The Jewel of the Isle may be one of my favorite audios listened to in November!

Emily Edwards always goes by the book, lifeboats included when traveling by sea. Her Dad was someone who wanted to travel, especially to Isle of Royale, and she is dedicated to spreading his ashes when there. Without a guide, she puts out an ad that leads her to the one and only Ryder Fleet. Ryder definitely wouldn't call himself an outdoorsman, rather someone who hung out on the back end while his brother did the traveling/guiding. With his brother's death a few years ago and his Dad wanting to sell THE boat, he knows he can't say no to the extra cash by helping Emily with her national park journey.

With Emily quickly discovering Ryder's true history, she realizes that she is in for more than she bargained for.. especially when watching a crime that has her running to help. Now, they must trust one another to get home safely, with something in tow that neither would have ever asked for.

I binge read/listened to "Jewel of the Isle" in just a few short time spans, laughing at the main character's actions and the pop cultural references. While readers may need to suspend reality with some plot points, The Jewel of the Isle is the PERFECT book to take reader's minds away from the world around and into Rea's world. Bonus points for the Cleveland Guardians references, I love that Rea puts in her Ohio nods in each book she writes!

Cute story. A lot more action packed and suspenseful than I was anticipating. I did find the first spicy scene a bit weird. Taking a break for spice while you are running for your life seemed a bit unrealistic to me.

Here's one for the Great Lakes! Which do not get enough love as a romantic outdoor destination.

Emily is uptight. Risk averse. But she's going on this intense outdoor excursion to honor her father, and do the trip even if she's doing it without him. She hires Ryder Fleet, who is pretending to know more than he does so that he can honor the brother that he lost, and feels like he keeps failing. Shenanigans ensue.

Ryder is...a ditz. The book smarts are lacking at times but he's got some emotional intelligence that is what really connects him and hypersmart Emily. They are both grieving, and know how to make space for each other's grief in a way that helps them rather than makes them feel like they're forced to move on. If you are dealing with a recent or significant loss, this book may not be safe for you. It's a hard one on that level.

But it's also funny, charming, and delightful. The mystery is a bit farfetched but the danger felt very real, and it matched the escalating tension between the two leads. There's a teeny bit of other man drama but it's not something you really need to worry about. The villain is over the top, nearly a caricature, but that's what's FUN about this subgenre of romance.

I should add that I went through a significant family medical emergency while reading this book and when fear and anxiety kept me up until we knew that things were going to be okay, this was an excellent distraction.

Well written and a good time!

Two unlikely people find themselves stranded and forced to rough it out on a remote island after getting swept into an archeologist's quest for a famous jewel! Emily Edwards is not an outdoorsy person, she's definitely a type a A and is serious about going by the book. Yet Emily is determined to finish her father's national park bucket list after his death and since she has no knowledge of the outdoors she has to hire a tour guide.... yet the only one available is Ryder Fleet, a guy she can't really understand. Ryder is not exactly a wilderness expert, rather he is the co owner of Fleet Outdoor Adventures and just goes with the flow of things. Ryder was not the outdoorsy one in the company, rather it was his brother (who recently passed) that was the outdoorsman and Ryder was in marketing. Yet Ryder knows he has to take up a new client and how hard could it really be? Yet both Emily and Ryder soon find themselves on a chaotic quest and witnessing murder, getting stranded, and possibly finding love. This had The Lost City (movie) vibes and would be perfect for fans looking for a book with a similar vibe. While this one didn't really capture my attention or hold it in a way I was hoping it would, it just wasn't for me. I love the Lost City and I adore an archeology adventure romance, but I just didn't find myself all that invested in the characters or their romance sadly. This didn't work for me, but I would recommend it for others to try!

Release Date: November 26,2024

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group | Berkley for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

If ever there were two people who should not be in the wilds it is Ryder and Emily.
Both are carrying a lot of baggage, literally and figuratively.
I did think it was totally irresponsible for Ryder to take Emily out when he was unprepared.
The action was good and the villain believable.
I wasn’t sold on the romance between the two after such a short time, it felt a bit rushed and contrived.
The ending was good because both has learned to release some of their angst.

