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Sneak Peak The Space Between by Sarah Ready

Check out this sneak peak for my upcoming romance book, The Space Between!

The Space Between releases on July 25th, 2023 but is available everywhere for pre-order now. Check out the sneak peak below:

HER RED SCARF HANGS DOWN, THE TASSELS BRUSH OVER MY cheek. I stare at her dumbly. Up close, she isn’t as perfect as I first thought. Sure, her long thick hair is my favorite color—it’s the color of the sweet, reddish-amber honey that I drizzled on the biscuits my mom used to make on Saturday mornings. And her eyes are deep set and dark. They’re the rich shade of the butterbrown wood on my (now splintered) guitar. But beyond that, there isn’t anything special about her.

Her nose is straight and a bit too long. Her chin has a small dimple, which I’ve never seen on a girl before. Her cheekbones are high and her face is angular. Her eyebrows fly up in straight, questioning lines. Her top front teeth have a small gap. I guess, though, it’s hard to notice that she isn’t what you’d consider beautiful, because there’s something about her that’s arresting. Something that makes it almost impossible to turn away.
I think it’s the way she carries herself. Like she knows something. Some secret. And the expression on her face…

“Are you going to answer me?” she asks, her voice a rich husky alto, just like Ella singing “Dream a Little Dream of Me” with Louis.
It shocks me so much that I find I can’t answer her.
“Oh no. Are you dying and I’m blocking the light?” She steps aside and gestures at the dull, cloudy sky, a bit of filtered light shining down on us. She frowns at me, “Well?”
I stare at the light playing over her, highlighting the honey color of her hair and the flecks of gold in her eyes.
“You’re beautiful.”
I blink.
That’s not what I meant to say.
The girl tilts her head. “Nope. I’m Andi. Nice to meet you.”
She smiles and holds out her hand for me to shake, like we’re at a tea party at the Waldorf Astoria and she’s in a silk dress and I’m in a three-piece suit. Instead of the reality, where I’m still on the ground covered in blood and bruises, and she’s in a baggy cotton dress and a tattered red scarf.
I push myself up and swallow down the nausea as my head spins. The scent of cigarette has left, blown away on the humid breeze. It’s replaced by a soft smell, like sun-warmed strawberries and cherry blossoms freshly fallen. I sit in the dirt and take her hand. Her fingers are warm and when she squeezes my hand, it feels, for all the world, like coming home. When I was three, and my dad gave me my Martin, it felt like this too. Like I’d been born to hold it.
“I’m Jace.”
She squeezes firmly and shakes my hand. Then leaning close, she frowns.
“Did you know you’re bleeding?”
I nod and feel a little woozy when I do. But I push past it.
“It’ll be fine.”

pre order here

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Cover Reveal – The Space Between by Sarah Ready

Check out this beautiful cover by Elizabeth Turner Stokes for my upcoming romance book, The Space Between!

The Space Between releases on July 25th, 2023 but is available everywhere for pre-order now. Check out the synopsis below:

Jace and Andrea. Andrea and Jace. From the moment of their fate-filled first meeting in Central Park they’ve known one true thing—they’re meant to be. 

Life doesn’t have many certainties but for Andrea and Jace forever is one of them.

Andrea Leighton-Hughes—shockingly wealthy Upper East Sider, a chess-piece in her family’s games since before she was born—knows what it’s like to hide behind a mask. Her world is one of lies, manipulation, and reputation. Jace is the first and only person to see who she truly is.

Jace Morgan knows the ugly side of life and he hasn’t always kept his nose clean. A musical prodigy from the Bronx, Jace and his brothers will do whatever it takes to climb to the top of the music charts. Andrea is the first and only person who has helped him play from the heart. 

No one understands their connection. No one understands their love.

As Jace and Andrea struggle to stay together and prove that love defeats all obstacles, life sets out to prove them wrong.

What happens when two people promise forever, but life tears them apart?

What happens in the time they aren’t together—in the space between?

