I discovered Cara Bastone by listening to her Audible Original novels and loved her ready to love characters and the way her humor shines through in her writing. Ready or Not may not usually have found itself to my TBR but because I’ve laughed my way through a couple of her novels I wanted to give this one a try. I am so glad I did! This was a true friends to lovers slow burn romance. Pre pregnancy, Eve’s life was kind of a hot mess. Her best friend’s goofy older brother Shep became her rock and she wasn’t the only one who saw him become more and more attractive. His faithful friend act was sweet and her growing attraction to him and his obvious feelings for her were a joy to read. And yes! There was some laugh out loud scenes in this novel too.

I think we all have a bit of an Eve inside of us. We feel like our lives are not quite as great as we’d like them to be and aren’t quite certain how to get ourselves over that hump and live our dreams. This made me like Eve so much which made reading this novel so pleasurable. Throw in a hero like Shep who was described as goofy and likable, which at first made me picture a Labradoodle, and then see him slowly transform into leading man material was unexpected and very attractive. I felt all of those mixed emotions with Eve and ate up each detail as it was revealed. I couldn’t find anything to dislike about this novel and plan to spend a credit getting the Audible book so I can experience the magic of Cara Bastone’s writing again.

very fun and cute!! mmc has definite cinnamon roll vibes and hes a big sweetie. i felt the story was a bit bland but overall had a fun time reading

I have so many mixed feelings about Ready or Not. While there were a few things I enjoyed about it, I struggled with quite a bit too.

I actually loved the premise of a woman finding out she’s pregnant following a one night stand and her best friend’s brother stepping up to help her. I liked how the story explored the ups and downs of this life changing surprise as well as the complicated relationships with the people in Eve’s life.

But overall I felt the story dragged a lot (mainly due to excessive internal monologue) and I wasn’t really able to connect to the characters. Honestly most of them frustrated me more than anything. I do however think that Shep was very sweet, genuine, and caring. He was such a great addition to this book and I wish we could’ve seen more of him.

Thank you NetGalley and Dial Press for this ARC.

Thank you to the publisher for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

I'm not normally a huge fan of accidental pregnancies but this one was simply beautiful. RON is a best friend's brother, friends to lovers romance. I swear every chapter hit me right in the feels. The mmc is literally the sweetest ever. I could've cried just reading how caring he is.

My only complaint is that the book ended too soon. I would've loved a few more chapters of everyone happy and together.

I recommend this book for fans of brother's best friend, friends to lovers, accidental pregnancies, sweet and emotional romances, and a million little grand gestures.

This book was everything!! The sweetness of Shep and how much he dropped everything ever for Eve! I melted…turned me into a complete puddle. And I can’t remember the dad’s name but he was as kind as he could be in the situation he was in. And then by the end? Completely redeemed himself. I really shy away from the pregnancy trope because most stories don’t do it right at all but this book nailed it and I ordered a hard copy of it before I had even finished my ARC. Congrats and I’m in love with this five star book!

****I received an Advanced Reader Copy via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ready or Not is a contemporary romance in which we follow Eve as she navigates a surprise pregnancy after a one night stand. I absolutely adored this book. I thought it explored this issue in a very tasteful realistic way. Eves pregnancy was described in a manner that any woman that has ever been pregnant can relate to. The emotions that Eve experienced were also very relatable. The up’s and downs in her relationships with friends and family felt very real. The slow burn romance was so incredibly sweet. I found myself smiling and laughing out loud throughout. I absolutely adored this book. Very well done.

I absolutely loved this book! It was very heart warming but also laugh out loud funny. The character development was really well executed, and I especially loved the dynamic (and healthy) relationships between the characters at the end of the book. This was my first book by this author, but I will definitely be checking out her others.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the ARC!

Oh, this was such a cute read with lots of depth to the characters. All the characters felt like they could be real people in my life. Their reactions to the situation were realistic. The whole story is charming and fun to read. The romance was a slow one ( which I like ), but when it did heat up there were too many details ( which I don't care for ). The ending is everything I wanted it to be.

I had not read Cara Bastone before. She swept me off my feet, so now I am going to have to go back to see what else I want to read by her.

