This debut novel by Philippa Young is perfect for Below Deck fans! Yes, it is set on a cruise ship, not a mega yacht, but all the things we love at the show are featured in this book! I had never read a romance book set on a cruise ship, so I excited to read this one. Eliza is our main character and she is always falling short in relationships and life if general, but she gets an awesome job on a Caribbean cruise as their entertainment host. It's similar to the show, we get to read about Eliza's life on board, her coworkers, her job and some romance for sure! Nothing's better than a love triangle on the high seas. There's humor, romance, emotions and more all set on a floating city where you all live together, work together, form friendships and emotional connections.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

4 Missing Name Tag Stars ⭐️
Spicy Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️.5/5

THIS IS NOT A WHY CHOOSE - which was the first very quick realisation I made and I was initially disappointed because I might have gone into this thinking it was RH and not Love Triangle, and I do not like Love Triangles...

Actually, I hate them - WHICH IS WHY THIS IS SUCH A SHOCKER because I was legitimately ADVOCATING to get my friends (who also dislike the Love Triangle trope) to give this a try because it was so much fun and the trope was done really well!

This book is a three-person POV following Eliza, Tom and Oscar (Harvey) but most of the book is spent in Eliza's perspective. She is running away from her life and problems in the UK for 6 months, while she joins a crew onboard a Carribean luxury cruise liner as part of the entertainment staff. There is nothing for her in England so she sets on this journey to find herself, with one rule -DO NOT MIX BUSINESS WITH PLEASURE! She will let nothing distract her from her goal of doing a good job, but soon finds not one, but two very pleasurable-looking distractions in the crew that will make her rule VERY HARD TO FOLLOW!

I am sure the advert she applied for read:
Wanted:
ᴀʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ʟᴏᴏᴋɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ʀᴜɴ ᴀᴡᴀʏ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ᴀʟʟ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴛʀᴏᴜʙʟᴇ ᴀᴛ ʜᴏᴍᴇ?
ᴀʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴏᴛ ꜱɪɴɢʟᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛᴀʟᴇɴᴛᴇᴅ?
ᴀʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴄᴏᴍꜰᴏʀᴛᴀʙʟᴇ ʙᴇɪɴɢ ᴘᴜᴛ ɪɴ ᴍᴜʟᴛɪᴘʟᴇ ꜱɪᴛᴜᴀᴛɪᴏɴꜱ ᴏꜰ ᴀʟᴍᴏꜱᴛ ɴᴀᴋᴇᴅɴᴇꜱꜱ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴄᴏᴡᴏʀᴋᴇʀꜱ ᴡʜɪʟᴇ ᴡᴏʀᴋɪɴɢ ᴏɴ ᴀ ᴄʀᴜɪꜱᴇ ꜱᴇᴇɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏɴᴅᴇʀꜰᴜʟ ᴄᴀʀʀɪʙᴇᴀɴ???
ᴡᴇʟʟ ᴀᴘᴘʟʏ ɴᴏᴡ!!!!!

The plot of this is very much Eliza figuring out who she would want to see herself with, with both men having their pros and cons for why they would be a good choice. I am glad that her choices led her to who she ended up with, as he was very much my frontrunner right from the start. For me, his relationship with Eliza had more substance and foundation than just overt sexual attraction. I loved how much he cared for her, looked out for her and noticed those little things. It was really sweet to see how each and every day he and she fell more in love with each other.

Eliza is very hard on herself, and her self-esteem and worth is basically shot to shit. Having been rejected by multiple drama schools for "not being good enough", with all of her English friends having moved on, becoming famous and leaving her behind, she feels very worthless and untalented, when the opposite is very much true. She is a BEACON of energy and light that everyone cannot help but be drawn into. She is fantastic with the guests as she has a hypnotizing likeability that makes everyone want to know her - which is perfect if your job is entertaining new strangers every week.

I liked that each guy, both Tom and Oscar had their own deep backstory to explain who they were and why they behaved like they did.
Tom is instantly likeable as he is very much the funny guy, being an amateur standup comedian he brings a lot of joy and laughter to the table, but underneath he is hiding his grief as he struggles with personal loss and how that has impacted his life.
Oscar is a reformed "bad boy", with the reputation of currently being the most "unfun" person due to how serious he is. But he has a fantastic quality of making Eliza see what she is good at and rebuild that lack of self-esteem while also giving her that safety of being spontaneous, while also allowing her to open up and get out of her comfort zone.

The one thing that I found annoying about Eliza's character is that she runs away from her problems. But this is very much an intentional annoyance placed on the reader as it is a theme of who she is and how she has to learn to overcome this issue. I think why it felt a little annoying is that it dragged on very long and occurred VERY OFTEN before she learnt to work through it. Every time that she had an issue with one of the boys, she tended to run away from that confrontation and shut them out. This would just lead to drama and no communication while she spirals on assumptions. She almost always leaves it up to the boys to push her into a literal corner and confront her before she would deal with it. I DIDN'T let this annoyance influence me toooooo much because you're not going to have perfect characters who learn everything in a book. The whole point I believe is to have realistic people, and I know for a fact that almost everybody chooses to run away from their problems instead of facing them head-on - even if we say the opposite!

