This book was extremely cute. One of those books where you find yourself smiling in some parts and laughing while people in public look at you like you’re absolutely crazy! It’s a great book to read on vacation, and if you’re not on vacation you’ll want to be. The writing was easy, enjoyable and a beautifully written read. I’m not one to read many romance books, but this week I realized I needed something romantic to escape from the mess of the world. The bonus to this love story was the history of the Galápagos. Well done!! I love when an author seizes to the opportunity to spread knowledge and awareness.

Such a cute book! This is the first book from this new author and I'm a fan. Shipped is a great rom-com, weekend read. It had the elements of a book that doesn't make you put it down - humor, sweetness, chemistry and overall loveable characters.

Henley and Graeme are characters who have chemistry from the beginning. Henley has been working her tail off and wanting to land a Director position within her cruise line company. There are two things standing in her way: her chauvinistic boss and Graeme Crawford-Collins, the social media manager, at her company. He may be handsome and sexy, but her impressions of him, has Henley determined to win the promotion over him.

Their boss sends them to the Galápagos to propose the best digital marketing plan and whoever has the best proposal wins the promotion. This trip takes a wild and fun turn for these two and they begin to figure out who they really are. And does the promotion really mean that much more than their relationship?

Again, Shipped is a quick and fun read and makes me want to head to the Galápagos right now!

I adore this book! It has very strong The Hating Game X The Unhoneymooners vibes, so if Sally Thorne and Christina Lauren are your jam, chances are you'll love this debut by Angie Hockman.

Enemies to lovers (sort of). Workplace rivals. Forced proximity. A cruise in the lush and gorgeous Galápagos Islands. What's not to love?

Shipped is told in the first person present tense from the point of view of Henley, our leading lady. She goes head-to-head with her nemesis, Graham Cracker-Collins - oops, I mean, Graeme Crawford-Collins. Anyway, there's a promotion on the line, and Henley is determined to be the one to get it - even if Graeme does turn out to be pretty dreamy.

I love the chemistry between Henley and Graeme, though I do wish we'd gotten Graeme's POV in addition to Henley's. I love an enemies to lovers romance, but the vibe between Henley and Graeme is a sort of one-sided light version of enemies-to-lovers. I think it works for this book, because there are other external factors coming into play as well. There is DEFINITELY a great rom-com feel to this book, as Henley gets herself into some little scrapes with her sister, an overly amorous guest, and a bit of food poisoning. Oops!

I also always appreciate a romance with strong female friendships - girl power! Henley goes through a period of self-examination and growth, which I love to see. Graeme also has a personal development component, but since the entire book is from Henley's POV his growth is more secondhand.

All in all, Shipped is an amazing contemporary rom-com debut, and I can't wait to see what Angie Hockman brings to the table for her next book!

Super cute romance! I totally agree with the comparison of The Unhoneymooners meets The Hating Game. Loved the tension/ "hate" banter in this one. Would definitely recommend to romance fans.

Shipped started off pretty strongly for me. It had some fun banter and reminded me a lot The Hating Game. The characters were likable enough and the cruise setting was a nice change of pace. However, I felt like the story shifted focus towards the end and I started to lose interest. It ended up being just ok for me.

I did ship Henley and Graeme. The Hate-to-Love trope was more one-sided, with Henley not liking Graeme, but at least there’s a valid – if misguided – reason for it. I thought Graeme was really sweet and I liked watching how Henley’s view of him started to change.

Where the book started to lose me was when it shifted away from the romance and got kind of preachy about environmental issues. There’s even a kind of lengthy note from the author about it, along with a call for donations. There were also a few other blink-and-you’ll-miss-it social issues brought up that nothing really happens with. Homophobia. Immigration. Domestic abuse. It felt like halfway through the cute romance, the author suddenly remembered she wanted to write something with a little more substance. The things that happened with Henley’s work situation also played out in a really unrealistic and kind of cheesy manner.

Overall, Shipped started off strongly for me, but I started to lose interest by the end. While I don’t have a problem with Hocking trying to draw attention to environmental and social issues, they weren’t included as seamlessly as they needed to be and it made the latter half of the book a little jarring. However, if you like a dose of environmental activism with your Romance, Shipped might be for you.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 3 Stars

DNF at 10%. I love a vacation/travel romance but the writing just didn’t work for me. I couldn’t hang in there through the fatphobic comments and ragey workplace mansplaining to get to the part where these two enemies fall in love with each other. To be fair, it’s not my favorite trope, I struggle when MCs truly seem to hate one another.

This book is a MUST READ. I couldnt put this down. It's more than a fluff chick-lit book. Loved the story and especially loved the details about the Galapogos!! It was just what i needed to read during this cold winter!!!

Cute book perfect for a weekend read. Would recommend to readers looking for romance on the less steamy side.

✨FIVE STAR REVIEW✨

You guys. This book is amazing. Jump aboard and pre-order #Shipped by @angie_hockman which comes out January 19th!

I seriously enjoyed this book so much. It’s such a dreamy, tropical, feel good adventure. With an enemies to lovers plot that has sisterhood, friendship, humor, and girl power vibes, it takes you on an emotional journey. I laughed, I cried, and I flipped the pages so darn fast with this one. So fast that now I wish I had gone slower to soak it all in! What made this even more fantastic was reading the author’s note at the end about the real life adventures that inspired this book. And to top it all off, the author is a fellow Northeast Ohioan!!

The story follows main characters, Henley and Graeme. They both work for Seascape Adventures, a luxury cruise company and they are both up for the same promotion. Their boss sends them both on one of the company’s cruises to the Galápagos Islands to each come up with a proposal to promote and fill these cruises more. They started out as work enemies from long distance and meet in person for the first time on this cruise. However, they soon learn that people aren’t as bad as our misguided impressions make them out to be.

I adored Henley so much. I really related to her in so many ways, especially with trying to climb the corporate ladder and all of the obstacles that come with being a woman in a man’s world. And of course I loved swoony Graeme Cracker and all of the layers we slowly got to peel back as the story progressed. Even the supporting characters were so well thought out and made the book that much better. The scenery was definitely a bonus and the perfect escape from the Ohio winter. The Galápagos Islands are definitely on my bucket list now!

Thank you @netgalley and @gallerybooks for the free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I really enjoyed this book. I originally picked it out because it was a selection for the month of February, in my Brenda Novak book group. I love to read new author, i especially love reading books about people going on vacations. It's like I am right there with them. I have no complaints about this book. I enjoyed the fact that Henley finally stood up to herself, I admired her character in this book. I look forward to reading more by the author.


I am grateful that Netgalley let me read this in exchange for an honest review

Henley works in marketing and is up for a promotion for the director of digital marketing. Her competition is Graeme who is her office nemesis. He works remotely from Michigan (the office is in Seattle), but has still managed to make her life difficult. He took credit for one of her ideas right after he got hired, and she has hated him ever since. Their boss tells them that they need to go on a company cruise and come up with a proposal to boost sales. The best proposal wins the promotion.

The enemies part of this book was over pretty quickly. I felt like they talked fairly early in the book about why Henley dislikes Graeme, and then were friends after that. While I appreciated the honesty and communication, this book was advertised as hate to love but turned into more of a friends to lovers book. I actually prefer friends to lovers, but just a heads up if you are thinking this is going to have a lot of hate to love in it.

Since they are on a cruise ship together and have to go on the excursions together to get the full experience, there is a lot of forced proximity. However, Henley’s sister Walsh is also on the cruise and that seemed unnecessary. I liked the sister relationship conversation we got to see at the end of the book, but other than that I felt like her characters just got in the way.

The romance was cute. I liked how they were fighting their feelings for each other since they decided to keep things professional until after the promotion. It caused for a lot of little swoony moments like their pinkies touching. Those little moments are definitely the best part of this romance. This is a closed-door romance.

4 stars
I received this book for free in return for an honest review.

GUUUUYYYYYYSSSS! I found another debut to scream about. Maybe I’m starved for a vacation, but the vaca vibes in this book were EXACTLY what I needed right now!!!

I’ve seen this book compared to The Hating Game and The Unhoneymooners and I couldn’t agree more! The premise is two co-workers, Graeme and Henley, fighting for the same promotion while eco-cruising in the paradise of the Galápagos Islands!

What I loved (a lot):
🛳 Hate to love office romance with forced proximity on a cruise in paradise?!?! Sign. Me. Up.
🛳 The vaca/tropical vibes. I need a vacation in a bad way and this book had me drooling at the thought. That snorkeling scene transported me to the wonder my kids had snorkeling in the Bahamas for the first time. 😍
🛳 Graeme was the absolute sweetest book BF - what a guy!!!! Loved him. Loved their connection.
🛳 Sustainable travel ideas. LOVE THIS!
🛳 Incredible supporting characters and friends (particularly Nicolai)!

I absolutely loved the author’s note! You really get a great sense of her passion for conservation and the setting, which is truly what made this book shine so bright!!!

Thank you to @gallerybooks and @netgalley for #gifted the ebook in exchange for my honest review!

OᐯᗴᖇᐯIᗴᗯ: Henley and Graeme are rivals in the company they work for, even though they’ve never met in person. When both of them are up for the same promotion, their boss decides to send them on the same cruise to the Galápagos Islands with the goal of researching how to increase bookings to this area. When they meet for the first time, they realize each other are not what they expected.

ᗰY TᕼOᑌᘜᕼTᔕ: The enemies-to-lovers trope is one of my favorites and this does not disappoint. There are many laugh out loud moments and both Henley and Graeme are endearing characters that you just can’t help but root for. Plus the descriptions of the Islands and the excursions made me want to book a trip ASAP! I’m excited to read much more from Angie Hockman in the future!

ᖇᗩTIᑎᘜ: ★★★★

This book didn't start on the right foot. I just want to tell publishers to be careful when comparing a book to the Hating Game, because it can do things to draw direct comparisons. I am not going to spend time there, though I am happy at some point to discuss. I will start with this book for its own merits.

The heroine (told in first-person POV), Henley, is in marketing. There's a lot of details around her job. Most of them come in the form of a choppy inventoried style. "I got up, dressed for work in x,y,and z, did my mascara, put on my purple lipstick. Then I sat down and peed and flushed the toilet" (This isn't a direct quote, but how I felt reading it.) I love details. However, details should serve the story,setting, emotion in some way or they are extraneous. This book needed a heavier hand in editing, and in the end, is really only a novella without the banal inner workings and cataloging of thoughts and actions of Henley.

Then there's the characters themselves. Henley isn't just prickly. She defensive and unlikable without clear cut motivations. She seemed pretty petty and mean, in my opinion. At one point, in the first chapter, we meet her neighbors: she can never remember which is which-Sophie and Sophia-but then is irritated her neighbor calls her "Hannah."

Henley is going for a promotion that at various times she was made for, not excited about, knew she was going to get, and quickly finds out her competition will be Michigan-based (she's in Seattle) work from home nemesis Graeme. Once she finds out he'll be competing she believes she has no chance due to the good ol' boys-her boss favors Graeme-yet a chapter later she is making plans about her increased paycheck.

Graeme and Henley got off on the wrong foot because he didn't mention he was on the phone in her boss's office at one point, and he seemed to take credit for her work. Since then he's maintained their boss's favor. Then end up on a cruise together, and she's consistently aggressive toward him. It's so painfully obvious he's a decent person, who really seems to like her for some unknown (at this point) reason. Even she thinks that. So motivations are lacking and all I can think "oh, she's just not likely to be a great person." Over and over again-again the narrative style is essentially being blasted with details that are not adding to the story-she tells us "oh that was pretty nice of him," all while continuing to attempt to hate him.

Which brings me to another thing. There's a not perfect gentleman on a cruise with his older friend who has taken to Henley, who is traveling at this point with her sister Walsh, who she's awful to. Her inner thoughts about Nikolai are atrocious. Not because she's not wanting to get hit on, but because he's unattractive so everything he does is also unattractive.

Throughout the cruise, Henley and Graeme are preparing their presentations. There's some weak elements here in that I don't know how to care if Henley gets the job since Graeme seems to really want it-and Henley just thinks she deserves it. Therefore, this does not create any level of tension for the plot of the story. Nonetheless, they have shared experiences, but it doesn't seem to progress their relationship in an organic way. More like the author wanted them to do something romantic together. In all this mess, Walsh begins hitting on Graeme, and Henley is also kind of horrible to her sister. But there's the secondary plots that come out of nowhere, and get resolved just as quickly that I have to think they are there to manipulate our feelings. And the workplace piece?

I'm not touching it. I have to say that this is why I sometimes struggle with contemporaries. It all had to wrap up too neatly for HEA. I thought the challenges were real, I've been there, I just thought the solution lacked a bit of awareness.

Ultimately, I could see some promise. With heavier editing and more focus, maybe this would have sung. I don't know. Without the proper touch, enemies-to-lovers can sure feel juvenile. The conflict and motivations were unconvincing, and so was the narrative. Ultimately, a disappointment.

Onward to my next arc with water-based cover and title.

1.75 stars
<i> Thanks to netgalley & the publisher for this arc, which has not affected my review

4 stars

A book has a lot to live up to for me if it's marketed as The Unhoneymooners meets The Hating Game. After reading this, I can say it's a pretty apt comparison!

Hockman does a good job of establishing the enemies-to-lovers dynamic as Henley and Graeme fight for the same promotion. The cruise setting allows for both a colorful cast of supporting characters and all sorts of hijinks to occur. Any book with an ABBA lip-sync battle is going to be a win for me.

The only gripe that I can think of is that the amount of "Oh he's hot, but THE PROMOTION" lines got a little repetitive for me. It got to the point where I flipped back to see if the exact same phrasing had just been used over and over again every time the subject was brought up. However, once we got into the more lovers part of the enemies-to-lovers trope, that stopped being an issue.

In the middle of a dreary winter, this book is a sunny pick me up. I highly recommend enjoying this with a tropical beverage in hand.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!

This was was a fast paced, fun rom-com style book written in single first person point of view. I liked getting in Henley’s head as she fought her internal demons without knowing what her counterpart, Graeme was really thinking. She was so many women that I know who take on the weight of the world at work with little recognition while doing it at a cost to herself.