This book was messy and complicated, but I absolutely loved it! I wouldn’t normally be a fan of some of the tropes in this book, but for some reason, I didn’t mind them. Probably because this book was laugh-out-loud funny, so I was willing to overlook haha! I’m a sucker for a good found family, and this book delivered. All of the characters cared for each other so much—it absolutely warmed my heart. I also need to take a second to appreciate this cover—it’s so good!

I devoured this contemporary romance! An unexpected pregnancy, friends to lovers, slow burn romance set in NYC with funny banter and enjoyable side characters. I couldn't put this book down. The way the pregnancy was handled was very realistic and emotional at times. I will definitely be checking out more books from this author.

Eve Hatch is comfortable. She has a job at a conservation organization whose mission she loves, even if her role isn't in the action. She lives in her perfect Brooklyn apartment close to her best friend, Willa, along with Willa's brother Shep who recently moved in with her and her husband after a breakup with his long term girlfriend. Everything is going just as it should - until Eve finds out she got pregnant from a one night stand with a hot bartender a month back, which throws her life into chaos. Eve finds support where she least expects it as she navigates the upcoming birth of a child and tries to reconcile the life she had and the one unfolding in front of her.

This book is simply everything to me. It was so sweet, tender, heartwarming, tear-inducing, and beautiful. I've been a Cara Bastone fan since finding her Audible Original novellas, but this book just took it to another level. I wanted to hug poor Eve as she tried to navigate so much change, shake Willa when she was being a dud best friend, and kiss Shep as he showed Eve such care, unconditional support, and love in so many forms. This book was such a triumph and I've thought about it every day since finishing it over a week ago. RUN DON'T WALK!!!

TW: Mention of deceased parents, infertility

This was a well written slow burn romance! Eve unexpectedly finds herself pregnant after a one night stand. The father has some complications in his life and is of course initially stunned to find out he is going to be a parent. Eve’s best friend becomes distant after hearing the news. The person who Eve comes to rely on is Shep her best friend’s brother and someone she has known forever. As her pregnancy progresses it is interesting to see how each of the character’s matures and steps up to support Eve. I really liked the characters and loved their personal growth. This book is well written and I definitely enjoyed it. Now I need to check out what else this author has written to add to my TBR!

When a one night stand leads to an unplanned pregnancy, Eve is thrown for a loop. With two failed relationships behind her and stagnating in an unfulfilling job, parenthood wasn't exactly part of plan. Add to the mix Eve's best friend (Willa), who was dealing with fertility issues, and her decidedly lukewarm response to the news, plus the revelation that the baby's father (Ethan) had a serious girlfriend... and Eve was left feeling even more conflicted. Enter Shep, Willa's brother and Eve's lifelong friend. As Shep became her main source of emotional support, Eve navigated pregnancy, new career options, and an evolving relationship Ethan.

This was my first from Bastone and there was a lot to enjoy. Eve's conflicting feelings about impending motherhood felt realistic and made her all the more relatable. Ethan's struggle to accept his new reality while placating a jealous girlfriend and Willa's inability to fully support her friend due to her private challenges add layers that complicated matters, but never felt like unnecessary drama. But the shining star was Shep: the too-precious-for-this-world man who stocked Eve's refrigerator, gave foot rubs, bought a bicycle with a baby carrier, and provided unwavering support. While the middle of the story seemed to lag a bit and make the book feel overly long, it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the true-to-life characters created by Bastone. This is one I wouldn't hesitate to recommend.

Surprise pregnancy. The trope that everyone loves to hate. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a surprise pregnancy hater too, but I absolutely adored this book! This a sweet, friends to lovers romance that will pull on your heartstrings. If you are looking for a cute cozy romance with the most lovable characters and just a little bit of spice, definitely check out this book!

Eve Hatch is just living her life in NYC until one day she decides to take a pregnancy test. To her (not so) surprise, it comes back positive. Just a few weeks before she had a one night stand with bartender Ethan Rise. Neither Ethan nor Eve are ready for a baby to be brought into their lives and there are a lot of obstacles in the way. For one, Ethan has a girlfriend. But Eve is an independent young woman and decides she doesn’t need him to get through this pregnancy, especially when she has her best friend, Willa, and Willa’s brother, Shep, by her side. Through all the trials and tribulations, love stands the test of time and gets everyone to the other side. What started out as a horrifying thing growing in stomach turns into another person that Eve gets to let into her heart.

