book #3 for 2010
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