The writing style of the book is beautiful. It really gets right inside the character’s heads; makes you see the world directly through their eyes. I loved seeing the characters grow and how they their hea in each other’s arms,

Wish Lists and Road Trips was fantastic! It felt like I was along on the journey with Brit and Nick. The tension and banter was great. The opposites attract was believable and it felt like they were meant to be. The cause of their unlikely meet up and then the forced proximity was unique and fun. My only negative was that it was a bit on the long side, so it felt like it was dragging a bit in the middle. Overall though, I loved taking this road trip and will pick up Lauren H. Mae’s books in the future.
Thank you Headline Eternal for the copy through NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Lauren H. Mae's newest edition to the romance world is fun, flirty, and witty, and delivers that book boyfriend spice that you crave.

This was a perfect opposite’s attract novel, the differences between both Brit and Nick were so strong, but they were absolutely perfect for each other and I believed their love story very quickly. Lauren H. Mae has a beautiful way of creating relatable characters without making them caricatures or way too “quirky”, they are just normal people and I loved that about this book!

read if you love:
🩵 Opposites attract
🩵 Forced proximity
🩵 Grumpy x Sunshine
🩵 Dual POV
🩵 Road trips
🩵 Relatable characters

Wish Lists and Road Trips is the perfect summer read, I recommend it for all romance lovers!

(Thank you to Headline Eternal and Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book!)

I liked the unusual premise of this book, two people who couldn’t be more different are stranded in Costa Rica after their cruise ship leaves without them.
Brit is a makeup artist who broke off her engagement and decided to go on her paid for honeymoon cruise alone. Nick has recently lost his brother, and is carrying his ashes around while trying to fulfill his dying wishes.
They have to depend on each other to get home, and find out they have more in common than they first thought. 4 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed as in this review are completely my own.

I really enjoyed Wish Lists and Road Trips and I can’t believe I waited this long to read it. It’s the perfect lazy day, missing summer, needing a vacation read.

For Brit and Nick, neither of their trips were going great and when they got left by the cruise ship they became unlikely travel companions who turned into just what the other needed. Brit was sunshine and the brightest light in the room and just who Nick needed in his time of grief to remind himself what’s important. Brit instantly felt protected by Nick but she also felt herself become stronger and more sure of herself through Nick’s championing support. These two are the definition of opposites attract who bring out the best in each other and who don’t shy away from the hard stuff either.

Thank you publishers and netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

4 stars!

"Wish Lists and Road Trips" by Lauren H. Mae is a delightfully cute book about finding your true self, making peace with the past, forging new paths, and taking self-care seriously. The main characters, Brit and Nick, are very well-rounded and interesting. They both see terrific growth over the course of the story, learning from their mistakes and changing themselves for the better along their ill-fated trip back from Costa Rica, where everything seems to keep going wrong. The book also tackles some hefty subjects, including grief, loss, death, horrible parents, trauma, infidelity, and substance abuse. I think Lauren H. Mae handles these issues with profound grace and compassion. She works them into her story by effortlessly splicing them with moments of levity, banter, and travel chaos shenanigans. I love an enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity story, and this is one of the better ones I have read in a while. I will say that I think the book overstays its welcome just a little bit. I feel like it could have wrapped up sooner than it did. All that being said, this is a great little novel and I am happy I got the chance to read it. Definitely check this book out if you're able!

Thank you to NetGalley, Lauren H. Mae, and Headline Eternal for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

I was lucky to receive an advance copy of Wish Lists and Road Trips by Lauren H. Mae from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review and opinion. This book is one of the cutest books I have read in a long time. I really needed this as my dog just passed away unexpectedly and this book made me smile again! Thank you for writing such a great book that took my mind off of being sad for a few days.

I loved this book, I really like forced closed proximity as a trope in romance books. A cute, quick and easy read

Reading this book felt like a deeply personal and intimate undertaking at times, but it’s multilayered stories like these that I crave from the best fiction. One of the best reads of the year, for sure.