An epic love story full of emotional depth, redemption, found family, and the belief that love can heal the world. 

pre order here

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French Holiday is available now!

The day is finally here and French Holiday is available now! Do you wish you could escape to France and find love? Well now you can within the pages of my latest romcom romance French Holiday! The reviews have been so amazing and I can’t wait for everyone to read it! Check out the summary below and get your copy today.

One (crumbling) French castle. Two enemies-at-first-sight. The holiday of a lifetime. 

Merry DeLuca has a problem—a big problem. Her sister just married her best friend and the only man she’s ever loved. Her life is rapidly spiraling down the drain and she doesn’t have an escape plan. 

So when Merry is offered a three-month holiday living in a romantic castle in the French countryside she leaps at the chance. Merry knows her French holiday will fix everything—there will be mouthwatering pastries, delicious (meaningless) flirtations, and languid strolls through vineyards at sunset. Her holiday will be perfect. 

At least, Merry believes that until she arrives and finds Noah Wright—the best man at her sister’s wedding and the worst man she’s ever known—staying in her castle. 

Famous travel documentarian by day and arrogant devil by night, Noah refuses to leave the castle. Which means that Merry and Noah are stuck together in France, in a crumbling castle, in a holiday where nothing goes right. Not for Merry and not for Noah. 

So they strike a truce—they’ll live as cohabitating friends for three-months, and then they’ll amicably part ways, never to see each other again. 

But the thing about friendship? Sometimes secrets are uncovered. Mysteries revealed. Hearts laid bare. And friendship can start to feel a lot like caring. A lot like love. It can even make you wish that the holiday never has to end. 

French Holiday is available now in ebook, print, and audiobook!

The post French Holiday is available now! appeared first on Sarah Ready.

Sample from my upcoming romcom French Holiday

One (crumbling) French castle. Two enemies-at-first-sight. The holiday of a lifetime. 

My latest romcom French Holiday is coming April 26th! It all starts with a wedding…

Check out a sample of my latest romcom French Holiday. Pre-order here.

You can do this. Come on, Merry, you can do this. 

It’s only thirty-seven steps—I counted them yesterday—down a pink peony-trimmed, silk-runner-laid aisle. 

That’s not scary. 

It’s not hard. 

It’s easy. 

You’ve been walking since you were eleven months old. Mom always exclaimed, “You didn’t come out walking Merry, you came out running!” 

So. There.

You can do this. 

It’ll be perfectly painless. There’s Leo at the front of the church, looking exactly the same as he did yesterday, and the day before yesterday, and a year ago. 

Except today, he’s in a black tuxedo, with a single white orchid pinned to his chest. I gave the orchid to him, its subtle cinnamon fragrance drifting between us, as I promised him that I was happy.

Because of course I am. Of course I am.

And he looks happy. Some grooms are nervous, they’ll have sweat beading their foreheads, or their eyes will dart nervously from the aisle to the priest and back again, and some will look downright bilious. 

But not Leo. 

His shoulders are back, his chin is up, and when he sees me staring over the jam-packed pews, he flashes me a bright smile and winks. 

Dang it.

I quickly take a step back into the safety of the shadowed vestibule.

Oh no. Oh no.

Can he tell? Does he know? No. He doesn’t know.

“You don’t like weddings, do you?” Kimmy Fescue asks in her nasally accent, sending a sidelong glance my way. 

“What makes you say that?” I ask breezily, smiling brightly at the dim stone church, the soft organ music, and the overwhelming, schizophrenic scent of spicy cologne and the floral perfume of two hundred people mixing together in a small, humid space. 

Kimmy looks pointedly at my hands, and I realize that my knuckles are bone white, and I’m gripping my floral-tape-wrapped bouquet of waxy orchids and dizzily fragrant lily of the valley so tightly that I’ve cut off circulation. I’m not actually certain I can relax my grip—even if I wanted to—so she has a point. I lift a shoulder in acknowledgment. 

