"We just sat there and watched this family love on this child who they feel very much connected to because it is their child. It is their granddaughter. It is their cousin. It is their niece. It is their daughter. We recognized that something really special is happening that we got to be a part of."

This wasn't our typical book club choice. Usually, we select something that has an adoption storyline like The Waiting, You Carried Me, or To Have and Not to Hold. But this year, we wanted to read something a little different that might resonate with a wider audience.

(Warning: Spoiler ahead...) The Waiting took me on quite an unexpected journey. It is the story of Minka, a 16-year-old child of immigrants who is assaulted in the woods by a stranger while attending a picnic in 1928. She becomes pregnant and is encouraged to place her child for adoption.

The book follows Melissa’s relentless and courageous search for her biological parents and the truth surrounding her birth - and the failed abortion that was intended to take her life.

The title caught my attention, and then Phil Donahue's foreword motivated me to keep turning the pages of Lorri Antosz Benson's memoir To Have and Not to Hold. "What follows on these pages is the flat-out naked true story of a twenty-something female who had it all: good job (ahem, she worked for me), handsome boyfriend, big city romantic evenings, loving parents, and ski-champion good looks..."

(NO SPOILERS) Lion, which is based on a true story, is simultaneously heart-warming and heart-wrenching. Five-year-old Saroo gets lost on a train which takes him thousands of kilometers across India, away from home and family. Saroo must learn to survive alone before being adopted by an Australian couple. Twenty-five years later, he begins to search for his family back in India with the help of Google Earth technology and his memory.

We're kicking off our very own BraveLove Book Club this summer, reading through some classic and not-so classic books about adoption. We want you to know what adoption books are good, practical, poignant, or just great page-turners. Here is our first book and a brief review of what we thought... Note: There are no spoilers in this book club!

(SPOILER ALERT) It's undeniable that adoption storylines are becoming more prevalent in television shows and movies. Some producers do it well, some poorly, and others are improving (progress)! We believe it's important to use media to show the reality of what adoption is today. Why? Because millions of people are watching, and media informs, educates and influences our perceptions, whether we like it or not. So what did we think about Downton Abbey's adoption storyline?

TLC's new TV series Long Lost Family premiered this week (Sundays 10/9C), and we can't stop thinking about it. The documentary series features family members trying to reunite with birthparents, biological families, or children placed for adoption. In the premiere, we watched two different stories unfold...

For all you Mad Men fans out there, last night’s series finale marked the end of an era, according to AMC. (For you non-Mad Men viewers, keep reading this…)