Ready or Not: A Novel (Dial Delights)

What first drew me to this book was its beautifully illustrated cover, but what I got was a gem of a book!I wasn’t expecting to feel all the feels, cry all the tears and literally laugh out loud at the quick wit in this book.Eve is dealing with a surprise pregnancy from a one night stand, which she pretty much never does. The weaving of her, Ethan, the father, her best friend, Willa, and Shepherd, Willa’s brother, as they all come alongside her supporting her where she is was so heartbreaking, heartwarming, romantic and fully of beauty. Learning to deal with old feelings for Shepherd and the new challenges of co-parenting with Ethan has its challenges.The characters were written in such a realistic way with true to life feelings. I loved the humor used as a coping mechanism along with the quick wit and snarkiness that each character offered.I related so much to Willa, as I have dealt to my own infertility and having to react to those around me getting pregnant. I was never not happy for them, I was just sad for myself. The friendship between them and how they are in it together through the highs and lows is what true friendship is.Cara Bastone has written something so attuned to real life feelings. It’ll be a forever 5 star read for me.Also, the audiobook Narration was…chef’s kiss! She hit the snark so well!

This was a quick and easy read to help with a serious book hangover (thank you Onyx Storm). A pregnancy trope and love triangle. Does she choose the one night stand/baby daddy or her best friend’s brother who has secretly loved her since they were kids!?!?!3.5⭐️1.5 🌶️ (one open door scene)

“Ready or Not” by Cara Bastone will go down as an all time favorite. This book was fun, emotional, and so incredibly heartfelt and I loved every minute of it.

I was totally into this, but at about 55%, I wasn't as engaged. I thought the romance got a little bizarre, and it just wasn't my favorite. It seemed clumsy and uncomfortable. I did love the people in this book. I liked Eve's self-discovery through her pregnancy, and I liked how this ended. This is a bit of a love triangle, which I rarely love.Content: This has one really open door scene that I felt was weird, as explained above. Triggers with infertility, single motherhood, and loss of parents.Language: There's some language, especially some f-bombs.Religious: NoHappy reading!!

This book literally equates to a bundle of joy.I came in expecting this to be strictly a romance but ended out coming out with a whole new admiration for pregnancy and motherhood. Now I'm only 19 and I'm pretty sure that motherhood is beyond my radar right now but if I were ever to be a mother I would want to have similar spirits to Eve.Eve our FMC began avoidant to her pregnancy and her journey throughout this book with her pregnancy was truly admiring. It's such an authentic well written experience. Reading the Authors Note afterwards helped me better understand as to how she was able to execute this really well.I love how Bastone was not only able to make me fall in love with the main characters + side characters but she also made me fall in love with the story itself. Every single time I flipped the page my heart grew in its size. This feeling is so rare to find in books so I really am happy I picked this book up.I swear everytime I picked this book up I had the hardest time putting it down, (my proof to this is that I read this book in 2 days).As always each book has it's critiques and for me my only critique would be the romance aspect before the 50% mark. I would have liked to have had more intimate scenes with Shep and Eve and their on-growing relationship before they became an actual couple, seeing that I believed that they were the main characters BUT as the book continued I realized that simply wasn't true. Which is the beauty about this book so I cannot say I'm not too upset about it given that I can understand why the author took the route that she did.Overall, this book is truly beautiful and I definitely see myself rereading this in my future years!

I loved this book. This was recommended by a friend and I whole heartedly extend that recommendation to anyone who loved a book that makes them laugh and ugly cry all in one sitting.I loved this romance. But I loved the story of Eve’s unexpected journey into motherhood even more. It was an honest, funny, and moving account of the complexities of what a woman must feel during that phase of life.

This is not your typical romance. Yes the classic tropes are there-- accidental pregnancy, best friends brother, slow burn. But it's told in such a different way. It was an interesting dynamic having the love interest not be the father of the baby, but also having the father be active in the story. I enjoyed it a lot. I usually don't go for the accidental pregnancy books honestly, but I really connected with this one. 🩷

This was such a beautiful easy read, definitely going to read more Cara Bastone books 📚What are your favorites, recommendations please