She leans closer, the puce color of her bridesmaid dress making her look anemic in the gray light. “Do you want to know the secret to surviving weddings?”

I open my eyes wide and take a step closer to hear her whisper. Of course I do. I mean, I’m not desperate. Obviously. But I’d like to hear the secret. 

Kimmy is my second-cousin. She grew up in Long Island, had sex when she was fifteen to get “the virginity problem” out of the way, and then went on to enrapture my sister Angela and me with salacious tales of teenage sex and scandal for the next five years. 

We lost touch when she became a dental hygienist and moved to Cleveland. But now, here she is. Back for the wedding.

“What?” I ask, certain she’ll have the best advice. 

It’s just like when we were kids, tucked in our sleeping bags in the living room, Kimmy sharing life wisdom like exercises for increasing your breast size (didn’t work), how to use hardboiled eggs to practice Frenching (I always ended up eating the egg), and where to find the best knock-off Louis Vuitton purses (sketchy basement apartment, side street in Forest Hills, never went).

She glances over her shoulder, her long fake lashes brushing her round cheeks as she glances at the three groomsmen, all in black tuxedos. 

Then she looks back at me, a prurient glint in her eye. “Before the wedding begins, you choose a guy. One of the groomsmen.”

“Choose a guy?”

“Yeah. You choose a guy. Then at the reception, drink all the champagne you want, eat all the cake you can, and then have mind-blowing, no holds barred, on the floor, against the wall, in the hallway, in the coat closet, in the bathroom if you’re into that…do it a few times, at least three—”

“Three times?”

Kimmy nods, then reaches into her cleavage and pulls out a tube of lipstick. She twists it, the bright, flaming red shining as she smooths it over her lips. “You want some?” She holds the tube out to me. 

I shake my head. “No. I’ll swell up.” I gesture vaguely at my lips. 

“Ohhh right. The beetle allergy.” 

She means carmine. 

Not that most people realize it, but a lot of red dye is made from crushed up insects called cochineal. Unfortunately, I’m allergic and whenever I use lipstick with carmine, my mouth gets covered in hives. 

It’s gross. 

Kimmy shrugs, caps the lipstick and shoves the tube back between her breasts. “Anyway. I’m gunning for the tall one, Reggie. He looks like he has stamina. I hear he played basketball in college.” 

She wiggles her eyebrows.

I wince. Kimmy doesn’t know Reggie, but I do. He’s a friend, just like the other groomsman is my friend. We’re a group. Me, Leo, Reggie, and John. There’s no way I’m going to get down and dirty with any of them. 

Obviously.

And then, well, there’s Noah. 

So. No.

Kimmy takes in my expression. “I know, I know, it sounds crazy. But trust me. This is the twelfth bridesmaid dress I’ve had to wear.” 

She plucks at the puce-colored silk and draws her lips down in a frown. “By far it’s also the most hideous. Listen, everybody knows being a bridesmaid sucks. You get all depressed. Oh, woe is me, I haven’t found the love of my life, I’m not the one getting chained in matrimony. Boo hoo. Sob sob. The only way to solve that depression spiral is to drink a tanker of champagne and gorge yourself on a sexy stranger. Trust me, it’ll fix you right up.” 

She nods at my white-knuckled grip on my bouquet. 

“Okay.” I give a tight smile. I’m not going to gorge myself on a sexy stranger. Perhaps Kimmy doesn’t have as good of advice as I remember. 

Except for the champagne bit. Maybe I’ll drink loads of champagne.

The door to the choir room shuts with a hard snick, and I turn to see Vick, the third bridesmaid, lifting my sister’s train. 

“Beautiful,” I say, smiling, even though I saw Angela only three minutes ago, when I helped her touch up her makeup and gave her a pep talk. But now her veil is down and she looks really, truly like a bride. 

I ignore the tightening in my chest. Because suddenly, the ridiculousness of Kimmy’s advice, the distraction, all that’s gone, and I can’t breathe. 

It’s like a giant green anaconda is squeezing my chest and there’s no more air. I can’t breathe. I can’t…no, that’s ridiculous. Of course I can breathe. It’s easy. Just suck in a breath. 

There. Better. 

That tightening is nothing. There’s no anaconda. No squeezing. It’s heartburn, I’m sure, from the four coffees I’ve already had today. Getting up at four in the morning to help with hair, flowers, and make-up will do that to you. 

There. See. 

Breathing.

“Do you think Leo will like it?” Angela asks anxiously for the seventieth time today. And she’s asking me, because as everyone knows, I’m Leo’s best friend. His buddy, his pal, his BFF, his “one of the guys,” his…whatever. 

I walk forward and straighten her veil. Then I look into her large, brown eyes—the only feature we have in common—and say cheerily, “He won’t like it. He’ll love it. He loves you, doesn’t he? So how could he not? You’re gorgeous.” 

Looking at her nervous expression, like she’s asking for something from me, I’m reminded of when we were kids. I was three when she was born, ready to be a big sister. My parents say that when I met her at the hospital I looked at her blonde fuzzy hair and pink face, and I said, “She looks like a baby angel.” So they named her Angela. 

She was beautiful from the minute she was born. Not like most babies who take a bit to look like anything other than a wrinkled up alien/peanut. No, she was Gerber baby gorgeous. 

For the first years of her life, everyone cooed at her, blew kisses, and random shopkeepers would always offer stickers, or balloons, or extra scoops of ice cream. I was never jealous. I was proud. Everyone loved my sister, but none of them got to love her as much as I did. 

I always gave her the biggest piece of cake. I let her go first on the swing. If I wanted to watch a travel documentary but she wanted to see MTV, we watched MTV. 

When I was twelve, I babysat Kyle Simmons for an entire summer. He put gum in my hair, wiped his boogers on me, and refused to do anything but play Crazy Eights, over and over and over. But I saved up enough money to buy the bike I’d been lusting after. 

I wheeled it home, so happy, so impressed that I had a ten speed with hand brakes and shiny red paint, that at first I didn’t see Angela hopping up and down and laughing and then hugging me. It was the day before her birthday, and she thought I’d bought it for her. As a surprise. 

I gave her the bike.

For some reason, I’m thinking about that bike now. She discarded it after two months of riding it. It’s long forgotten in a dusty corner of our childhood garage, chucked behind the flattened cardboard boxes and cockroach traps. 

Angela blinks and waves a hand in front of her face. “Leo does love me, doesn’t he?” 

Yes.

Yes, he does.

The pastor hurries over, dressed in her formal gear. She has chin-length gray hair, round glasses, and a demeanor that makes you feel like you should be whispering, and probably apologizing for something, although I’m not certain for what. 

“All ready, ladies?” she asks.

Of course I’m ready. There’s no reason I wouldn’t be. There’s no reason to feel upset. In fact, I wasn’t upset at all. That was an anomaly.

I can do this. 

Easy peasy.

The organ shifts into the song I know leads up to the bridal march. 

Now that I think on it, I never noticed before how much the bridal march sounds like a funeral dirge. The chords are just the same, a slow, pushing force inexorably plodding forward. 

“Yes, we’re ready,” Angela trills, smiling at us three bridesmaids, lined up in our puce dresses. “Aren’t we?”

Kimmy smirks at me, nods knowingly at the groomsmen lining up on the other side of the vestibule, and then gives me a lurid wink.

“Merry? All ready?” Angela asks.

“Absolutely,” I tell my sister, the woman who’s about to walk down the aisle and marry the love of my life. “Never been readier,” I say, which of course is a big, fat, red bike-shaped lie.

Want to read more? Check out my upcoming romcom French Holiday on April 26th.

The post Sample from my upcoming romcom French Holiday appeared first on Sarah Ready.

Check out my latest Giveaway!

Giveaway!

Enter my French Holiday Giveaway on Goodreads!

One (crumbling) French castle. Two enemies-at-first-sight. The holiday of a lifetime. 

