Thank you to Berkley for my copy! All thoughts are my own.

Love, Lists, and Fancy Ships by Sarah Grunder Ruiz was one of the books I was most looking forward to this year! I love books set around water so this story about a yacht stewardess on a fancy boat seemed right up my alley. I definitely enjoyed this book and thought the portrayal of grief was VERY good and raw. I wish I hadn’t lost interest in the romance halfway through, but I do think this is a very enjoyable book and a lot of people will really like it!

Synopsis:

“For the last year, yacht stewardess Jo Walker has been attempting to complete a bucket list of thirty things she wants to accomplish by her thirtieth birthday. Jo has almost everything she's ever wanted, including a condo on the beach (though she's the youngest resident by several decades) and an exciting job (albeit below deck) that lets her travel the world.Jo is on track until the death of her nephew turns her life upside down, and the list falls by the wayside. But when her two nieces show up unannounced with plans to stay the summer, they discover her list and insist on helping Jo finish it. Though the remaining eight items (which include running a marathon, visiting ten countries, and sleeping in a castle) seem impossible to complete in twelve weeks, Jo takes on the challenge.When she summons the courage to complete item number five--kiss a stranger--and meets Alex Hayes, all bets are off. As her feelings for Alex intensify and Jo's inability to confront difficult emotions about her family complicates her relationships, she must learn to quit playing it safe with her heart before she loses what matters most.” —NetGalley

What I Liked:

The Concept—If you know me, I grew up sailing and absolutely love the water. I was ready for this book to feel like Below Deck meets Float Plan. It was so much more than that!

The Characters—I found Jo to be really relatable. I think we all feel like we’ve lost a lot of time in the last two years, so following someone who wanted to “achieve” small things before her 30th birthday landed HARD with me.

The Theme of Grief—I had read a review somewhere saying this book leaned more towards women’s fiction than romance and I’d have to agree. The theme of living with grief after the loss of a loved one is the central plot, with a sweet romance on the side.

What Didn’t Work:

Started off strong, dragged a little in the middle—I was totally sucked in for the first 40% of this book! Then things petered off a bit. Things moved so well at the beginning and then the middle dragged a bit for me.

Wish there had been less miscommunication—There was an instant attraction between Alex and Jo so i thought we’d get more from their budding relationship, but instead it became a lot of miscommunication which is why I think the middle dragged for me.

Content Warnings:

Grief, death of a parent, death of a child

Character Authenticity: 4/5 Steam Rating: 0/5 Overall Rating: 3.9/5

Yacht stewardess Jo Walker is on a mission - to complete a 30 before 30 bucket list! She's checked off so many of the items on her list and only has a handful of things left to do. But recently Jo hasn't felt much like celebrating or ticking items off of a list. She lost her young nephew and she now feels lost and not so sure what brings her joy.

But Jo's summer is about to turn upside down because her nieces are coming to visit for the summer! And they are adamant that Jo completes her list. One of the items on Jo's list is kissing a stranger and Jo soon realizes that the stranger she ended up kissing would be no other than the yacht chef Alex or hot yacht chef as he wants to be known (lol!). As Jo and Alex grow closer, will she let down her guard and let him in or keep everything on the surface as she has been since her nephew passed.

Love, Lists, and Fancy Ships was such an emotional read for me. Sarah's writing was so poignant and she truly writes beautiful prose. I would stop reading a passage just to reread it again. I felt Jo's pain as well as the pain of her nieces and even her sister after losing a prominent figure in their lives. And while yes, the heavy parts of this book could be really heavy - I also found myself laughing or grinning like a fool at the antics of Jo and her nieces, or Jo and her best friend Nina or Jo and Alex (swoon)!

While LL&FS crossed over more to women's fiction, the romance aspect was definitely prominent. I was longing for Alex and Jo to find their way to one another. They both had to get there on their own though and I loved their respective journey's.

I highly recommend Love, Lists and Fancy Ships and can't wait to read the next book in this series!

