Synopsis: This story revolves around a woman who finds herself unexpectedly pregnant, and her relationships with her friends and the dad to be.
Pros: As someone who had a child in recent years I enjoyed how this chronicled the trimesters of pregnancy- the ugly, the messy, the sweet, the love.
Cons: Although I liked the ending I did find the story to drag because at times each character was unlikable. The idea of starting a relationship while pregnant- which was kind of the premise of the story didn’t sit well with me.
But I encourage you to see what you think when it’s released next month. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the early copy!

Ready or Not by Cara Bastone is a friends to lovers, unexpected pregnancy novel that leans more towards the women's fiction genre than romance. I've read several other novels by the author and this one doesn't disappoint. I really enjoyed it and felt like I was reading a movie. It has such a heartwarming story line that will relate with a lot of readers. The characters felt real, the story is realistic and was just an all around good book. Looking forward to reading more from the author as she has become an auto read for me.
Thank you to Cara Bastone, Random House and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. The book comes out on February 13, 2024.

I think this is more women's fiction than romance so if I view it in that light it's a solid 4 stars.
Really sweet story and definitely an enjoyable read. Just not strictly a rom.

first & foremost, s/o to @netgalley and @penguinrandomhouse for the ARC 💌
—the characters in this book give total girl/boy next door vibe! eve, shep, willa, ethan, etc are all SO lovable and wholesome!
ugh i absolutely ADORED the book once i was 50% in. literally 50% on it was a solid 5 stars ⭐️🥹
now, the ❤️ scenes between eve & shep were so wholesome and tender, i wanted to die. the most beautiful love scene i’ve ever read tbh!
the concept of the book i found so interesting & the specific trope is a difficult one to work with imo, but the author did an amazing job of making a memorable, mature & heartwarming book. 💖

READ IF YOU LIKE
- found family 🏠
- NYC setting 🗽
- childhood friends to lovers 💌
- accidental pregnancy 🤰

his book grabbed my attention right away. I was laughing from the very beginning and it helped me get out of my reading slump. Really sweet story that ended just as I wanted it to…with the exception of the child’s name…almost ruined the book for me... Read to see if you agree lol

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read for an honest book review.

Cara Bastone hooked me on the first page of this book. I immediately fell for Eve in all her relatability and humor and couldn’t wait to see where this unexpected journey took her.

A surprise pregnancy trope isn’t usually a crowd pleaser, but I’m not opposed to them and this one had a twist on it that was done so well. Combined with all the other tropes it made for a great read that was still raw and real. Eve faces so many challenges along the way, including grief, somewhat estranged family, and navigating helping Willa through painful infertility while being pregnant herself and deals with them all so courageously and resiliently.

I truly loved every single character in this book (apart from one but I even empathized with her in the situation she was put into) and loved immersing myself in their world. I found myself stuck between falling for Shep alongside Eve, as well as wanting things with Ethan to work out and see if they found themselves to be a family. The end result was beyond what I could have imagined for everyone and so incredible. I absolutely adore a HEA and this one was beautiful.

I loved this book all around. Every single character, their journeys both individual and together, everything about it. I’m absolutely reading Cara Baston’s backlist because if they’re anything like this they’ll also be 5 star reads thanks to her brilliance.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Dial Press Trade Paperback, and the author for this ARC.
Publication date 2/13/24

Love a book with characters you like despite their flaws! I really enjoyed the journey Cara took us on with these characters without feeling overly predictable, despite the tropes. Highly recommend if you’re looking for a cozy friends-to-lovers type book with a lot of growth in-between.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing and Cara Bastone for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you Dial Press and Netgally for a copy of this book to read and review- all opinions are my own!

I looooved this book. aaaaah!

This is my first book I have read by Cara Bastone and a few things really stood out to me with this story. At first, I was hesitant to start it, because unexpected pregnancy (non-spoiler) is not a topic I usually reach for, but this has made a believer out of me. The way that Eve was drawn was so touching. Getting to experience through her eyes hit me in the feels and I think this story was really successful not only in keeping it real with Eve's emotions on this huge life altering bomb that happens to her (not that it is a bad thing), but also showing that the path to happiness is not always linear, and when life seems to have thrown you the perfect set of circumstances to get everything you may want, sometimes things get rearranged to put you through events to get to everything you may not have known you needed.