Many thanks to @netgaalley @berkleyromance and @prhaudio for the advanced digital and audio copies of this fun, fast-paced adventure romance! #prhaudioinfluencer #berkleypartner

Emily Edwards does not leave things to chance. So, when she’s faced with fulfilling her late father’s wish to hike Isle Royale National Park on Lake Superior, she’s not doing it alone, particularly since the island is known for wolves, bears, moose, and shipwrecks, which is why she decided to hire a guide to accompany her. At the last minute, Fleet Outdoor Adventures was the only company with an opening. Ryder Fleet is (or, more accurately, was) co-owner of Fleet Outdoor Adventures with his brother Caleb until Caleb passed away two years ago. Since then, Ryder has let his life spiral right down the drain along with his once-flourishing company. But when Caleb’s fiancee presses him, he agrees to be Emily’s guide. There’s just one problem: Ryder can’t read a map or navigate his way out of a paper bag. He was the marketing expert, and Caleb was the guiding expert. But he can wing it - until he comes face to face with Emily, his opposite in every way. 

Quickly lost on the first day and missing critical equipment, their trek is already a disaster when they witness a murder and become embroiled in a days-long quest to stop a crime, catch a killer, and get out alive. Along the way, they’ll encounter an angry moose, even angrier wolves, even angrier henchmen, and, against all odds, find themselves falling in love. 

If you like opposites attract, forced proximity, witty banter, and a little one-bed (actually one cave + one tent), this will be a fun one for you!

The audiobook is eight hours and 54 minutes and is a dual narration between the always-excellent Andrew Eiden and the new-to-me Emily Lawrence, who both turn in fantastic performances.

The Jewel of the Isle is SUCH fun book. Full of adventure, hijinks, romance, and steam. Excellent banter, laugh-out-loud funny. Adorable. Emily and Riley were hilarious together and so so cute. The book touches on grief on both sides but it's balanced so well with the antics that you barely even realize you're crying until you're laughing again. I've loved every single book this author has written and honestly don't know why she isn't a bigger name.

I devoured this book! This story of Emily and Ryder is giving Outer Banks but our main characters literally have no survival skills to work with. I found myself literally cackling while reading this because Rea's writing is so witty, clever, and filled with humor. Is this the most groundbreaking book of all time? No. Is it one of the most fun and funny books I’ve read in a long time? 100%. The humor throughout this book gave it the four star rating, because I typically despise a slow burn. However, now I know I can handle a slow burn if it includes a high stakes diamond heist with murder and henchmen and other kooky characters. If you’re looking for a really fun read, this book is one you NEED to add to your TBR.

One thing I want to note: if you are triggered by grief and the conversations around loss of a parent or sibling, this book may not be for you. If you’re looking to find a story where processing grief and finding connection through your grief, you may want to pick this one up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley publishing for providing me a copy of this book for an honest review. I genuinely loved every second (even if there with some inconsistencies).

This was so much fun! Who doesn’t love a little romance while running away from bad guys in a remote national park? Emily and Ryder were the best kind of bumbling idiots and I love how the author managed to keep this theme going throughout the book, not all of a sudden making them more adept and agile as sometimes happens in adventure-type books. The witty banter between the two had me laughing the whole time while their “opposites attract” romance made me smile constantly. Highly recommended for a fun read.

“You are brave,”
“I don’t know how long you’ve been telling yourself that you’re not, but it’s long past time to stop”

Thank you to Berkley Romance, Berkley Pub and NetGalley and for this gifted e-ARC. All opinions are my own.

What do you get when you mix the cutest rom-com with an action-packed treasure hunt through a remote national park? The answer is: an adorable book that you will not want to put down!

