Fortunately, a lovely woman named Ember Ryan has created a company for just such a need and she is hired to be Thorne's bio-security guard, traveling with him on his summer tour to keep him protected. However, close quarters during travel and the after-concert partying lead to romance, and soon Thorne and Ember are falling in love. But everything grinds to a halt when a very pregnant young woman named Quinn corners them in Thorne's favorite coffee shop, stating she believes he is going to be a dad, despite his protests that he has never met her. So much for his DNA's security, and you better believe he is blaming Ember for this.
Quinn Corrigan doesn't come from much, but she's found that she can provide immense joy to potential parents in being a surrogate for them. She has just given birth to a child for a pair of gay dads and she's trying to decide which clients she'll take on next when she meets a handsome man named Robert at the summer concert of her favorite artist, Trace Thorne. Robert and Quinn immediately bond over their mutual love for Thorne's music and they become fast friends where Quinn discovers that Robert's husband, Evan, died last year in a car accident. Despite the fact that they have only recently met, Robert reveals that he and Evan had Selected a baby girl's embryo and he asks Quinn to be his surrogate. She immediately agrees, excited at cutting out the red tape and fees of a clinic, and Robert will even pay double, which is no problem since he's a super wealthy crypto guy. Everything is perfect, including maternity shopping sprees, pampering spa sessions and lounging in Robert's Bel Air mansion by the pool. However, things are not quite what they seem.
Lily Thompson and Radia Chaudry both have fellowships at Vanguard Magazine working for Editor-in-Chief, Shane Hart, in the hopes of snagging the one coveted job that will be available once their fellowship is over. Radia is a beautiful and brilliant athlete who is most definitely Selected, and is probably an Elite, one of a rare group of near-perfect specimens. Meanwhile, Lily hides an embarrassing secret - she is an "Unforeseen" which means she was made the very socially irresponsible and old-fashioned way, while her parents were on vacation in Hawaii. Her mother spent the first 10 years of Lily's life in prison when she killed an intruder with a ghost gun, but despite Lily's questions, both of her parents are tight-lipped about the subject. When her mom and dad announce that they have decided to get pregnant, Lily feels like her mother is trying for a do-over with a more perfect child and it stings. So much so, that when Lily is invited to the clinic on Selection Day, she blurts out her mother's past history in prison, causing the clinic to disqualify her parents. While Lily's parents move on to another clinic, without disclosing this to her, she regrets what she did, but also finds herself in need of a good pitch at work, if she has any hope of getting the job. Clinic discrimination such as what her mother experienced is music to Shane Hart's ears, but only if she can get the story.
Lily's mother is adamant she won't be interviewed and doesn't want to open old wounds, but Hart (not knowing the subject is Lily's mom) says she can run with the story as long as the subject's past can be unequivocally verified, so Lily is off to verify her mom's story via her prison records and her Aunt Winnie, her mom's best friend back in California. When this results in more roadblocks (the prison records are sealed and so are Aunt Winnie's lips), Lily faces humiliation at the next pitch meeting, but Radia suggests they team up to write a story about Gen Gamma's Selected unsealing their records and the potential fallout. How can Lily keep her secret about being an Unforeseen? As the health department states when a Selected goes to view their records and those of the embryos their parents didn't select, there are things you can't unsee or unlearn and Lily might find out the hard way.
So, I've been intentionally vague with this review, while still trying to give you a decent overview of this insanely brilliant plot. It leads you one way, then another, only to abruptly take you somewhere else. It surprised me in the best way all the way to the end, while still feeling incredibly current. Covid and various vaccines are mentioned, as well as hot button issues like abortion and genetics, naturally, so if you don't want to read about these topics, this isn't the book for you. That being said, I absolutely tore through this book and loved every minute of it. Kira Peikoff is a gifted writer, but she also writes about scientific topics effortlessly due to her background. As a nerd, I felt right at home reading this, but I also don't think she gets bogged down in the science so much that it might alienate someone who isn't. There are a lot of characters to keep straight in the beginning and the chapters are written from each person's perspective, but don't worry. It all comes together artfully in the end. Highly, highly recommended.
