Thank you cityowlpress and netgalley for the e-arc.
Unfortunatley i didn't really enjoy this book. It was shallow and foreseeable.
And for some reason all the characters annoyed me, especially Sam. But also Mason and Travis.
What i did like was the idea of an underwater resort, that was well done.

Love at 20,000 leagues by Lizzy Gayle.
Fantasy Resorts Book 1.
Not for Sam. Not only is she deathly afraid of being submerged under millions of tons of ocean water, she's stuck for an entire month with the people she blames for her family falling apart. Even with the unexpected attention of two sexy men, including her longtime celebrity infatuation, Sam is sure the trip will be a nightmare.
She’s both right and wrong. A type of pressure sickness she was unprepared for hits Sam hard, causing both lowered inhibitions and blackouts. When she gives in to her desires, a passionate romance blossoms. Unfortunately, even this steamy new relationship can’t salvage the trip when a saboteur uses the AI to commit murder – murder timed perfectly with Sam's mysterious blackouts. Now Sam must clear her conscience by finding the truth. But is she prepared for what she’ll find? Because either she’s a killer or she’s setting herself up to be next on the growing list of victims.
A brilliant read. I loved the story and characters. 5*.

Thank you to City Owl Press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Love at 20,000 Leagues by Lizzy Gayle is the first book in the Fantasy Resorts series and also an explosive sci-fi adventures/romance that will appeal to fans of Jurassic Park or Westworld. The story revolves Sam, who is journeying to Paradise Atlantis, an underwater vacation paradise. While there, she meets two handsome men. But not everything is fine in paradise. The Artificial Intelligence (AI) robots in the resort are murdering guests. Who is behind the murders? Is someone programming the robots to kill? And why?

Here is an exciting excerpt from Chapter 1, which is from Sam's point of view:

"I’d never felt so vulnerable. The ocean closed above me, swallowing the shuttle into a suffocating vastness that made me itch to claw at the 360-degree windows. Obviously, that would have been useless, but it was hard to turn away from the unending view. So I hugged myself in an attempt to stifle my panicked urges and found a seat in the circular back-to-back rows of the luxury pod.
Not only were there thousands upon thousands of tons of water pressing in on us, but now that it was too late to change my mind, a million reasons not to go raced through my brain. The faster we accelerated toward the bottom, the less convincing my reasons for coming felt. The engineer in me studied every rivet, weld, and seal and found them flawless—beautifully designed actually—but that did little to sooth my near-panicked emotional state."

Overall, Love at 20,000 Leagues is a lovely and innovative blend of different genres. When I read the description and how original it sounded, I knew that I wanted to read this book right away. One highlight of this book is how the author mixed elements of fancy, high-tech sci-fi, mystery, thriller, adventure, and romance into one book. It was difficult for me to categorize this book, and I enjoyed reading this book so much because I didn't know what was going to happen next. If I had to complain about 1 thing, I wish that the sex scenes hadn't been so detailed, but I understand that this is an adult romance and many readers will enjoy them. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of sci-fi romances, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in February!

So I loved the concept of this book. It had a creepy vibe that reminded me of Bioshock. I did like the characters. My only negative was that Mason and Sam had a “connection” way too soon. Travis came off as creepy, Jackson was irrelevant, and Nicole was underdeveloped. The antagonist was not super expected which was enjoyable. I did like the setting, the main plot points, and the conclusion, but overall it felt rushed. I would definitely read the next in the series though.

The sci-fi concepts are fun and the mystery is intriguing.
Tropes: Atlantis, Damsel in Distress, Distressed Dude, Love Triangle

Summary
Sam reluctantly agrees to go on a vacation with her brother, dad and dad's girlfriend sponsored by their workplace. The vacation is at an "Atlantis" style, under the water resort designed by said workplace. The entire resort is run by AI. Although Sam didn't want to go, she quickly takes a liking to the two hot guys who are obsessed with her. Everything seems to be going smoothly ... until the AI goes wild.

Review
The premise of the book is what made me pick this up. The whole mystery described sounded cool. However the execution felt really mashed together and the ending "twist" felt more random than shocking. The mystery didn't start well until 1/3 of the way into the book, and it ended up taking a direction that wasn't as interesting to me.

A lot of the writing made it hard for me to follow and enjoy the actual mystery and romance that were the core of this book. The descriptions felt like they were trying too hard to sound technical rather than actually carry the story. Not to mention Sam would go from using informal, every day speech to using outdated, stuffy phrases that didn't fit with her character. Additionally, a lot of the problems will randomly fix themselves.

The two love interests also sort of missed the mark for me, especially with how it felt like they were stalking Sam. I also failed to see how the guy Sam chose actually emotionally connected to her outside of sex.

The questionable:

- Every man Sam meets instantly falls for her. They also creepily follow her around wherever she goes. It's very annoying, especially when always happen to know exactly where she is at all times.

- Although Sam and the guy she ends up with met within the week, they proclaim their love for each other. Sam claims to love them for more than sex, yet that seems to be the only connection they share.

- I know this is hardly the most unrealistic part, but the way the mom's cancer plotline is resolved ....why didn't that happen beforehand? Furthermore, the entire cancer mom plot line felt random and unnecessary. I honestly don't believe it added anything to the narrative. (hide spoiler)]

Overall, it was a quick read that had me entertained for a majority of the book, but quite a lot would pull me out of the experience. Regardless, the concept was fun.

Sam is forced to go on a a month long vacation with her father, brother and her Dad's new girlfriend who all work for the company who designed this luxury resort that is 20,000 leagues under the ocean. It would all be great if she didn't blame the company for her family's break up and she didn't have the fear of being trapped under the water.

Everything is beautiful and ran by AI. It's a dream vacation especially when Sam's childhood crush is there and shows interest in her. She also meets another handsome stranger.

Soon trouble begins when Sam begins blacking out and one of the guest is murdered. She begins wondering if she has anything to do with what is going on.

This story was easy to get into and it wasn't hard at all to relate to some characters and really dislike others. This story is one of my favorite sci-fi stories I have read. I definitely would recommend.