CW: death of a loved one, grief, parental neglect, cheating (not main character)

4.5 Stars - Top Pick

On the verge of turning thirty, Jo Walker creates a list that she wants to complete before starting a new decade of life. She is off to a good start when she ticks one of her items…kiss a complete stranger. A drunk night out with her friend and she is making out with Alex. Before anything can happen, she has to abruptly leave.

Jo pushed that moment in time out of her mind when a new family crisis occurs, and she is now taking care of her two nieces. Her family drama gets shaky when they decide to help Jo fulfill her list. She discovers that the handsome stranger she kissed now works with her. How can she keep focus on everything with distracting her?

I liked Alex and Jo. They both claim to not want anything serious but they are falling for each other hot and heavy. I love all of the characters in this book. Everyone adds so much dimension to the story and I can’t wait to revisit this little world one day. There were so many questions into who Alex was and it was nice to see her character develop slow and genuinely. There is a lot going on with the family and her emotions.

My only complaint is that sometimes the pacing is just a bit too slow. Hey, if that is the only thing that I’m complaining about, I will go with it. I normally have a whole lot to say but honestly, this is one of the best romance debuts that I have stumbled upon in a real long time. Yes, I went into this completely thinking I would get some Below Deck kind of kink. There is so much more to this than that. A real nice slow burn that leads to something solid. I will be on the lookout for more by this author.

Overall, for the fans of romance with a bit humor and realism, then this is for you.

~ Samantha

“I guess I thought being in a bad relationship was better than being alone.” My throat tightened, and I shook my head. “I don’t think that anymore though. I’d rather be alone.”

While 30 is looming close, Jo has made a list of 30 things she would like to do by the time she turns 30. After the loss of her nephew, Jo has been struggling to continue to finish her list. Her best friend Nina is on the case though. Jo has plans to complete her list, but when her niece texts her from the airport wondering why she didn’t pick them up, Jo’s summer is quickly turned upside down. Can she complete her list while also trying to help her nieces through their grief?

When @theboozy.reader compared this book to The Guncle I was immediately sold. However, as much as GUP did right, Jo did wrong, wrong, wrong! While trying to help her nieces through their grief, and herself through her own, Jo had so much trouble saying and doing the right thing! I loved the idea of the 30 things to do before turning 30 and that her nieces got involved in helping her to complete the list. Also, hello hot yacht chef! While this one was not at the same level as my love for The Guncle, I still really loved it, and highly recommend it!

Love, Lists, and Fancy Ships by Sarah Grunder Ruiz is a contemporary romance that follows Jo Walker, a soon-to-be 30 year old yacht stewardess. As a way to commemorate the last year of her 20s, Jo decides to come up with a bucket list of 30 things she wants to do by the time she turns 30. It’s a list that really focuses on stepping out of her comfort zone – get a tattoo, go skinny dipping, run a marathon, visit ten foreign countries, etc. For the past year, Jo has been completing her list and humorously documenting her efforts on her blog.

It is when Jo works up the nerve to complete item number 5 on her list – kissing a stranger – that Jo’s life takes an unexpected turn. After she kisses a handsome stranger at the local bar, she’s mortified to learn that said stranger, whose name is Alex, is actually her new neighbor, which she learns when he accidentally comes across her late one night in the community pool, checking off another item on her bucket list, skinny dipping. As if that wasn’t embarrassing enough, it turns out Alex is also the new chef on the yacht where she works so, as much as Jo would like to forget about their previous encounters, there’s just no avoiding him, which leads to some awkward but entertaining moments. Even though Jo swears she isn’t interested in starting a relationship with anyone, Alex is pretty irresistible to her so the temptation is definitely there. I loved their scenes together, both the fun, flirty ones and then later, the more serious ones when they discuss their families, etc. I really enjoyed the romantic aspect of this story because Jo and Alex have amazing chemistry and could be so good together if Jo would just let herself take another big step out of that comfort zone of hers.