So excited to be a part of the blog tour for this wonderful book - Wish Lists & Roadtrips

You might have seen me gushing about this book on my stories when I first read it a few months ago…it is seriously the cutest, swoon-worthiest(is that a word?!) book!

It’s got forced close proximity, it’s got roadtrips on trains, planes and automobiles, it’s got growing up and growing into who you are meant to be, it’s got enemies to lovers, it’s got a big romcom worthy ending!!

Can you tell I loved it? 😂 Truly a special book that manages to be emotional, beautiful, fun and swoony at the same time!

This is my first book from @laurenhmaeauthor and it definitely won’t be my last, I have everything she’s written on my TBR now 😂

From the blurb-
“Two stranded travellers. One unexpected journey.

Makeup artist Brit Donovan wants one thing: to prove to her overbearing family that she can be independent. After breaking off her engagement to her cheating ex, she sets off on her honeymoon cruise alone to recharge before opening her own studio.

Nick Callaway isn't on a pleasure trip. Armed with his brother's ashes and a list of places, he's on a mission to fulfill a dying wish. Burdened with survivor's guilt and on a countdown to get home in time to help his family's company, the only thing he wants is to get this trip over with.

When they're both stranded in Costa Rica after missing their cruise ship, Nick and Brit team up to make their way back to the US. Complete opposites, their initial frustration - heightened by the obstacles of grounded flights and delayed trains - gives way to a searing attraction, and the feeling this may be a journey that neither will want to end.”

This comes out on the 18th of April.

Thank you to @headlineeternal for the ARC ❤️

sadly could not give feedback to this book as for some reason it disappeared from my netgalley shelf and i’m not entirely sure why

This was an OKAY read. I thought it had great promise, but sort of fizzled out in the middle and dragged. Overall it’s a book I enjoyed, but won’t remember.

A romance that was a joy to read, in particular because it had a few of my favourite tropes (enemies/lovers, grumpy/sunshine and also forced proximity). Their adventure was fun and romantic and you couldn't help but laugh along the way

I really enjoyed this book, start to finish. I’ve found that since I’ve experienced profound loss I’m very critical of books that have grief as a main theme. This book does a great job of exploring the less than fun aspects of grief, layered between moments of levity. It is very well done, the characters are enjoyable, and I liked seeing growth I. Both of them, especially Nick.

This book was cute, but unfortunately I read another book with basically the same premise about a month ago that had much stronger writing and character development. This is definitely a me issue - the book was not bad, just didn't grab me as much as I was hoping.

Absolutely loved this romance. It’s got everything. It starts in Costa Rica as Nick and Brit get stranded from their cruise ship. Then you’ve got some forced proximity as they travel to get back home. It’s sweet and spicy. Highly recommend.

Thank you to Headline Eternal and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"Wish Lists and Road Trips" was a joy to read, particularly because it had all my favorite romance tropes (grumpy/sunshine, enemies/lovers, forced proximity).

Wish Lists And Road Trips was such a pleasant surprise for me! It wasn't just your typical romcom (although it was definitely very good in that regard), but it also tackled grief, loss, alcoholism, and expectations.

Brit and Nick are such a cute couple, and both helped each other through some major difficulties in their lives. Brit brings Nick out of his shell, and Nick helps to ground Brit and see her worth. The way these two balanced each other was everything I could've asked for, and more!

Their adventure together is fun and romantic, and I couldn't help but laugh at the many things that went 'wrong' that forced them together.

Opposites attract, grumpy x sunshine and only one bed are some of the tropes in this book, but there are also a few things to be considerate about (mentioned above, grief, loss, alcoholism).

I really enjoyed this book, and I recommend it to fans of romcoms with a little extra substance.

I didn't get to finish this book because I've been busy for the past couple of months, but I read 70% of it so I can say that this was a good read but not the kind that really makes you completely into it. I think this is a rom-com with them hating each other, so the banter was just at the right amount and it makes me laugh somehow.