Josie Hale is 30, in the process of getting divorced, and has just found out she's pregnant. Life is not going her way, but a chance encounter with two high school friends whose lives are in similar disarray leads to the forging of the Corn Dog Pact and the beginning of their work to fix their lives. It starts out almost as a joke, but it leads to them forming their own perfect little family and finding ways to make things better in the sweetest, most supportive ways possible.

Who hasn't had a moment of feeling like everything is going wrong? Josie's low is particularly so, but there's something incredibly relatable about suddenly finding oneself failing at being an adult and wanting to change it. The fact that Josie is lucky enough to rekindle a wonderful friendship with two sweet and supportive guys who were there for her in high school and are excited to fix their lives right along with her is one of the sweetest stories I've read in a while. It shows that support can come from unexpected places at random times, you just have to be open to it. The fact that Eding did make it so that most of the improvements in Josie's life are the result of her working towards them and not letting setbacks keep her down instead of other people's interventions gets her major props.


Happy thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the emotional read!

Book 034 of 300 ~ 2024

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So I hit the jackpot with this. I entered a goodreads giveaway and won the physical copy - my first win. While entering that giveaway, I applied for review copies for both the audiobook and ebook - hoping to score one but won all.

I juggled between the three. Sometimes I read either the book or ebook while listening to the audiobook, most times I interchanged platforms.

I enjoyed the narrator. She did an excellent job.

For the story, how clever to have pregnant women as sleuths. I thought that was rather imaginative.

Plot was good and I kept reading.

I'd be open to a possible series or at least a second book as the sleuths as new moms, maybe.

I received complimentary copies of the physical, ebook, and audiobook. Opinions shared in this review are completely my own.

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This was really sweet! I loved the way Josie and Ben and Kevin depend on each other and their friendship together. I loved the way Josie and her friends were so loyal to each other!

Josie’s life is not going the way she had it planned out. She finds herself separated from her husband, pregnant, without a job and living with her parents. Upon a craving she goes to the fair to get a corn dog and runs into two old friend from high school Ben and Kevin. Soon her life is going to be turned upside down.

I really enjoyed the heartfelt story telling of this book and it’s a good getaway book.

Thank you #NetGalley for the advance copy

This was fine. It didn't leave a huge impact on me, but I remember being entertained while I read it.

I was given an audio copy of The Unplanned Life of Josie Hale by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review <3 need my own Corndog Pact!!!
This was a super easy and quick "guilty" pleasure book that I finished in one day!!
Josie, Ben & Kevin are friends from high school and quickly renew their friendship and come up with a reverse Threes Company. Josie's ex should have had a much bigger downfall - because he's jerk!! There were a few time's where her mom, may have needed a nice little smack in the mouth! Throw in a little mutual crushing and BAM - you have a light hearted fun sweet love story!! I thoroughly enjoyed this book!!!
I was given an digital copy of The Unplanned Life of Josie Hale by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review <3

Thank you to @netgalley and @sourcebookscasa for my gifted copy of The Unplanned Life of Josie Hale, by Stephanie Eding! This book is out now.

While I enjoyed this one, I can’t say it was my favorite. Surprise pregnancies aren’t my favorite trope. However, I love how Eding wrote Josie into a character that grows SO much throughout the course of the book. And, another perk - her two male roommates made for some truly comical moments.

Read this one by the pool or the beach!

Cute book about friendship, relationships and change as Josie navigates being newly divorced, pregnant and reuniting with friends from high school. The pact to improve their lives was really relatable and it was fun to follow the journey. I was definitely more invested in the friendships than romances.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC to read and review.

I'm not a fan of books with pregnancy in them but this one was much more than that. Josie Hale is a strong, hard-working woman and soon-to-be mother in the middle of a divorce. in my opinion, she is probably the best character you could've asked for (strong, unproblematic female protagonist? we love them).

Josie's friendship with Kevin and Ben made me laugh and tear up a bit but most importantly, it made me realize how important it is to have good friends that will do anything for you. I'm glad that we only get a bit of romance in here therefore it's not too overwhelming and makes the book more realistic.

I think this book's major flaw is that it lacks any self-awareness whatsoever. Josie is an unemployed thirty year old woman living in her parents' home and in the process of divorcing her cheating husband when she realizes a last-ditch effort to save their marriage has left her pregnant. At no point does this woman with no health insurance, no job, and an unstable housing environment, living in a state that guarantees her right to an abortion even consider one, let alone any other option than raising her child. That alone seems so wildly unrealistic to me. She then proceeds to move in with her two high school best friends after reconnecting with the two men at a county fair. Do not expect any excitement out of that premise (much to my chagrin).