Merry DeLuca has a problem—a big problem. Her sister just married her best friend and the only man she’s ever loved. Her life is rapidly spiraling down the drain and she doesn’t have an escape plan. 

So when Merry is offered a three-month holiday living in a romantic castle in the French countryside she leaps at the chance. Merry knows her French holiday will fix everything—there will be mouthwatering pastries, delicious (meaningless) flirtations, and languid strolls through vineyards at sunset. Her holiday will be perfect. 

At least, Merry believes that until she arrives and finds Noah Wright—the best man at her sister’s wedding and the worst man she’s ever known—staying in her castle. 

Famous travel documentarian by day and arrogant devil by night, Noah refuses to leave the castle. Which means that Merry and Noah are stuck together in France, in a crumbling castle, in a holiday where nothing goes right. Not for Merry and not for Noah. 

So they strike a truce—they’ll live as cohabitating friends for three-months, and then they’ll amicably part ways, never to see each other again. 

But the thing about friendship? Sometimes secrets are uncovered. Mysteries revealed. Hearts laid bare. And friendship can start to feel a lot like caring. A lot like love. It can even make you wish that the holiday never has to end. 

The post Check out my latest Giveaway! appeared first on Sarah Ready.

Cover Reveal – French Holiday by Sarah Ready

Check out this beautiful cover by Elizabeth Turner Stokes for my upcoming romance book, French Holiday!

French Holiday releases on April 26th, 2023 but is available everywhere for pre-order now. Check out the synopsis below:

One (crumbling) French castle. Two enemies-at-first-sight. The holiday of a lifetime. 

Merry DeLuca has a problem—a big problem. Her sister just married her best friend and the only man she’s ever loved. Her life is rapidly spiraling down the drain and she doesn’t have an escape plan. 

So when Merry is offered a three-month holiday living in a romantic castle in the French countryside she leaps at the chance. Merry knows her French holiday will fix everything—there will be mouthwatering pastries, delicious (meaningless) flirtations, and languid strolls through vineyards at sunset. Her holiday will be perfect. 

At least, Merry believes that until she arrives and finds Noah Wright—the best man at her sister’s wedding and the worst man she’s ever known—staying in her castle. 

Famous travel documentarian by day and arrogant devil by night, Noah refuses to leave the castle. Which means that Merry and Noah are stuck together in France, in a crumbling castle, in a holiday where nothing goes right. Not for Merry and not for Noah. 

So they strike a truce—they’ll live as cohabitating friends for three-months, and then they’ll amicably part ways, never to see each other again. 

But the thing about friendship? Sometimes secrets are uncovered. Mysteries revealed. Hearts laid bare. And friendship can start to feel a lot like caring. A lot like love. It can even make you wish that the holiday never has to end. 

pre order here

The post Cover Reveal – French Holiday by Sarah Ready appeared first on Sarah Ready.

Josh and Gemma Make a Baby is on Sale!

The ebook for Josh and Gemma Make a Baby is on sale for only $0.99! This ebook deal is ending soon so don’t miss out!

Josh and Gemma Make a Baby is a hilarious and poignant romcom about IVF, friendship, and falling in love when you least expect it.

If you haven’t already, start reading now!

Josh and Gemma Make a Baby is also available in paperback, hard back, and audiobook through all major retailers. You will fall in love with Josh, Gemma, and all her amazing friends and family as she pursues single motherhood; finding love along the way.

This Josh and Gemma Make a Baby sale is ending soon so download Josh and Gemma Make a Baby today and see what everyone is talking about.

Once you fall in love with Josh and Gemma, check out the sequel Josh and Gemma the Second Time Around!

Want to know what Josh and Gemma Make a Baby is all about? Here’s the blurb:

New Year’s Resolution:

Have a baby

Preferably with Josh Lewenthal

Meet Gemma Jacobs. She’s driven, energetic, and a positive thinker. She has a great career working for famed self-help guru Ian Fortune, she lives in a cute studio apartment in Manhattan, and her family is supportive and loving (albeit a little kooky). Her life is perfect. Absolutely wonderful. 

