Cute story about a singles cruise. I love the title. Quick, easy read. Thank you Netgalley & Phoebe Macleod for the arc.

Short review:
I was really excited for this book and enjoyed the start, but boy did it end up disappointing me. I had a hard time finishing it in a way that I rarely do. I felt like the characters, especially the male lead, were underdeveloped, and the romance was both barely there and non-sensical. This is not a romcom, it is barely a romance. Also: for a book that has a lot of things to say about the church and religion, I felt preached at a lot. I had to force myself to finish, and would have stopped reading if I had not been given an ARC. I would not recommend this book. One star.

Long review (spoilers ahead!):
Our FMC, Ruby, owns a book store, has a great childhood friend she shares an apartment with and loves her cat Samson. Also: she has sworn of men for the last decade. Her best friend seems obsessed with finding a relationship, and is willing to date the most terrible men to find it. The scenes including this are probably meant to be funny, but make me pity her more than anything. There is also a gay best friend/colleague who lacks real personality and back story. A lot of the starting plot is focussed on the two friends showing up at a church, where they have a terrible experience. This is only relevant because the best friend starts dating a vicar later on, but the misgivings are so quickly resolved (and of screen) that the long church sequence doesn’t seem necessary. To me, it felt like the author might be having some strong feelings about the church herself. We spend about the first 30% of the book with the two gals, before the MMC shows up.

Cameron is our MMC, but he only shows up about a third into the book. He’s a policeman and checks whether people are allowed to keep their weapons permit. His last relationship lasted a while and ended recently. Honestly, this is all I know about the guy. His whole personality can be described as reliable and nice. This may sound good on paper, but in truth the character just reads as very, very bland. I have no idea what he likes about Ruby. I also don’t really know what Ruby likes about him. When she at some point sums up why he is so different from her ex, one of the four (!) reasons is “he just played a song I like in his car”. As there is no depth to his character, there is no depth to the relationship.

And honestly, that is where the story lost me. I was set up for a nice romcom with two strangers pretending to be a couple and then, gasp!, actually becoming one. However, the comedy fell flat, and there was no tension to speak of between the two main characters. When the FMC states that she knows the MMC must find her attractive, I had honestly no clue how she came to that conclusion as I had not ready any signs of his attraction to her. Her feelings, alas, aren’t much better. She gets the tingles when he gives her a naked massage and basically goes “well, we get along platonically, he looks okay and apparently my sex drive has not completely died after 7 years of celibacy, so this must be love”. It was very underwhelming. Without substantial comedy and with no romance to speak of, this doesn’t qualify as a romcom, in my opinion.

Basic features:
- FMC has sworn of all men and romance after a bad experience
- MMC is a typical nice guy with no personality to speak of
- Pretend relationship
- There was only one bed!
- A cute cat that deserves his own novel

What I liked:
- The setting would have made for a great romcom. I loved the pretend relationship trope, and the ‘there was only one bed’ trope could have caused some great hilarity as well. All of this was promising and I was very hopeful reading the first part.
- Although I don’t necessarily like all the characters, they do seem realistic for the most part. Our MMC is described as deviously handsome with a 12 inch youknowwhat, which always annoys me in other books. Our female characters are flawed but sympathetic (most of the time).
- The author is very descriptive of surroundings and activities, making it easy to imagine the scene.