While Jo’s blog and her adventures with Alex as they got to know each other provided lots of fun moments, what really made this a special read for me was the more emotional and personal journey that Jo faces. Because while there is definitely a potential romance, this is also a story about grief and loss. In Jo’s case, it’s the loss of her beloved nephew, who was killed when he was hit by a car while riding his bike. Jo has been repressing her grief by trying to stay busy and not think about it, but when her two nieces come to spend the summer with her and she realizes they are struggling with the loss of their little brother too, it brings all of Jo’s grief to a head. I found this part of the story so incredibly moving and well written and my heart just ached for Jo and the girls as they try to process such a devastating loss.

As much as I enjoy a good rom-com, a contemporary romance that makes me feel all the feels is what I’m really a sucker for and Love, Lists, and Fancy Ships by Sarah Grunder Ruiz really delivers in that department.

CW: loss of a loved one, parental abandonment, grief

Love, Lists, & Fancy Ships is Sarah Grunder Ruiz' debut women's fiction/contemporary romance novel. However, while the cover looks very sweet and fun, I'm very glad I knew going in that grief would be a central aspect of the book. As my reading list tends to show, I gravitate towards books that deal with loss and the handling of grief quite regularly, so I was pleased to see how it was dealt with here. It's a topic that can easily become overwhelming, but while the sadness was always there as an undercurrent, there were so many beautiful and upbeat moments in the story to balance it out, so it never felt too heavy. I can confidently say that I can imagine everyone who has suffered a loss in their lives, finding Love, Lists, & Fancy Ships deeply moving and relatable.

We start off with Josephine Walker aka Jo at her job on a charter yacht. It's such a fun setting, but what I enjoyed even more than that were the characters that gradually got added. You could feel the history Jo has with each individual as they felt fleshed out and real. There wasn't a single person I didn't like to read about. Nina is the kind of ride-or-die best friend one can only wish for. Alex is the kind of love interest you really want to root for, because he is kind and funny and charming and definitely also hot. He's one of the few romantic leads where I didn't have to constantly shake my head in disappointment about the choices he made. However, the romance doesn't actually always take center stage, as the familial relationships with the nieces, daughters and sisters are just as important. It definitely felt like a well-rounded cast!

Jo makes it her priority to be the fun aunt, to distract everyone from the never ending sadness, which backfires on a few occasions. Still, the bucket list was a fun addition, especially when the gang got creative in how to tick off the last few items before time ran out. 

The things I didn't love so much about the book where all very me-problems. For one, I could not handle the Chris Evans disrespect. While Zac Efron gets celebrated (in an ironic way or not), Chris Evans gets described as old and gross. There's literally only a six-year-age-difference between the two actors, but okay ... guess I'm an old millennial myself at this point. Then there was an airport run, which I'm never a fan of, but most of all, I was bugged by the way Jo's blogging experience was described. It's very rare that a personal blog with, how can I put this, infrequent updates gets such a big following within less than a year that she'd get multiple concerned emails for not posting. It honestly didn't feel very realistic to me, while everything else in the story had an authentic vibe.

Overall, I really enjoyed this journey! I felt close to the characters and shed tears on several occasions, while I also laughed out loud more than once. I was especially excited when I saw that my copy included a teaser chapter for a potential sequel with Jo's best friend Nina as the narrator, set two years after Love, Lists, & Fancy Ships ends. I'd be so here for it! (And book 3 could be about Britt and RJ ... just saying ...)

Fazit: 4/5 stars! A really beautiful exploration of grief, without ever getting too heavy.

This book deals with grief which is catnip for me. I love the idea of having a bucket list and a blog to share your accomplishments. This book was a delight to read. Love the Below Deck easter eggs.

❌Alerta de gatilho para luto e menção a abandono parental❌

🛥Thanks for this ARC @prhinternational #partner

🛥Jo Walker está prestes a completar 30 anos. Ela tinha como objetivo no momento é completar sua lista de trinta coisas para antes dos 30. Infelizmente, nos últimos meses ela deixou sua lista de lado devido ao luto pela perda de seu sobrinho Samson.

🛥Agora, Jo decide voltar a focar na lista e vai contar com a ajuda do estranho que beijou no bar (que ela descobre ser seu novo vizinho e colega de serviço, o qual agora ela nutre sentimentos), suas sobrinhas e sua melhor amiga.