Except for one tiny little thing.

After a decade of disastrous relationships and an infertility diagnosis, Gemma doesn’t want a Mr. Right (or even a Mr. Right Now), she just wants a baby.

And all she needs is an egg, some sperm, and IVF.

So Gemma makes a New Year’s resolution: have a baby.

Josh Lewenthal is a laid back, relaxed, find-the-humor-in-life kind of guy. The polar opposite of Gemma. He’s also her brother’s best friend. For the past twenty years Josh has attended every Jacobs’ family birthday, holiday, and event – he’s always around. 

Gemma knows him. He’s nice (enough), he’s funny (-ish), he’s healthy (she thinks) and he didn’t burn any ants with a magnifying glass as a kid. Which, in Gemma’s mind, makes him the perfect option for a sperm donor.

So Gemma wants to make a deal. An unemotional, businesslike arrangement. No commitments, just a baby.

To Gemma’s surprise, Josh agrees.

They have nothing in common, except their agreement to make a baby and their desire to keep things businesslike.

But the thing about baby-making…it’s hard to keep it businesslike, it’s nearly impossible to keep it unemotional, and it’s definitely impossible to keep your heart out of the mix. Because when you’re making a baby together, things have a way of starting to feel like you’re making other things too – like a life, and a family, and love. And when the baby-making ends, you wish that everything else didn’t have to end too. 

The post Josh and Gemma Make a Baby is on Sale! appeared first on Sarah Ready.

Available Now: Josh and Gemma the Second Time Around

I am so happy to announce the release of my latest RomCom novel, Josh and Gemma the Second Time Around!

Available now beginning January 26th, 2023.

The highly anticipated sequel to romcom Josh and Gemma Make a Baby. 

Everything is about to change.

Gemma Jacobs has life figured out. She’s upbeat, positive to a fault, and the master of her own destiny. She has a wonderful career in social media marketing, lives in a trendy apartment with her fiancé Josh Lewenthal, and is pregnant with their much-loved baby.

Her life is wonderful. Absolutely perfect.

Except…

What really comes after the happily ever after?

Josh Lewenthal is laid-back, fun-loving, and always finds the humor in life. He writes a wildly successful web comic series, and can’t wait to marry Gemma—the woman of his dreams.

His life is amazing. Terrific.

Except…

What happens when everything changes?

Suddenly Josh and Gemma’s lives are turned upside down, and their love and their future together are at risk. They realize their happily ever after isn’t the end, it’s just the beginning—and now they have to fight for it.

They confront a devastating separation, the return of world-infamous Ian Fortune, and the question of whether or not their love can truly survive when everyone says…it’s already gone.

Captivating, gripping, and full of unexpected twists and turns, this love story yanks you into what happens after the happily ever after. 

“A charming and disarmingly tough story of the many ways that love can adapt to crises..” – Kirkus Reviews

Available now: Josh and Gemma the Second Time Around.

I can’t wait for you to read it!

Check out these retailers and get your copy today! Josh and Gemma the Second Time Around is available in eBook, print, and audiobook!

Order your copy at all of your favorite retailers:

The post Available Now: Josh and Gemma the Second Time Around appeared first on Sarah Ready.

Only 3 more days!

Josh and Gemma the Second Time Around is coming in only 3 more days! Are you ready?

The highly anticipated sequel to romcom Josh and Gemma Make a Baby. 

Everything is about to change.

Gemma Jacobs has life figured out. She’s upbeat, positive to a fault, and the master of her own destiny. She has a wonderful career in social media marketing, lives in a trendy apartment with her fiancé Josh Lewenthal, and is pregnant with their much-loved baby.

Her life is wonderful. Absolutely perfect.

Except…

What really comes after the happily ever after?

Josh Lewenthal is laid-back, fun-loving, and always finds the humor in life. He writes a wildly successful web comic series, and can’t wait to marry Gemma—the woman of his dreams.

