Inconvenient Daughter

As an adoptee myself, I found it difficult to believe how clueless she was about why her bio mother gave her up for adoption.

The writer continues to show surprising level of lack of insight and compassion throughout with no redeeming insights straight through to the end. Disappointing because it Seemed like there was possibility for protagonist to grow

Depressing. A good story but a hard one. Could have done without

Sharkey dives into rich themes, sharing her unique perspective on transracial adoption. However, the book isn’t without flaws. It reads like a memoir rather than fiction, and the dialogue does much of the expository heavy lifting. Often, too much attention is given to unimportant details, like lengthy descriptions characters doing everyday tasks.

an immaculate look into the intersection of adoption and mother-daughter dynamics affect a person later in life.

Excellent book on the intricacies of adoption, belonging and being whole. Parenthood, especially motherhood, is very complicated and this book explores that and adds the complexity of adoption to the mix.

This was a difficult audiobook to listen to and is not for anyone uncomfortable with raw language and sexual themes. The story is a compelling drama of a young girl who seeks acceptance in the only way she could think of despite the reality that she already had what she longed for.

It was giving mid at its best. If this was YA, I’d throw this book under the bus. But this wasn’t, I reckon. I’m so angry with the main character but who is a teenager that’s not annoying most of the time?

A little bit funny, but also very dark. A great story.

Ok but not brilliant but the plot a little predictable

So very worth reading. Teen coming of age novel with a new perspective. I’m in tears hearing an audiobook that sounds like mine: A story with the first few pages/months missing.

Loved it, I could relate to the mother/daughter struggles as well as the self worth.

This was a very relatable book. Very sad and yet entertaining.

I disliked the story for many reasons & didn’t understand what the author was trying to convey. The adoptive parents were selfless, loving people who would were highly supportive of their daughter & did everything they could to help her succeed. The adoptive daughter, on the other hand, was extremely dislikable & and self absorbed brat who continued to make unbelievably terrible decisions. It was difficult to feel sorry for her when she was surrounded by such a loving family who would have done anything in world for her. This book was a big disappointment.

Unbelievable! Rowan is a woman everybody knows but doesn’t. So many topics could read it 100 times and still find something new.

The experience of listening to The Inconvenient Daughter was a beautifully agonizing blend of feeling shocked at the lead, Rowan, and her string of horrible decisions for years but also a twinge of relatability and guilt at being too quick to judge. This book makes us realize that everyone has their own story and life is unfair and human beings don't always behave rationally, even when they have the capacity to do so. It touches the delicate subject of a complicated mother-daughter relationship and does complete justice to portray it as the difficult and helpless situation that it is. Later on in the novel, it makes the reader ponder upon the psychological consequences of domestic violence, and why women choose to stay in abusive relationships to the point of no-return. The most important subject in the book, the feeling of never being good enough, for your parents, for a friend, for a man, and constantly finding solace in numbing the guilt and shame out altogether - the relatability of the content is phenomenal. Loved the book because it made me feel all the right emotions at the right places.

I was hooked on the 1st chapter. It was a fun and thought provoking story.

An interesting adoption saga from an adoptees prospective that has different thoughts that a biological Family member would not think of. The detail was good but she goes from age 24 to 30 without too much detail at all compared to what the rest of the book offers.

Good character development. The story is believable and painful. Throughout the story, I knew why Rowen was making the choices she was. I am disappointed that the author did not choose to develop the recovery side of this story. The end was too neat, easy, and simplistic.

Man, this book broke my heart! An ‘Inconvenient Daughter’ is told in first person in a stream of consciousness style. The protagonist, Rowan Kelly, details important events in her life that have lead up to her being in a hospital following a traumatic encounter. She was adopted from Korea as a baby by white parents in Long Island, New York. The story follows her emotional struggles with being surrendered for adoption and increasing tension with her mother, whom she views as controlling. Rowan’s lack of self-worth grows and she begins to seek approval and affection outwardly, continuously picking the wrong partners. I was sobbing at some of these encounters. It takes her more than five years to begin to heal and understand she is worthy. I appreciated the redemption aspect of the story, but I wanted more. I was so rooting for her relationship with her mother. The story ends abruptly, but you are left with hope for their relationship.

Wow. So raw and honest. Short and impactful. The protagonist POV helped me understand my Korean adopted roommate from university.

I found this book to be very interesting – until the end. I felt like the ending was rushed and lacking. It’s a shame, because she had a lot going for the story up until then. My recommendation – the author should revisit the book and revise the ending to be more substantial and fitting to end and otherwise good story.

It’s a book about a girl growing up, it’s nothing special. Maybe it would appeal to people who can relate to it more than me.

I got approximate 15mins into this before the disability slurs started. Shocking to find the r word in books published so recently. Do better.

Sad in the best ways possible. A story I wish more young women would read (adopted or not) we are all worthy of love no matter who doesn’t see it :)

Terribly boring. Kept jumping from past to present with no fluidity.

While Sharkey attempts to circle the adopted child-parent narrative, what’s instead put forth is an account of a spoiled child and her whining about not getting enough attention from boys. It’s written at high-school level, both in mindset and writing ability. The protagonist lacks any real depth and staves off any character development like it’s the plague. I don’t know how this ever got published. Possibly just to help increase visibility, but it remains lacking in the one area it’s supposed to promote.

This book was horribly boring not a good read at all

This is a story of a messed up teenager who was adopted and has low self-esteem. Sad

This one had me missing my bus stop & crying in public. I’m grateful the author was so willing to share their story and be so vulnerable in their writing.