But it all somehow continues to go downhill. The book is fiction with a vague romantic subplot: the love interest is a man with a tween daughter who has apparently never heard of a parenting book and was like "oh bummer my daughter hates me and I can't figure out why. Also, Josie, you're sharing a loft space as your bedroom with her when she's here for my random weekends with her in my absolute bachelor pad with no real furniture, food, or dishes. No, still no idea why she doesn't like me." Her mother is overbearing, her third roommate makes a lot of choices about Josie's body for her (give her the damn cup of caffeinated coffee if she says it's fine, Jesus Christ), and Josie's 30 years old and talks about her "bosom." I'm almost thirty and the only time I've said bosom is when trying to convince one of my favorite authors via Instagram DMs that we would be bosom friends. And all of this is done in such a "well they mean well" kind of way that I know the author spent no time thinking critically about the work that this book is or isn't doing.

Anyways, I'm giving this book two stars because I spent a large part of it being irritated that the romance hadn't started yet before I realized it wasn't a romance novel, and that's on me. YMMV, but I'd highly recommending a skip on this one.

The Unplanned Life of Josie Hale by Stephanie Eding is a cute and relatable romantic comedy. I absolutely loved this book! Josie Hale is in her thirties and facing a divorce from her cheating husband when she learns she's pregnant. While at a fair, she bumps into her 2 guy friends from high school. This book follows her throughout her pregnancy and her friendships with the guys. The storyline is great. I could not stop reading it! I highly recommend this book to be added to your to read list!

I genuinely wanted to like this book because the concept of a romance where the woman is pregnant with an ex-partner's child was highly intriguing to me. But I ended up being underwhelmed by this book overall.

Josie Hale is going through a divorce after finding her husband cheating on her, but she is pregnant. With nowhere else to turn, Josie moves back to her home town and reconnects with her two best friends from high school who are roommates and haven't yet grown up. Josie moves in with them and the three make a pact to grow up and improve their lives. Whereas the growth in the three characters was interesting and the two men end up taking good care of Josie while she is pregnant, the romance was completely unconvincing.

I didn't think it would be, especially when Josie and Ben were interested in each other in high school and there was some tension between the two in the beginning. But every page that passed just didn't make sense in advancing a relationship and by the end it seemed like nothing had happened. I had such high hopes but it just didn't do it for me.

The best part was watching the three start to grow up and work on their values in life, but I wouldn't read this for the romance aspect at all.

**Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca and Netgalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review**

This one was good! Not my fav but I enjoyed all the relationships.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review

A super fun, enjoyable romance / womens fiction novel.

This is the first book by Stephanie Eding I have read and I am sure I will pick up more of her novels in the future.

A great weekend read.

I didn't manage to make it past the 20% mark. The characters were so unlikeable and childish, the writing style wasn't really my cup of tea, and with every word I could feel my will to read on slip further and further away. Life is too short for books that don't work for you, so I DNF'd and moved on to something else.

I apologize but I was not able to finish this book. I was in a different headspace at the time of requesting / recieving this book and the time I got it.

Enter "two men and a baby"! Josie is unexpectedly pregnant and out for a little country fair fun and comfort food when she meets up with the two men-Kevin and Ben (friends from high school). They all rehash their lives since high school and bond together to take care of Josie's baby. A little bit of country and a lot of chick lit is the theme of this story! You will be entertained and charmed! Thank you netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book!

This is such a good book!!! I absolutely loved all aspects of the book. The blurb is so simple and catchy, it kept me hooked from page one.

Josie is a great main characters, and her friends Kevin and Ben are just awesome. The chemistry is so fun and cute, I can't think of anything wrong with it. Side characters like Josie's (ex)husband, mother, student, etc, add flavor and layers of drama, comedy, seriousness, etc

Eding has definitely mastered the right balance between a light, breezy page-turner, and the few heavy topics that she added to the mix.

People who like romances, comedies, friendships, revelations, drama, loads of giggly scenes, single moms, non-romantic student teacher relationships, and other similar tropes, you're in for a pleasant surprise...

GET YOURSELF THIS BOOK AND THANK ME LATER :P

When Josie catches her husband cheating on her and has to move back in with her parents, she feels like she's at rock bottom. Then she finds out she's pregnant. A chance run-in with her best friends from high school (one of whom was her secret crush) leads to the "corn dog pact", a plan for Josie to move in with them and for them all to work in improving their lives in the next year. The beautiful friendships and realistic portrayals of adult struggles really brought this novel to life, along with lots of laughs and a sweet slow-burn romance.

I really loved this book! It’s more women’s fiction than romance, but I am thoroughly entertained by the Three Men and a Baby hijinks of three high school friends reuniting to improve each other’s lives. It was a very sweet and comforting read. Definitely going on my comfort reads shelf.