I need this tour to be real.

It is my ideal tour of the UK.

Kat Mackenzie please tell me something like this actually exists. I am due for a vacation abroad. 😘

Tour stops that correspond with UK writers and literary locations? That also has a recommended reading list? Sign me up. Throw in a handsome Scot and some retired ladies to help me get my life on track and it is the PERFECT tour. 😍

I loved this debut from Kat (and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it)! If you like travel, and shenanigans, and bickering and teasing, and enemies to lovers, and dancing, and deep heart to hearts then this book is for you. ♥️

This book was so fun to read! The history, the journey across the U.K., and the group of quirky older women along for the ride made this book even better. Not to mention how relatable Alice was as a character whose life wasn’t going exactly how she’d planned. The way her relationship with Robbie develops over time from bickering to bantering was top tier! Overall, I really enjoyed this read and would recommend it for anyone looking for a light, quirky romcom!

This is a delightful read for anyone seeking a heartwarming and humorous romance that will transport them on a journey of self-discovery, love, and laughter, as they join Alice on her transformative adventure of finding herself and love in the unlikeliest of places.

This is going on my must read/top recommendation list. Why, you ask?

Because having new experiences and traveling are some of the highlights of my life, and this book brings me that feel of exploring a new place! It’s *that* well written.

Alice arrives in Edinburgh (my favorite city on the planet) with crushed luggage and jet lag. Then she realizes her tour is for elderly folks— she’s the youngest!

She gives Robbie, the tour guide, such a hard time, but it just rolls off him.. which was super cute to read about. (Also, while Alice was grumpy, I think she handled herself well given the circumstances.)

This group embarks on trip from Edinburgh around the UK, and it’s an atmospheric, romantic joy to read!

With hilarious and sweet side characters, nods to Bridget Jones— and matching funny moments— and Robbie being his adorable self, this is such a solid book!

I really felt like I was back in the UK, and I’ve spent a lot of time there.

The romance was my favorite (obviously) but I loved seeing Alice’s growth and quirky lists.

Sometimes, us type-A folks need to be told to live a little, and this book is all about that. I could gush more, and I know this will resonate with so many friends here.

Pick up this book to take your next adventure!

Desperate for a fresh start, Alice books a literary bus tour across the UK, but when she arrives she is surprised to find all the other guests are a group of lively elderly ladies and led by a remarkably handsome Scottish driver.

This was a fun ride as we join the tour group in cozy pubs and castle ruins. This novel was filled with genuinely laugh out loud funny moments and some heartwarming ones as Alice tries to make the most of her trip. While the romance was good, Alice’s friendship with the elderly ladies was the true highlight for me. Pick this up next if you’re looking for a little escape to the UK!

Thank you to @netgalley and @avonbooks for my advanced review copy.

"I sighed and kept my eyes closed as a supernova gathered in my tummy"

I liked the writing in Work in Progress, I feel like this was a book that is made for those who find romance in travel and it gave me the warm fuzzies at times. as well as making me laugh.
This book is about Alice who, needing a break from life, spontaneously books a bus tour of Scotland and England and meets a lovely cast of characters. I don't think this book was as romance heavy as I would've liked which is okay but with the women's fiction themes, I don't feel it went deep enough for me to connect. As far as the romance goes, I would've liked this to be dual POV as I honestly felt a little stuck in Alice's POV which, as stated previously, I didn't connect to.
The book really shines in its use of the scenery as another character in the story and I found myself googling "bus tours England"
3.25 stars!

My sincere thanks to Avon and Harper Voyager as well as NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read Work In Progress by Kat Mackenzie. I give my unbiased opinion of it in the following review.

Alice Cooper (yes, that is her name) impulsively books a trip to the UK for a literary bus tour. She's always wanted to go there, and she really needs to get away after finding out her boyfriend has been cheating, and her job is no more. Little does she know that the bus tour is for women only and not just any women, but women of the grey haired and full of wisdom variety. There is also the tour director and bus driver Robbie who she had an altercation with at the airport. Let's just say it was pretty much hate at first sight. But since the money has already been spent, Alice decides to go with it and make Robbie's job more difficult every chance she gets. Who knows, it could be fun. Right?

