None of This Would Have Happened If Prince Were Alive is a humorous book about a certain, relatively brief period in every married mother’s life, amplified up to eleven.

Ramona is having an epically bad day. First, a hurricane is approaching and strangely that is not the worst news. After picking up her small children from their closing schools and hurrying home, Ramona finds her husband sleeping with another woman. She must also deal with her younger boss who just doesn’t understand her responsibilities, her aging mother, and potty training with no bathroom in sight. Whoa! Alexander’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day is looking better in comparison.

So, what does that have to do with Prince? Not much. Ramona is a Prince fan. When he died, it hit her hard. She looks back at her carefree single life with nostalgic longing.

I so wanted to love None of This Would Have Happened If Prince Were Alive, but I didn’t. However, I think I’ve just been away from this time in my life for too long. If you are a young mother now, this will probably be a hoot. 3 stars.

Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.

Ramona has 2 small children, a full time job, a husband who is not helpful, and is facing an incoming hurricane. The reader is following along with the 13,000 different things Ramona is thinking about in her head all with a Prince soundtrack thrumming in the background. While this has been suggested for those who enjoy Marie Semple, I would offer that the themes are more similar to Laurie Gelman's Class Mom series. I could sympathize pretty much the whole way as Ramona tried to save her children (plus a random neighbor teen), deal with her clueless boss, and philandering husband. She lost me a bit at one point and I'm still not sure why the author chose that particular path; however, overall this was an offbeat, humorous look at all the things a working mom has to juggle day, even before a hurricane hits, mixed with some nice 80s-90s musical nostalgia.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for a copy of the book. This review is my own opinion.

None of This Would Have Happened If Prince Were Alive is an entertaining but honest look into the life of the contemporary working mother. Ramona, like so many of us, has so many responsibilities that she is just trying to make it through each day by keeping the kids alive and healthy and keeping her boss happy so she doesn't lose her job. While trying to be everything to everyone, she loses herself along the way. Ramona and her husband don't have the same time for each other that they used to at the beginning of the relationship, and they begin to grow apart. Unfortunately for Ramona, this led to a cheating husband.
While trying to evacuate for hurricane Matthew, Ramona also manages to take on a class pet and a neighbor's kid, further displaying her need to be the perfect mom and fear of failing in that department. The chaos that ensues mirrors her inner turmoil about her cheating husband, and causes her to reflect on her life and how she got here from the free, fun-loving, creative artist she used to be in college.
The flashbacks do a good job of helping readers understand where Ramona is coming from, since the story takes place over 48 hours. Ramona goes through some good personal growth, although I was a bit disappointed by the ending.
Overall I enjoyed this book. It may be a "light read," but it is still an honest look into the lives of many of today's working mothers. I would recommend it to anyone who feels like they may be able to relate to Ramona's plight. You do not have to be a Prince fan to enjoy this book, but if you are you will enjoy the references.
Thank you to Netgalley and Atria books for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review!

This book was fantastic. The Prince references were spot on and made me absolutely grin with delight, especially when they were ones I didn't fully expect.

Ramona's life has become a disaster in just a short span of 48 hours. A hurricane is coming and her husband has been having an affair - cue emotional hurricane. What else could possibly go wrong? Oh right, needing to evacuate your family (and the class pet) while trying to convince your mother to get to safety as well.

There were several moments where I sat back and reflected as I read this book, lucky for me I have yet to experience many of the things that Ramona has had to. It was such a unique debut book and I cannot wait to see what Carolyn Prusa will come out with next!

As a wife and a mother, I found it very easy to relate to Ramona's situation. When we were younger, many of us thought we would be the cool adult, and then we became the adult in charge and had to be responsible over cool. Then one day, we wake up and find ourselves wondering who we are and how we got there.

Ramona has a job she likes and feels successful doing. Except she's feeling a bit stressed by her boss and that she's one of only two women in her workplace. Ramona has two kids, one of which she is in the process of potty training. Her husband is a contractor, and her mom is stubborn and refuses to listen to reason. Ramona looks around her and wonders how she got into the situation she finds herself in.

