Cerebral Girl in a Redneck World: REVIEW: Ready or Not by Cara Bastone

Friday, March 29, 2024

REVIEW: Ready or Not by Cara Bastone

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.

Hardcover: 400 pages
Published: The Dial Press (February 13, 2024)
Author website: https://www.carabastone.com/

My Thoughts

I didn't start this day thinking I'd be handing over a Dixie cup of my own urine to a woman in lavender scrubs.

I grabbed this book as a Book of the Month Club choice. One thing that I noticed when I checked reviews on this book before choosing it as a valuable “get me back into reading” selection is that people loved the cover! A colorful and softly romantic street scene, there is something almost Parisian-feeling about it, like a meet-cute between a hapless Frenchman and the American tourist looking for a restart. Or a Before Sunrise-vibe of two souls frozen in time as they explore a city and their budding relationship. There’s a sense that these two people are feeling each other out; that they’ve found themselves at a crossroads and are deciding which direction to go. Friendship is there, but is there something more? “Ready or not, here I come!”

Setting

Eve lives in a brownstone apartment in Brooklyn which she describes as being "...in perpetual audition for Better Home and Garden."

Brooklyn, NY

Attribution: Vaguynny own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Eve finds herself single and unexpectedly pregnant by a one-night stand by the name of Ethan. She decides early on to keep the baby, perhaps because she herself was a “surprise” baby. She’s initially pretty detached from her condition, not really thinking of the “baby” in her but rather her condition of “being pregnant”. Her best friend Willa, who has been her ride or die since childhood, isn't always the most supportive during the pregnancy given her own battles with fertility issues, but Willa’s brother Shep (who Eve has likewise known since childhood and who recently moved in with his sister and her husband) is there for Eve. He anticipates her every need, sometimes knowing what she needs before she does. This causes Eve to start seeing Shep through different eyes.

Back home in Westbrook, he was a clumsy, sweet nerd who played so many videogames in his basement that his skin was almost translucent.

Now Eve has recently taken notice of his boyishly scruffy good looks as he continues his role as supportive friend and “big brother”. But then Eve begins to see Shep in a different light.

After a moment, he reaches up to loop his fingers around my wrist, puppeteering my still hand against his hair, making me pet him.

Do friends lean against each other and pet each other’s hair?

Initially I found myself a little annoyed by Eve. She felt a little self-centered and shallow in the beginning, and maybe even a little cold. Or maybe "preoccupied" would be a fairer description of her. But as time went on she warmed, or perhaps it was I who warmed up to her. Shep was likable, but there is a "too good to be true" feel to him. And Eve's best friend Willa is mostly absent during the story. The baby's father Ethan is in and out of the story as he sorts out just how involved he wants to be in the baby's life.

This book is a very easy read. I’m a very slow reader, but I found myself breezing through it effortlessly. It’s not a deep-think, but a lazy Sunday read. And that's what I needed right now as I ease back into reading.

The author has a very informal writing style that feels like a conversation between girlfriends, writing with a bit of a dry wit, a little tongue-in-cheek.

Some things felt over-simplified or required a fair bit of suspension of disbelief, but I think that is the nature of romance novels in general and probably why I don't read them a great deal, but what I needed right now.

Five words: funny, restrained, engaging, predictable, uncomplicated

My final word: I found this novel to be a lighthearted and fun read. Eve is dealing with her own internal turmoil and confusion, coming to terms with an unplanned pregnancy. But at the heart of it, this is a love story in every sense of the word. Not only a love story between a man and a woman, but a story of a woman falling in love with the child she carries and the life she lives. If you are a fan of contemporary romance, this is one for you! Or if, like me, you just like to dabble in a little romance every now and again, this is a light read to just get your feet wet. Despite the fact that the story was a bit on the predictable side, I still found it enjoyable.

Buy Now:

Warnings:

Mild sex and adult situations. Mild language.