Welcome to Zoe’s world as she journeys through her early 30’s. Readers will enjoy many laugh-out-loud moments, charming interactions, and a great cast of characters that help get Zoe through the many curve balls life throughs at her. Wolfs writing is detailed and emotional putting readers right in the thick of things. While some readers may not love the “U2 Letters” I found them endearing, a fun way to communicate the protagonists thoughts and feelings.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun read anchored in a bit of heartache. Trigger warnings include extreme family pressure and abortion/loss of child 💔

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 4.5 stars for this nostalgic and endearing look at life in your 30’s

🔊Song Pairing: I Don’t Think I Can Do This Again - Mura Masa

💭What I thought would happen:

Any title with calamities in it…and let’s face it the 30s are the best years.

📖What actually happens:

Zoe is getting a divorce. She did not think this was how she would kick off her 30s. Instead of having a baby she is having an abortion and at that moment her mother decides to remind her she needs sexier underwear.

Zoe reflects on her relationship with her ex husband while attempts to put herself out there by signing up for J-Date and agreeing to disastrous blind dates. Let’s all pray for Zoe’s sanity

🗯Thoughts:

I thought this book was going to be hilarious (it was in a dark humour kind of way) but there were heavy doses of hard life lessons to be learned, brace for some sadness.

There was a wildly inappropriate part with a uncomfortable sexual encounter with rabbi and honestly my cold brew went up my nose when I snorted…also I was listening to this while working…also I wasn’t at home…surrounded my people. 😂 This part alone is worth picking this book up.

Anyone who has had to swipe right will understand the struggles the MC faces as she enters her dirty thirties. I love how she navigates the single world (aka the fifth realm of hell) and learns to prioritize her needs above others.

Overall, very much enjoyed and would recommend the audiobook! It was an unexpected delight!

I received a free audiobook copy from Netgalley and finished in the nick of time before publishing day.
This book was a lot of fun. As someone who thoroughly enjoys hearing about other people's dating lives, I enjoyed listening to this and often felt as though I was being confided in. I do have to dock some points from this due to the oddly anticlimactic ending in the last 5% of the book and the diary entries written to U2. Overall, I recommend this to folks like me who enjoy these kinds of stories.

Tw: abortion, sexism, & 2008 political discussion

Zoe is a mess of a main character, a loveable, desperate, seemingly-hopeless mess. She's spent her entire life living for other people and almost never questioning it. She's a go-with-the-flow type, quick to pick up other's baggage and do the heavy lifting in relationships. She's cringe-worthy in her overwhelming desire to please, despite having a pretty good head on her shoulders and a clear voice telling her what she should be doing (she just doesn't listen to it). It's frustrating that an Ivy-league educated woman who in many regards has made quite a career for herself and has a lot to offer constantly and almost subconsciously sells herself short. My Thirty-First Year is her journey toward independence and learning to trust that inner compass, a rewarding journey I think you'll also enjoy. Please note, there is a trigger warning for abortion throughout this book. It's a heavy theme that takes place from the very first chapter.

This book does not come with a trigger warning but does open with Zoe getting an abortion, so please be gentle with your self if this is a difficult topic.

I wanted to like this book so much more than I did. I liked the beginning and the ending, but the middle part lost me. There was so much back and forth. I felt myself zoning out and having to go back and rewind, which never happens to me.

However. I did really relate to Zoe in the instance of “putting them first” and making excuses for your first real love. I can't imagine the shit show of my life if I had married my “first love”.

I also really loved the religious elements of this book. I love hearing about how different religions handle different things. I did find it funny that she wrote in her journal to U2, I was never a fan. But I get being so obsessed with a band, you would do this. That was funny.

The narration on this book was spectacular though, you could feel Zoes pain and the angst going thru all of these big life events

Thank you Netgalley & Dreamscape Media for the ARC audiobook
Thank you Emily Wolf for this book
Thank you Cady Zuckerman for the wonderful narration

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A solid four-star listen! I really enjoyed peering into the life of a thirty-something-year-old through Zoe's lens. This audiobook is jam-packed with humor, emotion, and reflection. I would definitely recommend a listen!

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for an audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

⚜️My Summary

📚 Thank you @netgalley & @dreamscape_media for sending me multidimensional read by @_emily_wolfe. This book was entertaining on so many levels. I'm currently 30 making 31 in a few months and once you've hit 30 you tend to feel like everything needs to happen right away because your running out of time. That made this book very relatable. There's just one huge thing in this book that I strongly disagreed with. But, Zoie's journey of life after 30 was very entertaining. I truly enjoyed the audio version. A must listen!!

⚜️Likes/Dislikes

📚The author's writing style and the narrator.

⚜️Just Read Stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️

I thoroughly enjoyed this story about making life plans early and learning to adjust when our life doesn't look like we'd always planned. A funny and at times cringe-y look at dating in the 21st century. Supportive family dynamics and friends. The stereotypical "crazy" mother-in-law. Wedding hijinks, ghosting, retail therapy. I almost forgot this was fiction. But it felt like the perfect amalgamation of all my favorite dating and mother-in-law horror stories.