🛥Love, Lists & Fancy Ships é o primeiro livro da autora e eu achei que ela soube equilibrar bem o romance com a parte da superação do luto. A narração é feita po Jo em primeira pessoa e, apesar dos capítulos meio grandinhos, a história fluiu muit bem com a escrita gostosinha da Sarah, não deixando ela tão densa apesar do tema.

🛥Jo é uma mulher divertida, leal e companheira, mas que ainda sofre bastante com a perda do sobrinho. Ela não sabe como lidar com essa dor e por ver sua irmã e suas sobrinhas sofrendo.

🛥Mia e Kitty são duas adolescentes divertidas e um tanto pentelhas, mas que amam bastante a tia. As duas sofrem ao seu modo a perda do irmão e as três utilizam da lista de Jo uma forma de se distrair da dor, mas elas vão ter que enfrentar em algum momento.

🛥Já sobre o romance, Alex é o homem perfeito pois engraçado, companheiro, compreensivo, de quebra ainda cozinha. Ele entende os motivos de Jo não querer se envolver, fora que ele tem seus próprios problemas a resolver. Sua filha Greyson junto com as sobrinhas de Jo rendem ótimas interações. A amizade de Jo com Nina, sua chefe, também é maravilhosa.

🛥De fato um ponto que a autora acertou bastante foi nas interações de Jo com todos os personagens. Foi impossível não querer fazer parte desse grupo. A autora também soube trabalhar bem a questão do luto e como cada um lida. O lance da lista de certa forma deixa essa jornada leve e divertida, mesmo tendo seus momentos mais densos e emocionais.

Josephine Walker “Jo” is working on her “thirty-by-thirty” bucket list, with things like: run a marathon, kiss a stranger, visit 10 countries, but her efforts have stalled since the death of her eleven-year-old nephew, Samson. She’s had a hard time mustering the enthusiasm to check off all the items until her nieces, Mia and Kitty, show up for an unexpected visit (for the summer) and decide they must complete it. “Kiss a stranger” is one of the first things Jo checks off with “Hot Guy from the Bar”, Alex Hayes, a stranger she doesn’t expect to ever see again, but life has other plans!

Jo needed help dealing with her emotions, not only over the death of Samson, but guilt over the death of her father, and a bad breakup making her swear off love and entanglements. I loved Mia, Kitty and Greyson, Alex’s teenage daughter! Hard to be sad with teenage antics, although the girls had to deal with their grief over their brother, too, making/helping Jo face her emotions even when she didn’t want to. Greyson was a breath of fresh air with no filter, whatever she thought just spilled out of her brain which was pretty funny.

Love, Lists & Fancy Ships a fun, sexy romance full of humor, but also with a serious side. Both Jo and Alex were dealing with their own adult issues, grief, guilt, and vulnerability. Their story sucked me right in and left me with heart happy feelings!

I wanted to like this more! It was very middle of the road for me – I didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it.

This book was, at times, much heavier than I had expected. It dealt with grief, loss, and personal growth. I liked the general idea of this story but I just couldn’t quite connect with the characters. Some of the things they did and said just felt very YA-ish. It didn’t quite feel like the main character was thirty years old. Even the items on her 30-by-30 bucket list felt like goals I would have made for myself in high school…

The romance felt bland and at times kinda forced. I’m not a huge fan of the miscommunication trope either. Also the pacing felt odd; they went from a slow burn to insta-love without much time to figure things out in between. Their relationship had potential but I didn’t see too much chemistry between the leads.

Despite that, I did enjoy that the main plot of the story focused on the journey of dealing with loss and the overcoming of a traumatic event. I also very much appreciated that the sisters’ names were Jo and Beth lol.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4291347591

Jo Walker is about to turn 30 and has a list of 30 things she wants to do before she turns 30. She has a ticket to Europe to visit 5 countries after yacht season where she's a stewardess. But her sister sends her two nieces for the summer and alters her plans. Their family was devastated with the loss of her nephew the girls brother within the last year. 

