Work in Progress by Kat Mackenzie didn't disappoint!
I couldn’t stop inhaling this book.
A sweet and heartwarming rom-com.
An unforgettable journey. These characters with their witty banter and amazing personalities I absolutely adored their journey.
A wonderful slow-burn, enemies to lovers story set against the stunning backdrop of the UK.
A charming story about self-discovery, and finding love when you least expect it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon for an Advanced Reader Copy

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon for an Advanced Reader Copy - pub date 1/14/2025. What's a girl to do when her life goes down in flames? Alice Cooper has lost her fiancé, her job, and her self-confidence is missing, presumed dead. Somewhere between the tears and comfort food, she ends up going the way of a Hallmark Movie heroine and books herself a three week tour of the UK. To my delight, she goes a step cooler than most of those heroines and books a Women-only LITERARY tour. Of course, the booking is the easy part and her first 48 hours of travel and arrival are something from a comedy-horror movie - including the hot Scots tour guide Robbie who knows exactly how to piss her off and the fact that women-only also translates into over-60. Cue a rollicking rom-com ride with lots of banter, hate to lust to love, wisdom of the ages, and some of the most gorgeously described scenery and food EVER. Seriously. I nearly booked my own three week tour after I finished this book based solely on how wonderful Kat Mackenzie paints the trip. (Still tempted, bet I could... Hey, Kat, hook a girl up?) I am not sure where I would find a busload of feisty senior citizens, though.

Because they are absolutely key to this book, you see. For all the fun barbed conversations with Robbie and Alice working through her crap and some delicious sexual tension, you also have her bonding with these disparate women. This group is the epitome of "I ain't dead yet!" and I love them just as much as Alice does by the end of the book. As much as finding love again is important to Alice's journey, it is equally important for her to learn about herself and relearn how to connect to others, how to accept help, how to be vulnerable, how to LIVE. I loved it so much.

Alice herself took a little warming up to because of her rather unflattering first chapter or three but, when you learn more about her, you realize that she's just a human with flaws and bumps and less-than-gracious responses to things. Anxiety and control issues will do that. She's also smart and hard-working and quick-tongued (sometimes nastily so) and funny and stubborn and really sweet and grateful. By using only Alice's POV, Mackenzie took a risk and it paid off. We got to watch the internal workings of a woman hurting and lashing out as she heals and grows.

Seriously, though, can we have that tour scheduled now, Kat Mackenzie? I want those Bedfordshire clangers and scones and clotted cream and meat pies and...

Six months after she lost everything, her job, her fiance, and her apartment, Alice Cooper goes on a spontaneous trip to the UK for a women's only, guided tour. After her arrival, unfortunate things keep happening to her, her trip is filled with nothing but old women, and it doesn't help that her tour guide who seems to be dead set on making sure that she continues to have the worst trip. However, as the trip progresses, she grows closer to the women that she is with, and even closer to her tour guide.

First of all, the setting was spectacular. I loved the cozy feeling that I got every time we went to a new stop on the tour. Mackenzie did such a great job with her descriptions of each scene and the history that was talked about at each stop was also fantastic and lead me to learn so much and added to my enjoyment of this story.

The friendships that blossomed were amazing and the funny moments were sprinkled everywhere throughout this book. On the tour, we learn more about all of the ladies and their backgrounds and more of their stories, showing some of what led them to where they are now. Everything was just so heart warming.

The relationship between Robbie and Alice was fantastic. Initially, it started off rough, and when they had met again afterwards, the two of them continued to hate (but not really) each other and exchanged hilarious comments, until they no longer hated each other. Alice was just a mess, but in a good way. So much happened to her before the trip, and again throughout the trip, she just needed a break, which she definitely got with Robbie, who helped her out when she needed it, and helped her forget her troubles while on the trip. And Robbie, dear sweet Robbie, was just an angel and was the perfect compliment to Alice.

Final rating: 4.25 stars
Thank you to Kat Mackenzie, Avon and Harper Voyager, and NetGalley for the eARC of this book. This is my honest review.

I went into this book pretty blind, I saw Scotland and book tour and was like yes please. This book was so good, I’m so happy I was allowed to get an early copy to read before release thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins Publishers. The book made me laugh and cry and so many emotions in between. I will be recommending this book to everyone!

You could pick apart the things in this book that are a little outlandish, improbable, or a stretch (when has a romcom not been a bit of a stretch?) but the message is what is loud and clear: Don’t plan out your whole life to a template of expections at the cost of all of your happiness and finding your true passion.

