The Unplanned Life of Josie is the perfect mix of a second chance romance and found family story. While in the process of divorcing her cheating husband she finds herself pregnant and alone. After moving back home she runs into two high school friends who offer to let her come live with them and the three of them make a pact to get their lives together.

I loved the characters in the novel. I loved that even though Josie hadn’t seen Kevin and Ben for over 10 years, they were quickly able to fall back into an easy friendship. I thought the banter between the 3 friends was witty and felt realistic for good friends. I loved how supportive of friends Ben and Kevin were. The characters were well developed and the side characters in the book were great additions to the plot.

The story was a bit predictable but it was still very enjoyable.

Overall, I liked the narrator. When I first started listening I thought she talked a little slow for my liking so I listened at 1.25 speed and really enjoyed it at that speed.

Overall, I really enjoyed this and its a 4.5 for me!

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an advanced audio of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Oh how I wanted to love Josie Hale!

A woman whose life falls apart when she least expects it. How does she make it through? With the help of some dear friends. I loved the friendships between Josie and her best guy friends and how they were immediately able to pick up where they left off after so many years. For me that was the best part of this novel. Sadly, I also kind of felt like the characters were quite immature for their age. I think had I read this I might have liked it more, but the narrator didn't quite do it for me. While it missed the mark for me, I will check out this author's future reads as I think this book held promise.

Oh my goodness, this book was just the cutest! I was hooked right from the start and did not want to put it down. I really enjoyed this lighthearted story of self discovery and friendship.

I loved the friendship in this book and the second chance romance. Three childhood friends reunite in their 30s and make a pact to help get their lives back together. I enjoyed all the characters and seeing where their lives were going to take them. Normally, I am not a fan of the pregnancy trope, but I felt like it worked well in this book. Overall, if you’re looking for a fun and quick read, I highly recommend checking this one out!

Thank you Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved The Unplanned Life of Josie Hale. Josie reminded me of myself during the adoption of my daughter and when I was pregnant with my son.

Josie is a character I would want as a friend. She is loyal, thoughtful and fun.

This book kind of reminded me of the movie 3 men and a baby. Could you see yourself moving back in with highschool friends let alone a crush?!

This was a feel good story and I suggest you grab this Rom-Com now!!

Check out my bookstagram review @heathersbookaddiction

The Unplanned Life of Josie Hale was just okay for me. I enjoyed the narrator even though she was playing both male and female parts and I usually don’t enjoy that.
My favourite part of this book was the aspects of found, unconventional family. It felt more like a story of friendship, rather than romance. I enjoyed the banter between the friends, and while it felt immature at times, I also understood that Josie, Ben and Kevin had the high school connection and could fall back to those jokes and habits.
I didn’t really understand the plot line of Josie’s parents needing to downsize, when they admitted they had previously held off, but they can’t now that their daughter is pregnant? And I didn’t like self deprecating pregnancy talk.
Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the digital ARC.

i absolutely loved this novel! i listened to the audiobook version of “josie hale” and i thought the narrator did a really great job of impersonating all the characters. i could recognize each voice even without the context of the story, which also has to do with the wonderfully developed, fun descriptions by the author. all the characters felt down-to-earth and easy to talk to. i’m a total sucker for stories that center around found family and “josie hale” fits the bill! i love how it also centers around determination, friendships, and motherhood. it definitely gave me the same vibes as “after happily ever after” by leslie a. rasmussen because both leading females have to figure out a way to work up from rock-bottom.

josie is the star of this novel but i couldn’t help falling equally in love for the two wingmen! kevin and ben are two big teddy bears and i absolutely loved how they were constantly looking out for josie. the trio’s friendship reminded me of “the wedding season” by katy birchall. we all need a kevin and ben in our lives! if this were ever made into a movie, i’d be laughing and crying alongside josie; i thought this was a beautifully written, yet light and funny story and it’d be so interesting to see a sequel 5+ years from now

Really cute! It's a bit slow in the middle but the last fourth is great. I love the friendships in this.