If you've read and enjoyed Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple, you will also enjoy this book. This book is also perfect for anyone who feels like they've lost themselves along the way.

Carolyn Prusa's quick, witty, and very readable realistic fiction is perfect for wives and mothers out there looking for a character who embodies the frustrations of the 21st century woman. To say Ramona is going through a lot is an understatement. Faced with a flawed husband who is at the same time a loving father and partner, found in the middle of an affair with another mom from his son's school; two children who are anything from perfect yet are perfect for her; her own mother who is stubborn yet a fierce protector; and friends who are both ride-or-dies and practical about life, family, and marriage. In the midst of her marriage being upended by the hurricane that is finding her husband and his mistress in the middle of her kitchen, Ramona also has to deal with a literal hurricane hitting her town. While evading both Hurricane Matthew and the fallout that is now her marriage, Ramona embarks on a journey both to safety and to what it means to be a family. The realism, sarcastic humor, and comedy or errors that life can throw one's way, I would recommend this realistic fiction to any woman who has their own family that can seem like a blessing and a curse all at once.

Read this if:

❤️‍🩹 You are always trying so hard, doing your best, giving it your all
❤️‍🩹 But nobody gives a shit
❤️‍🩹 You are at a crossroads in life
❤️‍🩹 You've asked yourself, 'How the hell did I get here?'
❤️‍🩹 You constantly wonder what if you'd made different choices

A delightful debut that nails what it's like to be an overworked, under-appreciated and perpetually exhausted working mom! Ramona was such a realistic, relatable and flawed protagonist. I seriously just love how wonderfully human she was (her husband though 🙄).

The author did a great job in tackling issues such as workplace discrimination, gender double standards and bosses you just want to punch in the face. I love the wry humor and the chaos of it all. And you can bet there's a lot of that, with a cheating husband, two overexcited kids and a Category 4 hurricane on the way.

I was left kinda unsatisfied by some of the character arcs but that's just me being greedy because I wanted to hear so much more from all of them. My Asian upbringing also feels that Ramona coddles her children way too much but went overboard with her mother.

It bugged me how flippant the book was about people being clearly irresponsible e.g. refusing to comply with a mandatory evacuation, and don't even get me started on the guinea pig. But I will.

Poor Clarence Thomas! His cage is clearly all wrong for him if it's small enough to be carried by one adult (my hamsters all live in larger enclosures), why is he using a glass bottle in a classroom of toddlers (and what happened after it broke?), he's probably super stressed from all the traveling but no one bats an eyelid, guinea pigs are social creatures who should not be housed alone, and more importantly: Class pets are horrible and irresponsible.

Quibbles aside, this was an uplifting and hopeful book about living, just doing the best we can each day, and simply being human ❤️

Read this book if you like: Funny books, pure chaos, light reads

It's 2016. A category four hurricane is about to hit Savannah just as Ramona finds out her husband is cheating on her. She also has to deal with her horrible boss, a toddler going through potty training, and so much more. In the next forty-eight hours she’ll add a neighborhood child and the class guinea pig named Clarence Thomas to her entourage as she struggles to evacuate town.

Ignoring the persistent glow of her minivan’s check engine light, Ramona navigates police check points, bathroom emergencies, demands from her boss, and torrential downpours while fielding calls and apology texts from her cheating husband. She is longing for the days when her life was like a Prince song, full of sexy creativity and joy.

The title immediately caught my eye. So creative! I live on the FL/GA border so hurricane season is a big part of my year. This was accurate about hurricanes, prep, evacuation, etc. This book was funny. The characters are realistic. I didn't find Ramona or even a few others to be likeable so I struggled a bit with that. I liked the story. I recommend this one!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and Atria Books for the gifted e-book! ❤️

This story was a funny read but not something that will stay with me for very long. Light reading, really. Ramona has a day that brings new meaning to “when it rains, it pours.” A hurricane is bearing down, her husband is a cheating pig, his mistress wants to chat, her kids don’t know what it going on, and it’s here turn to take care of the class guinea pig. As I was reading, it all felt very familiar. There were some fun looks into the past, and not so fun. Overall, it was good. Not great.

