Genre: Romance and Fiction
Synopsis: Eve Hatch lives for surprises! Just kidding. She expects every tomorrow to be pretty much the same as today. She loves her cozy apartment in Brooklyn that’s close to her childhood best friend Willa, and far from her midwestern, traditional family who has never really understood her. While her job is only dream-adjacent, it’s comfortable and steady. She always knows what to expect from her life…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 tense, right when she needs her the most. And it’s actually Willa’s steadfast older brother, she, who steps up to help Eve. 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, as if she needs one more complication, there’s the baby’s father, who is (technically) supportive but (majorly) conflicted.
Up until this point, Even’s been content to coast through life. Now, though—maybe it’s the hormones, maybe it’s the way Shep’s shoulders look in a T-shirt—Eve starts to wonder is she has been secretly desiring more from every aspect of her life.
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.
⚠️ SPOILERS AHEAD
Review: As someone who often struggles with her own anatomy and what the female body is supposed to be and do and the wonders of pregnancy—as most people say—I wasn’t expecting to love this story.
But I did! Reading along with Eve as she found out she was pregnant and then decided that she was going to go keep the baby, even with her fears and doubts, was kind of amazing.
Eve Hatch is so relatable and lovable and she took every turn with the utmost grace. From finding out that her one night stand, something she doesn’t do very often, has led to an unexpected pregnancy, to dealing with Ethan’s (the father) “I’ll be there…no, wait, I have to deal with Eleni” attitude and his having ghosted her for months, Eve was amazing. Of course, she faltered, who wouldn’t? But she continued to have patience with Ethan as this was unexpected for him as well. She continued to let him in and let him get comfortable with the idea of being a dad. She even gave him an out! I don’t know if I could’ve been that person.
And don’t get me started on Willa… Willa is Eve’s best friend and she’s had struggles with getting pregnant and in comes Eve accidentally getting pregnant. I feel for Willa, I do. But her reaction to Eve getting pregnant wasn’t one that you would think a best friend would have. And then the fact that she cried because she thought Eve wasn’t going to ask her to go to the birthing classes with her just to ditch her at the last second… Willa’s great outside of how she acts around Eve’s pregnancy. She’s a lot of fun, she’s protective of Eve, and she clearly cares for her. It’s just, you can be a little more supportive of your friend in this situation.
Then there’s Shep. Shep is too perfect, it’s almost weird. He embodies what love is biblically; patient, kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, and so on. This man has loved Eve since he was a child and he continually puts her and what’s best for her first. If that happened to be Ethan, then so be it. He would love the guy because Eve loves him. If that happened to be him, then he’d treat her as what she is, his everything.
I’m glad Eve goes on to get her life together. She realizes what she wants and she actually moves to go after it. That includes her baby, a better job, and Shep. The growth that she has is inspiring!
My hope is that we’ll get a sequel to this with all of the characters and introducing a few others, hello Miriam! I’d love to be able to continue reading about the lives of these characters and maybe just maybe seeing Shep not be perfect or see Willa get her kid as well.
Star Rating: 4/5
Content Warnings: Grief, child loss, explicit sexual content, and death