The best books on women's struggles with reproduction issues

Why am I passionate about this?

Although I have never been faced with an unwanted pregnancy, I lived through an era when women did not have easy choices available to them. Abortions were illegal while there was also tremendous stigma attached to those who choose to give their babies up for adoption or even decided to raise their babies without a male involved. Many times, the family of origin refused to support these women, turning their back on them. Most often, the men were not held accountable and disappeared with no further responsibilities.


I wrote...

Family of the Heart

By Kay Watkins,

Book cover of Family of the Heart

What is my book about?

Family of the Heart weaves adventures and challenges the main character faces at a young age when she finds herself pregnant and must make a difficult decision. The characters are offbeat, unusual, and intriguing. Fall in love with their stories through letters, personal trials, and escapades.

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Honeysuckle Season

Kay Watkins Why did I love this book?

The characters in Mary Ellen Taylor’s book are compelling, challenging, and even sad as they are trapped by society’s expectations of them. The main characters are at the sacrifice of the men who are supposed to take care of them. Their struggles in life are unique to women and not easily overcome.

By Mary Ellen Taylor,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Honeysuckle Season as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An Amazon Charts Bestseller.

From bestselling author Mary Ellen Taylor comes a story about profound loss, hard truths, and an overgrown greenhouse full of old secrets.

Adrift in the wake of her father's death, a failed marriage, and multiple miscarriages, Libby McKenzie feels truly alone. Though her new life as a wedding photographer provides a semblance of purpose, it's also a distraction from her profound pain.

When asked to photograph a wedding at the historic Woodmont estate, Libby meets the owner, Elaine Grant. Hoping to open Woodmont to the public, Elaine has employed young widower Colton Reese to help restore…


Book cover of The Lost Child of Philomena Lee: A Mother, Her Son and a Fifty Year Search

Kay Watkins Why did I love this book?

Although I converted to Catholicism as a young mother, I had no idea this torture was undertaken in the 1940s by Irish Catholic nuns and priests who took in young teens (or younger) women who found themselves pregnant. They sold the babies to rich Americans while simultaneously making the young women work off the debt they were told they incurred from their imprisonment. The environment was hostile, unsympathetic, and heartbreaking.

By Martin Sixsmith,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Lost Child of Philomena Lee as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

When she fell pregnant as a teenager in Ireland in 1952, Philomena Lee was sent to the convent at Roscrea in Co. Tipperary to be looked after as a fallen woman. She cared for her baby for three years until the Church took him from her and sold him, like countless others, to America for adoption. Coerced into signing a document promising never to attempt to see her child again, she nonetheless spent the next fifty years secretly searching for him, unaware that he was searching for her from across the Atlantic.

Philomena's son, renamed Michael Hess, grew up to…


Book cover of More Harm Than Good

Kay Watkins Why did I love this book?

This series deeply involves an Irish family during World War II. A young woman finds herself in love with the town gentry but when she discovers she is pregnant, the young man’s father convinces him that she is a whore, a loose woman, and not solely in love with him. She goes to a family friend’s home in Wales to have the baby and finds herself in love with the son of the family, a Jewish doctor who immigrates to her home and serves as the town doctor. There are many complications and prejudices to overcome in this moving tale.

By Jean Grainger,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked More Harm Than Good as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Kilteegan Bridge, Ireland 1974

For each member of the O’Sullivan family there are turbulent times ahead.

Eli’s need to do his best for his patients is a cause for a bitter divide in the community. Emmet seems hell bent on going down a path in life his parents dread but they’re unable to stop him. Jack’s life and liberty are in grave peril as his secret faces exposure, while Emily’s troubles are, it seems only just beginning with the return of someone she would much rather had disappeared forever. And Maria must decide, is blood really thicker than water, and…


Book cover of Holidays on the Ranch

Kay Watkins Why did I love this book?