Yes, this is a romcom—an enemies-to-lovers trope at that— but it’s so much more. While much of the story is spent on Alice and Robbie and their frustrating metaphorical and eventually literal dance, another romance sweeps you off your feet in the form a white haired brigade of grannies. However improbable the chances of Alice finding a one-man tour company overseas, one that operates out of a single old school bus, the story is equally spent on the amazing friendships that Alice begins to make as it is on potential romance.

I want to be Helena‘s daughter or even her project!

Thank you to Kat Mackenzie, NetGalley, and Avon and Harper Voyager for providing me with a free advanced copy of this book for my unbiased review.

3.5 Stars! Overall liked this cute rom com of “enemies” to lovers set in Scotland. It was really hard for me to like Alice in the beginning - but she grew on me. I thought Robbie was adorable and perfect. But what I really loved was the relationships and friendships Alice built with her tour group! So precious and appreciated that this was a book tour!

In this cute, slow-burn romance, Alice Cooper has had her life fall apart. Between her lack of a job and her cheating ex now being engaged to the woman he cheated with (using HER engagement ring no less!), she is stressed. Add in a hell of a flight itinerary after her flight was cancelled, she is not pleased to discover that her luggage was crushed. After an antagonistic interaction at the counter with not just the attendant but also a sexy Scot, she is running late for her literary tour of the British Isle. When she discovers that not only is her tour entirely made up of old ladies to her 29 years, but also is led by the infuriating sexy Scot, hilarity ensues.

The quips traded by the main characters are hilarious. The old ladies are delightful, and the scenery is well explained.

Overall, it is a very cute romance.

I would recommend the print/e-book version over the audiobook just because the information at the beginning of each chapter comes across better in written form, but the narration was great, aside from a mother and son sounding the same.

Thank you to Net Galley, Avon, and Harper Voyager for the DRC! All opinions are my own.

☆☆☆.5

after losing both her job and finding out that her ex fiancé proposed to a new woman with the same ring, alice books a non-refundable literary tour of the UK in a desperate attempt to find some perspective. when she arrives, the tour turns out to be nothing like she expected: the other “globe-trotting ladies” are all in their eighties or nineties, the tour bus does not come with amenities, and the bus driver/tour leader, robbie, happens to be the most infuriatingly attractive man alice has ever seen (emphasis on infuriating). work in progress is equal parts romance and heartfelt adventure. the side characters are well-developed and will tug at your heartstrings just as much as the romance between robbie & alice.

i don’t love the miscommunication trope, but i don’t mind it when it’s done intentionally and well. and while it did improve during the later half of the story, the trope just felt a bit much during the first half of work in progress. alice seemed hellbent on not hearing what robbie or the older ladies had to say for any reason, which was frustrating to read. i understand that it’s a defense mechanism and that it was central to her character development, but i just personally felt that it went on for too long. additionally, i do feel that there was a lot of telling rather than showing in this book. many chapters would end with alice just summarizing what happened throughout the rest of the day rather than the reader actually getting to experience the events alongside alice. and while i don’t need spice to enjoy a romance, i will say that i expected a bit more than what i got given that the novel was described as a “sexy” romcom. this reads more as cracked door romance. aside from those things, i really enjoyed work in progress!

review is currently live on goodreads (linked below) and will be shared to bookstagram (also linked below) and amazon on release day, january 14th 2025.

I really liked the main theme of this book... a woman spontaneously whisks herself off to a 3-week women-only bus tour of the UK to find herself and get her priorities in order after a bad breakup and job loss. It actually sounds like something I would do. The rocker in me also loved that her name was Alice Cooper. I also loved that the other ladies were older women, newly retired to 96, as this demographic is often left out of mainstream books these days. I wanted even more of their back stories like Helena and Flossie's came out. I did find Alice to sort of annoying. She professed herself to be this strong independent single woman, but she came off as quite whiny and entitled throughout the book and actually quite helpless many times. I didn't care for the damsel in distress scenes. The whole ankle sprain thing was laughable... any time I sprained an ankle, it was months before I could wear a dress shoe, let alone spiked high heels. It just made her come off as a drama queen. Robbie was the strong Scottish MMC I was looking for. Sarcastic and burly, smart, and with a heart of gold.

3.5 stars rounded up because now I definitely want to recreate their tour on a vacation of my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager | Avon for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

I received this book from Net Galley and the publisher for a review (many thanks).
Things I enjoyed immensely...
Scotland (made me want to take Robbie's tour), the Bridget Jones Tally at the start of each chapter (made me want to reread), the banter with all the characters.

What I'm surprised didn't work for me, as it is usually exactly what I love (townies! odd side characters!), was the other ladies on the tour. I had a hard time keeping track of who was who and connecting with them. At times the book also felt too sweet and or silly.

