If you're looking for a heartwarming escape, pack your bags and head out on a Zanzibar adventure! In What Happens on Vacation by Jo Watson, we meet Margaret.

She’s a journalist who finds herself in an unexpected situation. She shares a cubicle with an annoying co-worker who spends his days writing fluff pieces. When they both win a deluxe trip to a resort, the vacation takes an unexpected turn. But it's not just the tropical island that heats up.

I thought Watson skillfully balanced humour and emotion. The witty banter between the protagonists kept the pages turning for this Narwhal! I also feel the tropical backdrop adds to the escapism of the story. As a reader, I could almost feel the warm sand and hear the crashing waves. Watson's writing also captures the complexities of grief, love, and family dynamics. The blend of romance and family drama made this a compelling read for me.

Whether you're lounging by the pool or curled up in a cozy nook, this book promises laughter, love, and a touch of tropical magic. Get your hands on this delightful rom-com that explores love, second chances, and the unexpected twists life throws our way.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wattpad WEBTOON Book Group for a temporary e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

It was a DNF for me...really almost a DNS - did not start. I read the first chapter or so and I disliked the female lead so much that I just couldn't go on.

Margaret, a dedicated journalist, reluctantly shares a desk with Jagger, whose lighthearted writing style contrasts sharply with her seriousness. As they face off in an office quiz for a chance to win a luxury holiday in Zanzibar, Margaret's determination clashes with Jagger's affable nature. Despite their differences, their unexpected tie for first place sets the stage for a humorous and touching love story. This book weaves a tale of love, hate, letting go, and mourning loss, promising a journey filled with laughter, smiles, and tears.

Great read! Perfect vacation read! Hilarious, eventful, full of antics from both sides!, Margaret and Jagger are the perfect ying and yang and then add their parents in and it’s full of mayhem! A must read for by the pool, at the beach, or cozied up next to a fire.

This was my first book by Jo Watson.
It was a cute, forced proximity, enemies to lovers rom-com.
Margaret likes to be in control of everything and hates surprises, some may call her uptight. Her co-worker, Jagger is quite the opposite but when they're forced to spend a 7 day vacation together, things take a turn.
I enjoyed this book for the most part, Margaret did get annoying at times but I enjoyed the banter between her and Jagger. I will definitely read more by Jo Watson!

This was such a cute enemies to lovers workplace romance and I loved every minute of it! This story follows Margaret a journalist who likes to keep her work life serious that is until Jagger becomes her cubicle buddy and he is determined to drive her mad maybe in more way than one. When the yearly trivia contest takes place everyone expects Margaret to win like she does every year but Jagger who claims to be good at general knowledge has other ideas. When they tie they are forced to split the prize, a all inclusive vacation to Zanzibar ( when will my company do a giveaway like this lol ) They work out a deal with the travel company to downgrade the room and flights in order to book 2 rooms allowing them each to bring a guest. When Margret and her mother show up to the airport she is surprised to find Jaggers plus one is his father. Sparks fly immediately between the two leaving Margret and Jagger to entertain themselves.

I loved this book it had Hating Game meets The Unhoneymooners vibes and it was hitting all of my favorite tropes! The writing in this book was fast paced and kept me entertained with all the banter and hilarious rom com scenes . I will say this has a lot of the common rom com tropes like forced proximity, one bed trope, missing suitcase trope but it was done well I thought. The humor in this one had me laughing out loud a few times. As far as the characters go I loved the parents they were both a bit strange but so charismatic and the characters felt really developed. Margaret wasn’t my favorite at times her reason behind the 3rd act conflict really felt weak and she was a tad annoying to me. Jagger on the other hand I adored and I loved how he fell first ! I also want to call out that I really appreciated the body positivity in this book about size and I’m so happy to see that becoming more common. This is the first book I have read by this author but have already started adding some backlist titles to my TBR. I would like to thank net galley and the publishers for a chance to read this book for an honest review.

I struggled a bit to get into this book because I didn't love the FMC but after the first 40%, I got more invested. I loved the plot of the book and enjoyed this author's writing style. It is a fun summer read and although I read it in the fall I still could enjoy it and it got me wishing on was on vacation!

Thanks, NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I struggled to finish this book.
The beginning started strong, but by like 30% it got so slow and felt wayyy too long.
I think it was a cute concept otherwise, but I would have needed this book to be about 100 pages shorter.

(I will not be sharing this review to social media)

What made this book really enjoyable was the writing. Jo Watson has a way of making it really good. It does deal with some heavy stuff but o really it’s a cute romance.

The book What Happens on Vacation was an enjoyable read. I would recommend any book written by Jo Watson. Happy Reading!

I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely.

Taking place in imagination-generating Zanzibar and authored with a South African storyteller, this book was an infuriating (at times) but honest look at millennial dating culture. Jo Watson’s writing was vivid and picturesque, despite the fact that at multiple points in time I wanted to reach into the novel and pray for more emotional maturity for Margaret, the FMC.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Reading this in the dead of winter, what an absolute treat.

Jokes aside, this really made me miss summer and i feel as if this is a perfect poolside read. The characters were electric, with Margaret coming off as a bit of a grump (maybe to a much too great extent), while jasper was the absolute sweetest sunshine character. The workplace romance and rep in this book was excellent and i had a real blast reading it. It wasn’t perfect, but it did exactly what it needed to do and i would love to pick this back up during the summer.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really fun book that I enjoyed a lot!