Thanks Netgalley for this audiobook!

I love, love, loved this book. Was it a bit predictable? Yes, but that didn't make it any less enjoyable. The pregnancy, second chance romance, found family tropes were spot on. The dialogue felt real, which made it easy to connect to the characters. As an emergency c-section mama to two - this really hit home and had me crying and rejoicing with the characters. Life doesn't always go as you plan.. but it can still turn out beautiful. 5 stars - highly recommend! Thank you to Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for the ARC audio of this book!

The Unplanned Life of Josie Hale is described as a second-chance romance with one’s high school crush. However, it can equally be described as a Found Family story.

Josie finds herself alone and pregnant after leaving her husband who cheated on her. While she’s excited about the baby, her future looks precarious at best. She heads to her hometown, meets up with two high school friends, and the three of them make a pact to get their lives together.

“Three old friends thrown together with terrible relationship histories, crap jobs, a life pact, and loads of pregnancy hormones. It sounded more like a pitch for a sitcom than a real life possibility.”

The banter among the characters was witty and enjoyable. The characters were well developed and endearing. My only critique really is that they seemed a bit immature for their age.

“Yesterday she was a 30-year-old damsel in distress. Today she’s a college frat boy.”

This story is an endearing one that ends exactly as you suspect, but you will enjoy the ride along the way!

Thank you to NetGalley for this very cute ALC!

I enjoyed the idea of this one... However I never really grew to like any of the characters, the narration seemed largely under-enthusiastic. Overall I think it will be a fun summer read for most, but it missed the mark for me.

4.5 stars. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC! I loved it! It wasn't quite a 5 star for me but it was thoroughly entertaining and ticked a lot of boxes for me-- pregnancy, found family, foodie elements, and more! This book is about Josie Hale. She and her husband are having a hard time and then she discovers him cheating. This was after a last ditch effort at connecting physically, so she's even more hurt. She finds herself pregnant and alone with a massive craving for a corndog so she goes down to the county fair and runs into 2 old guy friends from high school. One was a best friend and one was her big crush. They live together now and invite Josie to live with them. She's currently living with her parents and not loving it so she jumps on the offer. Cheap rent and they make a pact to all try to get their lives together. Kevin is the best friend and Ben is the crush. Ben has an 11 year old daughter from a fling and he has her every couple of weeks and its tense to say the least. But when Josie moves in the daughter starts enjoying herself a little more and she and Ben bond. Josie and Ben also re-explore their friendship and I loved it. I just LOVED how protective these 2 guys were of Josie and her unborn baby. The friendship/found family was so sweet and I just loved this book. Prepare to get hungry though!

I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked up this audiobook, but I was pleasantly surprised. The Unplanned Life of Josie Hale is a heartwarming story of a found family, a trope that I absolutely love. The characters were so loveable and unique and well-formed that it was hard not to root for them.

I also loved the small details of this story. The dialogue felt very real, which made the dynamics between all the characters feel real as well. I also loved the fun chapter titles. This book made me laugh and it made me tear up. It was the perfect read that I needed at this time: a lighthearted reminder that sometimes, life doesn't always go as planned, but there will always be people who support you and ways that your life can go right.

The narrator also did a great job with this book and made the characters feel so real and vibrant.

This book grabbed me from the first minute. I was so enchanted by the off-beat story. It of course has the sweet rom-com tropes (we all love them), but this had so much else going on. I love that there are genuine and deep platonic cross-gender friendships, you don’t seek that as much as I would like in books. I highly recommend it!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a review copy of ‘The Unplanned Life of Josie Hale’ by Stephanie Eding. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is exactly the kind of book I was in the mood to read. I love when that works out! I flew through this one. I will absolutely pick up the next book by Stephanie Eding as there were so many funny moments and phrasings.