Ramona is not having a good week…pressure at work, an impending hurricane, and then her world is turned upside down when she goes home to prepare to evacuate before the hurricane’s arrival. Along with her two kids, she sets out to survive this hurricane and, just maybe, figure out the rest of her life. This was so funny at times, and I had trouble putting the book down! Really enjoyed this one!

Sometimes chaos is what you need to get the life you want. Although I’m sure Ramona would have liked to have dealt with one thing at a time but that isn’t life. I loved the Prince references sprinkled through the novel.

It's 2016. Prince is dead, there's a Category 4 hurricane headed for Savannah, and Ramona just found out her husband is having an affair with Botox Barbie. Don't even get me started on her job, Clarence Thomas, or the teenage neighbor. I absolutely loved this book! The characters are real, flawed, (mostly) likable. I can identify with Ramona, working married mom being pulled in 15 directions every day, When life kicks her, she still manages to keep it together and take care of what's really important. This is a debut novel, and I'll be looking out for more from the author.

None of This Would Have Happened if Prince Were Alive follows Ramona as her relatively stable life as a working mother and wife implodes over the course of 48 hours. A cheating husband, two young kids and a teenage neighbor, a stubborn mother, a hipster boss with unrealistic expectations, and multiple pets including a guinea pig named Clarence Thomas are only a few of the things she's currently responsible for...and also, this is all happening in the midst of a literal hurricane.

I came to this book for the title, but I stayed for Ramona. She won me over on the very first page; she's instantly likable and relatable, a true representation of every working mother trying to be and do everything for everyone, while also trying not to lose herself in the process.

Carolyn Prusa's writing style is engaging and conversational, at turns hilarious and poignant, and this is a book that perfectly balances the humorous with the bittersweet. There were passages that had me laughing out loud, while other moments made me catch my breath at a particularly thoughtful, relatable observation.

None of This Would Have Happened if Prince Were Alive perfectly captures the chaos of working motherhood and the complexities of marriage, and it does so with humor, heart, and more than a few Prince lyrics. Definitely recommended for women who are just trying to "get through this thing called life."

Taking place over the course of a few days and interspersed with flashbacks, this story is a snapshot of motherhood, relationships, and natural disaster. As a hurricane approaches Savannah, Georgia, Ramona figures she should probably prepare and/or evacuate — though she’s also got the concerning state of her marriage to worry about. As Ramona and her rag-tag group of kids (two hers, one not), pets (none hers), her mom, friends, and neighbors weather the storm, she reflects on her life, her relationships, and Prince, wondering how best to move forward. This book is funny and sweet and full of emotion, perfect for fans of Abbi Waxman or Maria Semple.

Notes: there were elements that could’ve been more developed (or left out), and the Prince references came out of the texture a bit sometimes, but overall this is a pretty good slice-of-life story

While preparing for the arrival of a hurricane, harried mom Ramona discovered her husband with his mistress. Needless to say, it was just one more thing Ramona had to deal with. This was one of those funny books about something that isn’t funny. The action in this story revolved around the hurricane, the evacuation, and whatnot, but during this process, Ramona spent a lot of time reflecting on her feelings about her husband and her marriage. I felt her emotions build along with storm and enjoyed the way they ramped up simultaneously. But this book was about more than Ramona’s marriage woes.

It was filled with emotional as well as amusing and madcap moments, but at its heart, this was a story of a woman trying to figure out where she went. Ramona became a mother and a wife and seemed to lose pieces of herself along the way. The struggle of mothers trying to do it all, trying to be it all, for everyone in their life was explored was another topic explored, and I think many would be able to relate to this part of Ramona’s story. She weathered a personal and physical storm during this book, and it was an interesting, and often amusing, journey.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster/Atria Books for gifting me a digital ARC of the debut novel by Carolyn Prusa - 4.5 stars rounded up!

