I so except this to be just a fun teen book about cruise ship love, and it ended up up being so much deeper… and way better than that. This book had me completely hooked into the story and struggles of our main character. It is completely threw me for a loop at the end when we end up learning all the parts to the story!

We Ship It by Lauren Kay

When I first started to read this book, I thought it would be a YA rom-com but instead it turned out to be fairly depressing and definitely emotional like it said. We Ship It follows Olivia who has her whole future planned out. Just as she thinks she is going to spend her spring break working on a research project and presenting her findings at a fair for a medical internship, her family announces they are going on a cruise with family friends. Olivia realizes she can't get out of going and decides to bring her research with her on the ship and will do the project with her friend via satellite while at sea. Just when she thinks she will have all this time to complete the project, her old friend from camp drags her around the ship where they run into "the crew," a group of high school guys on vacation together. Sebastian is instantly interested in Olivia. She thinks he is mocking her at first, but they end up getting along and having a cruise fling. Meanwhile during all of this, Olivia is constantly reminded of her older brother who passed away. Her parents never want to talk about him in front of her two younger brothers, so most of the time the family acts like he never existed, which really bothers Olivia. What kind of bothered me is most of the people around her (except her parents) are encouraging her to drink and hook up with Sebastian as a way to relax. Even the mother of the girl from camp is encouraging her… I am glad that Olivia, with Sebastian's help, was able to open up about her brother to her family and friends. Olivia also finds out that her brother actually died of an overdose and not a heart attack. I am glad the book brought up this subject as I know it has touched so many families and friends around the world.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Lauren Kay, and HarperCollins Publishers for allowing me to read this advanced copy of We Ship It.

While I snag another tissue, let me begin by saying this review will include spoilers, so this is your warning to stop reading if you don't want any sneak peaks into the story.

That being said, despite the meet-cute, this is not a romance. It's a story about a young girl and her family still grieving from her brother's death and coming to terms with the truth.

Since the unexpected death of her brother, Olivia has silently grieved for her older brother as her parents wish not to discuss the past around her younger autistic twin brothers.

For the past five years, Olivia has thrown herself into her studies and carved a grueling path to becoming a cardiologist. A week prior to a critical presentation, to secure the internship of her dreams, Olivia's family books a spontaneous cruise throwing her into a panic.

After several failed attempts to back out of the cruise, Olivia schedules her own "working vacation" with every minute planned and allowing no room for interruptions. But her plans start to unravel when an old childhood friend has every intention of reconnecting on the cruise and meeting all the cuties she can.

Over the course of the cruise, Olivia finds herself in her own meet-cute while forging new bonds that will follow her long after the cruise is over. Watching Olivia embrace life and begin to enjoy herself is absolutely everything, but it's the last several chapters that'll leave you heartbroken and reaching for the tissues.

Olivia idolized her older brother, and when her childhood friend drops the truth on her, that he died from a drug overdose, she struggles to understand what she knows compared to this dark revelation.

While seeking the truth, she begins to question her future, her relationship with her parents, and (heartbreakingly) why wasn’t she able to see what had been happening and save her brother. And if things couldn't be worse, she learns the boy she'd been connecting with hadn't been honest with her adding to her anguish.

Though the story ends with Olivia in a place of heartbreak and self-discovery, she and her family are finally able to start healing from their loss and renewed hope from unexpected sources.

This story really hit home the importance of family, friends, communication, grief, and healing. And it's done in such I way that I ugly cried through the end of the book.

Maybe I could have given my review without spoilers, but then I wouldn't have been able to share the "why" behind my own personal experience. Like Olivia and Charlie - he's a new friend she'll meet on the cruise - I had a parental figure that had been prescribed opioids as pain management. For nearly a decade, I witnessed them falling into their addiction and the personal frustrations when I spoke out and was ignored. It took a catastrophic event and a new medical team to finally address the addiction that had basically left them a zombie.

