Review: Perfect Match by Jane Moore

Perfect Match by Jane Moore

Publisher: Arrow Books 

Pages: 277 

Format: book 

Buy the Book: Amazon 

Amazon:  Could you choose between your marriage and your child? Just when Karen and Joe Eastman thought they had it all - the perfect marriage and the perfect family - they learn that their young son, Ben, has a terminal illness. The only cure is for them to have a 'designer baby' to provide him with a perfect match bone-marrow transplant. But in the process, a devastating family secret is revealed that not only jeopardises the one hope of their son having a future but also threatens to destroy their marriage...

Kritters Thoughts:  With a tagline - "Could you choose between your marriage and your child?" - you can guarantee that there will be drama and the main character will definitely have a few decisions to make in the book.  Karen Eastman has a child who has a debilitating illness and there are very few options to help him overcome the disease - one being to have a child that is a "perfect match" to allow for a true bone marrow transplant. After tests are run, Karen learns things about her child and her family that will set this family down a very rough road.  At the beginning another storyline of the Health Secretary and his wife's struggle to get pregnant is paralleling  but for a moment the reader is unsure when they will intersect and how it will affect each couple.

I loved that the unknown of the relationships between the two couples wasn't kept secret for too long to allow for more story and less intrigue.  The foundation was laid quick and then the meat of the story hit.  I think the road the characters took felt honest which made for a much better read than if it was too cookie cutter sweet.  The moral questions abound in this book where the reader make take one stance or another and with each side a different reaction to the book may occur - I am not quite sure how I feel about having a second child solely to help the first with an illness that they are battling, it could cause some major sibling issues down the road.

With a little bit of a cliffhanger, I could see these characters reappearing to continue the story.  A great story that may have you asking questions about yourself and what you would do if you were in each of the character's shoes.

Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Off the Shelf 2013 Challenge: 1 out of 30