Based on the blurb I thought this was going to follow one couple (Amy and Josh) with little smatterings of the rest of the family in there as well.
Nope.
The main love stories were Amy and Josh and Harry and Sophia. Although the various love interests and stories for the rest of the family were included as well. This definitely made it a tad hard to follow!
Once I figured out we’d be following two main stories, the length of the book (for a romance) made sense to me. I got to the point where I just wanted it to be over. It just got too long. I know it’s only 500 odd pages long, but that’s like double the length of most of the books I read these days and I felt like I would have preferred these to be two separate books.
There’s enough going on in this family that Bronwyn could easily have made this a series and I probably would’ve loved them. But for a single book it was a bit much.
I think it also dragged for a bit because I got a copy off NetGalley and the texts about three quarters of the way through the book were a bit jumbled up and I had to go backwards and forwards to read them in order. I’m sure the final versions wouldn’t have that issue, but it was something that made it difficult for me to stay engaged.
All the characters had a purpose. If you learnt something about them, there was a reason for it. It played a role in the wider story. Whether it be emotional development, drama or backstory development. There was a reason which made it all worthwhile.

Initially I struggled to get into this book, but I wanted to give it a second chance and I am so glad I did.
It was a great light hearted entertaining read, parts made me laugh out loud.

I enjoyed this book for what it was.. a fun lighthearted romcom. It was an easy bedtime read and I would recommend it for anyone looking to wind down.

We have all been victim to falling in love with the idea of love too quickly with the wrong person and the main character Amy is no different. While some concepts were a wee far fetched... it added to the fictional humour.

At one point I thought there may be too many romances blooming and dooming, however, the author did round them all out (even if she didn't tie all the threads). I also enjoyed the authors cheeky little hotel reviews at the end of chapters which added to type of environment the characters are set in.

Lovestruck is a family novel, featuring one of those families I love to read about. As with all good family stories, it features a matchmaking matriarch who feels no guilt in doing whatever it takes to get her daughters (all single or divorced) and grandchildren married off.

The novel is set on the family-owned resort island in The Whitsundays, Queensland, Australia. Each chapter is headed by a "review" of the resort, most of which are completely ridiculous and show how often critical reviews are more about the reviewer that what is being reviewed. Apparently, the reviews are loosely based on real reviews the author read while researching the novel. For example:

"I don't get why this place has so many four- and five-star reviews. It's so basic! If you're not into swimming or water sports, there's nothing to do but eat and drink and sit on the beach and have massages!"

Yes, this novel is full of #FirstWorldProblems

Amy has gathered with the rest of her family to attend her father's wedding to Sanjay. She'd like to a have a real relationhip, but she is hit by the friend curse—the men she meets all see see her as a friend and nothing more. That's fine by Josh, Sanjay's son, who is delighted to become part of Amy's crazy family ... and doesn't get that Amy wants to be more than stepsiblings,

Then there's Sophia, the jilted bride staying in the bridal suite. And the soliders who've just moved in next door. And various family members and wedding guests ... all in all, there is plenty of fodder for a whole series. Then there's the Dirty Dancing ... when someone (I can't remember who) decides the family should do a flashmob dance of the famous Dirty Dancing scene, with Josh as Patrick Swayze and Amy as Baby. That's an ongoing thread which … well, I'll let you find out.

The writing is brilliant. It's witty funny, but in that understated way where you read the line, keep reading, then go back because you realise how good it was. Is. Lovestruck expertly weaves two romances (well, two main romances and a couple of secondary relationships), but I never felt lost.

Overall, I loved the crazy characters, the twisted plot, the beautiful setting, the wonderful writing, and I hope there is a sequel, because there is an Australian Navy base full of singletons and enough unmarried cousins to go around.

Recommended for romantic comedy fans, especially those looking for an Australian setting.

