Thank you Netgalley for this ARC!

I will be honest when I say the first thing that caught my attention with this book was the title and bright cover. I liked that it was a light read and I would recommend to anyone in a reading slump. The book takes place over 48 hours but has flashbacks so you learn more about where Ramona, our main character is coming from. I love novels that do this because it usually means a lot is happening in that short amount of time and I enjoy that.

I don't want to do any spoilers but the story is basically Ramona trying to evacuate due to a hurricane all the while her life has a lot of chaos happening in it.

I have never read a book before By Carolyn Prusa but I look forward to reading more from her!

It took me a while to get around to reading this because I felt I needed to be in the right headspace. And I was right - I would have enjoyed this less if I was really in the mood for light and fluffy, which I have been lately.

This is fun, and there is definitely some levity, but it is also full of difficult truths. I really enjoyed how very relatable Ramona's reactions to her situations were, even if I am not a mum. She is *struggling* with the chaos piled on top of regular level of parenthood chaos.

Lots of great characters. And things aren't neatly tidied up in the end. Appreciate that.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

A category 4 storm is bearing down on Savannah, literally and figuratively. Literally - a hurricane threatening to wipe Savannah off the map. Figuratively - a cheating husband, a millennial boss that does not get a working mother having to "do it all", and a mom with a secret, well, several.

As Ramona tries to get her kids, a kid from the neighborhood, and the class pet out of Savannah to safety, the check engine light will not go out. Add to that, a boss who is consistently contacting her for updates on the ad campaign, a husband constantly trying to explain what happened, the woman from the affair trying to explain, and her mom - not fleeing to safety - she is staying. After Ramona reaches the safety of her BFF's house in Atlanta, she decides to go back to Savannah to get her mom to safety. The book continues with the drama of trying to reach the mom safely and dealing with her job and cheating husband.

I found the FMC relatable, but the overall writing style and structure difficult to follow. The inner dialogue and narration was almost written as a stream of consciousness and seemed as “word vomit”. The timeline jumps back and forth as she reflects on her life. Her husband was easy to hate with his cliché excuses but still hard to fathom how dumb he is to think things would just click back to normal after he was found. I would have liked to be given the conclusion of the would they won’t they just for the piece of mind.

Following the aftermath of finding out she had a cheating husband, and taking place while evacuating during a major storm, this book is a whirlwind of action. I compare it to Finlay Donovan is Killing It in terms of tone and snark. It's light while it tackles heavy topics, and doesn't get too deep into the feelings of the things happening at our main character. I enjoyed the pacing and the humor and loved that the length wasn't overwhelming. The relationships were interesting and made sense. A great beach read, for sure!

This tale of a frazzled mom facing her husband's infidelity and a major hurricane could have been a downer, but Carolyn Prusa's witty writing makes it laugh-out-loud funny, as well as poignant. Set in 2016, it really captures the chaotic feel of that year, when we lost Prince and so much more.

Ramona’s life seems to take the phrase “when it rains, it pours” to a new extreme – in this case, it comes in the form of a Category Four hurricane in the midst of all her other issues.

With a boss with no concept of work-life balance, a toddler struggling through potty training, and an over-sharer for a mother, Ramona already has her plate full when she discovers her husband cheating on her with one of the mom’s from her son’s elementary school. At this point, Hurricane Matthew seems to be the least of her troubles.

As the storm nears Savannah, Ramona makes the decision to evacuate with her two young children, but picks up two unlikely companions along the way: Bailey, a neighborhood teenager left home alone, and Clarence Thomas, the class guinea pig left in her son’s charge for the weekend.

What follows is a difficult yet humorous attempt to evacuate town, with the constant looming of not only the storm on the horizon, but her minivan’s check engine light’s constant glow. Avoiding apology texts and calls from her husband and his mistress while also worrying about her mother, Ramona remembers the days when her life was like a Prince song, and longs for a time before he died, when none of this would’ve happened.

