I absolutely loved every second of this. Anyone who knows me knows the level of relatability was off the charts. I mean, the title made that obvious, but then there were references to a New Kids first concert, Justin Timberlake, Savannah, Macon, anxiety, putting on a brave face.

All that aside, this is a story that is somehow hilarious, tragic, heartwarming, and hopeful all at once. It shows us that life is going to throw some really bad stuff at us, stuff we can’t prepare for, plan for, or expect. But then it shows us that doesn’t have to make us. Navigating those moments is what we all have to do. And that is okay. And we will be okay.

I will be picking up anything Carolyn Prusa writes from this point forward.

I recommend this book to anyone who needs to laugh, to feel, to be immersed in a story. Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the advanced copy.

(Actual: 3.75⭐️, rounded up) This book was actually quite the surprise— I came for the quirky title, sure, but I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this one as much as I did. And I’ll be honest— this book is kinda chaotic lol. But don’t get me wrong, I kinda loved it? It also works here in this instance. There’s a lot *literally* going on in this book, and a lot of topics to tackle (both light and heavy in tone). …. And yet, I think Prusa did a pretty good job at balancing & devoting enough time to each of these things so that none of them felt too rushed or like an afterthought. I personally found Ramona to be SO RELATABLE as a character and I think that a lot of others will feel the same as well. I think that…. on some level anyway, we all know or have experienced what it’s like to feel (or be) under-appreciated or under-valued, despite us genuinely giving it our all. And as we get older, it’s also easy to look back & fall victim to wondering “How the hell did I get *here*?” Ultimately though, this book is very hopeful & uplifting above all else, and I’d definitely read more from the author in the future!

I really enjoyed this book.

For one, it made me feel like I was in a hurricane and I had to remind myself that I’m not.

For two, it’s a beautiful story of when life goes off track and how to bring it back. Or try to.

It was an enjoyable read, and I definitely recommend it.

An ARC was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Fans of Maria Semple will likely enjoy the prose and set-up of Carolyn Prusa's debut novel. Prusa's lead, Ramona, is a great encapsulation of a mother of two young ones just....trying to do her best in the face of many trials (exploitative job, unhelpful and cheating husband, really terrible kids, and an impending Category 4 hurricane). I enjoyed this book, but I also found every character (minus her neighbor Bailey and delightful gay college friend Christopher) incredibly frustrating. To ignore a mandatory evacuation warning is really hard to get past, especially when you throw non-consenting kids into the mix. I also found it dragging a bit in the middle--lots of thought tangents that didn't really matter too much. It's a cute book! But it's a bit forgettable and also made me never want to have kids...ever. The Prince tie-in wasn't really necessary, more add and stir than fully part of the plot.

This was such a fun read! I absolutely loved Ramona and was super invested in everything that happened in the book. I think the flashbacks interspersed with the present day chaos of trying to get ahead of a hurricane worked really well in giving you a sense of who Ramona is and how she's trying to re-discover herself in a way. I'm still laughing at the class guinea pig named Clarence Thomas,

Five stars - I can't wait to read more from Carolyn Prusa!

I expected a modern ROM com based on the cover but this was an authentic look at marriage and motherhood. It did have me giggling at times, and as a huge Prince fan, I appreciated the commentary on his various videos and performances. I wanted a more satisfying end, but that probably would've felt less authentic.

Ramona is navigating a cheating husband, two inquisitive kids, a hipster boss, a flighty mother, and a massive hurricane headed her way. As she decides to evacuate Savannah or not, she must deal with these cast of characters and her mixed feelings. If only Prince would still have been alive to guide her decisions.

I loved the title of this book and the plotline. It was billed as a comp to Maria Semple, and it was a little like Where Did You Go Bernadette (which I loved). Some of the main characters' thoughts on kids, husbands, bosses, and mothers were spot on and humorous, but I found myself wanting a bit more. Overall, I liked this book but wanted more Prince references and less cheating husband. I also found the ending very lacking.

