Ready or Not

Title: Ready or Not
Author: Chautona Havig
Series: Aggie’s Inheritance, book 1
Major Themes: Child Rearing, Family Life, Romance
Synopsis: When her sister and brother-in-law suddenly die, Aggie, at the age of 22 and fresh out of college, inherits their eight children!

I have found very few modern fiction books that I really liked, far fewer that I was interested in reading twice. Ready or Not is one of those very few. I got it free for my Kindle, and now I want to read the rest of the series! I first read it a year or so ago, but decided to reread it now, to decide if it was as worth reviewing for this website as I remembered. It sucked me in just as much as on the first read, and once again I was highly impressed. This is an author I’d like to read more of!

As the story opens, 22-year-old Aggie, fresh out of college and ready to teach high school history, is suddenly given her sister’s eight children when their parents both die in an accident. With the oldest being 12 and the youngest six months, and two sets of twins (one set is identical toddlers!) her life is extremely challenging, to say the least! And then—her late brother-in-law’s mother comes on the scene, trying to control every detail of her grandchildren’s lives, in an extremely nasty way, and life is suddenly way more stressful than Aggie could have imagined. How in the world will Aggie cope with the 180 turn that God has just thrown in her path, as she prayed He would if He wanted her doing something different than she had planned?

Ready or Not is a very real book. I love the real-life things portrayed all through the book. The first scene involves sleep-deprived Aggie filling the baby’s bottle with her designer coffee instead of his formula, at 4:00 am! Another thing I appreciated was the way tips on handling behavior problems are scattered here and there throughout the story, as God puts various people into Aggie’s life to help her deal with her challenges. The characters are very real and believable, and I sure wonder what will transpire in the next two books! Two of the people who are helping Aggie with the children and with the extreme challenge, besides, of renovating an old house for the family to live in, are a 30-year-old bachelor handyman and a similarly-aged policeman, also single, who seems to have quite the aversion to the house—although he helps immensely with the renovation! There are hints that a romance may someday develop, but Aggie is too busy right now to think of such things.

If you’re looking for a relaxing read, this is a great one. I highly recommend it for any older girl or mother who enjoys reading.

No warnings needed—this is a very clean book.

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