After her father’s death, Emily Edwards finds herself determined to fulfill his dream of visiting our nation’s national parks. Up first is Isle Royale, a remote island full of all of the things someone wanting to get lost in the wilderness for a few days would enjoy. Unfortunately Emily is definitely better suited for the indoors so when her boyfriend dumps just before the trek she is forced to come up with a plan b and hires a guide to help her navigate the dangerous terrain. Ryder Fleet may have read a bunch of books about the wilderness but when it comes to actual wilderness experience, he has a long way to go. The perfectly planned adventure gets off to a rocky start before taking an even bigger turn towards disaster. It soon becomes clear that Ryder and Emily will need to rely on each other and themselves if they hope to make it out alive.

Kerry Rea is one of my favorite authors so it doesn’t surprise me that I found Jewel of the Isle to be so fun! The amount of time I spent laughing with this one makes my heart happy but I should note that these moments of joy are also balanced with discussions of grief and loss. Both Ryder and Emily have lost people close to them and it is the way that they speak openly and honestly about the profound impact these losses have had on their lives that draws you in and makes you fall in love with them.

I absolutely fell head over heels for this silly and sweet story! The characters are beautifully written and the setting is perfect. As an immense lover of national parks I am always excited to read a book set in one. Isle Royale is a park that I have not had the pleasure of visiting yet but I can’t wait for when my adventures finally take me there!

Every Kerry Rea book feels so different from the last, and I love that unpredictability! This one was pure, adventurous silliness (think The Lost City with Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum vibes), and I absolutely adored it.

With her dad's ashes in tow, Emily Edwards is determined to fulfill his bucket list, starting with a trip to the remote Isle Royale National Park. Not the adventurous type, she hires a tour guide to help her. But when Ryder Fleet shows up, he’s far from the seasoned wilderness expert she expected—in fact, he’s not even a qualified tour guide.

The situations these two stumble into, including being pursued by a jewel thief and killer, was such joyful chaos. And with Emily and Ryder both having very limited survival skills, the result is hilarious! Their dynamic is hard to put into words—it’s super funny but also deeply heartfelt as they bond over shared experiences of grief and loss.

Ryder was an absolute gem. Adorably naive, incredibly kind, and full of vibrant energy. His reckless abandon paired perfectly with Emily’s fearful, high-strung personality. I will say, the romance was a liiiiiiiiittle insta-love, given that they only spent five days together. But considering those five days involved running for their lives, the whirlwind emotions are totally forgivable, ok? Easily one of the most fun books I’ve read in a while!

This is an Indiana Jones style adventure story but with regular people instead of highly skilled action stars. Emily has book smarts and medical skills, but no outdoor experience at all. And Ryder is a bit of a goof off who never paid attention to any of the survival skills his brother tried to teach him. Despite their ineptitude, both characters were extremely likable and I was definitely rooting for them. Together these two not only have to survive in the remote and isolated wilderness of Isle Royale National Park, but also go up against a band of mercenaries intent on unaliving them and relieving them of the treasure they stumbled across.

It made for a very fast-paced plot! The ending was so exciting I found myself speed reading because I couldn’t wait to see what happened next! The chemistry between the two characters was very good and despite the action sequences, they managed to find time to get to know each other in meaningful ways beyond the physical attraction. There was some good spice, too!

I found this book to be highly entertaining and enjoyable.

Two people struggling with grief and guilt end up on an island adventure, unprepared for the terrain, each other, or a long-lost diamond to fall into their laps. 💎

2.5 ⭐️ I realized after reading Something Wilder by Christina Lauren that adventure rom-coms are a niche genre I really enjoy so I was excited for this one, but I ended up disappointed. 😕 Right off the bat I was annoyed by the use of the type-A female trope and it continued to annoy me throughout the book. (Legit nonsense like having a gun held to your back and demanding a life vest before you’d get on a boat…or being chased by murderers and not wanting to go up a set of stairs because a closed sign was hung up. 🙄) The true adventure part of the story didn’t start until around the 50% mark and it felt more like a catalyst for hijinks than a true high-stakes adventure, which is what I wanted. Honestly, it seemed like the adventure was more of a side plot in the sense that our MCs were reacting to various scenarios, but they were never actually searching for the diamond in question. For me, the story just wasn’t strong enough to ever buy into either the adventure or the main characters. 🤷🏻‍♀️

My thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for a complimentary advance copy of this eBook, out 11/26/2024.