This was a cute book. I loved how Alice became friends with all the ladies and how a few of them kind of took her under their wing. While the banter between Robbie and Alice got too be a little snarky and mean at times, it was fun to see them learn how to be friends while keeping their humor most of the time. There were a lot of literary references, with each chapter heading stating the book the bus tour was exploring at the time and if Alice had read it or not. I was wishing I had photos of the places they were touring. I was not familiar with all of the books referenced so sometimes I felt a little disconnected from the story because I wasn't able to relate to the tour the characters were on. All in all, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to friends who enjoy a rom com with Scottish or UK setting, or who just love a good rom com.

This overall has a very “Hallmark,” over-the-top, borderline “cringe” feeling throughout. They’re enemies, but there really is no basis for it so it feels a bit like they’re arguing for the sake of arguing. Alice is a bit insufferable and I couldn’t really root for her. Her attitude was off-putting, and it just brought everything down. Overall this just wasn’t for me. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to provide my honest review.

3.5/5 🌟 Big shoutout to NetGalley and Avon for the eARC!

This one took me a bit to get into but once I did, I enjoyed the (bus)ride. Alice is a budding character that was a little to on-the-nose in fairy tale land to begin with, but I suspect that is what author Kat Mackenzie was aiming for. The women of the bus tour added such fun to the story, which made me recall all of the fun times I had with my grandmother's friends growing up!

As for the romance aspect, Alice and Robbie were a totally believable couple, but it was *very* slow goings for me for them to get to that space. At times I found myself enjoying the relationship between Alice and the ladies more than with her and Robbie.

Either way, Mackenzie's debut novel was a good, solid read. Again, thank you to NetGalley and Avon for this one!

When hating each other is a form of foreplay. So many good insults were thrown between Robbie and Alice, I loved their chemistry together. All the quirky ladies in the tour group were fantastic and hilarious. I laughed many times and had a great time. The writing was great it really set the scene into the bus tour throughout the UK.

It took me a little time to get into this because their banter was too close to the line of just being mean, maybe even crossed it a few times but I did eventually get into it and was rooting for our main characters to figure their stuff out. I absolutely loved the setting and now I too want to go on a 3 week tour of the UK with a handsome Scottish bus driver.

This book is absolutely everything to me!!! I am typically an Emily Henry type of girl and I struggle to find books that have the same amount of humor and romantic connection between the characters, but this brought me all of that and more! By the time I finished this, I had happy tears streaming down my face and felt like my soul had just gotten a warm hug.
Now, I've never been to Scotland before, but this book was so descriptive, I almost feel like I really have. It is so rare to find a non-romance book these days that puts so much effort and love into the world-building, but I was so glad that this did because it really made it all the more magical. I absolutely adored every single side character in this as well, and loved that each one of them had their own little quirks and personality.
Don't even get me started on the romance in this... for something with very little spice, there were PLENTY of scenes that had me giggling and kicking my feet!! And the banter!!!! The MMC and FMC start off as enemies (kind of), and the way they argue back and forth is hysterical, especially as you watch their relationship grow.
I think the moral of the story here is that I desperately need to book a three week bus tour of Scotland with a sexy Scottish bus driver and a bunch of older women, because honestly that seems like the perfect solution right now. I am so impressed with this and absolutely cannot believe it is a debut novel (I was devastated when I finished this to learn that there were not MORE Kat Mackenzie books that I could not immediately devour).

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon and Harper Voyager Publishing, and Kat Mackenzie for this ARC!

This was a fun read with colourful cast of characters (loved our eclectic mix of older ladies). Decent chemistry between our two leads Alice And Robbie, though I did find some of the bickering a little childish. Overall an enjoyable read 3.5 🌟

The premise and idea of this one was super cute to me - unfortunately it fell pretty flat.

I struggled to get invested in the characters and story - it was too dialogue heavy and all felt pretty obvious. I just wanted it be better.

Thank you Avon and Harper Voyager as well as NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book! All opinions are my own.

First let me say that I absolutely adored Work in Progress. It is a perfect travel romance full of fun banter, lots of mishaps and the sweetest happily ever after.