Addiction doesn't care about age, race, gender, social status and I bow to the author, Lauren Kay, for bringing attention to a this haunting disease in such a beautiful way that leaves you with hope for the future.

We Ship It by Lauren Kay was a sweet and utterly fun YA romance novel.
Talk about fun, this is the perfect summer story.
The characters and romancee were so fun and entertaining I really enjoyed Olivia and Sebastian’s characters.
The writing was just amazing. I was hanging onto every word and was hooked till the very end.
I was sucked into this exciting new summer adventure full of emotional and personal growth, travel and approval.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and HarperTeen for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

This seemed on the surface like a fun swoony rom com about an overly studious teen forced on a weeklong cruise with her parents and younger siblings with young love and normal teen shenanigans but twists into a story about mental health and addiction. Olivia is trying to get an internship with a cardiac doctor so she can start her journey to med school and finding out how her beloved older brother died from a heart attack at 17. But all is not what it seems and during the course of the cruise she starts to reevaluate what she remembers about his death 5 years ago and confronts her parents about what actually happened which opens up a whole conversation about mental health. Addiction and grief. Jules her childhood friend and the other members of the crew including love interest Sebastian were great and really helped Olivia have fun even though Sebastian ends up being a jerk spoiler alert.
Thanks to HarperTeen and Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book in e-book form. All opinions in this review are my own.

This book tells the story of an emotional and swoony romance but also details how main character Olivia navigates her personal struggles. I thought there was a beautiful balance between seeking answers and help in others (in line with the rom com genre, in this case the help sought is primarily in the romantic interest) and in trusting herself and doing internal reflection on how she can move toward from her past and embrace love and joy
@rachelbookclub

I love Sarah Dessen. She has been my favourite author for years, ever since I was in middle school. And this is not Sarah Dessen. First off, the female main character of the book's character was completely destroyed in this book. Like she starts off pretty good, I can relate to her even if the whole studious thing was exaggerated but as the book went on, I just was so confused as to what happened. *SPOILER* And there were plot twists that really weren't necessary. I wish Sebastian had stayed a good guy and they could have figured something out cause that would have been more Sarah Dessen. Yes, he could have had problems, but not at the level given. It wasn't my favorite in any sense and I will not be reading more books by this author.

At the start of this novel, Olivia, an academically driven teen, is whisked away from her type-A, methodically planned life and planted right in the middle of one of the largest, gaudiest cruise ships on the high seas. Though she begrudgingly agrees to the family vacation (under the condition that she is permitted to stay in her cabin and work throughout the majority of it), she is soon utterly distracted by by a group of new friends who her life-long friend Jules initially forced her to interact with. Before she knows it, she is dealing with a whirlwind of love, loss, and introspection on the high seas.

I absolutely loved the setting of this book. Lauren Kay has obviously been on a cruise ship or two because her descriptions of everything from the pool deck to the buffets are spot on. Though Liv doesn't necessarily fancy the idea of a week long cruise vacation, it's the stuff my favorite vacations are made of.

The cast of supporting characters are also lively, fun, and surprisingly complex. Liv's parents, her younger brothers, Jules, and her love interest Sebastian and his friends were all interesting and multi-dimensional. No relationship or conversation within the story felt forced, and that's always a plus when it comes to the YA genre. I must warn potential readers, though, that this book isn't just a feel good summer romance. While on the ship, Olivia processes emotions and has revelations involving her brother Logan's death (which happened several years prior to the start of the story). This level of depth is a plus in my opinion, but I was a little surprised at just how deep emotions ran throughout (and especially at the end) of the story.

*A special thanks to NetGalley and Harperteen for an advanced readers copy of "We Ship It" in exchange for an honest review*

I thought this would be a romantic comedy, beachy read and turned into a heart wrencher. Yes I got my full of vacation time and young love but also the true effects of mental illness, grief and addiction. I found myself laughing, crying and everything in between. I will definitely be recommending this for my summer reads on IG.