Josie’s moved back home after leaving her cheating ex. Craving carnival food, she runs into some high school friends. As thirty somethings, none of them have their lives together and they offer Josie a place to stay and a pact to improve their lives. I was initially a little worried about this as I feared Josie would end up having to mother the others but all of them got to be disasters. No one was expected to parent the others or be the leader. I really liked how they pushed each other to improve even when things were hard. I also really liked the fun chapter titles. This does read more Women’s Fiction versus romance. I love the term “momcom” but I wouldn’t have minded a little more romance.

My main issue with the story was Josie is trying to get her life together for herself and her baby but she wouldn’t put her mother in her place. I was waiting for that moment when Josie would stand up for herself but it didn’t really come. Josie’s mother meddled in Josie’s painful divorce, her medical appointments, and decisions about the baby. I was so frustrated with her and I wish Josie had stepped up as it was her first pregnancy not her mother’s pregnancy.

Overall I enjoyed this story and look forward to the author’s next book.

4/5 stars

When you’re 30 and your life is upside down and you want to be a better person, obviously the best course of action is to move in with your high school friends and make a pact over corn dogs.

The Unplanned Life of Josie Hale was adorable and heartwarming. Really, my biggest problem with the book was that it wasn’t titled “The Corn Dog Pact” instead and I felt like that was a big missed opportunity.

If you’re looking for a charming books of relationships, growth, and finding happiness where you are, this one is a joy to listen to. I’ll be waiting patiently for the author’s next book.

Thanks to the publisher and #netgalley for an audiobook arc of this book!

This book made me hungry!! Josie Hale is pregnant, recently separated from her cheating husband and seeks solace at the fair in the way of a corn dog. As luck would have it she runs into her high school friends Kevin and Ben. While catching up the three discover that their lives are all kind of a mess. Circumstances give them the opportunity to move in together. The friends support each other—with a lot of comfort food, as well as sharing their setbacks and goals. They make a pact to be in a better place within a year. Add to the mix Josie had a secret crush on Ben all through High School,

Cute story of friendship, family and love—-and lots of food. 😆

3.5 stars

Josie is pregnant and alone.
Her husband has cheated on her she has no money. No job. And her parents have essentially kicked her out (what??)
Craving some comfort food she goes to the County fair when she runs into some of her old high school friends - Kevin and former crush Ben.
When the boys ask Josie to move in with them what choice does she have? Again because her parents … kicked their pregnant daughter out of their house.

Let’s dissect.
What parent would leave their pregnant daughter homeless so they can downsize? So right off the bat I was thrown.

The relationship Josie had with Kevin and Ben felt so immature. I’m not sure if it was the dialogue or the constant mention of beanbag chairs, but I found myself rolling my eyes a lot.

This book went from total mess to neat little bow, and I don’t think life is like that. Felt very unrealistic to me.

This story was a great example of how life goes. Things don’t always work out like you plan. Sometimes you get the short end of the stick. Sometimes things are better than planned. I loved the characters and wanted to have them as my best friends. I will be looking for more books by this author.

I really liked the narrator on this audiobook. The story itself was good. I enjoyed the characters and the writing. At times I felt that I day dreamed off thinking of other things and I had to rewind a bit to see what I missed. But overall a solid 3 star read!

Josie Hale finds herself in a conundrum when she discovers her husband has been cheating on her and now she's single, and pregnant. Good thing she runs into two friends, Ben and Kevin, at the county fair while attempting to fulfill all of her fried food cravings. They invite her to live with them and together embark upon the Corn Dog pact to help turn their lives around.

Unfortunately, this book was fairly meh for me. I did however really enjoy the narrator! Oftentimes, I find female narrators get on my nerves when attempting to change their voice to come across as one of the male characters and I did not find that problem with this book.

There wasn't anything really wrong with it, I just also didn't find anything super outstanding about it either. I'm sorry, I know that isn't very helpful but it's how I felt about the book.