Thanks to Harlequin Australia and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

Set on a small family run resort island in the Whitsundays, this was a delightful rom com book that happened to be just the book I needed at the time.
Nan runs the Island like a machine and she laments that she has three daughters and nine grandchildren and not one in a relationship. With the up coming wedding of one of ‘the Dad’s’ to another man, the whole family has gathered and the match making begins.
I thought this was a fun book and I really enjoyed the interactions between siblings and cousins. It was a big cast but I found it easy to follow. Like most of this genre, I always say that it’s all about the journey and with this one it had the added attraction of a beautiful setting, which I could well imagine.
A great read for light escapism.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy to read

This is a fun and very entertaining story with a fabulous setting, who doesn’t love an island resort in The Whitsundays, a big family, a grandmother trying her best to marry all of her offspring off and two romances and maybe a curse, I hope you get to know Harry and Sophia and Amy and Josh and the rest of the family.

Amy Lowry is home on the Curlew Bay resort for her father’s wedding, this is the first wedding for a long time and Amy is realizing that she is over being friends with all of the males she knows she is looking for a male that will give her that magnetic pull and maybe she has found it when her new stepbrother Josh Brennan arrives on the island for the family wedding.

Josh is a love them and leave them guy after all his parent’s marriage was never the best, an only child he is thrilled to finally have a family, but meeting Amy sends an instant alert to his heart strings but he is so going to leave that alone or can he?

Harry lives on the island and is a marine scientist he loves his job and is well aware of his grandmother’s matchmaking ways, he is single at the moment, so when a jilted bride arrives on the island and is trying to get her life back on track and Harry is being pushed her way and not at all unhappy with that as they get on so well and maybe he is feeling more than friendship vibes that seem to be the reciprocated with Sophia, how will a relationship work out with them, long distance is not always good.

There are lots of laughs throughout this story as well as sensual and moving moments, I did very much enjoy this one the family brings so much fun to this one and I am hoping that there will be more stories set on Curlew Bay Resort. Amy and Josh and Harry and Sophia both finally get to their HEA’s but not before lots of hurdles and lots of talking and opening up. Thank you MS Sell for a fab story and it is one that I recommend.

The blurb likens this book to [the tv series] Offspring and I think that’s probably an accurate description (but maybe with less babies involved).

Lovestruck centres upon the family who own and run a resort on Curiosity Island, an island which is fictional itself but supposedly part of the Whitsundays, a real island group in Queensland. Everyone comes together on the island for a wedding which gives Nan, the matriarch of the family, time to search for potential partners for her [currently all single] daughters, granddaughters and grandsons amongst the resort staff and guests, as well as the wedding party's friends and relatives.

The book is a true romantic comedy and I really appreciated that. It’s pretty rare that writers are able to manage this style without things becoming either corny or coarse. There are two main romantic couples featured and they each share some great chemistry and I was really cheering them on throughout.

I also appreciated that the main two love stories had really good believable conflicts. I cannot tell you how many times I read romances and the conflict is so weak it could be sorted out with a five minute conversation. And, often, in the end the conflict is resolved just as quickly. Instead, Lovestruck had conflicts that I could imagine someone having (hell, I’ve had one myself in my younger years) and needing some time to sort out.

Sell also manages to keep everything contemporary with ease. Mentions of social media and slang used by today’s 20-somethings were included with a nice balance to please both younger and older readers.

As I only live up the coast a little from the Whitsundays, I loved the setting. All the wildlife, post cyclone money woes and island activities were pretty spot on. Nothing really stuck out as over the top or inaccurate. Sell even managed to include a lot of environmental messages without becoming preachy or patronising. My only real whinge was that I think Sell could have been a little more eloquent with her descriptive passages. This is only a minor gripe - there was still enough to ensure it had a uniquely Australian feel about it.

This is a long book and yet I still read it rather fast. I guess it could have been edited a bit towards the end though. To be contrary, I'm on board with Sell continuing to write more of these characters and make this into a series. (I live in hope that the older characters' romances aren't glossed over to make way for the younger ones in the sequels. It was rather annoying that all the older characters' romances happened 'off screen'. As I said, this was a long book and yet *this* is what they decide to gloss over? Grrr.)