I really was drawn to Eve as a character and her humor/wit. She was quite funny and I found myself often smiling and laughing to myself at a lot of her inner monologue. What I found most compelling about her, though, was her honesty with her situation, and her realness about not being happy (at first). I liked the growth we got to see with her from beginning of her pregnancy to the big day and how things changed for her mentally with her body and her mind, and her priorities were - work wise, relationship=wise and other. I think if not for this, she would never have gotten to the place of peace with her life and what was happening.

SHEP! What a sweet, sweet man. I genuinely felt like I could just cry. The love shown with his actions was so palpable with him- It was no secret whose torch he was carrying, and I was all here for it. He is the first "Cinnamon Roll" hero I have read in a while and it was a nice change of pace- it reminded me that the tension could still be hot and heavy and there, but it did not have to be boring. He made me just swoon. I am glad, too, when he finally stood up for himself and gave Ethan some lip- that really made me love him most because that got to show us he is not a total pushover and there is more to him than just being The Good Guy.

Willa at times was frustrating, but I also feel like realistic. For having family members who struggle with fertility, I feel like no one could understand that kind of mental anguish and pain if they aren't going through it themselves. Though it seems kind of flippant her attitude toward Eve's pregnancy at first, I am glad we got to go on that journey with Willa as well- relationships are complicated and I think that this plot point added a nice layer of tension to the story that I was glad we got to see get better at the end.

I was surprised with Ethan's character- I was happy that he was not absent, and I enjoyed seeing the complexity in his emotions as well and what being on the other half of this surprise baby meant for him as well.

Romance-wise, this was a slow burn in the spice department, but whooo the tension, to me, was delightful and palpable. I really liked how much love you could feel between Eve and Shep, and waiting for the shoe to drop was the delicious type of slow burn you really want to hurry up, but also never want to end.

Overall, I really loved this story and am quite pleasantly surprised how much I connected with it. The humor and rawness of emotion did it for me. Loved!

Read if you enjoy...
- Slowburn romance
- Surprise Pregnancy
- Friends to Lovers
- Cinnamon Roll MMC
- Found Family
- Stories set in New York City

I began Ready Or Not with trepidation – unexpected pregnancy trope? *wince* Love triangle? *braces for disappointment – and am thrilled to report my fears were entirely unrealized.

Instead, we got a tenderly sweet friends-to-lovers romance where Eve discovers a love she had all along (could Shep be any lovelier?), a kickass bestie whose friendship emerges even stronger after its tested by very honest feelings of jealousy over Eve’s accidental pregnancy (Willa is perfectly imperfect), and Ethan, Eve’s babydaddy who is unable to fully commit to being an involved father.

I laughed, I awwwwed, I even teared up a bit at a particularly poignant scene at the end where Eve realizes just how much all her people really love her. Cara Bastone’s voice is quirky and witty and I can’t wait to read more from her!

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️💫 4.5 stars rounded up

<i>Thanks to NetGalley and Random House/Dial Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.</i>

5 out of 5 stars and it definitely deserves said 5 stars. You might call me biased as I love all of Cara’s work thus far, but this book was quite literally ✨chefs kiss✨. I went in pretty blind I had at some point read the synopsis but forgot everything when I went in to reading it. So when I say I went in blind I went in blind. I started off thinking omg how cute an accidental pregnancy caused by a one night stand and these two people with amazing chemistry are going to fall in love on this road to parenthood and this is gonna be so cute. WROOOOONG! Cara comes in for a surprise emotional soul crushing gut punch. This book was an emotional roller coaster I will tell you that much 😭 it had me laughing and crying and laughing some more and literally sobbing!!!! I know accidental pregnancy isn’t for everyone but this is so cute and I loved it. Cara you never fail me.

I know not everyone likes a surprise pregnancy trope but it is right up my alley! For those who are normally put off by that though, let me tell you that this not like most. Watching Eve navigate the ups and downs of her pregnancy and just life in general was so touching. I really loved this story. I've never read one where the love interest isn't actually the baby daddy but WE STAN SHEP. We love a brother's best friend romance. FYI this is a slow burn (which we love).

