I liked the concept and the presentation was beautiful, but the content sometimes felt contrived. For instance, the USA description didn't ring true to my experience at all, and the overgeneralizations often distracted from the message.

Most of the concluding setups felt inevitable - we knew who would end up together, etc. - but it was still mostly enjoyable to see how they got there. I liked the look into the friendship between the protagonist and her childhood bestie as they navigated being at different schools.

This book was so well-written and paced. The setting and the characters felt real but also dream-like, somehow - you could picture this happening, but it was also very contained in its world. No extraneous people to make the world wider than it was (which was the point). 

I thought this was a fascinating concept that was well-executed overall. It felt very true to what little of LA I know. Some of the flashbacks felt unnecessary. The parents felt a little too vague to be real people - they seemed like props for the protagonist's life.

I loved how honest this book felt. The characters had realistic reactions to situations. The side characters were sometimes a little bit too conveniently available to help watch kids/dogs, but maybe that was the point. I LOVED how all the kids had separate personalities that felt real.

I'd heard many of these concepts before, but it was still a quick read with some good reminders.

I wanted to like this book more than I did - I found the violent descriptions overly brutal when really I wanted more detail of the world. Most of the places felt like abstract names. Many characters felt like props for the main character's anger.

To be honest, I thought this was fully a memoir, not a cookbook, and I was surprised when I picked it up from the library. I found Barrymore's writing to be poignantly authentic, even though I'm not interested in vegan recipes.

I thought this was really well done because I was interested in both the biological and the adoptive parent stories as well as the daughter. The fun musical theater side plots were engaging with real-feeling friendships. 

Very compelling and well-written, though I wish we heard more of the moms' perspectives too.