Something to note is that even though this is a slow-burn romance - it takes a while for actual P in V action and a "relationship" to form, there is A LOT OF STEAM!!!! Imagine the type of vibes you would get for a bunch of horny "early adults" living in a coed dorm, with drinking allowed and almost everyone is single. Basically, every time there is alcohol in their system, someone is TAKING THEIR CLOTHES OFF... (Well maybe not fully). BUT there are rowdy games, and kissing, and touching and fondling in the dark. A literal STEAM FEST that will satisfy your little smut heart as it makes you feel like you're reading something really dirty and explicit but it's not fully there yet.

This also had a really sweet found family element to the story that given all the hardship and trauma these three main characters experienced prior to the start of this book, was sweet to see how they managed to find a family in their friends aboard the ship.

Other small little things I liked about the book:
✤ All the Pop Culture References
✤ The whole "Cloud 9"-Amy name tag thing where Oscar doesn't have his actual name on his tag
✤ ALLL THE SHOW TUNES and Musical Theatre References

The Tropes ▶ and Micro Tropes ▷ that can be found in this:
▶ Love Triangle
▶ Forced Proximity
▶ Workplace Romance
▶ Slow Burn
▷ Good Girl
▷ Mine
▷ It Won't Fit
▷ Forehead Kisses
▷ Public Sex
▷ View is Amazing (While he looks at her)
▷ Lift your Hips for me
▷ Surnames for Nicknames

Overall, this was FUN - and made me rethink that I might not hate Love Triangles AFTERALL!!!!!

Thank you to Phillippa Young and Netgalley for my gifted copy!
All thoughts and opinions are my own.

2 stars

I am sorry to say that this book was not for me. It is a contemporary Romance, with a little bit of a love triangle happening and forced proximity. I was so excited when I saw this book. I have never read a romance with a setting on a cruise ship, so I was instantly intrigued. I did like the setting, but as someone not familiar with how it works and not having a real explanation, it got a bit confusing at times. It was the same also with the timeline, because we would jump forward a lot with no indication of how much and often, so I got pulled out of the story. The story development and progression of relationships were really at a stalemate, the characters hit a point, and nothing seemed to be moving forward and events kept happening in a similar fashion. This was a longer book and with things not really going anywhere I got bored. The final thing that stood out for me in this book was the writing style, character personality and certain events that happened on the ship had a very juvenile feel to it. These people are well into their twenties, but their responses and inner dialogue were just not coming off as very mature. I will not be picking up the next book.
I received an ebook ,via Netgalley. This review is my own honest opinion.

In "More Than Shipmates," we meet Eliza, Tom, and Oscar, who all work on a cruise ship. They're all looking for a fresh start of sorts while navigating the complicated dynamics of living and working together on a boat. There is on page steam and funny moments, but it did feel a bit drawn out at times.

I'd not sure I agree with how this was marketed because the love triangle of it all felt pretty minimal, and we know who was chosen fairly early on. There was more than one moment where I thought, "Can they just be a throuple?" Haha. One of these main characters gets his turn in the following book!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book for an honest review.

Eliza needs a fresh start and goes to work on a cruise ship for 6 months. There’s a love triangle between coworkers and lots of tension

This book started off strong with the spicy scenes but it just didn’t hit

Love triangle
Forced proximity
Spicy staff parties

Overall rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice level 🌶️🌶️🌶️

3.5✨ rounded up!

Thank you NG for this arc! For someone who lives below deck I was so excited for this one. This was such a quick and easy read, despite how long it was. I felt it easily could’ve been cut but like 75-100 pages. I am new into liking love triangles from the angst of things, but sometimes I just didn’t connect with the characters like I wanted too. The spice was great tho! Overall, I did have a good time reading it, the vibes were there which is how I always rate my books.
Tropes:
-love triangle
- forced proximity
- spicy
- found family.

This book was so much fun! Love triangle, steamy, cruise ship, workplace romance, forced proximity, LGBTQ moments! I loved this book and the cruise ship aspect made it so much fun to read! I was so happy with how this book ended! Definitely recommend this book!! All the cruise ship disasters and the fun games and traveling makes me want to work on a cruise ship now🤣 this book made it seem like so much fun even with everything that went wrong and all the drama! I loved all the characters and all the different personalities were great! I really enjoyed reading about all the characters and their struggles and how they came to the decision to apply to work on a cruise ship. I think my favorite part of this book was definitely the scavenger game🥵👀

After a disappointing read, this book was exactly what I needed to keep me from spiralling into a slump.