His life is amazing. Terrific.

Except…

What happens when everything changes?

Suddenly Josh and Gemma’s lives are turned upside down, and their love and their future together are at risk. They realize their happily ever after isn’t the end, it’s just the beginning—and now they have to fight for it.

They confront a devastating separation, the return of world-infamous Ian Fortune, and the question of whether or not their love can truly survive when everyone says…it’s already gone.

Captivating, gripping, and full of unexpected twists and turns, this love story yanks you into what happens after the happily ever after. 

“…winning read about a little-discussed topic.” – Kirkus Reviews on Josh and Gemma Make a Baby

There are only 3 more days until Josh and Gemma the Second Time Around releases. Pre-order your copy at all of your favorite retailers:

The post Only 3 more days! appeared first on Sarah Ready.

The Reviews Are In!

Reviews are a great way to share your excitement about a book you love. Virginia Kirkus started her own professional review service in 1933 because she saw the need to inform book sellers about the quality of the books they were considering carrying in their bookstores. For nearly 90 years, Kirkus Reviews has been a great source for professional book reviews. I want to share this great review from Kirkus reviews of Josh and Gemma the Second Time Around.

Coming January 2023.

You can pre-order now at:

www.books2read.com/joshandgemmathesecondtimearound

so you can jump right in when it’s released!

BOOK REVIEW

In this sequel to Josh and Gemma Make a Baby (2022), Ready continues his story of a couple as they face major changes in their lives.

The author begins this novel where the last one left off, with her two main characters, Gemma Jacobs and Josh Lewenthal, poised on the brink of a perfect life. Gemma has a career in social media marketing, Josh is an author, and the two are deliriously in love with a baby on the way; they’re about to be married in a ceremony with Gemma’s extended, loving family in attendance. They’ve put the shocking events of the previous novel behind them, which involved an encounter with Ian Fortune—a former “self-help guru” who’s now known as an “employee-abusing conniver who misled millions.” Gemma was directly involved in Fortune’s downfall, but she’s contentedly refusing all phone calls from the press about it. However, the couple’s pregnancy coach tells them that “everything is about to change,” and soon afterward, Gemma is at the altar when disaster strikes: She collapses, and when she awakens, she learns several things in quick succession: She’s given birth to her baby, Josh is not around, and Ian Fortune is back in her life. Most notably, she finds out that several months have passed while she was in a coma. Her picture-perfect future is now in tatters, and as the novel picks up steam, Gemma not only wonders if she can put it all together again, but also whether she really wants to do so.

The underlying concept of Ready’s novel is intriguingly unconventional. Most contemporary romances take their adorable couples through a series of minor tribulations before smoothing things out and leaving the characters ready to live happily-ever-after. Indeed, these are hallmarks of the genre. But in this sequel—which stands well enough on its own—the happily-ever-after moment is merely the starting point, after which Ready piles on one complication after another to darken the picture that she painted in the first book. Gemma’s world is suddenly in turmoil—not only because her own health has drastically altered for the worse, but also because Josh is nowhere to be found. Ready makes the winning decision to lighten up the narrative with quipping humor. As in the previous book, she uses Ian Fortune as the vehicle for the most amusing material, and he almost completely steals the book. When Gemma tells him that she hates him, for instance, he quips, “Please. Try to be original. The whole world hates me. Wouldn’t it be more fun to love me? Don’t be a follower, Gemma.” For a thrillingly long section of the book’s third act, Ready effectively leads readers to wonder if she isn’t going to upend every single one of the genre’s expectations. It’s a testament to her exceptional writing skill that even the most romantic-minded readers won’t be sure which outcome they prefer.

A charming and disarmingly tough story of the many ways that love can adapt to crises.

“…winning read about a little discussed topic.” Kirkus Reviews on Josh and Gemma Make a Baby by Sarah Ready

The post The Reviews Are In! appeared first on Sarah Ready.