Overall, it kept me entertained and wanting to plan a trip to Scotland so although not all parts of it worked for me, I know it will for others.

Slow burn romance but worth the wait! I love the banter between the two main characters. The different personalities on the tour were great as well!

Wow, wow, wow! Was not sure what to expect going into this book but it absolutely blew me away!

It was definitely giving romcom in the best ways that had me laughing out loud, yet it also had those emotional touching moments that had me crying and waiting to see what the outcome was going to be!

Alice Cooper is on a train wreck express right now after her 6 year relationship ending because of cheating, she lost her job, and she now feels like her life is not where it should be at her age. She decides to book a spontaneous trip to the UK on a book tour, ready to change her perspective on her life.

A bus full of old women with all kinds of personalities, backgrounds coming together, with the tour guide, Robbie, she immediately can’t get a long with, Alice doesn’t know how she’s going to last 3 weeks.

The tension between Alice and Robbie is thick, and their bantering only deepens as they spend more time together along the journey. At the end, Alice has learned so much and changed, but she is also faced with some very difficult choices when the man she’s falling for lives across the Atlantic Ocean.

Rivals to lovers, funny old women with stories to tell, a book tour that any book lover would love to experience, and a story about a woman who literally was a work in progress growing and becoming someone she finally recognizes is what Work In Progress is all about!

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon and Harper Voyager, and Kat Mackenzie for this incredible book in exchange for my honest review!

Work in Progress was an absolute joy to read, and I am disappointed that it is a debut novel only in the sense that it means there is no back-catalogue of Kat Mckenzie novels for me to read next. Work in Progress is a fast-paced enemies-to-lovers journey around Great Britain, but it's also a story about female friendships across generations. I cannot wait to read what Kat Mackenzie writes next!

This is a story that is going to stay with me. Alice’s life as she knows it has fallen apart and she decided to be spontaneous for once and books herself a tour around the UK for three weeks. And it definitely doesn’t start off as she had hoped. She absolutely does not get along with her bus driver/tour guide. I love how she doesn’t back down. The way they needle at each other is comical and as they swing from enemies to something like friends it becomes more so. There were times in this story that I laughed out loud and others that left a hollow feeling in my chest. I felt like I was seeing the sights along with them and wish I’d had a guide as entertaining and knowledgeable as Robbie when I traveled.

4.5 stars overall

Oh my goodness this was such a delightful debut! I really enjoyed Kat's writing and the details describing all the landmarks around the UK on the literary tour. All the characters were a hoot and the jabs between Alice and Robbie were amazing! I loved their strangers to enemies to lovers story and realizing that even though you're young you can still make friends with elders was a heartwarming sentiment. Throughout the book you felt like you were on the road and taking the tour with the characters. Now I want to book a literary tour to the UK. I'm very much looking forward to reading more by Kat. I will be recommending this one to all my friends! Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Publication date: January 14th,2025

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Alice needed a reason to get out of bed after of 6 months of doing nothing she decided to book a 3 week trip a literary bus UK tour but she did not expect her luggage to get destroyed and a bus full of old ladies

And the tour guide around her age she did not expect anything or even want anything especially trying to get over her ex and she doesn’t have job for last 6 months she did this trip to get something out of life.

I love everything about this book and group of characters we’re all fun and very funny. And along the way she gained a ton a wisdom from these older ladies

Robbie is tour guide but also the owner of this tour company

I don’t want to say too much you just to read to find out

Thank you NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

This felt like a dislike to lovers story with an ‘Eat Pray Love’ meets ‘Bridget Jones’ vibe. It was charming and wholesome (perhaps a bit too wholesome for my taste). Alice and Robbie made a sweet couple but as individual characters, I didn’t find them particularly compelling, especially Alice. their banter was enjoyable and I appreciated the natural (albeit slow) progression of their relationship. That said I tend to prefer my romance with a bit more open door spice.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This one was cute, but the author seemed to over explain a lot. We don’t need 4 pages of someone picking up their policing that spilled from their purse. However, the scatter brained FMC was a huge hit for me. I loved the old ladies as well. It was a fun time, but needed some refinement

I very much enjoyed my time with this ARC. I found the main character to be relatable and the banter between two of the main characters to be excellent. If you are looking for a fun rom-com that takes you across the UK with heavy Scottish themes then give this one a go. I also found the side characters to be adorable and at times hilarious not to mention all the wisdom that they shared along the way.

I want to thank Netgalley, Kat Mackenzie, and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date is January 14, 2025

A lighthearted read that packs an emotional punch, Work in Progress has plenty of humor and romance, but also provides an emotional journey for the heroine. With great settings and memorable characters, a great read to start off the new year.