A perfect combination of adventure, opposites attract romance (w/ tension and spice!), humorous banter and shared loss/trauma. I was engaged from the first page and found myself smiling and tearing up a little as Emily and Ryder evolved as characters. 4.5 stars. Releases November 26, 2024! #berkleybesties

Thanks to Berkely for my advanced copy of The Jewel of the Isle by Kerry Rea. I've read and enjoyed some of Rea's books in the past but unfortunately The Jewel of the Isle was a miss for me.

I think I like backpacking and camping too much to enjoy this book -- described as "Two very indoor people rough it on a remote island after getting swept up in an archaeologist’s hunt for a famed jewel". This was an adventure romance and I'm not sure if this genre is for me...

I have the goal of going to all of the National Parks, and Isle Royale National Park is very high on my list, so I was excited about this book. However, when I started reading, the only redeeming quality was that both Emily and Ryder were grieving, which brought them together. Otherwise, this was was too ridiculous for me.

If you like adventure and are an indoors person who can suspend belief you might like this book.

This is the 2nd book by Kerry Rea and I definitely need to read her debut. This was such a fun and adventurous rom com. If definitely gave Indiana Jones vibes but with the most amazing love story.

I loved it.

This is an insta-love rom-com adventure with a little mystery and murder thrown in. Ryder was a character I loved from the start. The loss of his brother really affected him and how he lived. Emily didn't really start to live until she lost her father. Both are easy to see and feel for, but it made me sad it took that loss for Emily to enjoy life.

I knew who the villain would be about 20% through and I was ready for them to take him down.

This was a fun, quick, adventure to get lost in. Fair warning though, insta-love and miscommunication (even if just a little) are in here and I know those tropes aren't exactly everyone's favorites.

I would round this one down to 3.5 stars if I could. I loved the setting and the premise, but it got a bit too “caper-y” for my tastes. It reminded me a lot of the movie “The Lost City” - it was one of those plots where every time you thought they were safe, the bad guys came back. The villains were cartoonish and there was a lot of gunfire. I enjoyed Emily and Ryder and thought their shared grief was portrayed well. There were definitely saving graces here, but overall it was a bit too much of an “action movie” for me.

Thank you to the publisher - I received a complimentary eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

🏕️ Book Review 🏕️

✔️ Opposites Attract
✔️ Hurt/Comfort
✔️ They're in Danger

The Jewel of the Isle had similar vibes to The Lost City with Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum. They're both about two folks with zero survival skills on the run from an urbane guy with a plan and henchmen to carry them out.

If you loved that movie or books by Pippa Grant and Lucy Score, this one is worth checking out - lots of romcommy humor with physical comedy and madcap moments.

While the humor may be the best part for some, i gravitated to the more serious moments. I liked reading about two characters mourning losses of loved ones and how that made them instantly get each other and know the right thing to say (when my mom died, most things people said to me for comfort did not land that way. My then-boyfriend-now-husband could understand because his dad had suffered a major stroke). For me, the hurt/comfort moments really shined.

Thanks to @berkleyromance and @netgalley for the ebook.This book pubs later this month!

Steam 🔥
Banter 🗣️🗣️
Swoon 💕💕

For a book about grief, this sure was fun! The Jewel of the Isle is lighthearted, despite heavier themes of loss, and silly in a fun way. The MMC Ryder feels like a cross between Flynn Ryder from Tangled, Emmett from Twilight, and Starlord from Guardians of the Galaxy. This book won’t be for everyone, but if you enjoyed Something Wilder by Christina Lauren or the movie The Lost City, it’s probably for you!