I really enjoyed my time reading Love Overboard, it felt so wholesome and sweet. The friendships between all of the characters, especially Petra and Sophia, just warmed my little heart.

I was immediately interested in this one as soon as I heard luxury yacht, and sold when I heard enemies to lovers. I would have loved if we got to see a little more of the enemies to lovers troupe though, it almost feels as if they go back and forth with it a little too often for my personal liking.

I would also have loved a few more chapters from Jack’s POV, especially with a look into more of his personal background.

As mentioned before, I loved the friendships created in this book. I can easily imagine all of them sitting around a table, eating and laughing together as a big group. Seeing how they all interacted with each other ended up being my favorite part. I would even love to see a future book about Stuart and Petra, maybe even one about them planning their wedding?

Thank you to the publisher, author, and Net Gallery for giving me the opportunity to read this early.

☆☆.5

Lover Overboard follows Sophia, a rising chef from London who is ready to make a big change in her life. She decides to go from Michelin star restaurant to being a chef on a yacht. During her first season on the boat, she meets first officer Jack and they immediately crash. There is a very thin line between love and hate, causing Sophia to question what she should do when the line becomes blurry even after she finds out the captains “no fraternizing with coworkers” rule.

𝙈𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨:

Love Overboard is Below Deck meets BookTok but I’m not sure it’s in the best way? This book tried very hard to be a forced proximity, enemies to lovers story but it just missed the mark. The characters fell very flat, and the connection just didn’t seem to be that strong. They came across more as a one time hook-up type of relationship instead a happily ever after. Some of the storylines, like Sophia’s relationship with alcohol seemed pointless and did not add to the plot or character building at all.

I did enjoy the side characters quite a bit. I wanted to know about Petra and Stuart as well as Declan and Patricio. There were so many crumbs dropped about Declan and Patricio that the relationship felt unresolved at the end.

I was REALLY hoping I’d love this book, especially since I’m a big Below Deck fan so this was definitely a let down

The Plot: 2/5 The Characters:2/5 The Setting: 3/5 The Writing: 3/5

Thoughts:

Thank you Avon Books UK & NetGalley for this advanced readers copy! 🤗🤗

I was really intrigued by the Below Deck *TV show* vibes this had going on!

This is a story about Sofia, a chef who has travelled from London to the Almalfi Coast to work a season on the yacht called’ Lady Ixchil’ (which means the goddess of love in Mayan). Here, Sophia navigates the friendships and relationships with her new crew members.

The plot isn’t at all plain sailing and I think that some parts were a bit jumbled and rushed. The dynamic between the main characters was confusing most of the time and I feel like the intimate scenes came out of nowhere! Then expect the I love you’s to pop into the scene after a short 15 days 😅

Sofia & Jack did grow on me by the end of the story but it was a shame that the reader isn’t able to delve further into the personalities of the main characters, things stay pretty surface level throughout the book :(

Tropes:

Enemies to Lovers
Forced Proximity
Workplace Romance
Miscommunication

Pros & Cons:

Pros: Short chapters! The life on sea setting was fun.

Cons: I wanted so much more from this read! I also think that the 2 random chapters with Jack’s POV could have been made more exciting? There wasn’t much said that we didn’t already know, so this could have been harnessed as an opportunity to switch things up a bit more and provide a deeper insight to the character!

This one just wasn’t for me. I felt the story started off slow and the main character was just a bit too rude for me. But if you like harsh main characters and stories at sea this will probably be a better fit for you!

This book was an enemies to lovers workplace romance between the chef and the first officer of a yacht. I think this was a cute concept and the characters were interesting but the execution had some issues. The biggest was the POV switches. We get three chapters of Jacks pov but thats it. I feel like if you are going to switch pov's you need to commit or else it gets confusing and is disappointing as a reader. the pacing was also a bit chaotic and felt a bit overdramatized.

Sofia is eager to begin her new role as the head chef aboard a luxury yacht. Moreover, she is looking forward to escaping the tolling lifestyle of working as a chef at a Michelin Star restaurant. As the charter gets underway, Jack- the first officer, with whom Sofia had an unfortunate encounter the night before arriving, has to make the best of the situation. As the two are forced to interact, share tight spaces, and put on a professional front for their Instagram-obsessed guests, the two quickly develop feelings for one another.

A cute enemies-to-lovers story set along the Amalfi Coast.

**Thanks to Netgalley for providing the ARC

Such a fun read! Light, quick read with a sweet romance.

Chef Sofia is on her first yacht cruise and determined to make it work. However, conflict with Jack, the first officer and a huge flirt, are sidelining her. They are carrying two realty stars and that was a fun aspect, too. It's a fun setting, the characters are great and it was a sweet enemies to friends trope. Some heavy bits with Jack's family.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a temporary, digital ARC in return for my review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for the advance reader copy.

The premise of this book sounded like such a fun enemies to lovers boat romance and it was a little like that but the main characters are quite annoying. The plot and story is all over the place and it feels both rushed and slow.

There’s bits that are fun but it doesn’t make the overall book a good one.

Thank you NetGalley for the E-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I’m a bit conflicted by this book, it seemed like the type of book I would enjoy and I was fully sold on the idea of a book where the characters are working on a luxury yacht, but the whole book felt very messy and chaotic- from the characters to some of the writing.