I enjoyed We Ship It by Lauren Kay, although it was sometimes predictable; the main character, Olivia, is endearing.

This was so cute! Olivia and Sebastian were great together. I will definitely be looking for more books from Lauren Kay. I highly recommend this for people who also love settings that include travel along with their romance.

This book was a blast! It honestly felt like a YA rom-com on the set of The Suite Life of Zach and Cody, which was so fun! I loved the family dynamics explored in this book, and it really meant a lot to me that recovering from grief was at the center of this story.

Thank you to Harper Collins and Netgally for the ARC! We Ship It was a fun, cute and at times emotional YA contemporary read.
We follow Olivia, who is a type A, always needs to have a plan kinda girl. When her parents spring the cruise vacation on her all of sudden; she wants no part of it. Once she gets on the ship she is reunited with her old childhood friend Jules and the two of them embark on a weeks worth of adventures with other newfound friends. Through the cruise Olivia starts to learn more about herself and things in her past that she never knew before.
The story was fun and light at times but also had depth and emotion. I couldn’t put it down because it truly felt like you were on the cruise with Olivia and the crew. I enjoyed reading about the them and the adventures together. It was a great dynamic. I did enjoy my time with this, although some stuff felt a bit unrealistic and rushed, it was a fun read. Thanks again to Harper Collins and Netgally for the ARC!!

From the first few chapters of this book, i was transported back to teen life. I too was the type of teen who took school a bit too seriously and believed i had to be 100 percent focused in order to get into the college of my dreams.

Reading Oliva's journey had me laughing, wincing, and awh-ing throughout her entire vacation.

This is a sweet read teens will love from chapter 1.

for the most part this was an enjoyable, sort of feel good book. it was equal parts a simple and cute romance, and a foray into nuanced family life. it dealt with topics of grief and loss but never delved too deeply, so no trigger warnings and perfect for YA readers.

during the first half i really thought the author would completely and mindlessly forget about the central plot of the story aka olivia's loss, and just stick to the teen romance but i'm glad she brought the attention back and made solid and compelling points about bereavement and overcoming trauma. some parts of the story did feel lack development, and felt like a perfunctory brush over, but nonetheless, as a debut, this was decent.

This is a cute YA contemporary romance about a family vacation on a cruise ship. Olivia is a shy “nerd” who is constantly planning every aspect of her life. All of that changes when her childhood friend Jules convinces her to “find their crew” aboard the ship and Olivia makes many discoveries about herself and secrets that her parents have been keeping from her.

There were some aspects of the book that came across unrealistic to me. Such as; why was there a group of four minors on the cruise ship with no adult supervision? I’ve never been on a cruise, but I can’t imagine that’s normal.
There is also a lot of peer pressure to drink and to drop responsibilities from Jules and I wasn’t a big fan of that.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 rounded up

Reviewed for NetGalley:

The story opens with the seemingly intelligent and future focused Olivia Schwartz leading her parents through a PowerPoint presention on….why the family should not go on a cruise vacation.

While she doesn’t win the argument, Olivia plans to spend the vacation writing a huge research paper cooped up in her room. However, when she meets up with a family friend and meets a new group of friends, Olivia may be forced to have some fun on her trip.

I actually enjoyed reading about Olivia’s family life and background more than anything. Although I found it a little farfetched with Olivia parents rewritinf history by omitting an entire family member and lying to Olivia for years, still an overall seeet read.

Will update when the Harper Collins union new contract is finalized. Thank you again to the publisher for the copy.

This was an enjoyable teen romance with a deeper side. It addresses some serious topics and has a strong ending. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Special thanks to NetGalley, HarperCollins, and Lauren Kay for this ARC.

The story line was smooth and I thought it packed a very meaningful message into a YA book. The climax was slower and more anticipated than I would have preferred but other than that, I thought it was a nice read.