A young woman, Callie finds herself needing to stay at Finn’s ranch as her nephew needs protective custody having witnessed a violent murder. Rather than going into Witness Protection she finds solace and help with the man she served in Afghanistan with (he a sniper; her, his spotter). As they fall in love now that they are not restricted by their career in the Army, they expand the family, aiding the woman who sold Finn the ranch, making a home for Callie’s nephew and three siblings he befriends at school who are trapped in the foster care system. Family is at the heart of this book as Callie and Finn fall deeply in love, overcoming their fears and anxieties when it comes to trusting and committing to someone in a deep, fulfilling relationship.

By Carolyn Brown,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Holidays on the Ranch as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A long-standing feud, an unlikely love story, and New York Times bestselling author Carolyn Brown's Texas twang make for a lively Christmas romance at the ranch! Perfect for fans looking for their next Christmas classic:Romance between old friendsLots of hot cowboy lovin'Characters that jump off the pageWacky, small-town neighborsAuthentic Southern voice and inimitable sassOut of the army and looking for some peace and quiet this Christmas, former sniper Finn O'Donnell heads to the sleepy town of Burnt Boot, Texas. But Finn hasn't spent even one night at his new ranch when an army SUV pulls into the driveway and a…


Book cover of The Weed Lady

Kay Watkins Why did I love this book?

This is a story of friendships between four women who are from outside appearances very different. Over the course of the book, one passes away from natural causes from old age while two fall in love. One of the ladies who falls in love decides to get pregnant without telling the other. Complications ensue and the friendships are challenged.

By Shea R. Embry,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Weed Lady as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Jesi's obsession with a woman she doesn't know takes over her life. She alienates everyone she loves until realizing that if she didn't make a change she would lose them all forever. Her solution is found after a couple glasses of Jack Daniels and her decision will change the lives of all of them, Jesi, Nicole, Rachael, Jules, George, and the woman of her obsession, The Weed Lady. In genuine Jesi style, she takes them all on a journey that is fully energized leaving never a dull moment as her every move sometimes surprises even herself. 





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Returning to Eden

By Rebecca Hartt,

Book cover of Returning to Eden

Rebecca Hartt Author Of Rising From Ashes

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Idealistic Storyteller Teacher Mother Seeker

Rebecca's 3 favorite reads in 2023

What is my book about?

Looking for clean romantic suspense with spiritual undertones?

Look no further than the Acts of Valor series by Rebecca Hartt. With thousands of reviews and 4.7-5.0 stars per book, this 6-book series is a must-read for readers searching for memorable, well-told stories by an award-winning author.

A dead man stands on her doorstep.

When the Navy wrote off her MIA husband as dead, Eden came to terms with being a widow. But now, her Navy SEAL husband is staring her in the face. Eden knows she should be over-the-moon, but she isn’t.

Diagnosed with PTSD and amnesia, Navy SEAL Jonah Mills has no recollection of their fractured marriage, no memory of Eden nor her fourteen-year-old daughter. Still, he feels a connection to both.

Unfit for active duty and assigned to therapy, Jonah knows he has work to do and relies on God, who sustained him during captivity, to heal his mind, body, and hopefully his family.

But as the memories lurking in his wife's haunted eyes and behind his daughter's uncertain smile begin to return to him, Jonah makes another discovery. There is treachery in the highest ranks of his Team, treachery that not only threatens him but places his new-found family in its crosshairs.

Returning to Eden

By Rebecca Hartt,

What is this book about?

Presumed Dead, Navy SEAL Returns Without Memory of His Ordeal in the Christian Romantic Suspense, Returning to Eden, by Rebecca Hartt

-- Present Day, Virginia Beach, Virginia --

A dead man stands at Eden Mills' door.

Declared MIA a year prior, the Navy wrote him off as dead. Now, Eden's husband, Navy SEAL Jonah Mills has returned after three years to disrupt her tranquility. Diagnosed with PTSD and amnesia, he has no recollection of their marriage or their fourteen-year-old step-daughter. Still, Eden accepts her obligation to nurse Jonah back to health while secretly longing to regain her freedom, despite the…


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