I enjoyed this book just fine. The plot was a little busy and chaotic at times but a fun, cute story. I wasn’t dying to finish this book and had no problem putting it down for over a week. There were a few grammatical errors that I noticed, but I’m thankful I was able to get this arc from NetGalley and the publishing company!

Mini review DNF: I don’t usually write reviews for books I don’t finish but this was gifted to me though netgally so here we go!

I will say my excitement overtook me seeing a book taking place on a boat (one of my favorite settings), the comparison to Below Deck (a reality show I occasionally enjoy), and a cute cover. However I’m not a big erotic romance reader so as soon as I started I was like why did I do this lol idk why I was surprised because most of the men on the show are jerks, but when the love interest was introduced as basically an American frat boy I was out quick. I’m sure he might be a changed man by the end but I didn’t want to read for hours to get there😅

I’ll include the books description incase the book sounds like more your cup of tea than mine! It has a cool setting and fun enemies to lovers premise.

Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️☆ 3.5/5

Thank you netgally for the arc in exchange for my honest review. ♡

Pub date: 20th June 2024

Sofia is a chef who has worked her way up through the ranks into a Michelin star restaurant. A relationship ended badly with a coworker, which led her to the decision to leave, and she found herself working on a yacht as a head chef. What she didn't expect was that one of her new colleagues was the guy she threw a drink over at the bar the previous night. Jack is pretty thrown off by her presence, too. They clash and agree to keep to their own sides of the yacht. But that won't work for the full six weeks.

This was adorable. The story was cute, and the characters were lovable. I loved getting a few chapters of jacks pov to see how he felt about things that had previously happened.

I loved millie and Brian (the couple who had chartered the yacht). I found myself invested in them 😂 and the sea urchin had me laughing.

I just felt that some things had been left out or not explored enough, and some of the flashbacks weren't a clear cut.

It's a great read, though 🤍

💙

"You should never judge a book by its chiselled cheekbones, Sofia."

"And I knew that Brian was the one, because he made me fearless, still does, like he makes me feel like it's OK to fail, because even if I do he'll still be there. It's really amazing what you can do once you're not afraid to fail anymore.'

A great holiday read, especially if you are a fan of Below Decks'. Plenty of close quarters living providing intense friendships and romantic lessons. Lots to make you smile and wish you were in the sun drinking cocktails.

Thank you to Avon Books UK for the ARC of this book!
I was so surprised by this book and I really enjoyed it. It felt easy to read and the characters felt well rounded.

There were a few grammatical errors but easily overlooked!
The plot was fun and exciting. The characters seem to have my bad luck but that made me want to keep reading!
I found the relationship between Jack and Sofia very frustrating to begin with as they went from love to hate and back again often but it made the plot that much more exciting by the end.
I loved Petra and Sofia’s friendship and
I enjoyed reading about lots of strong female characters.
I felt Jack and Sofia developed and grew a lot together and it was really nice to be a fly on the wall for that. I normally hate the miscommunication trip but I love the way the author made it dramatic and “almost Shakespearean” at the end; it eased the tension a lot. The romance was fun and a bit whirlwind and slow burn at the same time but I enjoyed it overall! Would definitely recommend!

Firstly, thank you so much for the team at netgallery for letting me read love over board early.
I absolutely adored the story of chef Sophia and captain Jack.
How sometimes you know instantly that you are head over heels for someone, but other times it takes a while to warm up and get to know who they are under their shell of armour

thank you to Avon Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Sophia is head chef on a yacht, working with her coworker Jack (first officer). They get off on the wrong foot and we watch as they try to find their footing aus they have to learn to work with each other over the following six weeks. I enjoyed this book as we followed their relationship while also exploring the relationships and experiences of the other crew members. It fell a bit flat for me plot-wise, I felt that it dragged out a bit and not too much actually happened. I will say, the ending definitely made up for this and was making my heart flutter and everything :)

I managed to stick it out but this was a little too chaotic for me. Some many love that! It was very cute but I struggled to get through it at times.

thank you to netgalley and avon books uk for this arc!!!

I had super high hopes for this one, and while I did end up enjoying it, there were many things that fell flat.

I first off want to say that I absolutely LOVE the concept of this plot. The forced proximity that a yachtie crew has makes this the perfect rom-com setting. the most well written part of this book is actually Sophia’s back story and I think that could’ve been a book in and of itself. the found family dynamic is really enjoyable (rather incestuous to refer to it as a family tbh). I was content with the ending, and I think the setting allows for a bit of insta love to slip through without being a major eye roll.

unfortunately, the pace of the book just felt off to me in regards to the relationships. additionally, the enemies to lovers was unconvincing and just borderline uncomfortable. the banter was not bantering. I felt like I was in the middle of two hostile teens who are mean to each other for NO REASON. there was a point in the book when I genuinely was more interested in the relationship between Milly and Brian, the guests.

towards the 60% mark things start to pick up and that was this book’s saving grace honestly. the second the two main characters hooked up they were like actually capable of being tolerable human beings??? I just wish Sophia was portrayed as more level headed honestly. Her character had so much potential, and by the end I did really like her but she was seriously intolerable for the first half of this book. I don’t have much to say about Jack… he was just kinda there.

anyways, I think this book has crazy good potential. I think with more time, this author has the potential to put out some really creative, well thought out rom-coms.

What a beautiful romance story with great storyline and great characters. Really liked the writing style and the cover is beautiful will definitely read more from this author.

This is a good story with lots of waves thrown into the mix, we all know how it is going to end up but the journey there is great fun!