A review by wendahh324
Ready or Not by Cara Bastone

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Eve Hatch is surprised when a one night stand with a stranger leads to an unexpected pregnancy. She had previously been fairly neutral about having kids and certainly wasn't ready for one at the moment while working an ok but not great job at her dream company. Someone who very much wants kids is her married best friend Willa, who has been trying to get pregnant for a long time. Eve surprises everyone (Willa, Willa's human equivalent of a golden retriever brother Shep, and baby daddy Ethan) by deciding to "keep being pregnant." The story follows Eve's pregnancy as her relationships with Willa and Shep change. Willa struggles with the idea that her ambivalent friend is pregnant before her, while Shep majorly steps up to support Eve. Meanwhile, Eve tries to navigate keeping Ethan in the loop while figuring out if he will stick around and be a father to this baby.
Things I normally don’t like: 
  1. Books where the main character gets pregnant
  2. Books where the main character has two potential love interests
  3. Slow burn romance
  4. Friends to lovers
To say that I was shocked that this is my first 5 star book of the year is putting it mildly. You may be wondering why I even picked up this book in the first place, given all of these things I listed are pretty much in the book's summary. That reason is the author, Cara Bastone. I adored her story "Seatmate", which is an Audible exclusive, i.e., I can no longer listen to it since cancelling my membership :( When I saw that she had a new book coming out, I figured I would at least give it a shot. I am so glad that I did.
Bastone does an excellent job of making you feel what her characters are feeling. I could feel Eve's growing feelings for Shep as the story progressed. I could feel her hurt and frustration when people reacted in a negative way to her pregnancy. I felt everything and loved every minute.
Bastone also does a remarkable job of making you like all of the characters without sugarcoating faults. Some of the characters make bad or selfish decisions. But these characters also learn from these mistakes and are accountable for them. Willa, for example, is the first person Eve tells about the pregnancy and she has a bad reaction. Eve rightly feels frustrated with this reaction. Willa eventually apologizes and it feels like an honest apology. Ethan spends the book waffling about whether he wants to be in the baby's life. He has a "good" reason for it, but I found that I never fully trusted him, because Eve didn't either. There's only one character who is actually labeled a "bad guy", but he's only in one scene.
The book doesn't fully reach a love triangle (or the two possible love interests trope that people call love triangles), Eve is pretty clear from the beginning that she doesn't really see a romantic future with Ethan. But I appreciated the intricacies of how Eve, Shep, and Ethan were still intertwined, given that Eve is having Ethan's baby but Shep is always going to be around. 
My issue with slow-burns is that I typically am not invested enough in the rest of the story to patiently wait for the romance to occur. I enjoyed going on the journey with Eve, so I didn't mind waiting, and it made the romance all the better.
My beef with friends to lovers is that I had too many close male friends growing up, so the concept of the trope just feels awkward to me. This one had the benefit of also being "best friend's brother", which I am more on board with.
Shep was such a good male lead. I'm partial to the golden retriever love interest (I have one of my own) and am disappointed that grumpy seems to be having a moment. I was happy to see Shep be devoted, caring, and just a good guy.
I've never had a baby, but the pregnancy journey that Eve takes feels very real. The author initially thought of the idea for the book when she was about to have her first child and then finished it while pregnant with her second. I imagine a lot of the story comes from the author's experience.
I'm so happy that I gave this book a chance. I highly recommend.
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