Overall though, this was a funny sweet read with likeable characters that I would readily recommend.

4 out of 5

PS I’ve got to also give a special shout out to the ‘reviews’ of the island between chapters. They were hilarious.

To say I was disappointed with this book is an understatement. I was hoping for a light love-in-paradise read but what was delivered instead was a seemly-unending tome full of excruciating dialogue spouted by annoying characters at a pace that made me want to throw my kindle.
Firstly, there is only one likeable character in the book, and that is Sophia. Every single other person is thoroughly awful and it made it hard going. The two love storylines were an odd choice (most in this genre stick to only one) and not executed well. I couldn’t stand either Amy or Josh so has no investment in their story and their constant, constant, never-ending whining about “not going there” was intensely off-putting. The fact that they were step-brother and -sister also wouldn’t have been so icky if they didn’t mention it every five seconds. The Harry-Sophia storyline was only made bearable by the presence of the well-rounded Sophia, possibly the only redeeming part of this book.
One of my main issues was the lack of sex scenes of any kind. The author insists of fading to black in every single instance, never once describing firsthand anything more than a character’s reaction to a kiss or touch. There’s a lot of talk about sex, the fact that they want it, the fact that they had it (and it was good) but the fact it simply isn’t described was INCREDIBLY frustrating. It is almost as if the book was written by a Mormon.
But by far my biggest dislike in this book was the dialogue. The characters (not just our loved-up couples, their numerous relatives too) talk ALL THE TIME about the same things, over and over, and much of it is superfluous and poorly written. It also slows the story down to a turtle’s pace. A good editor could have cut out about 50% of the talking and we would have been left with a much snappier, faster-paced book with characters that spend less time moaning about their lot and more time actually falling in love in what is probably a gorgeous paradise (not that the setting gets much description).
Lastly, the degeneration of act three into just text messages was not only incredibly annoying but downright lazy on the part of the author. Perhaps I wouldn’t have had such an issue with it if texting had been a consistent method of storytelling throughout but it just pops up there and continues on for pages and pages of inane back and forth. I felt like that time that I read Stephen Fry’s last biography and the second part of the book was literally cut and pasted diary entries.
Do you wonder why I persevered until the end when I disliked the book so much? Me too. But I’m a stubborn reader and after I got through about half I though “well I got this far maybe the rest won’t be as bad” but boy was I wrong.
Unfortunately I can only give this one star - to be salvaged as a romantic fiction the book needs a judicious editor’s pen, some sex and a dialogue specialist to perform emergency surgery.

This book left me with a great big goofy grin on my face. It’s one of the quirkiest holiday romance books I’ve ever read. I will admit to taking almost a chapter to really get into the swing of it honestly it was worth it.
This story is told from four main points of view. There’s Amy Lowery, whose family owns the Curlew Bay resort in the Whitsundays. She’s one of the few family members out of numerous aunts, sisters, and cousins who doesn’t live on the island and has only come up from Melbourne for the wedding of her father Geoff to Sanjay, the man he’s fallen in love with.
Enter Josh, Sanjay’s son, who’s a love ‘em and leave ‘em sort of guy, though he’s very upfront of his lack of commitment intentions. Of course he and Amy instantly feel The Pull towards each other and thus ensues each of them harbouring secret lust while desperately trying to keep things in the friend zone so as not to wreck the family dynamic being created by their dads marrying each other.
Next on stage is Amy’s cousin Harry, a marine biologist, who is still getting over a failed relationship from years earlier. He, of course, becomes attracted to Sophia, a jilted bride who has decided to take the honeymoon holiday at Curlew Bay without the husband who should have been by her side. She first makes her appearance on the page drowning her sorrows in champagne.
With a cast of supporting characters that will keep you chuckling, this book is a gorgeous mix of romantic comedy, tragedy and home truths.
The writing style really makes you feel as though you’re sitting in a deck chair in the Whitsundays sipping a pina colada and watching this colourful cast of characters strut their stuff. You feel part super relaxed and part on edge waiting to see what will go down next. I loved this story.