This was such a sweet book! Following Eve though all the changes that happen along her journey from finding out she's unexpectedly pregnant from a protected one night stand and all the ways that the baby helps heal her, change her, nudge her, allows her to see relationships in different ways, have compassion in different ways, and grow mentally emotionally and physically until baby is born. It's amazing all the ways and levels of changes that come about during pregnancy but she hits them all with a cute love story (stories!) and all the feels.

#arc
#netgalley
#readyornot

I’m going to admit that I wanted to read this book mainly for the cover. It’s adorable AF!!! So color me surprised when I realized this was mainly focused around the unplanned/surprise pregnancy trope. I normally don’t enjoy that but I think it’s starting to grow on me because I thought this book was so freakin cute!!! It was a very real and relatable perception of pregnancy…not that I’d know first-hand LOL but it really showed that it’s a scary, wonderful, crazy, exciting experience.

Eve gets pregnant off a one night stand and despite the challenges she’s facing she completely owns this plot twist in her life. She’s kind, funny, honest, a bit of a hot mess, and awkward but in an endearing way. Eve was going through so many changes and I’m so happy she had Shep to support and care for her along the way. Shep, while not our baby daddy, is a precious gem. He was pretty unassuming but once we see him start to be bolder with Eve…pleaseeee I’m swooning. He is so sweet.

Overall, this book has a lot of things to love: found family, childhood friends to lovers, best friends brother, it was genuinely heartwarming. If I had to complain, it would be that it was a super slow burn, which I do not love in general. But it really made sense for this story so I can’t complain too much. Would definitely recommend for romance lovers!

Thank you NetGalley, Cara, and Random House for this eARC! I really enjoyed it!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

Ready or Not follows newly pregnant Eve Hatch as her life turns on its head in the wake of her pregnancy.

This was a cute little romance, and I appreciated that, as far as romances with unexpected pregnancies go, this one did a good job avoiding excess cheesiness, and took the time to explore the emotional nuances of not just romance, but also new motherhood. I particularly enjoyed Bastone's writing, which felt generally accessible but also made the interior lives of our characters wonderfully rich and interesting, without feeling overdone.

In all, I thought this was an excellent, quick little romance that has definitely made me an instant Cara Bastone fan.

I thought to myself "I'm going to read this book." All the way through. Really enjoy it. But the doctor's visit? The "merp!"
I was immediately grossed out. Maybe that's just because I've never been pregnant and had to go through all this stuff, so it's not something I'm used to, but that was just a very nasty scene to kind of open up with. I really wanted to read it, though, because the main character's inner monologue was funny and witty, but I just couldn't do the pregnancy thing.

This book presents itself as a "surprise baby" book. But while it had that it didn't go in the way I thought it was going to go. I always find books that have the "oh I am having a baby " trope have characters that miraculously know how they everything, or if they just "marry/date/live with significant other things will be perfect. I kept kind of waiting for that to happen, but this was a more real and true story of Eve not knowing what she wanted in life including having a baby. It was a slow progression of her characters from baby, job and love.
This really was more a story of life book then a romance. It follows Eve as she has to make decisions about her baby daddy, her best friends and her issues with her pregnancy, the death of her BFF mom which was her only parental figure left, her relationship with her much older brothers and their family dynamic and in the background was always Shep.
Shep is one of the characters that I am never quite sure what to do with. His responses to everything almost seems over the top. I mean who doesn't get hurt or upset when the girl he has been in love with forever gets pregnant by someone else and is fine with everything Eve does. And the fact that Eve couldn't see how much Shep was in love with her was almost hard to watch. I kept banging the book saying...wake up girl.
This book brought me to tears in multiple places. It really had a vignette of life story which I really enjoy. I love when I can see growth of the characters. I loved that Eve figured her life out. It was such a hopefully and beautiful story if not idealistic.
I would recommend to fans that like good family life stories with a best friend brother, childhood friend, unrequited love story.

4.5 rounded up bc I laughed out loud and cried. This book is both funny and poignant. The reactions to Eve’s pregnancy are so spot on and I loved the friendship between Eve and Willa. Bastone got it just right in so many places.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital copy and a chance to read this early. All opinions are my own.