Everyone experiences grief differently and we don't all process it the same or in the same timeline. Losing someone at any point in yours or their life is devastating. It's just the way love and life happens. But how we choose to go on and celebrate their life is how I cope. Especially on holiday weeks like this, I miss the new and inventive ways my Dad would make turkeys lol, keeping to bbq but wanting to go big. I miss our inside jokes that no one else understands so all of Jos grief about her little buddy hit home.

I loved the romance in this that started with "kiss a stranger" she just happened to pick the stranger that ended up everywhere lol. I loved Greyson and her processing of her mom's relationship at the end. ( Possible spoiler but when kids becomev young adults asking their opinion on life changing decisions seems like a no brainer) If people don't make time for you in their life you don't have to bend over backwards for them they need to put in the work.

I loved how this was set in Palm Beach my in-laws live in Boynton so we are visiting this week.

Thank you berkleyromance and netgalley for the e-ARC for my honest and voluntary review.

Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 Love, Lists, and Fancy Ships by Sarah Grunder Ruiz

I first met Sarah when she was signing Christmas carols on Instagram live with Chloe Liese last year. That is when I decided I had to follow her, and today she is releasing her first book!

To celebrate her thirtieth year on this earth, Jo Walker decided to start on her 29th birthday a bucket list to accomplish. She's close to her goal, but not quite there yet. Until tragedy strikes her family and her two nieces arrives to live at her condo for the summer vacation. When they insist she completes her list, item number 5 seems the easiest to accomplish - kiss a stranger, Alex Hayes. Who turns out to be a little more than a heated kiss. Maybe that's just what she needs to finally open-up her heart to love, but all the emotion she's been bottling up.

CW: Grief (loss of a child (nephew)), child abandonment (off-page), toxic ex-partner, death of a parent (off-page).

This book wrecked me. Clear warning this book is a very emotional women's fiction with a side of romance. I recommend not reading it in public, if possible near a box of tissue, and a glass of wine, and a pint of ice cream: you get the message. It was an incredibly touching story about grief, about a family going through the lost of a child. Through Sarah's writing we can feel every single emotion as if we were grieving with them. Jo's journey, opening herself up was beautiful, heartbreaking yes, but my heart was in a rollercoaster of emotion. I loved how Alex and his daughter made their way into her heart, and in the process made her face the grief she had been covering up. I loved how difficult it was. I loved how important and central the two teenagers were, how we see all three of them process their grief in their own way. And then sweet Alex, wonderfully sweet Alex, who melted my heart from the start. Even if their romance is not central to the book, I loved how slowly it progressed and how tender it felt. Exactly what Jo needed at this time in her life. Yes, I wanted a little more of the two of them, but that's just my personal preference - romance brain talking.

Thank you Berkley for gifting me a digital copy via Netgalley. As Always, all thoughts and opinions are honest and my own.

This contemporary romance novel explores grief, bucket lists, friendship, and self discovery. The author touches heavy subjects of death of a loved one and abandonment of a parent. It also contains a very slow burn romance which fits well with the story. Overall, I really liked this book! All the characters were well developed. It was fun to see how Jo would complete her bucket list, but also loved the creative twists the author added in there. I also loved the way the characters developed their relationships. I can’t wait for Nina’s story! Definitely recommend picking this up, but make sure you are emotionally prepared!

4.5⭐️
I was blown away by this debut!!! While Love, Lists, and Fancy Ships has great romance with a HOT YACHT CHEF, the main focus is really on grief and family dynamics. I thought the heavy topics were handled so well, with the respect they deserved, yet still managed to stay light and fun. I got big time The Guncle vibes from this one (except fun aunt and teenage kids) and you know how much I LOVED that book!

Read it if you’re into:
•Zac Efron (Efronathon)
•Dreamy chef single Dads
•Checking items off a bucket list
•Behind the scenes on a super yacht (Below Deck style)

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for providing me with an early copy in exchange for an honest review!