I couldn't put this book down and found myself laughing out loud at several points throughout. I am a huge fan of enemies to lovers stories, and this book does not disappoint.

I really enjoyed this workplace enemies to lovers, forced proximity vacation romance that sees two coworkers staying at the same resort where their parents meet and decide to get married. While I found this dragged a bit in the beginning, by the end I was fully invested and rooting for Jagger and Margaret.

I'm a sucker for a he falls first and has been secretly pining situation, add in a jaded divorcee still grieving her dead father and afraid to take a chance on love and I just wanted to shake Margaret and tell her to grab onto the love that swoony Jagger was offering.

Full of top notch banter, some steamy open door scenes and a bit of family drama. This was a win for me and good on audio too narrated by Bianca Amato. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

A fun beach read set in South Africa. What Happens on Vacation is a sizzling enemies to lovers romance between two coworkers.

I really enjoyed this book even if the story was a bit predictable at times. Margaret was extremely unlikeable at times but as the plot developed I got to understand her character a lot more and grew to enjoy her. more. Jagger is just such a cinnamon role! I really loved him as our love interest, he was just so kind and caring.

The author did an incredible job at evoking emotions throughout from swoon worthy.
I love how it is not only a romance with some comedic relief but the fact that it also dealt with serious topics.

This book was an utter surprise. I started thinking I wouldn't like this book as I couldn't connect with the character, but I found myself cackling one chapter, then my heart strings tugged another.

What Happens on Vacation is a fun and fabulous vacay romance.

Well, this was a fun read. I started reading it Sunday morning, which was a mistake because I got so sucked into the story that I didn't get groceries or do any chores. Who needs food or a clean house anyway? This is my first Jo Watson book, but it won't be my last. I loved the story and characters that Jo has created in this book. You may or may not know that I love to travel, but my bank account doesn't allow me to travel as much as I would like to, which is why I love to escape to faraway places in books. In this book, I travelled to South Africa and Zanzibar, where I've never been. Jo does a fantastic job of transporting her readers to these fabulous places. It's neat to spend time with characters living in South Africa. I got to learn a little bit about the history of this country and see what it's like to live there. Zanzibar sounds so enchanting, and it is a place I would love to explore (if I could ever get over the fact that it would take me more than 21 hours to fly there). It was also just the perfect romantic setting for this book.

What Happens on Vacation is a fabulous enemies to lovers, workplace, reverse grumpy/sunshine and forced proximity love story. All these tropes come together to create this highly entertaining and heartfelt story. I am not always a fan of workplace romances, but I enjoyed this one. I loved the journalist aspect because it injected some fun and interesting undertones into the story. What I mean by this is that I enjoy all the topics the journalists wrote about in this book; some were fun, while others had you thinking. Another reason why I loved this workplace romance was because it was mixed in with this vacation romance vibe. Margaret and Jagger both win a vacation package from their work, which means they are stuck going on vacation with each other, with their single parents tagging along. That vacation element added a lot of lightness and fun to the overall story.

I adored the characters in this book, especially Margaret's mom, who is this free-spirited hippie with no filter. She reminds me of Rozalin Focker (played by Barbra Streisand) from the movie Meet the Fockers. She was such a delight and a complete opposite to Margaret's character, who is a bit of an uptight control freak. Her mom is great as comic relief but also as the character who often hands out deep and meaningful advice to her daughter when she needs it most.

Jagger has such a huge crush on Margaret; it really was adorable. I loved how obvious his crush was to the reader but how oblivious Margaret was to his crush. Oh, the heartaches of unrequited love. Margaret cannot stand Jagger. She thinks that he is always mocking her and intently doing things that will annoy her. To be fair, he does love to annoy her, but only because it's the only way he can ever get her attention. But every so often, Jagger would say or do something so sweet towards Margaret that would befuddle her and make my heart melt. I liked both of these MCs. They work well together; their opposing natures balance each other out. Jagger is the fun-loving guy who flies by the seat of his pants. Meanwhile, Margaret needs to be in control of the environment she lives in. What makes these characters stand out is the fact that underneath those stereotypical labels are characters who are more complex and have a great deal of depth.

The romance between these two characters was great! I love a good grumpy/sunshine love story, and this one has checked off all my romance boxes. Things between Margaret and Jagger are far from smooth. There is this tension between them mainly because Margaret doesn't know if she can trust Jagger or, hell, if she even likes him. It takes most of the book for these two to come together finally, but I liked that because it made their relationship more believable. This book is great for those who like only a little spice in their romances. It's not a closed-door romance, but it's also not a romance that is flooded with sex scenes. There is just enough spice to get your heart racing.

What a fun little beach read! Complete with a spunky, rough around the edges main character and an enemies to lovers romance. It’s a pretty predictable read, much like a hallmark movie. But we all still love those don’t we’ve

hate giving anything less than four stars to an arc but I really didn’t love this one.

The FMC was really hard to like. She was whiny, selfish, and annoying. She treated the MMC like absolute crap when he didn’t deserve it.

I loved the setting, the best friend (Leighton), the MMC, and the parents. The writing itself was good.

Overall not a bad read. My opinion of the FMC is probably not going to be the same as everyone else’s, so please take that with a grain of salt. It would be perfect for fans of The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren!