A great read. Two hot actors fall in love on screen and off. 
Luke and Ryan. A paranormal TV show, two great actors and a great plot. 
Luke is married but it is not a real marriage. Ryan starts crushing on his co-star. They have a good time working together, then start a romance in their off time. Then there comes some trouble in the form of crazy stalker people. 
I really enjoyed this book. Was entertained, engrossed enough to read all in one go. 
Well done. 
(Given a copy for an honest review) (Thanks) (NetGalley)

A very quick, short read, but not a great one. This book has a very predictable plot. Two male actors who work on the same show meet one another and mirror their TV show characters when they fall in love. This book was a short, fast read, but the book didn't have any real substance. It was predictable enough to know the two men were going to end up with one another. The author intended a feeling of suspense by throwing in a stalker, and a couple of big accidents here and there - but in the end you knew Ryan and Lucas were going to end up together. Ryan comes from a background with a drunk father and poverty, all other characters in this book need much more dimension. This book read like fan-fiction. It was not for me.

3.5 stars.

This is a cute, easy M/M read with plenty of angst, self-doubt and sex, plus some acting, anxiety and stalker suspense. Lucas and Ryan are both nice and adorable, and most of the people around them are understanding and supportive. It’s a bit too fluffy to be believable, but it was good enough to keep me interested.

Which is a surprise, because at first I was really not sure I’d like this. The writing style was all tell, making me feel distanced from the characters. The pacing in the first few chapters was really off too. There is no introduction or lead up. We’re thrown into Ryan’s audition, then fast-forwarded to a convention panel after a few episodes have been shot, with nothing in between. It was a bit clunky and awkward, made worse by being told what Ryan was doing and feeling, rather than experiencing it with him.

Luckily the pacing does settle down after this and either I got used to the “tell” feel or it improved, because the deeper into the book I got, the less any of that bothered me. For someone who doesn’t watch a lot of TV or films, I love reading books set behind the scenes, and although this book is pretty minimal on acting and on-set action, there was enough there for me to enjoy.

Mostly, though, this book is about fame and the difficulties of dealing with it in the social media age. Ryan in particular really struggles with this, especially when it comes to the weight of fan expectations. This is something that plays on his mind a lot, but I don’t feel like it was something that was really properly addressed by the end. He does get help, but the way things were left felt rather HFN instead of HEA, where this side of things was concerned. As for his drinking problems… that wasn’t handled at all, which was disappointing.

Lucas has his own issues to deal with too, and I felt like one thing that happens to him was pretty much brushed aside, except at the end when it became pretty pivotal in how things shook out. He also doesn’t really act his age throughout the book – closer to 19 than his actual 29 – but the whole tone of the book definitely skews more towards New Adult discovering themselves amidst much angst than full adult contemporary. I did, however, love his relationship with his wife. That was wonderful.

So it’s not perfect. It does deal with some deep issues, but not particularly deeply, and I do feel that some of them could have been handled better. There is a bit of repetition when it comes to the angst too. But, overall, this was fun and enjoyable and cute with a bit of heat and lots of tension between the characters. I liked it and I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for the next one.

3.5 stars - NA contemporary romance between two leading men. Entertaining story with plot twists, and LGBT friendly.

‘Shipped’ is the first entry in the ‘Until You’ series which share some of the same characters, but Lucas and Ryan’s story does not end on a cliffhanger.

I voluntarily read a Review Copy of this book. All opinions stated are solely my own and no one else’s.

#Shipped #NetGalley

My mind went straight to some odd, romantic version of ‘Supernatural’ the moment I started ‘Shipped’ and thankfully, Lucas and Ryan aren’t brothers. Just co-stars who have an electrifying connection that neither can separate from screen time when life starts to imitate art. Or rather, fiction imitating art, when UST on-screen bleeds off-screen and turns everything else awkward between a supposedly happily-married rising star in Hollywood and a new guy from Down Under. 

Whatever is done onscreen thus, is repeated off-screen so as readers, there’s double the dose of UST to pining to RST—a bonus if you want the repeat for both Lucas/Ryan and Sam/Dom because it all gets washed and rinsed through twice. It actually became confusing to me at times when their stories got so intertwined in the beginning of the story, thereafter sagged in the middle the moment ‘real life’ for Lucas and Ryan took over. 

What sat oddly with me was the New Adult feel in ’Shipped’, dialogue and all (some were cringeworthy because I’m sure I wasn’t supposed to snort), when I think I just expected something more ‘adult-ish’ in the storytelling. Between Ryan being generally overwhelmed with everything and the constant self-recriminating ‘I’m always unloved’ vibe and Lucas doing the hormonal self-introspection about his own ‘marital’ status, I thought their relationship pretty much wobbled from bursting-at-the-seams-teenage-angst to trying-valiantly-to-adult and back again. Throw in the dark side of fame and fortune and the cycle of dysfunction is quite complete. 

On the bright side, if you like 2 very, very earnest men finding their feet around each other while hanging on desperately with everything the world throws at them, ‘Shipped’ is the just book to read.

4 Stars
Review by Amy W.
Late Night Reviewer
Up All Night W/ Books Blog

Who hasn't shipped their favorites together?? Karrie Roman's Shipped is all about what happens when a ship turns into real life feelings.

Ryan is new to the scene of Hollywood while Lucas is a veteran. When they land coveted roles as the leads in a popular book to TV series, they have to play up to the fantasy ship for the fans and ratings. But what happens when those feelings turn all to real?

This was a super cute storyline, the way a ship became truth. However Roman also did a terrific job at showing the darker side to fame. Hollywood is all glitz and glamour on the outside and dark and seedy on the inside. 