This book was good enough, but with somewhat failed potential. Prusa will be an author to watch as I suspect she will get better and better.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review.

A storm is coming.

While Ramona is living her mom life in Savannah, the news is all saying the same thing. There is a hurricane coming, and people should be prepared. Around her, people are talking about evacuating. Ramona hasn’t decided yet if she’s leaving or if she will just hunker down at home and try to ride the storm out. She needs to talk to her husband Desmond to see what he thinks. She’ll have to pick up her son Alex from school. But first, she has to pick up her toddler daughter Nanette from her babysitter, because her babysitter has decided to evacuate, and she wants to leave right away.

Ramona is at work when she gets that call, and she is reluctant to leave, as the company she works for talks about being family friendly but still wants her in the office as much as possible. She hopes her boss won’t notice if she sneaks away to pick up Nanette. But when she gets her toddler home, Ramona can’t help but notice the woman standing in her kitchen. Another mother from Alex’s school, she thinks, but she can’t remember her son’s name. And then her husband walks out in his underwear, and Ramona realizes what is going on. Beside the storm. Beside the struggle with the potty-training. Beside the boss who doesn’t understand her.

There is a Category Four hurricane coming at them, and her husband has been having an affair.

And Ramona has to decide what to do about all of it. And about her mother, who lives on the water in an older house and who refuses to evacuate without her cat and dog. And about Alex’s class pet, a guinea pig named Clarence Thomas, who gets to come home with Alex for the long stormy weekend. And about Bailey, the teenager who lives next door and who volunteered to help Ramona stash her backyard furniture in the shed, and who seems to have nowhere to go and no one to care for him at the moment.

Meanwhile, her mind keeps flashing from the present to the past, to the good memories of her and Desmond, and the bad memories, and her memories of the day that Prince died. He had been a significant part of her self-image, and then he was gone, and she’s felt lost ever since. But she doesn’t feel like she can stop and put herself back together again, not with this storm coming. Right now, she just has to survive the storms. Then maybe she can take a breath and find her own purple rain.

None of This Would Have Happened If Prince Were Alive is a tribute to mothers everywhere who have to carry the emotional burden of a family with a partner who isn’t paying attention to what’s going on. This funny and smart debut novel looks at the struggle of today’s complicated life and the women who let pieces of themselves get away while they take care of everyone else. Author Carolyn Prusa reminds readers of the small joys of life and art and friendships and music in between all the things that need to be dealt with, whether a hurricane is coming at them or not.

I am a big fan of humorous novels of modern life, and this definitely hit me on that level. But this one also spoke to me on a deeper level, in that place where life carves out chunks of you as time goes by but leaves things in its wake—beautiful sunsets, old friends, good music, kindnesses. None of This Would Have Happened If Prince Were Alive is filled with compassion and warmth as well as lightning and thunder. And while I never dressed up as Prince for Halloween, I do still have to stop and sing every time I hear “Raspberry Beret,” so his legacy lives on for me too. This is a very special story for those needing a pick-me-up as this year closes out. Highly recommended.

Egalleys for None of This Would Have Happened If Prince Were Alive were provided by Atria Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.

This was a fun read (and poignant at times too). Take a working mother with an unfaithful husband and a hurricane emerging on the scene and you get a funny and relatable story of a woman just trying to keep it all together in typical sandwich generation fashion - -having to drive back in the storm to pick up her mother who refuses to budge and dealing with two toddlers and a guinea pig named Clarence Thomas. She is also trying to work (zoom call from the car, a clueless and obviously childless boss who insists she come in the office, etc.) Prince is referenced throughout and it works well as a thread in the story. I enjoyed going along for the ride!
I recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was really sweet a fun and an excellent surprise for someone like me who is really hesitant about this type of women’s fiction.

This is a clever premise for a book (one part chick lit comedy, one part redemption story, one part natural disaster adventure). The whole Prince thing doesn’t really land but it’s also not especially essential to the plot.