What I didn’t like:
- I did not like all the political points that were hidden through the story. There’s a lot going on about gun laws and gun safety, there is a huge thing about the church and moralistic stances on sexuality, and all of it just seemed so preachy to me. Sure, an author can be more liberal, progressive or conservative than I am, and so can the characters. But some of these parts almost felt like a TED talk, and I didn’t enjoy it.
- Oh boy, I’m going to sound like such a hater, but here goes: I absolutely HATED the big plot reveal. The reason why Ruby hasn’t dated in so long felt so immensely stupid to me. Her ex-boyfriend sounds like a cartoon villain, with how unbelievably evil he is. Imagining that somebody did something so ridiculous to her, she had therapy for a long while, and she STILL decided to basically form her whole personality around “I swear off all men forever” just seemed ridiculous to me. To make it worse: all of it was resolved through just a couple of conversations with her best friend and just one (1!!!) conversation with the MMC.
- The set up was too long. This didn’t have to be bad if all of it was relevant to the story and the story picked up once it started, but it wasn’t and it didn’t. I felt like I barely got to know the MMC.
- The romantic pacing felt off. There was not sign of any romantic feelings until about the 50% point, and then all of a sudden Ruby states that she’s pretty sure Cameron has feelings for her too. This left me flabbergasted, as I had seen no sign of any romantic tension whatsoever. What really had me screaming: in the morning she freaks out because she wakes up with his erection pressed against his back, but in the late afternoon she is suddenly fine with looking at his burned, flacid penis. Apart from the insane pacing issues, how is this supposed to convince me they are attracted to each other?
- The author is very descriptive, but sometimes the details felt like unnecessary filler. Additionally, she writes her dialogue without many facial descriptions and inner dialogue thrown in. It took me a while to realize what made the dialogue hard to get through for me, but I often felt like I was reading a script or a transcription of a scene instead of a book.
- As much as I liked Sam’s character and her witty banter, I felt she was a horrible friend. Her best friend hasn’t dated in almost a decade because of trauma, and she has never bothered to look through the façade. Additionally, she drags her onto the cruise under false pretences, and then angrily threatens to out Ruby for having a fake relationship to get away from all the pressure?! Girl please!

Honestly, I can go on. I started out excited for this book but just got more and more frustrated while reading it. I cannot give this book any more than one star. I feel very sorry for the writer as I expect she put a lot of herself and her own opinions into it, but that made it far from an enjoyable read for me.

I quite enjoyed this book. It’s a light hearted read and easy to turn the pages. Got slightly frustrated with Ruby, the main character. Quite early on, you know there is a back story to hear about but it takes ages for this to be addressed. A 3.5 star, rounded up.

A funny, lighthearted slow-burn about a woman sworn off love, who’s tricked into what she believes is a well-deserved Mediterranean cruise, that actually turns out to be a match-making scheme.

Ruby is happy being independent and single, with no need for anything or anyone more than her best friend Sam and her cat Samson. If her traumatic experience with relationships wasn’t enough, witnessing Sam’s penchant for attracting the worst kinds of men just reinforces Ruby’s need to remain man less.

That is until, Sam convinces Ruby to go on a cruise. The idea of spending a few days travelling and exploring with her closest friend is too good to resist, and it isn’t until they arrive at the ship, that Ruby realises she’s been misled.

Full of singles and dating events, Ruby is thrown into the uncomfortable deep end, with no choice but to support her best friend in her adventure for love. That is until she meets Cameron, another holidaymaker who is not quite as interested in the match-making agenda. Enter, the relationship of convenience. What better way to avoid speed-dating events than to appear ‘off the market’?

Ruby and Cameron’s cruise turns from bad to worse when they miss their cruise and spend their holiday-making time racing around Europe to catch up with it. All that time together and the drama that ensues results in the beginning of a slow-burn romance.

And when I say slow-burn, I mean, SLOW. This book would have received a higher rating if it wasn’t for the romance being left to the final 2 chapters. And I was slightly confused by Sam’s romantic whirlwind with a vicar?

That being said, I enjoyed it. It was a quick, easy read that made me laugh throughout. Although I do think Ruby needs to reconsider her friendship with Sam. Who cons their friend into a holiday and then ditches them to find love?

If you’re looking for something lighthearted, this is the ideal read for getting you out of a slump!

Thank you NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this book didn’t work for me. The writing felt flat, and the characters lacked depth, making it difficult to connect with them. The FMC, in particular, gave off strong “pick-me” vibes, which made her frustrating to follow rather than endearing.
As for the romance, it was hard to buy into. The chemistry between the leads was practically nonexistent—they meshed about as well as water and oil. Their interactions felt forced rather than natural, making the love story difficult to root for.
Overall, Hook, Line and Single had an interesting premise, but the execution fell short for me. Fans of lighthearted rom-coms might enjoy it, but if you're looking for a compelling romance with believable chemistry, this one might not be it.