I really really enjoyed this book. I loved learning about working on yachts (tbh I didn't even realize this was a job) and could definitely relate to some of the customer service woes, being employed in retail myself. I thought all of the relationships in this book were so well fleshed out. The friendships and family bonds never felt secondary to the romantic relationship. I wasn't expecting grief to play such a big role in this book but it was handled very well and I liked that the author explored different ways that people cope or don't cope with their grief.
All of the characters tugged at my heartstrings and I just want them to all be happy together!
The blog posts were a little bit cheesy (the way all blog posts are) so I was glad that we only ever read a couple of them.
Also, the names Jo and Beth Walker remind me a lot of Jo and Beth March from Little Women... Coincidence?
I can't wait for the sequel to figure out what's going on with Nina and Ollie!

A really great heartfelt read. The characters were well flushed out with backstories that had me emotionally involved.
Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing an arc for an honest review.

Ok, this book was the perfect beach-adjacent escapist read as the temps started to drop and the days got shorter. While it did not shy away from heavy topics (TW for loss of a family member), I found LOVE, LISTS AND FANCY SHIPS to be such a fun and delightful book. The romance vibes were on point (coulda been a smidge steamier for my personal preference, but again, that's just a personal preference) and I loved the bond between Jo and her nieces. I'd definitely recommend this book to any romance readers in my life and think it could even make a great intro read for people wanting to explore the romance genre.

Jo was attempting to complete her “thirty before thirty” bucket list when a family tragedy struck. Several months had passed when her nieces unexpectedly showed up at her front door. They were determined to help Jo complete the list. However, this list and her growing affection for her new neighbor forced Jo to confront her grief, old and new, so that she could move forward with her burgeoning relationships.

This book was so many things, and first among them, it was funny. The list and the fancy ship antics offered plenty of opportunities for humor, and Ruiz made the most of each moment. There were hijinks and missteps that gave me plenty of giggles, and lest we not forget Nina. I think Nina’s job was to provide lots of comic relief. She was the oft necessary zany best friend, and I adored all the levity she added.

This book was also emotional. Though several months had passed, Jo still felt the loss of her young nephew deeply. With their shared birthday approaching and his sisters spending the summer with her, she was forced to confront that loss. Her grief was compounded with unresolved issues she grappled with related to her father’s death and her mother’s emotional abandonment. Needless to say, it got messy, but Jo was lucky enough to have assembled a wonderful group of people who were there to support her along the way.

Can we talk about this group? Found family is a trope I love with all my heart, and this was a great mix of blood and non-blood family. I had so much fun with this crew as they set out to complete The List. One member of the group was Hot Yacht Chef aka Alex. Alex was a gem who was complicated but so wonderful too. His love and dedication to his daughter made my heart burst, and the food this man made! It seemed his love language was food, and I was here for every one of his creations. Needless to say, I knew he was perfect for Jo, and I was rooting for this romance the whole time.

This was quite a journey! It was a special treat spending time with Jo and the gang as they endeavored to complete The List. I appreciated the way the list facilitated Jo with working through her grief and helped her learn to open her heart. It taught her that some risks are worth taking.

Overall: This was a heartfelt and touching story told with humor and warmth which filed my heart with joy.

I really, really enjoyed this heartfelt debut about a young woman learning to deal with her grief over the loss of a family member and finding love along the way. This book takes you on a roller coaster ride of emotions and I was there for every minute of it!

29 year old Jo's summer plans get upended when her nieces come to visit and they help her with her 30 before 30 bucket list while all three try to come to terms with their grief. There is also a very sweet romance between Jo and Alex, a single dad she meets and kisses in a bar and who later ends up being the chef on the charter yacht where she works.

Recommended for fans of Trish Doller or Libby Hubscher and anyone who enjoys lists, Zac Efron, Pub subs or stories with emotional depth and wonderful found families. Much thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Books for my advance review copy.

Steam rating: (kissing only)

CW: parental abandonment, death of a loved one

I wanted to love this one. I love a good single dad story but this one just was not for me. I was expecting more of a romance but it was more a story of Jo working through her grief and emotional.