Lovestruck is a fun, witty and refreshing romcom that makes you feel as if you are on a tropical island holiday, and never want to go home.

We follow a romantically challenged family who have gathered together for their first wedding in decades. A large cast of characters, each quirky and unique makes for such an enjoyable experience.

➽Amy- eternally stuck in the friend zone. She finally feels The Pull for someone, but soon discovers that he is her new stepbrother to be.

➽Josh- elated at finally having the chance to be a part of a big family that he missed out on in his childhood, he comes to island for his dad’s marriage to Geoff, Amy’s father. When he starts feeling a complicated (and inappropriate) attraction to her, Josh is determined not to mess things up with his new found family, and treats her as a little step-sister.

➽Harry- a marine ecologist who’s curse is that girls fall in the love with the idea of running off into a tropical island and saving the turtles, not him.

“Maybe he was one of those people who had the appearance of being an open book but after you started reading, you discovered half the pages were stuck together.”

➽Sofia- a jilted bride currently on her honey(less)moon and not thriving. When Amy’s cousin, Harry delivers room service and an offer to help out on some of his work on the reef, she decides to take the opportunity to try and get her life back on track

Complete with a meddling nan determined to marry off her grandchildren, dirty dancing lifts and family drama- nobody’s heart is safe.

While slightly predictable and cheesy at times, I learnt to embrace it and enjoy the book for what it is.
I loved all the characters, and would love to see a spin off or two in the future, maybe about Carmen finding her baby daddy? I need more Mika content please and thank you.

I haven’t read the unhoneymooners, but going off the premise (and the cover I will admit), I think that if you liked one, you will probably like the other. While this has more focus on family, and more characters- the setting and romantic elements seem pretty similar!

The alternating POVs were broken up by some 1 and 2 star reviews of the resort that were hilarious.

Overall, if you are looking for a lighthearted, summery romance with a touch of comedy- look no longer!

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC, and Harlequin Australia for the finished copy!

Release Date: 24 February 2020

4.5 stars

Lovestruck was a fun romantic summer read about family and relationships.

The location of this story is an island paradise in the breathtaking tropical Whitsundays known as Curlew Bay.

Amy travels from Melbourne to her family owned island resort to attend her father’s wedding to Sanjay. Amy is always unlucky in love and tends to fall in the friends-with-benefits zone with men. Her whole family has a reputation of being romantically challenged and their grandmother is eager to marry off all the grandchildren, sometimes trying to match-make her grandchildren with her guests.

Amy feels ‘The Pull’ (you’ll have to read the book) when she catches sight of Sanjay’s son Josh for the first time not realising he will soon become her step-brother. Josh is weary of relationships but cannot wait to be part of a big family once his dad marries Geoff.

Sophia is a jilted bride staying at the resort for her honeymoon all alone. Sophia becomes friendly with Amy’s cousin Harry after he tries cheer her up after she goes on a drinking binge trying to drown her sorrows. Harry resides on the island and is a marine biologist who is also unlucky in love.

There is a lot of emphasis and detail on the wedding of the father’s and the preparations involved including some dirty dancing techniques.

I love how the beginning of each chapter has a funny short review of the resort, this is a fun, heartfelt romantic read with a touch of comedy.

3.5 stars.