I love Ryan and Lucas together and I like a bit of a slow burn at times, but this may have been just a bit much. It made the book seem longer than it actually was.

I recommend this book to fandom lovers, it's a chance to 'experience' what happens when the ship becomes reality. This book is cute, fun, at times a bit drawn out but worth taking a chance on.

**ARC provided by author for honest review**

I really liked the idea of this one. The basic story goes like this: Book series becomes a huge success- it gets made into a TV show - supposedly straight main cast (our main characters whose characters fall in love in the book series) get shipped by millions of fans - and they end up falling in love with each other in real life. 

A fan's dream come true, right? Only for Ryan and Lucas, the people actually involved, it turns out to be a bit of a nightmare. For Ryan especially, who is new to Hollywood, the sudden fame and attention are awful and threaten to destroy all his happiness. 
The book shows a lot of the darker sides of acting and stardom. Alcohol, false friends, overzealous fans, mental disorders - Ryan and Lucas have to deal with all of that. It will never stop me from supporting my favorite ships but it was definitely food for thought.

Other than that Shipped is a little...blah unfortunately. It felt really long and dragged out sometimes. The romance, while nice and not rushed, was a given and actually a bit too sweet sometimes.
And I wasn't a fan of the crime aspects at all. That storyarc was really far fetched and I think the book would have worked better without it. 

Sooo, all in all it was only ok. I did like it enough though to want to read the next book in the series which seems to involve a certain pair of bodyguards I was really hoping to see again. :)

Shipped,  Karrie Roman

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: LGBTQIA, Romance

I love M/M and books involving fame, such great potential for jealousy plots, fan over action etc. I really wanted to love this but...I liked it, a lot but it fell flat of being one I love, a re-reader. 
Ryan seems to have walked into fame from nothing, top star Lucas has a wife, a beard only, but that seems to have escaped notice and I wondered just how realistic either of those things could be. The romance angle was kind of cute really, some sensual sex scenes but lots of sweet and nice between that and it felt a little too cheesy for me. I like some drama!
We did get drama later by way of a dangerous stalker, and the pressure that brings, and a climatic attack towards the end. Somehow though even that didn't feel enough for me. There was endless talking about feelings, mulling things over, cutesy times out with yet more nice, sweet people. Ryan was nice, Lucas was nice, his wife was nice, the two sisters that owned the boat were nice...you get the idea? Everyone is so darned Good, helpful, pleasant. I wanted a bit of nasty, some jealousy, some real world maliciousness and back-biting.
It felt a little too fairy-tale charming when real life has highs and lows, pleasant people and ones that are bitchy and unpleasant. That won't matter for many readers but for me its essential that I can feel things are real, that I'm “there” with the characters as action happens and here I simply felt like an onlooker, distanced from the action. 

Stars: three and a half, a decent story but let down for me by the lack of reality. 

ARC supplied by Netgalley and Publishers.

First of all, I really liked this book, but have some hesitations about it. The story between Ryan and Lucas is good fan fiction, or romance, but not all too realistic. It feels a little like Danielle Steele, only with men. Lucas meets Ryan on what I can only describe as a Supernatural rip off show when their characters fall in love. On a side movie Lucas wins an Oscar and their relationship is compared to Brangelina. The scale on which two actors on a show stolen from the CW live seems absurd. As a fantasy, it works well. Ryan is also hopelessly naive about show business and seems to have walked from Australia right into success, despite our having been told he has not. There is no realistic universe in which most of the plot could happen, but as romantic fantasy, it hits all the right buttons. 
The novel is well written, and I have no complaints about the author's talent, but this should be marketed to women, particularly those with involvement with fandom. I doubt men will enjoy the descriptions of romantic eyes, and flowery expressions of devotion. Seriously, they discuss housing arrangements and literally think that what they say to each other is so cheesy it could be on a show. The characters think this about what they are saying. As a long time reader of romance novels and fan fiction, this will check many boxes for fan women. It is good emotional porn, and the playing out of a real fantasy many fans have (especially Supernatural fans). 
The fan reactions to two tv actors hooking up seem a bit much for real life. On the Internet sure, but actors hook up all the time and it's hardly the end of the world, even for entertainment news. A Brangelina hasn't really come out again in recent years and People magazine still brings up Jennifer Aniston years later. New couples don't seem to have the interest and staying power in the media, and I doubt the unfortunately named Lovers could have the hype they reach in the book. Also, it makes me feel creepy reading the fan reaction on top of each chapter, since it just reminds me that as a reader, I am a fan, and actively shipping this couple by reading. The characters hate the fan attention, feel they deserve privacy in their relationship, and the reader becomes an intrusive fan girl hanging on to the narrative hoping the two co-workers hook up. This is one book that might have been better in the first person, just to avoid the reader following two characters around hoping they hook up when they clearly resent it. 
There is some throwaway trans and lesbian representation, and I appreciated how positive it was. Women were treated with respect, and as equals and no one was a villain despite the set up of a potential love triangle. Ryan even asks to meet with Lucas' beard wife before pursuing him, since Lucas could have been lying to him and he didn't want to start a hurtful affair behind her back. Even a stalker one night stand is treated not as a villain, but as someone with mental health issues who was manipulated and in need of help.
This book fills an obvious fantasy for many women, and does it well for the romance genre. The story follows many great fan fics and has drama, romance, erotica, betrayal, hurt/comfort, mystery and two likeable leads. I really enjoyed it for what it was and think there is an audience for this. I just wish the book downplayed some elements to make me feel less creepy for shipping and following these two guys who only want privacy.