Early Review: Unexpecting by Jen Bailey

 Unexpecting

by Jen Bailey

YA, LGBTQ  Romance

Wednesday Books

Scheduled release: 8/22/23

🍂  5 stars out of 5  🍂

“Sometimes doing the necessary thing, even when you’d rather do anything else, is the right thing to do.”

You know those books that just get better and better as you go along? This is one of those books. The premise was enough to hook me, the plot hit the ground running on page one, the characters completely had me wrapped around their fingers, and the emotional stakes just increased with every page turn. By the 70-80% mark, I was in tears. I really loved this one. 

Ben is the sweetest kid. He’s 16 and an excellent student, super smart, responsible, a hard worker, but now he’s struggling to make sense of his life now that he’s found out he got his friend pregnant. He’s also gay. So there’s a bit of angst and drama but Ben ends up learning a lot of important lessons with the help of his amazing support system of family and friends. 

Ben has grown up with a revolving door of stepdads. His own father died before he was born so he’s determined to raise his child and be the father he never had. But the baby’s mother wants to give it up for adoption. Ben is willing to put in the work to make this single-parenting arrangement happen - including getting a job and attending parenting classes - but as he becomes more and more overwhelmed, he slowly learns how much he must sacrifice and how much dedication parenthood will require.

My heart truly broke for Ben. I wanted him to not have to go through such pain and anguish. I wanted him to be able to enjoy what time he has left being a kid and not have to sacrifice the promising future he’d worked so hard to make possible for himself. And his heart is always in the right place which makes it all the more difficult to watch him struggling to come to terms with what has to be done. I was so proud of him too for listening to all the advice he was given, learning from his mistakes, and realizing that what he wanted wasn’t necessarily the right way to go. 

One thing that stood out to me was that you don’t often see a teen pregnancy told from the father’s point of view. Jen Bailey handles this extremely well as it could have easily been a #notallmen / MRA / anti-woman message but it wasn’t (thankfully). In fact, Ben learns that he needs to make more of an effort to understand the baby’s mother’s experience and to ask himself why he’s doing what he’s doing. Part of his journey in this book is centered on him growing up and learning to put others’ needs before his own desires when necessary. I applaud Bailey on the careful and thoughtful way she navigated these tricky topics. 

And again, like with the last book I read, I suspect Ben is neurodivergent, likely on the autism spectrum. He admits to struggling with picking up nuances in conversation, is awkward in social situations, and exhibits rigid thinking, among other things. He even acknowledges knowing his whole life that he’s “different” from everybody else. I appreciate the subtlety Bailey used in conveying these elements of Ben’s character. They were never shown as obstacles or portrayed as negative. Props to the author for handling this aspect of her character so beautifully. 

I enjoyed this so much. I would absolutely recommend Unexpecting for anyone of any age. It’s categorized as YA and the marketing compares it to Juno (which is a very apt comparison. If you liked Juno, you’re sure to enjoy this) but it’s a story for all ages, relatable and heartfelt, and highlights many very important things along the way. It’s a beautiful story and will fill your heart with all the best feelings.

🍂  🍂  🍂  🍂  🍂

Many thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for providing the digital ARC.