The Good Parts: Building the Family You Choose

Released July 28, 2026, The Good Parts by Evann Normandin is a heartwarming and heartbreaking novel that captures the indescribable feeling of magic that comes from finding your people. Normandin weaves a devastatingly beautiful story about the families we are born into and the families we build — and the courage it takes to recognize which is which.

The Found Family ROI

Normandin identifies the "belonging premium" — the profound emotional return that comes from consciously choosing the people who will hold your story. In a 2026 world where traditional family structures are increasingly fluid, The Good Parts is a love letter to the communities that carry us through. The novel's interweaving of sci-fi elements with deeply human questions about love and connection has drawn comparisons to the best of genre-bending literary fiction.

Lessons for Modern Families:

• Chosen Kinship: The radical act of building a family not from obligation but from love.
• Heartbreak as Portal: How loss and rupture create the conditions for deeper connection.
• Community as Survival: The economic and emotional reality that no family survives alone.

The ChildCost Verdict

The Good Parts is a stunning debut that belongs on every shelf. Normandin reminds us that family is not a noun — it is a verb, an ongoing act of showing up, choosing, and building the world we want our children to inherit.