Recent Reads: Shipped by Angie Hockman

Shipped by Angie Hockman

Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication Date:   January 19th 2021

 

Format: Paperback
Source: Borrowed from Library

Rating:


Goodreads Synopsis: 

Between taking night classes for her MBA and her demanding day job at a cruise line, marketing manager Henley Evans barely has time for herself, let alone family, friends, or dating. But when she’s shortlisted for the promotion of her dreams, all her sacrifices finally seem worth it.

The only problem? Graeme Crawford-Collins, the remote social media manager and the bane of her existence, is also up for the position. Although they’ve never met in person, their epic email battles are the stuff of office legend.

Their boss tasks each of them with drafting a proposal on how to boost bookings in the Galápagos—best proposal wins the promotion. There’s just one catch: they have to go on a company cruise to the Galápagos Islands...together. But when the two meet on the ship, Henley is shocked to discover that the real Graeme is nothing like she imagined. As they explore the Islands together, she soon finds the line between loathing and liking thinner than a postcard.

With her career dreams in her sights and a growing attraction to the competition, Henley begins questioning her life choices. Because what’s the point of working all the time if you never actually live?

Review: 

Henley is a persistent and driven woman. She is a list-maker pursuing a full time career marketing for a cruise line and an MBA. It would all be coming together if not for Graeme who walked in and took credit for her idea and now she has to work with him daily and her boss who seems to be speaking down to her at all times. When a promotion comes up Henley and Graeme are sent on on of the cruises to get a feel for it, come up with a marketing plan, and land the promotion. 

This is a fun hate-ish to love-ish romance with a lot of flirting and build up. The romance itself is very PG and wholesome, not steamy at all. I enjoy that in a romance. The cruise put the characters in a romantic setting and their personalities were hilarious and them getting together was a fun rollercoaster ride. I had some laugh out loud moments and enjoyed this read.

I only liked it though for a few reasons. I felt like Henley and her sister's relationship was not fleshed out enough. There was a lot of loathing there and then all of a sudden it is all forgiven and pet names are used - it seemed like too much. And from experience with sister ... we can hold a grudge so I felt like there needed to be more there. I also felt like Henley and Graeme's relationship was more insta-love than a built up love story. This was more a story of miscommunication, paranoia, and misjudgment than hate to love.