‘More than Shipmates’ is a debut novel by Philippa Young that is just sunshine in a bottle! Our protagonist, Eliza, has a drama-filled past that she leaves behind for an adventure working on a cruise ship. Of course, it’s not going to be smooth sailing. (😉😏) She is thrown in the centre of a love triangle, with her vow of singledom being tossed extremely quickly at the buffet of men in front of her.

I genuinely enjoyed this novel; it was very light and an easy read, and the spice! 🥵 Yes, please!! I devoured this book so fast!! It’s the perfect summer read (when the British weather decides to co-operate)

If you recently finished reading a book that demoralised you, this is the ideal pick-me-up. This book made me smile and giggle on multiple occasions. The characters were written well and were extremely relatable. You wanted to root for them. The only thing is, if you do read this, you may crave more depth and more complexity (but that didn’t bother me).

If you are looking for a guaranteed HEA (with some twists and turns), relatable characters that you’ll want to be your besties, and a glimpse into the chaotic behind-the-scenes escapades of the crews, then this book is for you!

As a self proclaimed mega fan of "Below Deck" this screamed for me to read! Not only that, it has set me up for my honeymoon on a cruise later this month.

I was laughing out loud at some of the behind the scene antics the crew members got up to and the life that is led at sea. Personally I was predicting the HEA in this story but I still hung on to the end to see it through because it was written. Fun characters made for fun storylines that were easy to follow. I really enjoyed this and will definitely be recommending to like minded readers!

I really enjoyed this one! The banter was good through
Out the book. I found myself chuckling at some parts in the book. All in all well done!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with an ebook copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

This was definitely an interesting read. I enjoyed it and was very entertained the entire way through, especially as the drama began to unfold. But I digress.

This book follows several characters as they work on a cruise ship and begin to explore their sexual identities....and each others. There is spice, a love triangle, mistaken identities and so much more. I loved the representation of London in this book - it was both funny AND accurate. I loved the chemistry between all the characters, even though there were times I was confused as to what was going on and who was with who. (Or who was sleeping with who because, let's be honest, they slept with everyone throughout this book.)

This was based around theatre kids and the representation of their personalities and the anxiety that happens to come hand in hand with belonging on stage. The characters and storyline were incredibly well thought out and very charged with emotion and tension.

This was a very easy read and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a pallet cleanser romance with love triangles, why choose energy and young adults figuring out who they are.

3.5 stars but rounded up to a 4.

This book hits a “Below the Deck” sweet spot. It’s a spice filled, slow burn love triangle. Philippa switches pov’s throughout to give you a glimpse into each main character. There is a massive amount of character growth and development throughout the book. My only critique would be the ending. The last 20 minutes of the book seemed rushed. There was larger time gaps between chapters. 3.5/5 stars

I always rate based off of vibes, & this book gave good vibes! I enjoyed the characters & the growth of Eliza. It was nice reading a pov where she was unsure of herself and where to go in life I feel that a lot of people in life feel that way & it’s nice to read something with such a relatable character in the unsureness of life! Thank you for allowing me to read this Arc!

This was my read read by Philippa Young and I immediately added a physical copy to my shelves. This story had hilarious interactions between characters and I wanted more! The setting was unique and the plot was extremely relatable. I can't wait to get my hands on more by Philippa Young!

I’ve never had read a book like this before! I didn’t love the ‘love triangle’ but I just loved the vibe on the cruise. The spice was real good! I was fun to read about them!

I have been unable to put this book down for the past 2 days when I say I absolutely fell inlove with this book I mean every single word. Such an easy read. The characters was so beautifully portrayed and so real and raw.

This book was a fun look into what life is like on a cruises hip and all of the relationships on the boat. I really wasn't sure what to expect from this book with the love triangle but I ended up loving it. Every character had their own past to overcome and it ended beautifully.

I really enjoyed the cruise ship setting but I had a hard time connecting to the characters. I think the story is a bit too long for me. This story just wasn’t for me.
🌶️🌶️🌶️

Thank you Netgalley and Summer Stars Publishing for this arc

Thank you NetGalley and Summer Star Publishing for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Let me start by saying, this book easily could have been 200 pages smaller. The only reason it could have been near a 500 page book, was if they had made it a why choose (it was totally set up in a way it could have been!). It was almost like they changed their mind half way through and decided it was going to be a love triangle instead. There was just too much character development for me. It was a SLOW BURN and once the spice happened, it wasn't worth it. With that being said, I think this was my first book exploring exhibitionism and that part was exciting. I was team Tom for so long....can we get a re-do where that was the case? Please? Overall, it was just 'okay'.

Just finished this book, was a very light easy read with some great characters. Overall enjoyed the storyline, loved how the author dropped hints to things at the beginning of the book and tied up all ends by the conclusion. Would definitely pick up more books from this author and need to know more about the ship storylines!