Book Description:
In this enemies-to-lovers romance, school nurse Josie and her brother’s best friend–hockey player Wyatt Jacobs–are tricked into spending a summer together that’s anything but smooth sailing.
When Josie’s brother sends her to a random address for their (sometimes) annual Super Summer Sibling Extravaganza, she finds neither siblings nor extravaganzas. Instead, ends up at a run-down cottage on the Northern Neck of Virginia occupied by a hockey player she knows and loathes.
A hockey player who isn’t just one of her sports agent brother’s clients. He’s also his best friend. And Josie’s sworn enemy.
Oh–and her brother wants Josie to help Wyatt recover from his injury.
Dragging grumpy hockey players to physical therapy is a far cry from bandaging skinned knees, but for the price her brother offers to pay, Josie is willing to try.
Even if it means sharing what she dubs the quaint little murder cottage with Wyatt.
Begrudgingly, Josie starts to see a little more of the man behind the grumpy exterior. And when she finds out he was supposed to sail the Intracoastal Waterway south to Savannah scattering his uncle’s ashes, Josie surprises even herself by offering to be Wyatt’s first mate.
Smooth sailing is nowhere to be found, and Josie begins to wonder if they’ll be able to make it home without killing–or kissing?–each other.
And yet, the longer they share cramped quarters and canned food, the more of Wyatt’s layers she peels back until Josie realizes she misunderstood him, their shared history, and perhaps herself as well.
Narelle’s Thoughts:
I enjoyed reading If All Else Sails, a fun romcom set in Virginia on Chesapeake Bay. Josie’s older brother plans a summer sibling vacation and neglects to tell Josie what’s really going on. Josie arrives at the address her brother provides for their vacation and she’s confused. Her anxiety ramps up when she discovers a rundown cottage in an isolated area with a dock and a nice sailing boat, but her brother is missing in action.
Wyatt is a famous NHL ice hockey star who’s recovering from an injury and staying at the cabin he recently inherited from his uncle. Josie’s brother is his sports agent and best friend from college. Wyatt is shocked to discover Josie on his property. Their meet cute is LOL hilarious and a ridiculous situation. It also reinforces why Wyatt and Josie have been enemies forever.
Josie is an elementary school nurse and she can’t financially afford to turn down her brother’s lucrative offer to stay with Wyatt at the cottage and nurse him back to health. A delightful enemies to friends to more-than-friends romance develops as Wyatt and Josie spend time together and start to question their assumptions and beliefs about each other.
Circumstances force Wyatt and Josie to deal with the emotional baggage from their dysfunctional families of origin and past traumas. I loved journeying with them in the story, and especially loved their sailing adventures. They can’t ignore the romantic sparks and the attraction that’s pulling them closer and making them consider the possibility of a future together.
I recommend If All Else Sails to contemporary romance readers who like clean and wholesome romcoms with tropes including enemies to love, sports star hero, brother’s best friend, grumpy sunshine relationship dynamics, forced proximity, and many LOL hilarious moments in the story.
Many thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.