The enemies to lovers troupe was on point & full of enough misunderstandings and miscommunications to make me love every second of the HEA.

In the story Henley and Graeme are up for the same promotion but with Graeme working from home in another state and Henley working in the office they don’t really know each other but after a year of working together they have preconceived nothing that come to a head while on a cruise to the Galapagos Islands as part of their competition for the promotion. I LOVED this twist so much. I laughed out loud a few times and felt my stomach in knots when our main character did something embarrassing.

There was also a great side story of female empowerment, sisterhood, sexism, abuse, and work politics. For such a super fast and fun read Angie Hockman really gave us a lot to dig into. I’m team #AngieHockman for life now. The rest of the side characters were also great at helping move the story along and build depth.

I really liked the relationships in this novel especially between Henley and her friends/co-workers. It’s also highlights how our own biases and experiences can influence how wer perceive other people. Henley wants the title of Director because she thinks she’s earned and is to blind to see that maybe that’s not the path for her and she’s also so competitive that it clouds her brain.

I liked how in the end they group of friends banned together to help her.

4.5 stars

Let me start by saying that I am so impressed! 1. contemporary romance isn't usually a "go-to" genre for me - I enjoy them but they're usually fluffy and rarely get 4 or 5 stars from me & 2. I went into this very critically because I adore the Galapagos and any inaccuracies I was ready to call out.

Well let me just say I love this book. Angie Hockman created a perfectly described atmosphere to draw you right to the Galapagos islands. No inaccuracies that I saw! I loved all the characters: both Henley & Graeme are fantastic, multi-faceted characters, and the supporting characters were just as fun! & I didn't roll my eyes once (very impressive from a contemporary romance)!

Henley and Graeme both work for SeaQuest Adventures marketing and are up for the same promotion. Their job sends them out on one of their cruises to the Galapagos to see who comes up with a better proposal & ultimately land the promotion. Graeme is a remote worker that reports to Henley & Henley has never forgiven him for taking credit for her idea early on, so having to compete with him really ruffles her type-A, hardworking, power-hungry feathers.

I haven't read "The Unhoneymooners" or any of the other comp titles but this story was a fun, fast-paced romance with a enemies to lovers trope done very well. Plus, besides a little romance, there's travel aesthetic, girl power, and a touch of conservation science (which I loveee). Angie Hockman is definitely on my radar now!

*I received an arc in exchange for an honest review*.

“Shipped” is a delightful novel for someone looking for a whimsical tale about rivaling co-workers with a dash of romance.


Henley is determined to make director at her Seattle adventure travel company, and a position of Director of Digital Management has just opened up. The only problem is, her main competition is Graeme, the work-from-home social media coordinator who constantly frustrates her. The two have been feuding for years via emails and texts, though because Graeme works virtually, she has never met him in person 

Their boss decides that the best way to determine who gets the position is to send both of them on one of the company's small-ship cruises, and have them pitch their marketing proposals to win the job. So, before she knows it, Henley is off to the Galapagos with Graeme. But will their in-person relationship change when they meet face to face? Henley might find herself attracted to her colleague, but her desire to win the promotions could mean she has to put her feelings aside.


This was a joyful read with plenty of humor. The world is falling apart right now so it’s nice to imagine having an adventure in the Galapagos. I thought Henley and Graeme were both likeable and had plenty of chemistry, which makes you want to root for them to get together all the more. It’s also difficult to decide whether you want Henley or Graeme to get the promotion. The author uses her settings to her advantage and it was moves the story along expeditiously without being too predictable. Henley’s narration is quick-witted and I found myself laughing out loud multiple of times. I also enjoyed the subplot with Henley’s sister who, like many twenty-somethings, are still trying to find her way. Considering most of us are grounded from travel from the time being, I highly recommend this book as a way to “get away.” (Bad pun!) I look forward to reading more from this author.


Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC to review.

If you're looking for a cute romance story, you should definitely check this one out! I was immediately drawn to the cover and was super excited when I got the chance to read an early copy.

The storyline itself felt unique and different than any romance novel I have read previously, purely because of the Galapagos Islands cruise factor. I think The Unhoneymooners meets The Hating Game is the perfect description of this adorable story! The relationship between Henley and Graeme had me smiling throughout the entire book with their sassy comments and overall interactions. I think my favorite thing while reading was how Graeme pushed Henley to be the best she could be and supported her throughout their journey, even though they were gunning for the same position.

Overall, I absolutely loved this book and it has definitely become one of my favorite romance novels! The setting was unique and I loved all the fun-facts that were included about the animals, culture, etc. of the islands. The message about women having to prove themselves in the workplace, especially to male bosses/coworkers, was subtle yet powerful in this story. The ending definitely took me by surprise, but in the best way possible!

Can't recommend this one enough!