Ready or Not by Cara Bastone – heartwarming Friends to lovers romance

Ready or Not is delightful, uplifting, and heartwarming Friends to lovers romance with most realistic portrayal of surprise pregnancy.

Other Books I have read/listened by the same author –

Call Me Maybe (Love Lines, #1)
Sweet Talk (Love Lines, #2)
Seatmate (Love Lines, #3)

Synopsis

A surprise pregnancy leads to even more life-changing revelations in this heartfelt, slow-burn, friends-to-lovers romance of found family and unexpected love.

Eve Hatch is pretty content with her life. Her apartment in Brooklyn is cozy and close to her childhood best friend Willa, but far from her midwestern, traditional family who never really understood her. While her job is only dream- adjacent , she’s hoping her passion and hard work will soon help her land a more glamorous role. And sure, her most recent romantic history has consisted of not one but two disappointing men named Derek. At least she always knows what to expect…until she finds herself expecting after an uncharacteristic one-night stand.

The unplanned pregnancy cracks open all the relationships in her life. Eve’s loyal friendship with Willa is feeling off , right when she needs her most. And it’s Willa’s steadfast older brother, Shep, who steps up to help. He has always been friendly, but now he’s checking in, ordering her surprise lunches, listening to all her complaints, and is… suddenly kinda hot? Then there’s the baby’s father, who is supportive but conflicted. Before long, Eve is rethinking everything she thought she knew about herself and her world.

Over the course of nine months, as Eve struggles to figure out the next right step in her expanding reality, she begins to realize that family and love, in all forms, can sneak up on you when you least expect it.

Review

Ready or Not is lovely heartwarming and realistic contemporary romance that follows Eve Hatch who unexpectedly gets pregnant after on night stand that changes not just her life but her too.

Eve is still getting used to the idea of baby and how the baby is going to change her life, the father of the baby (Ethan) already has a girlfriend and isn’t sure how much he wants to get involved in Eve and baby’s life, her best friend (Willa) reacted badly to the news as she herself was trying to have baby for long time with no luck…

Only person who is genuinely happy and supporting is her her best friend’s brother, Shep. The more he gets involved with selfless care and concern, the more Eve starts developing feelings for him but is it just a pregnancy symptoms or something deep and real?

Writing is refreshing and entertaining. I loved the format of the the story. It was divided in 3 part with pregnancy stages. I loved how author told how women feel in all three trimesters through Eve’s life changes and feelings.

I loved how Eve took it all. She might seem not taking it seriously and going through it in stride as we don’t get to know her much before the pregnancy but as I read more I could see it’s more like her nature. She is kind of person who lives in her dreamy state and struggles when it comes to making big decision. It was interesting to see how having baby and and pregnancy progressed it made her change how she lives and thinks. It was amazing to see her develop and read her journey of embracing pregnancy and motherhood.

Author portrayed- feeling of becoming a new unexpected mother, how people react to it when you’re not with the father, impending parenthood, changes in life with nor expectation of support from father, anxiety, and how all feelings changes as soon as you see baby in the ultrasound- all in most realistic and relatable way.

Willa‘s reaction to Eve’s pregnancy was bad in the beginning but I love how she tried to mend that reaction after she got over initial shock and pain. I loved how author portrayed dealing with infertility issues through Willa, how painful and difficult it is for women who has gone through miscarriage to be happy for someone having baby who never thought about pregnancy in life. It was most realistic and heartfelt to read her situation and I loved Eve for not taking it to heart and not letting Willa’s reaction destroy their friendship.

I also liked how clear Eve was about what she wanted from Ethan and Shep. I had a feeling this might turn into love triangle and was so relieved to see it didn’t. Shep was a sweetheart. He was that lovely cute guy who was just happy to take whatever Eve was willing to give to him, whether it is friendship or boyfriend or second father to the baby.

Like said in book, he was so “other-centered person” who is happy for others but I also liked having Shep’s view on his own action. He acted the way he did for one reason which was to be with Eve no matter what and for that he was ready to get along with Ethan which is most loveliest thing I read and it somehow also felt selfless selfish thing one can do.

Romance is slow burn with friends-to-lovers trope with many lovely and heart-melting moments. My favorites were Shep being there for Eve when she revealed pregnancy to Ethan, first baby kick, Shep buying a cycle with baby seat, and Shep reading baby books.

Climax is exactly as I anticipated. I also liked Ethan after that drunken scene and how he finally got sense to do right thing. The best scene was both Ethan and Shep helping Eve in labor and how that changed the dynamics between them in the end. End is lovely and perfect.

Why 4.5 stars –

Even though writing is engaging, entertaining, and refreshing, I feel this is kind of book that you’ll enjoy more with audiobooks. There is lots of monologues and expressions, and feelings that felt sounded much better in visualization than in words.

Overall, Ready or Not is delightful, uplifting, and heartwarming Friends to lovers romance with most realistic portrayal of surprise pregnancy.

I recommend Ready or Not if you like,

Accidental pregnancy
Probable Love triangle
Friends to lovers
Found family
Best friend’s brother
Slow burn

Book Links

Goodreads | Amazon.in | Amazon.com (Free with Audible Subscription)| Amazon.co.uk (Free with Audible Subscription)

Ready or Not by Cara Bastone – delightful, uplifting, and heartwarming Friends to lovers romance with most realistic portrayal of surprise pregnancy. #Readyornot #friendstolovers #romance … Check out full review ⬇️ Share on X

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