We meet Gemma at sixteen while she’s giving birth, knowing all along she will be giving up her daughter for adoption. A foster kid herself, she would not be able to give the baby the life she deserves. Fast forward eighteen years, Gemma is a history teacher when she learns her new student Katie, bearing very close resemblance to her, is adopted. Gemma believes Katie may be the daughter she gave up.

Overall this was a great story, I liked Gemma and really felt for her struggles. I appreciated the clear shift in POV from the first few chapters when she’s sixteen to later on in her thirties. Gemma shows a lot of growth throughout the whole book, it’s a constant reminder of how far she’s come in life after a fractured childhood and losing contact with her own mother. Then gaining her independence and opening back to people and creating wonderful friendships. The characters make this story and take it to the found family level. It was humorous but realistic. There’s a minor love story woven in there, Karim the PE teacher was just a sweet guy, his encouragement brought out the best in Gemma and I really liked that.

Needless to say, I ended up enjoying this novel a lot, it was heartfelt and a bit emotional. I definitely wasn’t expecting a comfort read but this was just that. I recommend it to anyone looking for a low stakes story with a happy ending.

Thank you to Harper Muse for the review copy.

Title: Statistically Speaking
Author: Debbie Johnson
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️