*Thank you to NetGalley, Phoebe, and Boltwood Books for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review*

3.5 🌟 rounded up

The good:

This book was so cute, and it was one of the ones where you get invested in every single character that you meet. The book follows Ruby and her BFF Sam through an adventure in finding love. Although Ruby is dead set against a relationship, you’ll have to read this book to find out how she ended up in a singles group only on a cruise at the hands of Sam. The singles group director Barry is a hoot, and you are a monster if you don’t fall in love with him. I thoroughly enjoyed following along the story of Ruby and Cameron, and Sam and Robin. You truly will enjoy every single character you come across in this book, as well as finding yourself laughing at some of the banter.

The not so good:

This book didn’t end up matching the synopsis that I personally read about it. The first 30% of the book is a little too much introduction and then a bunch of nonsense, and the pacing feels a bit off. You really don’t even get to the meat and potatoes of the storyline until around 30% in. It’s hard to tell during that if we are following Ruby, or if we are following her BFF Sam through their adventures with love. If it just would’ve been maybe 15%, and then we got on the cruise and got into meeting characters and their storylines, it would’ve bumped this up to a 4.5+ ⭐️ rating. I would’ve loved to had more detail in time for the adventures off of the boat with Cameron and Ruby, as well as going a little bit deeper into the side characters storylines as well. This definitely has the potential of making it into a interconnected standalone series which I would just die for if we were being honest. So although in the first 30% I did contemplate doing a DNF. I’m so glad that I didn’t because I ended up, loving the rest of the story. I will be recommending it to my friends, and obviously to everyone reading this review as well. Although it may not be for everyone, it has so much potential and I do think it’s worth a read.

in all honesty, i only kept reading this because i thought it would get better at some point.

spoiler: it never does.

the other reviews that say this book isn’t exactly what it was advertised to be aren’t wrong - the cruise ship aspect that the blurb mentions occurs for 40% of the book. the relationship between the two main characters also feels insta-lovey and takes the backseat while the fmc’s friend steals the spotlight. i really did have high hopes for this one but i felt very let down by the end of the book.

so, save your time and skip this one. imo, this is underwhelming and not worth reading.

Hook, Line and Single releases on february 17th, 2025. thank you to netgalley and boldwood books for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

The premise of this book was fun. A surprise singles cruise. The pacing was a bit off though, it felt like it took ages to get to the fun parts and then rushed through the rest. The characters were likeable and had decent enough chemistry, but it just felt like the actual romance within the story didn’t get as much development as it could’ve. I did enjoy that a lot of space was given to the relationship between the FMC and her best friend though.

Overall an easy, fairly feel good read that I did enjoy. A good holiday read.

Stilted dialogue with a very slow pacing. The premise of the singles cruise is so fun and reeled me in but it takes forever to get there. Lots of really negative views of Christianity that I couldn’t get past. The scene at the church was really off putting as 95% of churches (if not more) don’t operate that way. The friendship between Ruby and Sam was cute but didn’t outshine some of the other issues I had.

Hook, Line and Single by Phoebe MacLeod is a delightful blend of humor, romance, and the charm of coastal life. The story follows our protagonist as she navigates love, family drama, and a few fishy situations (pun intended!). With witty dialogue, a dash of mystery, and an irresistible seaside setting, this book is a perfect pick-me-up for those who enjoy a light-hearted escape. Whether you're a fan of quirky characters or swoon-worthy moments, MacLeod delivers in spades. It's a charming, feel-good read that will leave you smiling long after you've turned the last page!

guys !! this was SO good - I really enjoyed it!

I thought the characters were great, and i loved the contrast between Ruby and Sam and how their friendship worked. Ruby is definitely a more patient friend than me as i'd have definitely thrown Sam overboard a few times!

It's a cute fake dating, friendship to lovers story that makes you feel all gooey at the end. I would definitely recommend if you like a romance easy read :)

This book was a decent read with a unique and fun premise. The idea of a singles cruise gone wrong was entertaining and I loved the slow-burn connection between Ruby and Cameron. Their dynamic felt natural and some of their moments together were genuinely adorable. That being said, the pacing felt a bit slow in the beginning, making it a little difficult to stay fully engaged at first. However, as the story progressed, the chemistry between the characters became more evident and the cruise setting added charm to their journey. While it wasn’t a standout read for me, I appreciated the lighthearted humor and the way it explored stepping out of one’s comfort zone. If you're in the mood for a sweet, slow-building romance with a bit of travel escapism, this might be worth picking up!

