3.5 Stars

Far From the Tree essentially does what its trying to do, but it wasn't as effective as it could have been for me. I don't have any personal experience with adoption or the foster system so maybe I was having trouble connecting to the situation, but I've felt emotionally invested in books about characters that are different than me before. I think my lack of emotional involvement might be caused by the feeling that I've read contemporary books about characters similar to these ones and I've seen them executed better. The writing kept me reading, but sometimes felt forced to me. The ending helped give more depth to the story and was satisfying, which is why this got 3.5 instead of 3 stars. I can see how this could be a valuable story for people who are connected to adoption, but it wasn't anything special for me.