Here we have a great heroine, a solid cast of side characters, and a madcap adventure with a sweet and uplifting ending. I appreciate that the book largely stays away from romantic tropes and doesn’t get too sappy, though I wish there had been less gross mommy stuff, which always feels cringe to me.

But the character dynamics in this are excellent (particularly between the protagonist and the neighbor kid, her boss, and her mother, and a lot of the humor is genuinely excellent. I love the “trying to outrun the storm/trying to outrun your life” juxtaposition, and the ability of the author to allow characters to work through emotions and life events without too much angst or maudlin and saccharine stuff.

Ramona’s got a bratty boss, a toddler teetering through toilet training, a critical mom who doesn’t mind sharing, and oops—a cheating husband. The book follows the 48 hours that follow after Ramona finds her husband cheating and a category 4 hurricane his hitting her town.

For any Prince lovers this book is sprinkled with odes to Prince and his music. The character is relatable and I loved her personality. check this one out.
4⭐️
Publication date November 22, 2022

“𝔇𝔢𝔞𝔯𝔩𝔶 𝔟𝔢𝔩𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔡. 𝔚𝔢 𝔞𝔯𝔢 𝔤𝔞𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔡 𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔢 𝔱𝔬𝔡𝔞𝔶 𝔱𝔬 𝔤𝔢𝔱 𝔱𝔥𝔯𝔬𝔲𝔤𝔥 𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔰 𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔠𝔞𝔩𝔩𝔢𝔡 𝔩𝔦𝔣𝔢.”

Ramona’s life is in a tailspin. Dig, if you will, the picture. Taking care of two young kids, worrying about her abandoned teenage neighbor and stubborn mother, and juggling her boss’s imposing demands are just a few of her woes. Roberta also just found out her husband is having an affair. Oh and all of the above is happening while a category four hurricane is literally spinning straight for her house in Savannah.

Talk about going crazy.

Now Roberta is in a race against time to get her family out of the eye of the hurricane before it makes landfall. But as she attempts to navigate the treacherous roads, she is forced to avoid life’s literal pitfalls as well.

Despite its stressful subject matter, None of This Would Have Happened If Prince Were Alive is surprisingly funny. References to Prince might seem random at first, but really they are just symbolic of a time when Roberta’s life was less complicated, I.e. 1999. Weaving the past and the present, we get to see the decisions that got Roberta to where she is today. While it served as kooky lot device, I will say journeying BACK into the eye of a hurricane with her children (and someone else’s child) in tow, is questionable at best. Then again if she hasn’t gone back, this wouldn’t be the entertaining story that it is.

I tried with this book, but it wasn't what I was expecting. Honestly, the writing style is great and the story seems funny, but I don't like stories where thing after thing goes wrong for the main character. Also, I'm not a mother and can't relate to this woman's problems I decided to quit while I was ahead because I didn't want to waste my time with a book I wasn't enjoying. I can understand why other people would like this, but I just didn't.

DNF at 12%

I received an e-arc of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

This is a hilariously adventurous novel set during a hurricane in Savannah, GA during a tumultuous and possibly life altering time for Ramona. She is pulled in so many different directions between raising her children, her job with a boss that seems to only care about work and not people or their families, her mother that refuses to evacuate her home on the water during said hurricane, and then finds out during a impromptu trip home with her daughter that her husband is having an affair with Sarah Ellen, the mother of one of her sons classmates. This novel takes you on an adventure with trying to evacuate Savannah during an mandatory evacuation only to get out successfully and then willingly go back for Gigi, Ramona's mother. There's so much in between all of that, that it will have you laughing out loud.
The only downfall was that while I don't need an ending wrapped up in a pretty little bow, I did want more of Ramona and Des's story. I felt that the ending was a little rushed at the very end and not as much depth as it could have had. I do still recommend reading this book for the laughs though.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a solid debut. I found the mom life moments funny and utterly relatable!! The Prince/80s throwback nostalgia was delightful too. Recommended for fans of Camille Pagan or Laurie Gelman's Class mom series. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review! (Amazing purple cover too!!)