As a main character, Ramona isn’t entirely likeable – she doesn’t fall into the “perfect” mold that a lot of main characters might fall into, and at times can be frustrating; it is in her flaws that the ability for the reader to relate to her shines through. Carolyn Prusa deftly toes the line in creating a character that shows the realities of dealing with life as it hurdles at us, rather than painting the picture perfect solutions usually found in fiction, creating the leading lady we didn’t know we needed until now.

This was cute. I liked Ramona a lot and how she handled everything. She was a little quirky but it worked for her personality. The last 2/3 of the book when she went back to get her mom from the hurricane with all her kids really lost me and it started going downhill from there for me. So much happened in that time span and also she put her kids back into the eye of a hurricane which made me so mad, not to mention she also had the neighbor boy. And her mom wanting the neighbor boy to live with her at the end? It just was so random. Overall cute but I’ll Probably forget about it pretty soon after reading.

Ramona is a hard working, under appreciate, over worked women. She's trying to juggle a job (where she is not treated fairly), a cheating husband, and a mother who is just over the top. Now let's just add a category 4 hurricane, and we've got a true hot mess. I think Ramona as a character can be relatable, especially how much she does and how under appreciated she is. The take home message was just do the best you can. Thank you for NetGalley for providing me with a copy to review.

I thought this was relatable and entertaining- a book to read if you want a warm hug! Exactly what I want from a summer book.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this book.

At first, I really enjoyed this book. I liked the plot and as someone who enjoys music, really liked the connection to Prince. However, as the book went along, I just found myself growing less interested.

None of This Would Have Happened If Prince Were Alive by Carolyn Prusa. Pub Date: November 22, 2022. Rating: 2 stars. When I read the synopsis of this novel, I was intrigued by the premise of a woman in the middle of a category four hurricane who is just trying to keep her and her family's life together. Honestly I really wanted to love this one and I did not. I felt it was a train wreck, dry writing and kind of all over the place with emotions, the characters were unlikeable and I thought the kids were awful as well. Also, I thought there would be more connections to Prince due to the title but there were not. This novel was a miss for me. Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review. My opinions are my own. #netgalley

A relatable story about a mom who doesn't have it all together. An excellent genre in itself.

Ramona is having a bad day. She's got marriage problems, work problems, and challenges as a mom. So naturally there's a category four hurricane on the way.

This is light, funny reading. I liked Ramona and found her incredibly relatable, even as an unmarried woman without children.

Definitely give this one a read!

This was just so so for me. I had a hard time sitting down to read it, but I enjoyed enough to finish because I was interested in finding out the ending.

A funny, smart, heart warming read. I’d recommend to anyone. I really enjoyed the characters and the way the plot moved by time

Very well written with moments of humor.

Unfortunately I didn’t find this as engaging as I originally thought I would.

In this book we follow a stressed mother as she tries to navigate the chaos of evacuating ahead of a category 4 hurricane as her life seemingly comes crashing down around her. The writing in this book is chaotic, sometimes in a good way and sometimes not. The character growth is largely lacking, and many of the problems that Ramona stresses about have solutions that are so simple that it draws you out of the story. Put a diaper on your kid and go girl.

It’s a short read with lots of humour added in, but it’s not quite what was promised.

I found this book to be a uch a funny and relatable read. I will definitely be recommending it to others.

While hurricane season is officially June first through November thirtieth, those of us who live near the water know the biggest danger is late August through mid-September. Since I live 10 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, at the end of every summer I’m drawn to hurricane stories like manatees are drawn to warm water. And while None of This Would Have Happened if Prince Were Alive is a comedy, the tension from the storms is always very real.

For the complete review, click on the link below.

While I love books about the complexities of motherhood, this book missed the mark for me- mainly because I didn't like the writing style, and also I felt that the jumping around the timeline took away from the pacing of the main hurricane evacuation and philandering husband plot. It was too distracting and disappointing when it would cut away.

I am DNFing at about 50%