3.25 stars

This is a fun story about two people on a single cruise who didn’t want to partake in the dating antics. They buddy up to avoid said activities, and end up enjoying each other’s company through a series of adventures.
The writing was immediately easy to dive into and kept me interested. The story leading up to the cruise was fun. I was interested in the main character, and her friend and family were decently well developed.

Once on the cruise, sometimes conversations felt stilted. There were some weird personal views on gun ownership I wasn’t expecting to get in a romance book.
Her friend was not a very good friend at all, especially as two women going on the cruise together. Some of the side characters (Brad) had good potential but then had their stories wrapped up a little too neatly.
This is a SLOW burn romance, as in no real relationship until over 80% in. It’s also fade to black. While I generally enjoyed the book, the first half was stronger than the second.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC. All views are my own.

Feisty friends, love when you least expect it and a cruise with the bestie! Was a great, fun read! And I will highly recommend this to my patrons.

2.5/5 ⭐️

I enjoyed this book for the most part. The plot was simple enough although the pacing did fluctuate quite a bit. I enjoyed that we took a while to get into the main story although the ending felt rushed so we could maybe have sacrificed some of the time before the cruise to flesh out the ending a little. I definitely rooted for Cameron, and I enjoyed the development of his relationship with Ruby, even though I was less keen on her. I didn’t really click with Sam as a character and was glad that she somewhat took a backseat after the first quarter of the book. Samson the cat was excellent.
I found the writing style easy to read and compelling.

My major issue was with the portrayal of Christianity and the significant amount of the book which was seemingly dedicated to trashing both Christians and the church, both of which were badly represented. The plot would have worked fine with just Robin being a vicar, the church trip and following conversation at the start of the book were just seemed unnecessary. It was a waste to spend so much time being so negative and I found it reduced my enjoyment of the book as a whole and pulled me out of the story. My rating reflects this.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for this book in exchange for an honest review.

Cute story and I enjoyed it overall. I do think a dual POV would have enhanced the book and allowed us to get to know the MMC more. I didn’t love that we didn’t meet him until a full third into the book and thought it was a bit slow to that point. However, the last two thirds of the book really picked up.

Even though this one was fairly predicable I did enjoy the cruise ship setting which was new and I did enjoy the banter Ruby and Cameron.

I have read most of Phoebes books and they are all usually enjoyable.
My favourite part of this book was probably Sam and Ruby’s friendship, it was really nice to see their dynamic. I loved the journey they went on together overcoming their fears and growing as people. I have always wanted to go on a cruise and this book seems to capture them well! The settings were well done, the characters were well written and funny.

A very enjoyable and cute romcom. Lots going on between both Sam and Ruby’s love lives. Fun side characters on the cruise and ports. Lots of funny moments. Easy to curl up with a cup of tea and enjoy.

3/5 stars

I gave “Hook, Line, and Single” by Phoebe MacLeod a shot because, let’s be honest, who doesn’t love the idea of a rom-com on a Mediterranean singles cruise?

A grumpy FMC who’d rather eat glass than mingle?

A fake platonic pairing with a handsome, kind MMC?

This had all the makings of a delightful romcom. But somewhere between boarding the ship and disembarking, the story lost its spark.

First off, the pacing was all over the place. The story didn’t even get to the cruise until 30% in, and by the time Ruby and Cameron finally met (a solid 35% into the book), I was already wondering if I’d been tricked into reading a story about Ruby’s best friend, Sam, instead. Sam’s love life is so front-and-center early on that it felt like Ruby and Cameron were supporting characters in their own romance novel.

For a standalone romance, that’s just too late to build the chemistry needed to root for them. By the time the boat docked, I still wasn’t fully invested in their connection—it felt rushed and, frankly, a little shallow.

The dynamic between Sam and Ruby was fun, but it kept stealing the spotlight from the actual romance we were supposed to care about.

There’s a lot of potential here, but the lack of depth in their connection made it hard to root for them. Ruby’s missed-ship adventure was a fun twist, but the story just didn’t spend enough time on the actual cruise or on building a believable romance.

While the book isn’t bad, it’s not what it promised. The pacing issues, superficial character arcs, and focus on side plots left it feeling underwhelming. If you go in expecting light, low-stakes fluff, it’s fine for a quick read. But as a romcom? It doesn’t quite make it to its destination.