Another ARC I am so happy I read!

If I am being honest, I would not have been able to give this a proper review without finishing the book. All of the characters had their ups and downs for me. I really disliked Willa at times throughout the book, as well as Ethan, he was on my sh*t list for a bit… and about half way through, I was not sure I was going to give this a good rating. However… besides the fact that Shep is just WAY TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, this book was raw and real to life in Eve and Ethan’s situation.

Too many reviews of DNF, or how terrible some of the characters were, that didn’t get to complete the authors entire vision of the story, and I feel like that is not fair to the book… lol
After completing the WHOLE book, the authors reasoning for all of the dynamics and ups and downs really fell in to place and I loved this story. Tears flowed (happy tears) and there were moments where I caught myself smiling from ear to ear while reading!!

5 stars to this book and I recommend to everyone – and if you find yourself half way through, questioning, just please push through, you won’t regret it!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Fair warning this is a slow burn, which is usually not my jam! But oh how I loved these characters and the growth that happens for them in this book! At it’s core it’s for sure a romance but it’s so much more than that, it was a great exploration of how friendships and relationships can change through different phases of life and the changes that come with them. I really loved watching Eve navigate her pregnancy and the big feelings she and the people around her had. None of the characters were bad people and they all gave each other the grace to figure things out at their own pace which often isn’t the case in a romance book. This whole story just felt really grounded and realistic and because of that it was a joy to read! I would love to spend more time in the world of these characters and see how life post the babies arrive moves on!

Thanks to NetGalley, Random House Publishing and the author Cara Bastone for providing me an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Ready or Not
By: Cara Bastone
Review Score: 3 1/2 Stars

Why Was This Book “Just Ok”?
I found the writing to be hard to follow in this story. There were a ton of really odd pauses that threw off the flow of the story. I also found myself constantly frustrated with Eve, the main character. I feel like she is too old to act the way she does towards a pregnancy.

Do I still recommend it?
Yes.


——

Ready or Not was kindly provided as an ARC by Netgalley and Random House Publishing. Thank you for allowing me to read this book!

Release Date: 2/13/24

Welcome back to another “Just Ok Wednesday”, where I discuss a book that has a lot of potential, and is still good, but isn’t the greatest book I have ever read.

I was a little bit skeptical of this book going in, as I don’t always love a pregnancy trope, but I still wanted to give this story a chance. While I didn’t hate this book, I didn’t like it either. I think some people will enjoy it, but it was just “meh” for me.

I still enjoyed the story, and wanted to see how the story ended, so I do think it is worth the read. But I think it could have been better overall.


#bookstagram #books #readingnow #boogiereadsbooks #fivekeyfeels #audiobooks #audiobook #fiction #arcreview #netgalley#boogiesbulletpoints #justokwednesday #readyornot #carabastone

THIS BOOK, y'all. The feelings! The swoon! The sexual tension! OMG Cara Bastone is so good at this. Seriously, this woman was meant to write romance novels. *sigh*

I'm going to start by saying this: I normally HATE the surprise pregnancy trope. To me, it usually makes the MCs come off kinda--immature? Especially if the woman keeps the baby's existence from the dad. It just feels weird.
However, when I saw that Cara Bastone had a new book coming out and that it had this particular trope, I knew I would read it immediately. And I wasn't wrong to trust her--the book is absolutely perfect. *chef's kiss*

The twist on the surprise-pregnancy trope is that it happens off page, from the very beginning. Eve has previously had a one-night stand with a hot bar owner, Ethan. Even though they had used protection, the night still results in a pregnancy. This, naturally, surprises both of them. Once Eve decides to keep the baby and tells Ethan, things start off tentatively, but rocky, because Ethan has just gotten back to together with an on-again/off-again girlfriend, Eleni, and she is NOT happy. Totally valid feelings, of course, but she's never able to move past it. She ends up causing problems for Ethan and the entire situation.