I really enjoyed Lovestruck from start to finish and in the end it was a book worth staying up to the early hours for.
Lovestruck follows the story of 4 different characters as they fall in lust and love with each other as they come together on a Whitsundays Island for a family wedding.
Amy has come back to the family resort for her Dad's wedding to his new partner. She has been unlucky in love in the past and is usually firmly in the friend zone.
Josh has come to the island for his Dad's wedding to Amy's father. He is excited about getting a family after living as an only child of a divorced family. Unfortunately he is attracted to his soon to be new stepsister, Amy that he gets along so well with.
Sophia has come to the island for her honeymoon except she was jilted the day before her wedding so now she is on a honeymoon for one. Locked away in her villa drinking away the days brings the attention of the resort staff and eventually a friendship forms with Harry who takes her on adventures around the island as he completes his conservation work.
Harry is Amy's cousin and is affected by the familys unlucky in love curse just like Amy. He permanently resides on the island and is a Marine Biologist who has a habit of getting women to fall in love with him that want to save the world. He gets sucked in to saving the jilted Sophia from herself.
The story flits between characters and is broken up by the funniest bad reviews of the resort. The rest of the characters who conspire in these relationships are also entertaining from Nan to Amy and Harry's siblings. It is a story that draws you in and you can't help but root for the characters. Loved it.

“Maybe he was one of those people who had the appearance of being an open book but after you started reading, you discovered half the pages were stuck together.”

Lovestruck is the first novel by New Zealand journalist, travel writer and author Bronwyn Sell (who also writes as Brynn Kelly). Amy Lowery returns to her family’s island resort in the Whitsundays for her father’s wedding to Sanjay. Almost sworn off men when each man she falls for treats her more like a friend (sometimes with benefits) than a proper girlfriend, she’s dismayed to see that same look in the gorgeous eyes of Sanjay’s son, Josh. And a little more: Josh is apparently quite intent on treating her as a little sister.

Sophia Wicks would have been on Curiosity Island for her honeymoon, had not her groom backed out. Now her plan is a one-day pity party followed by a concerted effort to get her life back on track. Except that step two is several days late already. When Amy’s cousin, Harry turns up delivering her room-service hangover cure, she finally has the impetus to crawl out of her depressive ditch.

Harry Tova is a marine biologist, and reluctantly agrees to let Sophia help him with his afternoon’s activity: removing more Crown of Thorns Starfish from their bit of the Reef. He can see that this jilted bride needs a bit of compassion, and perhaps he can provide her with some distraction from her plight…

Josh Brennan is thrilled at the prospect of having the sort of family he has lacked all his life. He revels in the idea of having Amy as a little (step-)sister, but the inconvenient (and sort of inappropriate) attraction he feels for her, evidently mutual, could jeopardise all that, so he needs to marshal his self-control and keep it brotherly.

Nan is intent on getting her daughters and grandchildren married off, and it turns out that other wedding guests and the new Naval Base on the island may provide some match-making opportunities. The intended pairings are quickly clear to the reader, and soon enough, to the singles, even if they do try to resist the inevitable.

The siblings and cousins provide each other strong support which often comes as devastatingly ego-deflating comments and critiques. In fact, most of the dialogue, especially between the family members, is snappy and funny; there are some hilarious inner monologues; Sell gives her characters some words of wisdom and a generous helping of double entendres; and there’s lots of chemistry between certain characters (what Amy deems The Pull).

Four separate narratives carry the part of the story set on the island, with each clearly marked by name, and separated by (quite negative but blackly funny) trip reviews of Curlew Bay resort; post-wedding off-island events are covered by text messages between various characters. Any reader who is familiar with these islands will agree that Sell conveys her setting extremely well. A brilliantly entertaining, feel-good read.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Better Reading Preview and Harper Collins Australia.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read this book.
Now that I've finished it, I envy those who get to read this book for the first time. With it's lovely imagery, you feel like you're really there on the Island. The hilarious reviews between chapters also add to the tone of the story.
Lovestruck is a refreshingly fun, original take on two relationships simultaneously.
Amy has an eccentric but delightful family who own the Curlew Bay Resort. She's getting a new stepbrother whom she is undeniably attracted to, and things get interesting.
Sophia, a jilted bride comes to the resort to spend her honeymoon alone and ends up learning more than she expected to about herself and love.
Looking forward to hopefully finding out about Mika's Dad and Cody's future love.
4.5 stars