This was amazing on audio and I would highly recommend listening to it. An unexpected pregnancy shows a young woman what she wants out of life. There is romance and friendship mixed in with humor.

DNF @17% - Now don’t take this the wrong way. I was really excited for this novel as it contains a lot of tropes I really like. On top of that I also want to say that I do not hate what I read of this book so far, and I can totally understand why other people would like it. However, I just could not with the writing. It just felt a bit too quirky, I guess. That’s not completely the right word for it, but I don’t know what else to call it. It was just annoying to read, and I tried to get over it but ultimately I just couldn’t. I’m sorry.

Eve Hatch lives in Brooklyn and lives a quiet normal life with her cozy apartment and working for a non-profit. She has her childhood best friend Willa, and a nice geographical distance from her family who love her dearly but don't really get her. After an uncharacteristic one night stand she ends up pregnant.

Being pregnant was not the plan, and the father of the baby is in a very complicated situation. She seeks support from her best friend, who has her reasons for not being there the way Eve needs. Who is there ends up surprising her, it is newly single, handsome, kind, thoughtful, selfless, and steadfast Shepard, Willa's older brother. Over the next 9 months Eve's life gets turned upside down in every aspect. She has always gone with the flow and never taken a chance, but her pregnancy hormones have her questioning growing feelings for Shep, what she wants out of career and what she truly desires in her life.

This book was as beautiful in the words on the pages, as on the outside cover. I am not a mother, nor have I ever been pregnant but the author did such a wonderful and masterful job of writing her characters that I felt everything they felt. The romance and feelings were so well developed, it felt like such a natural progression. Shep was a dream love interest, I even fell for him. The depiction of being pregnant, and possibly a single mother felt so real. I have fallen in love with this author's writing and can't wait to dive into her backlist.

This book was good! I do not LOVE a pregnancy in a rom com. So i was skeptical going into this one. I really enjoy a best friends brother moment tho! and friends to lovers! this was a nice, quick read with some parts that just felt unrealistic and surface level? but still had moments that made you swoon? the ending itself was interesting - just seems like it should be more complicated than the author made it??

I am willing to to bet that I read more pregnancy-trope romances than the average reader. It is a trope that I generally don't mind in books (I'm getting my Master's in Maternal and Child Health, what can I say?). However, if I can be blunt, most of the pregnancy-trope romances I've read are really bad. "Ready or Not", on the other hand, was very good, and I am so excited about that.

I recognize that this is not going to be the book for everyone, and that's ok, but there were so many things I loved about it. First, this is the only book in this niche that I've read where abortion is given page time as a valid option. Most books I've read with unexpected pregnancies don't broach the topic at all and seem to use inevitability of carrying the pregnancy as a plot device. However, there is absolutely nothing wrong with considering an abortion and ultimately deciding to continue with the pregnancy, even if the protagonist has complicated feelings about it (which is realistic, pregnancy is complicated).

All this to say that I loved how Eve's pregnancy experience was chronicled throughout the book, complex feelings and all. I also loved the complexity of the supporting cast and how they all dealt with Eve's pregnancy, and their own relationship to pregnancy and childbirth, in different ways.

I also loved the romance in this book. Usually my issue with this niche of book is not the pregnancy representation itself, but the fact that the accompanying romance is sub-par at best, cringey and toxic at worst. I loved Eve and Shep's relationship and getting to learn more about both of them through the course of the book.

My only real criticism of the book is that the plot dragged in the middle a little bit, and I selfishly wish there was an epilogue.

4 stars.

Thank you Dial Press for this eARC. All opinions are my own.

🍞 Book Review 🍞

The swoon has left my body, Ready or Not by @carabastone summoned it all out of my body. Wowwww was this book good. I was already a fan, having read her Forever Yours series, her Love Likes series, and Love at First Psych; she's been an autobuy author for a while now; and Ready or Not was one of my most anticipated reads this year. Happy pub week to Cara and thank you to @thedialpress and @netgalley for the ebook.

✔️ Surprise Pregnancy
✔️ One Night Stand
✔️ Love Triangle
✔️ Friends to Lovers
✔️ Best Friend's Older Brother
✔️ Cinnamon Roll MMC
✔️ Slow Burn

-summary-
Eve is at a crossroads in her life. She's not quite sure what her next step is, professionally, and oh yeah, she is unexpectedly pregnant! It was a one night stand with a currently unavailable guy. She's also starting to have feelings for Shep, her best friend's older brother and one of her closest friends. But also how many big decisions can she make while her life is about to already drastically change?

-my thoughts-
I'm not sure I have enough superlatives to express how terrific
this book was. The storytelling felt intimate too, like I was in the room with Eve as she was trying to navigate her life and sort through her feelings.

The characters were all terrific and well-rounded. They all felt so real, like I could fly to Brooklyn right now and walk into their homes. The dialogue and banter between all of them were expertly crafted, so it does land like real conversations you'd have with your friends/romantic maybes and not heightened romcom banter.

I love Eve and Willa and definitely female friendships forever but omg the men! All the men in Eve's life are pretty great - the love interests, her bff's husband, her brothers! While reading I legitimately had the thought "Wow Eve is so lucky to have such a great support system".

I laughed, I felt emotional, I swooned. 5⭐️ and please add this to your tbr immediately. If you've already read this, please let's talk about it. And if you're Cara Bastone omg can we please be friends?!! 😆

Steam 🔥🔥🔥
Banter 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️
Swoon 💕💕💕💕💕

I loved this book. It is a heartwarming story that will make you laugh and cry happy tears. A one night stand results in an unexpected pregnancy for the main character, Eve. The author takes us on Eve’s nine month journey where she learns some unexpected things about herself. She also discovers who is the one person who has always been there for her and who she can count on.

I loved the humor the author wove into this story.

“Today, we’ll all be brand new together.”

I was very skeptical about this book because it starts with an unexpected pregnancy, but all the characters are so well developed and mature. I loved it! All characters have depth, but they also understand that humans are flawed so they accept each other. This is a beautiful love letter to family and human kind.

Eve has been floating through life with not much success in her love life, until one day she goes on a one night stand and gets knocked up BY A COMPLETE STRANGER. She has to tell her midwestern way older brothers, and her best friend who has been trying to get pregnant for years! While pregnancy is complicated, she also finds her people, new friends and her own "village".

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this book’s advanced reviewer's copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I absolutely LOVED this book. It was so so perfect, I enjoyed every second. Shep was the sweetest, cutest, goofiest character and I loved reading about his relationship with Eve. You could tell his love runs so deep for her and I loved how the author could make me feel all the feels with her writing. 5⭐️

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