Times Two: Two Women in Love and the Happy Family They Made [Hardcover]

Kristen Henderson (Author), Sarah Ellis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 5, 2011

TO EVERY GOOD LOVE STORY, THERE IS A TWIST. Times Two is about two women meeting, falling madly in love, and realizing that they are so crazy about each other that they want to have a family together. The fact that they both get pregnant at the exact same time is where things start to get interesting.

Sarah Kate Ellis, a high-powered magazine executive, and Kristen Henderson, a laid-back rock star, decide it’s time to start their family. After determining that Sarah should get pregnant first while Kristen works on her band’s new CD, they head to a fertility doctor to start the process. But after months of drug treatments, miscarriages, and heartbreak, Kristen decides to start trying, too. That’s when the utterly improbable happens: Sarah and Kristen find out that they are both pregnant—and are due three days apart.

Overjoyed by the news that they are both expecting, Sarah and Kristen are also overwhelmed by all that lies ahead. Both have successful, demanding careers. Both have large, close-knit families nearby, including two strongly opinionated mothers who immediately want to be involved with everything. And both are completely clueless about the challenges they’re about to face. They soon realize that none of their previous accomplishments has prepared them for the highs and lows of impending motherhood: not Kristen’s stint touring with The Rolling Stones, nor Sarah’s march up the corporate ladder in the world of women’s magazines.

They go through everything first-time parents-to-be experience—but twice over. They’re producing double the hormones, double the morning sickness, double the cravings, and have double the ups and downs. From the start, Sarah and Kristen think of their babies as twins, each woman carrying half of a set. But for two women who’ve always finished each other’s sentences, they suddenly find themselves on opposite ends of the mothers-to-be spectrum, with different opinions on almost everything. One wants a drug-free birth, while the other wants an epidural at the first sign of a contraction. One is dying to know the baby’s gender, but the other refuses to find out until she hears the baby’s first cry in the delivery room. The difficulties of having two pregnant women under the same roof are multiplied by the legal and social obstacles of being a gay couple. Told from Kristen and Sarah’s insightful and hilarious she said/she said perspective, this touching, modern family adventure will entertain, enlighten, and resonate with readers of all stripes.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This is a tender and touching story of two talented women falling in love and forming a beautifully unconventional family. Readers will be fascinated by their simultaneous pregnancies and dual journeys into motherhood. Times Two offers wonderful perspectives on the joys and challenges of contemporary lesbian life.

--Nanette Gartrell, MD, author of My Answer is NO…if that's okay with you: How Women Can Say No With Confidence

Principal Investigator, US National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study

“Kristen Henderson and Sarah Kate Ellis have written a book so disarmingly funny, touching and readable, that you almost forget it is about all the important issues of our time—women's rights, civil rights, and family rights. The journey of Kristen and her partner, Sarah, in their quest to have a child, seems like Nora Ephron's idea of a script—hilarious at times, frustrating, maddening and, finally, a Hollywood style happy ending. This book captures the political zeitgeist of all the modern families in the country, and shows that, whatever your beliefs and affiliations, the most important component in the make-up of a family is love.” --Cherie Currie, Lead singer of The Runaways and author of Neon Angel

"What was it Tolstoy said? Happy families are all alike? This book proves the great Russian writer was absolutely wrong. Happy families come in all varieties. This funny and touching book is Exhibit A." -- A.J. Jacobs, bestselling author of My Life as an Experiment and The Year of Living Biblically

“Kristen and Sarah somehow make a "slice of life" story of love, career and family into an entertaining page turner… This book helps to carry a movement, a shift in paradigm, that has been a long time coming. I hope Times Two reaches a wide and varied audience of readers so that this truth becomes our new norm: society needs healthy, loving, functioning families regardless of how they are made or how they look.” --Kathy Valentine, bass player and member of The Go-Go's

"A spirited portrait of an unconventional family." --Kirkus Reviews

"Henderson and Ellis present, without breaking a sweat, a compelling case that the kids are alright, and so are the moms. " --Library Journal

About the Author

Kristen Henderson is the founding member and guitarist of the all female rock band Antigone Rising. In 2005 the band was catapulted into the national spotlight when Starbucks and Atlantic Records partnered to release their debut CD, From the Ground Up, in 5000 stores across the country. She is the mother of two and divides her time between Manhattan and Sea Cliff, New York. She is not getting much sleep these days.

 

Sarah Ellis is the head of marketing for Real Simple magazine, and has been a publishing executive for more than a decade, most recently as Creative Services director at Vogue. She is also the mother of two and divides her time between Manhattan and Sea Cliff. She is finding it impossible to keep her house looking Real Simple tidy with two newborns. 

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (April 5, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 143917640X
• ISBN-13: 978-1439176405
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #280,629 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #11 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > Biographies & Memoirs > Lesbian
  • #38 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > Parenting & Families

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it down!! Great Read!!, April 5, 2011

By 

MARK IVY (WEST ISLIP, NY, US) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Times Two: Two Women in Love and the Happy Family They Made (Hardcover)

Times Two is a great read that brings you into the lives of two succesful women who look to make a happy family. The book has everything from laughter, sadness and hope in every page turn. I finished the book the same day I got it, just couldn't put it down. I recommend this to anyone to read. This is a great current story that will reach many lives.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful but Dangerous!, April 6, 2011

By 

Ms. Kay Doyle (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Times Two: Two Women in Love and the Happy Family They Made (Hardcover)

This book should have some sort of warning sticker: Do Not Read in Public Unless You are Totally Okay with Laughing Out Loud or Sobbing In Front of Strangers. I stupidly read this wonderful book on a train filled with strangers and laughed out loud several times (not in a cute giggly way, but more in a horse-snort kind of way) and followed that performance up by unsuccessfully smothering tears in reaction to another portion of the book. This is a great read for anyone struggling with fertility, childbirth and the effects of both on a relationship. I loved it!!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended, March 31, 2011

By 

Tracy M De Marco - See all my reviews

This review is from: Times Two: Two Women in Love and the Happy Family They Made (Hardcover)

An inspiring and candid account of two people in love and the beautiful family that they made. Even though I knew how the book would end I still found myself deeply engrossed with it's contents. An accurate portrayal of the hardships and struggles that go into making an "unconventional" family. The book is humorous in parts, but is also a social commentary on the adversity that gay couples must overcome to start a family. Great read.