Being impulsive is not Alice’s strong suit but when her life starts to fall apart she decides that the only way to face it is by leaving her comfort zone behind and embarking on an epic adventure -- a three week, all-female, literary bus tour across Scotland. But nothing could prepare Alice for the worst travel day of her life, the destroyed luggage, the rickety old bus she is expected to travel on, the seasoned travel companions who are far from the jet-setting thirty-somethings pictured on the website, and the tour guide who is nothing short of infuriating. Determined to see things through, Alice chooses to take a leap of faith and is rewarded with a life-changing experience that she will never forget.

You know that I love a good slow burn romance but it was the relationship that Alice formed with the women on her journey that won my heart. My favorite scene in the book was when in honor of Alice’s birthday each of the women told a story about a time in their lives when things didn’t go as planned. Their stories and the connections made were so heartfelt and beautiful. As Alice says, “There was so much wisdom there, so much laughter and pain and so many things that I wanted to write in my notebook and never forget.”

This book was such an amazing gift and I will absolutely be running out to get a physical copy for my shelves. If travel romances are your thing, then this one is a must read!

Quotes that had me

“I was going to Eat, Pray, Love the crap out of this! But rather than mediation and moderation in an ashram in India somewhere, I chose tea, castles, and book chat in Britain.

“Happiness comes from within, so fill yourself up”

“I fell forward into their stories, feeling their joys and sorrows along with them: my friends, my role models. Then I gathered each one into a hug and tried to press all my gratitude into them”

“Still healing -- yes. Still a mess -- maybe. But a beautiful mess who was learning to adapt, who was learning to take life for all it had to offer, to be able to learn from the hardships and move on.”

Read if you like

Slow burn
Travel romance
Enemies to loves
Amazing characters
Found family
Forced proximity
Mostly closed door spice
Main character growth

thank you to the publisher for an arc and alc!

it’s crazy how i’m finding so many scottish romances months before my trip with my bestie… coincidence?? i think not!!

i absolutely loved a work in progress: from the literary tour with a gaggle of super cool older women (and a dog!), thrifting after our fmc’s whole suitcase gets pooped on…, and of COURSE our beautiful scottish mmc who is the literary tour’s guide, how could i not eat it up?

while a work in progress was definitely a romcom, it had so much depth thanks to the cast of characters sharing their lives and lessons.

the one thing i could have done less with was our fmc alice being petty towards the mmc robbie… like enough, he wants you babe 🙄✋🏼

as for the audio, the narrator did a fantastic job!

the premise was very interesting, unfortunately the main character was probably was one of the most annoying and immature main characters I've ever encountered. she was infuriating and not in a good sense, I gave her a chance for a few chapters but I just couldn't keep going. she just felt like the embodiment of the stereotype of american tourists abroad that want things to go their way.

Thoroughly enjoyable debut! The FMC’s voice was saturated with humorous internal and external sassy comments and reflections, which grabbed my attention well from the outset. I would call this a cozy enemies to lovers since they were more adversaries without any truly contentious feuds other than the initial meet cute/misunderstanding. The character’s depth was revealed throughout the plot well, and wove in their core struggles effectively. I loved the Scottish setting, which felt immersive.
I gave the spice 2/5, but there was fun sneaking around mixed in.
Lastly, I LIVED FOR the cast of assorted wacky grandma figures!!

ugh this was such a dream!! an absolute love letter to thr UK, the setting was so visceral i truly felt like i was along for the ride and dare i say she leans more on the women’s fiction side with a hint of romance? best genre confirmed >>

Behold my fellow enemies-to-lovers stans. This book is going to dethrone all your previous ones in this trope & become no. 1.

Alice makes the first impulsive decision of her life - booking a flight to the UK for a three-week, all-female, literary bus tour. What could possibly go wrong? A- an arrogant, smug travel guide B- fellow passengers over the age of 50!

Wow. I can't express how deeply satisfying I found this book to be. This story reminded me so much of Leap Year, the movie & Gigi, Listening by Chantel Guertin; 2 of my absolute favorites.

Alice's nourney of self-discovery was amazing. But what was even more amazing was the chemistry between her & Robbie. Top tier banter paired with sizzling chemistry made them my favorite couple ever. I mean, despite being closed-door romance, this managed to be hot af. I loved each & every scene of them together.

I appreciated the character development throughout & I adored the side characters so much. They were such an important part of the story, with each of them contributing something. I'm gonna think about this one for DAYS.

<i>Thank you Netgalley and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.<i>