Review: The Farm by Joanne Ramos

The Farm

by Joanne Ramos

Publisher: Random House

Pages: 327

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Nestled in the Hudson Valley is a sumptuous retreat boasting every amenity: organic meals, private fitness trainers, daily massages—and all of it for free. In fact, you get paid big money—more than you've ever dreamed of—to spend a few seasons in this luxurious locale. The catch? For nine months, you belong to the Farm. You cannot leave the grounds; your every move is monitored. Your former life will seem a world away as you dedicate yourself to the all-consuming task of producing the perfect baby for your überwealthy clients.

Jane, an immigrant from the Philippines and a struggling single mother, is thrilled to make it through the highly competitive Host selection process at the Farm. But now pregnant, fragile, consumed with worry for her own young daughter's well-being, Jane grows desperate to reconnect with her life outside. Yet she cannot leave the Farm or she will lose the life-changing fee she'll receive on delivery—or worse.

Kritters Thoughts:  From reading the synopsis, I thought this book was going to be a little dystopian with The Farm being the new way that women have babies, but it wasn't as dystopian feeling as I wanted it to be.  Instead it was a weird take on surrogacy that kept me feeling icky the whole time.  

Jane is an immigrant and after a disastrous time as a nanny she finds herself in desperate need for a job.  Her cousin refers her to The Farm where she will go and live and become a surrogate for a wealthy person who is unable for one reason or another to carry her own child - all expenses paid but this will take her away from her home and her own child.  Jane agrees and she ends up in dormitory living with other surrogates and things get weird!  

This was an interesting concept for a book and for most of it it worked.  There were some moments were I was shaking my head not understanding the reasoning for one scene or another, but overall it worked.  

I didn't love this book as much as I thought I would because of my previous comment that I was hoping for a good dystopian feel.  For the life of me, can't remember exactly how dystopia I was imagining, but I had preconceived thoughts and it didn't quite rise to it.  I would read another by this author because the characters were interesting and wanting to know where they would end up kept me reading until the end.  


Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Ebook 2019 Challenge: 31 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Random House.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.