A Category 4 hurricane is heading right towards Savannah, Georgia, and that isn't even the worst of Ramona's issues. Over the next 48 hours, we go along for a crazy ride as she navigates her life - including a cheating husband, a demanding boss, a stubborn mom, and being responsible for two young kids and a stray neighbor, along with an assortment of animals.

This book was just pure entertainment and I laughed out loud more times than is polite to mention. Please don't tell me how serious all these issues are - they are! - but this book just makes you smile! It's so relatable and just so much fun - don't miss this!

I requested this book solely because of the title, not really knowing what the book was about and if it was my sort of jam. Well, it’s women’s contemporary fiction (even though it’s set in 2016), and for the most part, it is a book for me. Ramona is 38, is married with two young kids, working for a bonehead boss, a mother who won’t listen to her daughter, and oh, yeah, a hurricane is headed their way. What happens in the next 48 hours is what makes up the bulk of the book.

I don’t read “chick lit” often, but this book made me reconsider that. It’s well-written; I could tell it was when I kept getting frustrated at Ramona’s actions or reactions to events. She’s got a horrible husband whom she just caught cheating on her with a mom from her son’s school. For the most part, her reactions to this and how she deals with her husband are realistic. What’s not realistic is that after 48 hours of drama, she seems so willing to forget and forgive him, which to me didn’t make sense after all she’d been through. It didn’t match the character arc at all.

Having been the world’s worst potty trainer myself, I sympathized with Ramona’s plight with her daughter, in the midst of a hurricane, dealing with potty training with an unwilling participant. Her daughter is three, which some people might consider old enough to use the potty, but trust me when I say that each kid is different and two of my kids were four when they finally got potty trained.

I don’t know what I’d do if I lived in hurricane country, but as a rule, I’m prepared for any sort of emergency, which Ramona is not, and that drove me a little nuts. You’re talking to a woman who lives with a large bomb shelter stockpiled with non-perishable food and water, emergency road kit for the car, the works. The fact that she’s lived in the south for years and didn’t have any sort of plan didn’t ring true to me. Then again, on another level, it did. She’s a working mom who just struggles to get through the day, so perhaps I could cut her some slack.

If I worked for Ramona’s boss, Kenneth, I would have quit long ago. I mean, there’s a hurricane coming, the government is saying mandatory evacuation, and he’s still wondering and asking why she’s not at work. And then telling her she’s got a zoom call tomorrow. I’m glad she stood up to him in the end; it definitely showed some growth during the short two days the book is based upon.

The Prince references and flashbacks are interspersed throughout the book and add to the story, and I enjoyed them, because I enjoy Prince and grew up with his music. Ramona is a little younger than I am, yet she had the same visceral reaction to Prince that I did. I distinctly remember our summer park program parade and how most of the songs we danced to on our Solid Gold float were from Prince.

Overall, if you enjoy good women’s fiction, you might enjoy this book. You don’t have to be a Prince fan to enjoy the story. This reminds me of a Jennifer Weiner book, which is a good thing.

This was fun and it was well written. The characters felt very authentic, each with their own quirks like real people. I also enjoyed how the timeline was so condensed within the 48 hours of the hurricane. Really cool that she got characterization so down with only that long to show. However, the stream of consciousness sort of style of narration that was going on didn’t quite work for me. I also didn’t really see the point of the flashbacks apart from the one where Prince died. Overall I would recommend this one, though.

As a diehard Prince fan, I got this book based on the title, having no idea what the book was about.

Our story takes place over a 48-hour period of time. Romana is trying to evacuate for a Category 4 hurricane. At the same time, she discovers that her husband is cheating, she has to get her children out too and make sure her mom is safe and deal with work.

It's a lot.

Basically, its chaos. But it perfectly captures the tendency of women to try to do it all when there is no possible way. Romana's story is messy and but she is relatable. So it keeps you interested.

This was a quick read and even though sometimes I just wanted to scream at our main character: GIRL, it was an enjoyable story.

Thank you to NetGalley for the Arc. All opinions are my own.

This is a great premise for a story. This is wonderfully executed. I found this book highly entertaining and enjoyable.