And then Shep steps in. He's the older brother of her best friend, Willa. They've known each other all their lives. He's pined for her from the beginning. The things he says to Willa are at once erotic AND adorable, and I have no idea how that's possible, but there you are. It's wonderful.

AHHHH Himbo love of my life. Seriously. I have NEVER fell for a charming doofus so hard before. While Ethan is having problems at home, Shep takes care of Eve pretty much the entire pregnancy, which is the sweetest thing EVER. Food, foot massages, you name it. Ugh, my heart. It only beats for Shep now.

Not only does Bastone write a sexy AF MMC, she also nails the FMC, Eve. I have no idea how the author does it, but she writes the most unique and complex characters. Eve is a effing badass and I'm pretty sure she's been made my new girl-crush. Having had a kid myself, Eve's entire pregnancy is so relatable Like, every single bit. And her feelings about becoming a mother and what that means for herself and others is beautifully written.

I also feel that I should mention something in case you've never read any of Bastone's books: She writes the BEST secondary characters, and that is reeeeally tricky for an author to pull off. I mean, how many times have you ever read a romance, and afterwards, could actually remember a secondary character or their backstory? It doesn't happen often for me, but I know to trust Bastone because she writes such memorable ones. I loved Willa and Isamu. Knowing how bad Willa has wanted a baby of her own, we see her struggle with the news at first. Of course, it doesn't take her long to fully support her best friend, but the relatable way she comes to terms with it means everything.

And the spice? This is a slow-burn romance, and there are only 2-3 (I think?) sex scenes and they're about 80% of the way through the book. And while I normally like my books a good bit spicier than this, Bastone's are the perfect fit for the story. It was a really good balance. The sexual tension, though, is SO THICK YOU HAVE TO CUT IT WITH A CLEAVER. Uggghhhh the sexual tension is *chef's kiss," Shep is hot as HELL.

Anyway, as you can tell, I reeeeally liked this book. Cara Bastone is an auto-buy author for me now. Five huge stars.


**Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for a copy of this book to read and review!**

I've never really read books like this with this trope, but God did I love this one. I loved being brung along with eve for her complicated but interesting journey. Would definitely recommend for the ones that are interested 👌🏾

For me, this was less of a romance and more a story of a woman facing an unexpected challenge and rising to the occasion with the help of some people who stepped up for her. I obviously loved Shep, who was my favorite kind of man, and I really enjoyed the way the slow burn romance was written, even though it didn’t seem like the most important part of the book. The best word I can use to describe the story is realistic, which, let’s be honest, is hard to come by in this genre! This is my first book by Cara Bastone and I’m a new fan.

Eve Hatch is thrown life’s ultimate curve ball when she finds that she is pregnant from her one and only one night stand. Her growing belly is not the only thing that begins to change. Every relationship in her life seems a little extra complicated. Her best friend, Willa, is struggling to be there for her while she fights her own demons. Her baby daddy, Ethan, is supportive but struggling to decide what role he wants to play with all this. Then there is Shep, her childhood friend who is suddenly doing things like surprising her with lunch and buying her groceries. Eve has to decide whether her new-found feelings for Shep are pregnancy hormones or the real deal.

Ready or Not is a standalone, friends to lovers, slow burn romance.

I absolutely LOVED this book. Eve is an absolute doll. She’s quirky and cute and facing life’s challenges in a way that makes you want nothing but the best for her. Both Ethan and Shep are book boyfriend GOALS. The trio makes a great team. I love their little newly found family. Eve and Shep’s relationship developed so naturally throughout the story. It was so well written.

I would 10/10 recommend this book. Thank you Net Galley, Cara Bastone, and the publisher for this ARC. This was the perfect first read of 2024!

Going into Ready or Not I knew it was the surprise pregnancy trope, which I'm not usually a fan of BUT this took me by complete surprise!! It was so heart warming, and emotional I did not expect to cry. Also I'm a complete sucker for friends to lovers and Shep was everything. Even though the surprise pregnancy trope isn't that well loved, Cara Bastone did it SO well.

This read had me all over my emotions! I love how it was so heart warming and the romance was so touching. Cara Bastone has the perfect combo of love, tears, emotions, and so much more! I love the unexpected intense of this book.