Santa Overboard had a title that made me eager to listen to the audiobook. I was looking forward to a rom com set with a Christmas theme. What I got to listen to was way too full of too many things and with Covid being a big topic in the story made me lose interest and I listened to the end hoping I would get more rom-com in the story.
Maria Marquis was the narrator and she gave it her best to make the audiobook fun to listen to as best as she could.
Thank you NetGalley, Carolyn McBride and Make Waves Press for the audiobook of Santa Overboard. This is my personal review.

Katie is divorced (again!) and in love (again!). But can she trust her heart? This book was kind of angsty - a middle aged women questions herself and her ability to trust when Deke tells her he loves her but then announces he will be on a research trip in the Galapagos for Christmas. Meanwhile Katie has to find a boat for the Santa parade. She makes a fun new friend, there are some random side plots that go nowhere, and then Santa really does fall overboard. Twice.

This book could have been a fun light hearted rom com, but there was a lot of deep rooted feelings and philosophy thrown in, which felt wrong for such a short book with a cute cover. While I appreciate the ARC, the book was a miss for me.

Thanks for the opportunity to review this book. I will say this book had a lot of potential, I liked the concept of a mid-life romance. Going through COVID, divorce, college age children is very real and relatable. I want to love/support strong women leading their best life. But because of that the romance felt flat. There was no witty banter, no reason for the romance to exist at all! It could have just been a book about strong women friendships.

This is a short read. I listened to it as an audiobook, but it still feeled to long.
I didn’t know this was the second book in a series. I think the books would be better if you read the first book more. I feel like it gives more context and the backstory.
The story is about a 50-something year old woman and her life. As a younger woman, it was a bit difficult to relate to them and I couldn’t really get into the story.
The narration is great. But I found it a bit difficult to follow at some points.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review

I have never read a romance aimed at my age frame (or closer to my age frame) before and the characters resounded so much more to me than ever before in a book. I loved the uncertainty of the characters, not so much in each other but in their own ability to be open to what is being offered. The love story was predictable but beautiful. I was so happy with how the story ended. I was also new to this author and will be taking a look into her backlist because the way she writes brought the characters to life for me in such a fun way.

This is a super cute holiday read! Quick and jump straight to the point I didn’t know it was part of a series but was able to read just fine. The story is Ata dramatic but I love a Hallmark esk read in December! I also really enjoyed the juxtaposition of boats and warmer weather for Christmas. The narrator was fabulous and a quick listen.

Thank you to #NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I had not read the first book in this series. I thought the writing was done well. I decided thought that this type of women’s fiction is not for me. I think if you like this genre its a great read for you.

I received this audiobook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This was a fun listen! I didn't know that this book was part of a series, so I was going in blind listening to it. I didn't feel lost at all, as the author set up the characters really well. This book was more of a thoughtful and sweet story than one with an exciting climax and lots of suspense and back and forth. Therefore, it's just perfect for a read/listen that leaves you feeling peaceful and content.

Thank you, NetGalley and Make Waves Press, for the audio ARC.

This is advertised as a little bit mystery, a little bit romance and unfortunately the whole thing fell flat for me. At least once a chapter there was a mention of the COVID pandemic and vaccines which felt super weird. It felt oddly preachy.

It DID have that very light and fluffy holiday feel that we love in a holiday novella. The audiobook was done well, and the concept is cute and creative! I think this book will find its audience.

Carolyn mentioned COVID too many times for me (like 4865 time more than I can digest). But I am sure that many will enjoy this one and that is totally worth it. The book is great, for sure, but not my cup of tea.

Quick, comfortable read with plenty of festive fun, small town romance, heartwarming humor and female friendship. I chose this book due to the cover and time of year, so did not realise this is the second book in a series (Potomac Shores series). The storyline was easy enough to follow, although reading the first book would have given more context to the backstory and plot development.

I appreciate the diversity of characters and sharing of various traditions. I am also thankful for friendship that is representative of the over-forties/fifties, as this does not seem to be regularly represented. Unfortunately, there was more pandemic content than I would have liked, as the story is set in 2021.

With thanks to Make Waves Press for the audio review copy, via NetGalley. This review is voluntary, and all opinions are my own.

I enjoyed the audiobook, and Maria Marquis did well to represent each of the characters well, with enough variety in her tone to make this an entertaining listen, even at 2x listening speed.

Unfortunately, I do not think I was the target audience for this story. I wanted a fun & festive Christmas book to enjoy this holiday season, but this book focused on women living their best lives in the year 2021. While I think the pandemic was momentous in all of our lives, I’m not quite in the place where I want to travel back to 2021 and revisit vaccine roll-outs and quarantine living. Sadly, I did not finish this audiobook.

What a lovely read … funny too … would recommend to anyone that loves a bit of mystery and clean romance lol (just a bit of spice)

if i heard one more reference about covid my mind was going to literally explode. I have seeen comments stating it was heavy on the references with covid but truly i thought "ehh a couple? no biggie." ... boy i was wrong. the covid references were so heavily ingrained in the book that it made me cringe and took so much away from the premise of the book.

this story had the ability to be SO cute and good. i loved the idea and the concept and was looking forward to finding how the fmcs life was going to go, but i could barely get through it based on the references.

it has the potential to be cute and someone who can overlook the heavy amount of COVID chat may be very interested, but i found myself annoyed most of the audiobook due to that and it took a lot away from the book for me.

thank you netgalley and make waves press for the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This is a fun, entertaining, holiday read. Deke and Katie are interesting, intriguing, strong, wounded, complex, entertaining characters. I enjoyed spending time with these two. The Beach Bonfire Babes are entertaining, fun, relatable, realistic characters. I loved their relationship and the role it plays in the story. The story is full of quirky and interesting characters that added that little extra something to the story. The book is easy to read and get into. I read this book as a stand alone and was able to enjoy it, but there are relationships that are pre-existing that would make more sense by reading the previous book in the series.

I enjoyed the audio version of this book and the narrator.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I usually like this genre so I thought I’d enjoy this but I didn’t love it. It was hard to get through all of it and I didn’t enjoy the audio narrator. Not sure if I’d read another by this author or not.. possibly, but not guaranteed.

The audiobook was really good, the narrator did a good job, but I won’t lie, this book was not my cup of tea. I felt completely disconnected from the characters and their problems. A lot of dialogue was unnecessary and it went nowhere. Too many side characters that didn’t add to anything. And waaay too many COVID references; that’s something that a lot of us can agree, is not something we want to remember. The cover made me think it was a cute, funny, Christmas story, but it wasn’t cute, nor funny, and barely Christmas-y😅


Thank you, NetGalley and Make Waves Press, for the audio in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for the Arc! I really liked the writing and most of the characters. I was just kind of confused with the overall vibe of the book I guess? But I think this just a personal preference, I think someone who prefers late in life books would love this! Just for me it's a bit too realistic and I tend to not want that in my romance haha. Still great writing and story though!

Super cute, quick and Christmas spirit filled. I understand it is a short story, but with it being this length I felt as though the story could have gotten a little bit deeper. None of the characters really had any development, and the story seemed very superficial. I would still probably recommend this to certain people depending on their preferences of books, but I also would not be surprised if they felt the same as I did about it lacking something. Thank you Netgalley, Carolyn McBride, and Make Waves Press for gifting me this ARC!

Although I was elated to see a story that features 50+ year old protagonists, this just wasn't it for me.