The story also features a thoughtful discussion on abortion and one of the more common reasons that women have them. I love that the main character sees a counselor/therapist and has healthy discussions about her fears and faults, but also about the way that others fail her. Our main character does some real growing up and growing into her own throughout the story. And I think everyone young woman could learn a little something here.

WOW. This book made me super uncomfortable - and I absolutely loved it! Some of the horrors Zoe goes through made me cringe and also laugh out loud. I think it was in one of the very first chapters where Ms. Wolf detailed the abortion/period blood gushing that I knew I was going to be in for a wild ride.

I loved that we got a little backstory on Zoe's relationship with Rob and his family. Poor Zoe should have known her marriage was doomed the second her crazy Mother In Law scheduled a literal FUNERAL the same day as her wedding. Ooof.

Zoe's adventures in online dating were completely realistic and relatable. I was constantly comparing things she went through with things I happened to go through myself years ago. I can honestly say I DO NOT miss those days, especially after reading this - haha.

My heart broke for her during certain moments. I also want to give major kudos to Ms. Wolf for showing the entire thought/feeling process leading up to, during, and after Zoe having her abortion. In this day and age, especially for those of us in the US, that was needed.

This is not my typical read but I took a chance and I absolutely loved it. Give this one a chance, it will give you ALL the feelings.

Had a hard time with the narrator at first -but got used to her slightly nasal voice eventually. Face paced story, entertaining, warning for profanity and adult/sexual situations.

Solid 5 stars! I really liked Zoe and her journey into her early 30s. I had so many laugh out loud moments when reading this book; always a plus! I was initially thrown by the timeline as I thought it took place around 2022, but it's mainly based in 2007-2008.

I enjoyed how the book read like a memoir. The details and the narrator together make it easy to envision what Zoe was experiencing and it was all believable (even the MIL situations). I did not care for the U2 letters as I despise them, aside to Ross and Rachel's song, but I chose to let it go as I respect that we all have different tastes.

Cady Zuckerman definitely brought this book to life. My only complaint is that the female characters did sound similar and were hard to differentiate, even within the same conversation.

I am pro-choice and believe we should all have autonomy over our individual bodies. I did find myself questioning that stance when reading this book because she wanted the baby so badly but didn't want to be tied to Rob for the entirety of the child's life; however, how he was acting made it seem like he'd have no problem relinquishing his rights. I have not/will not change my stance and, while it took me a minute to get there, I respect Zoe's choice. Moreover, I actually appreciate that this scenario made me think critically of how I feel and why so I could work through it.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media for providing me with an ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and She Writes Press / Dreamscape Media for advanced access to the audiobook of My Thirty-First Year (And Other Calamities) by Emily Wolf in exchange for an honest review.

CW: abortion, pregnancy, toxic relationships, in-law relationships, emotional abuse, diffuse boundaries, see full list on StoryGraph

Zoe's 30s are off to a rough start. She is recently divorced from her high school sweetheart, and just had an abortion because, despite saying he wanted a baby, her now-ex-husband has changed his mind. Rife with familial conflict and the pressures of womanhood, My Thirty-First Year (And Other Calamities) addresses the need to put your oxygen mask on yourself before helping others.

I'm sorry y'all. I had to DNF this at 26%. I was really liking it at first. It has a My Big Fat Greek Wedding meets How to Marry Keanu Reeves in 90 Days vibes, which I thought was a great set up. And it was not what I was expecting! I guess I didn't read the description of this book too closely, because going in, I thought it was going to be a memoir. Unfortunately, the subject matter hit a little too close and cringey for me and I had to stop. Though Zoe's voice as a character was so achingly familiar about how it feels to be a woman who often puts others before herself, I had little reason to root for any of these characters, and I just felt so frustrated with Zoe's choice to stay with Rob time and time again, especially after he continued to make his mother a priority over his wife after their marriage. I liked the premise and the exposition, and I think this book likely has a really important message for a lot of women to hear, I just couldn't make myself push through it.

I really thought this was a non-fiction book as I started listening to it! Zoe is so relatable, but I will admit the craziness of the stories about her husband and his family were a bit more interesting than the aftermath. I also felt like her decision about getting an abortion was really glazed over, instead of elaborating on the thought process.

Overall I found it to be a great read and it had excellent narration!

My Thirty-First Year (And Other Calamities) is a debut novel by Emily Wolf that centers on Zoe Greene, a recently turned 30-year-old that is planning an abortion and filing for divorce from her high-school sweetheart. In a search to get her life together and trying to figure out where it went wrong, Zoe begins going to therapy, and leaning on her family, friends, and her collection of letters to her favorite rock band U2.

The opening and continual conversation around pregnancy, abortion, and the emotional fallout is very timely given our current political climate. I think it was handled with care and includes worthwhile discussions around a person's decision to choose and how they may feel pressure from people in their lives. I hated her ex-husband and his passiveness. He made me so frustrated, especially with his flip-flopping on major issues in their relationship and his refusal to take responsibility for his actions.

As a current fangirl, I related to Zoe's continuous letters to U2, just ranting and letting it all out. I really enjoyed Zoe's growth throughout the story and I just wanted her to be happy by the end. The audiobook narrator was nice and acted the different characters well. I also enjoyed the writing style and look forward to seeing Emily Wolf's future projects.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for an audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.