4.5 stars

A lot can happen in forty-eight hours, but Ramona simply rolls with the punches. First, she comes home early to discover her husband is having an affair. Then a Category Four hurricane forces her to evacuate her home with her children in tow, one of whom is potty training and the other who has to bring home the class pet, a guinea pig named Clarence Thomas. On top of that, she now has her teenage neighbor tagging along and has to convince her stubborn mother to evacuate with them. Car troubles, a demanding boss, police check points, and some intense weather conditions are just the tip of the iceberg. But reminiscing about Prince songs seems to be the only thing that keeps Ramona sane through all of the chaos.

This was such a funny and relatable debut novel! The entire book was a perfect example of the phrase “when it rains, it pours”, and in Ramona’s case, it was a torrential downpour. I’m honestly impressed that Ramona was able to keep it together throughout the whirlwind of events because I would’ve broken down within the first few hours. The witty dialogue hooked me from the get-go and I couldn’t wait to see how this crazy story panned out. Highly recommend, and I can’t wait to read more from Ms. Prusa!

*Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing a copy of this book to review.*

4.5 ⭐️ OUT NOW!

Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced eCopy in exchange for a review.
Sweet baby, Jesus, this book was a riot!! I desperately needed some laughs, and this definitely delivered🙌🏻 (many times over!!)

This debut Mom-Com is straight from a GenX mother herself. Not exactly a dual timeline, the story flips back and forth to explain where the story is now. It was full of 80’s and 90s nostalgia, and was perfectly paired with our protagonist’s life through 2016. Set in Savannah during a hurricane, you have elements of our country’s recent past, including her believing Hillary was going to win, her mother, who spoke like a Floridian, who loves Trump… and other elements in a child’s world, that you can relate to if you’re a parent (Thomas the Tank Engine alarm clock, Baby Shark, LOTS of potty training reinforcements, 😂etc.) You DO have a cheating husband, but over the course of the book you see her working over emotions she hadn’t dealt with before. We do see growth, albeit over 2 days…and we don’t have a “shown-HEA” that makes it unbelievable— so I loved that!

For those who generally stay away from cheating tropes, I wouldn’t rule this out. It’s more amusing than anything else. I really enjoyed it!

From the very start of Carolyn Prusa's NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF PRINCE WERE ALIVE, I was captivated by the exceptionally complex juggling act managed by Ramona, not always well and smoothly, but always with love and spirit. Epic challenges collide: she catches her husband cheating on her AND a hurricane is headed directly for their home in Savannah. Managing small children, a stubborn mother denying the powerful storm, an insane boss while.....it is a full, raucous, wild ride and I enjoyed every minute, not knowing nor caring what happened next, trusting in Ramona to find her way through. I received a copy of this book and these opinions are my own unbiased thoughts.

None of This Would Have Happened if Prince Were Here is a charming debut that nails what it’s like to be an overworked, under-appreciated, and exhausted working mom. Ramona was so relatable and I loved how wonderfully human and flawed she was. She is not the perfect mother with the perfect life and I loved how real she felt.

Carolyn Prusa did a great job tackling issues like work place discrimination, gender roles, and infidelity. The witty, sarcastic humor and observations from Ramona were great.

This was an uplifting and hopeful book about life, motherhood, marriage, and doing the best we can. Fans of Finlay Donovan or a strong, female protagonist who doesn’t have it all figured out should check out this delightful debut!

I wanted to read this book just based on the title, and WOW! I ended up loving it. It had elements of Where'd You Go, Bernadette, another great read. I fell in love with Ramona and her crew, as she tried to do the right thing while reeling from the trauma of her husband cheating. The book captured the dilemma and guilt all working moms feel. The Prince music and references made it all that much more wonderful!