Review by Booklist Review
Ruta (Last Day, 2019) explores themes of motherhood and chosen family in her second novel. New York City magazine editor Sandy has had a run of bad boyfriends, but Justin takes the cake. Window cleaner by day, mediocre musician by night, Justin strings Sandy along despite hostility from his mother and his delusions of stardom. When Sandy gets pregnant and decides to keep the baby, who she'll name Rosie, Justin's mother lets slip that this isn't his first child. Abandoned by her shallow upper-middle-class friends and remaining family members and demoted at work, Sandy becomes obsessed with finding Justin's ex, Steph, and Rosie's half sibling. When the two women and their children finally meet, what could have been a disaster turns into something wholly unexpected. Funny, tender, and messy, Ruta's book examines single motherhood and what it takes to cultivate a loving environment amidst financial uncertainty. This heartfelt portrait of an unconventional family will charm readers.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Bestseller Ruta (Last Day) serves up a deceptively breezy tale of a 30-something Manhattan food writer's found family. When Sandy unexpectedly gets pregnant during a date with Justin, an aspiring rock musician, she decides she likes him enough to try to "make it work." Tara, Justin's mom in Brooklyn, hosts an embarrassingly retro baby shower and lets slip that Justin previously fathered a child with a woman named Steph, whom she describes as a "witch." Things fizzle with Justin and Sandy arranges to meet with Steph, immediately connecting with her and her eight-year-old daughter, Ash. Steph is pursuing a doctorate in psychology at Columbia and deeply in debt, and the women support each other by sharing an apartment and managing their kids' school, day care, and playdates. Then they meet another woman, a hairdresser named Kaya, who has had a child and is pregnant again, by none other than Justin, though he denies being the father, and the three mothers move in together. The plot thickens amid a custody battle with Justin, but what stands out the most are the women and children's efforts to define themselves, as Ash comes out as nonbinary and Sandy resolves to go to law school. Readers will fall in love with this winning novel. Agent: Jim Rutman, Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc. (May)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A single mother finds community in the most unexpected places. Ruta's new novel follows Sandy Walsh, a New York City 30-something fresh out of a painful relationship and grieving her mother's death, as she meets Justin Murray, a musician, whom she likes but fears she may never love. Despite encouragement from her friends, she's unsure if she should stay with him--and then she becomes pregnant. Once she decides to keep the baby, she notices that her friends--many of whom are married and had been trying to get pregnant for years--are not only unsupportive, but downright cruel. Ruta writes beautifully about Sandy's decision to have her daughter, Rosie, which was made with equal parts grief and love: "the love of two invisible people, someone who wasn't there anymore, and someone who wasn't there yet." Between Justin's oscillating support and her own father's lack of interest in her daughter, Sandy struggles to adjust not only to motherhood, but to a type of motherhood she never imagined. After a slip from Tara, Justin's standoffish mother, Sandy--a masterful social media sleuth--discovers that Justin has another child, 8-year-old Ashley. Justin's ex Stephanie, who had Ash when she was 18, lives with her parents on Staten Island while she gets her Ph.D. in psychology. Despite what Justin and Tara say about Stephanie--she's "a nightmare. A witch. She'd make our lives hell if we let her"--Sandy reaches out to her, and the two mothers decide to meet so their children can get to know each other, discovering they have far more in common with each other than with Justin. Eventually, they move in together with their children, and begin to create a relationship, family, and life that defies categorization. Though the novel is densely plotted, the real marvel is the beautifully drawn characters, who are realized with tremendous depth. Ruta skillfully sketches the complexities and struggles of single motherhood, especially as it relates to financial precarity and the importance of cultivating joy and community. A perfectly charming and complex ode to mothers and found families. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
