READY OR NOT

An unexpected pregnancy changes everything and leads to love.

Eve Hatch doesn’t usually have one-night stands with hot bartenders, and she certainly doesn’t expect to get pregnant from such an encounter, especially when using protection. But that’s exactly what happens after a particularly fun night out with her two childhood best friends, siblings Willa and Shep Balder. Everyone has feelings about this. Willa struggles with the news, since she and her husband are having fertility issues. Ethan Rise, the bartender/father, is overwhelmed, happy, and confused. And Shep is so wildly, enthusiastically supportive that readers will have no trouble discerning what it takes the protagonist many pages to figure out—he’s a goner for her. Eve herself feels all kinds of things: hurt by Willa’s reticence and Ethan’s confusion, appreciative of Shep’s ministrations, worried about finances (her administrative job at a nonprofit isn’t likely to cut it), and also fairly well in denial. Add to that: nauseous, hungry, weepy, and horny. She’s sure from the jump that she doesn’t want an abortion, but, beyond stating the fact, there’s no discussion of her reasons. There’s also no mention of financial child support from Ethan, who, it turns out, owns the bar where he works. Perhaps including these issues would have marred the truly heartwarming emotional journey of the book, but they’re such deeply practical considerations that leaving them out seems like a mistake. Especially when Bastone is wonderfully unflinching when considering the way pregnancy changes relationships. Luckily for Eve, most of her relationships ultimately change in positive—and, in one case, romantic—ways.

Funny and touching; Eve’s snappy voice and poignant vulnerability are a good match for the subject matter.