This book was so fun! It was a nice little getaway and I really enjoyed it.

The 2 main characters are competing for a promotion, but are forced to work on their final proposals to the boss while both on the same company cruiseship. Of course, tension ensues, which leads to...more.

I found Henley to be too angry at first, and it frustrated me because it didn't make sense for her to be so blindingly hateful toward Graeme when he was nothing but nice to her. And he was just sweet, gorgeous, and with a heartbreaking backstory that made me really want to warn him away from her. But, of course, she eventually gets her act together.

There wasn't much steam in this one, but plenty of tension. And there was a super-awesome scene which was a surprise from Henley's sister that gave me all the feels! It did address some serious topics, but not in a heavy way.

It was a perfect, quick, light-hearted read!

Henley works for a travel company. She has been working very hard for a long time and she may finally get the promotion she’s been after. But she learns that her nemesis Graeme is up for the job too.

Her boss tells her that her and Graeme are both being sent on a cruise and will be expected to present presentations with fresh, new business ideas for the cruise company when they get back.

It doesn’t take long for Henley to realize that Graeme is not the jerk that she thought he was. But they both want the promotion and they are working hard to get it.

This was one of those books that is the standard run of the mill contemporary romances we read today. However, that doesn't mean that it didn't leave an impression. Was a good, lighthearted read, and a good recommendation for anyone looking for that HEA book.

SPEECHLESS. My heart is exploding.

First thing's first. Angie- YOU’RE a rockstar. Can’t wait to read everything else you ever write from here on out.

Alright *cracks knuckles* whatever you're doing, stop right now (except keep on reading this review, of course). Order "Shipped" RIGHT. FREAKING. NOW.

Before I dive in, let me just say that I have a certain favorite read from this year that nothing (and I mean nothing) has ranked as high in my mind...until "Shipped" came along and it's a gosh darn freaking tie. It's that good that I started it a few nights ago and finished it the next morning. I could not. Put. It. Down.

Why do you ask?

Well, it simply has everything I want in a novel:

1. A main character who's a freaking boss (and super relatable) and has her own crap she has to deal with (and defeats).
2. A love interest with LAYERS and an actual personality (did I mention also being undeniably attractive?).

And the list goes on: an enemies to lovers vibe (and a realistic balance of it), the absolute perfect amount of tension, additional characters who pitch in to bring this story to life, and of course, an absolutely satisfying, perfect ending that had me cheering for the main character. And yelling, "You go girl!!"

Am I saying perfect too much? Well, it's simply because it IS.

"Shipped" made my heart soar, laugh SO HARD (Noodles the cat and Nikolai were my two favorite "co-stars" that made me laugh so so so much), and it's a matter of time before someone picks this up and it's hitting the screen (please, let the Netflix, Hulu, & movie gods hear my plea)!

Cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy of this once it's released on January 19th, 2021. Go pre-order it now. Trust me on this.

Is it too early for me to reread this? Only time will tell (;

My fangirling all started with NetGalley and Simon & Schuster, Inc. Beyond thankful for them sending me a digital ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Gallery Books for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Trigger warnings: Death of a parent (ALS), mentions of an abusive relationship

I found Shipped to be absolutely delightful -- I was intrigued by the title, even more so by the comparisons (I loved The Unhoneymooners), but the writing, the character development and the story was what really drew me in. Hockman's writing made me feel like I was there on the cruise with them (instead of being stuck at home during a pandemic), and I could so easily visualize Henley and Graeme's dynamic as well. Each character had a very distinct voice, and I was surprised at the amount of depth they all had.

Henley and Graeme's relationship was really heartwarming to see. I'm a sucker for enemies to lovers, and the pining and the yearning in this book just made my heart melt. It was easy to see how Henley and Graeme made each other better people, and were fundamental in each other's growth and development.

I'd highly recommend Shipped to anyone looking for a cute, easy and light read!

Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. This was an amazing contemporary romance that was the classic enemies to lovers story but it didn't feel rote at all. I love how the author had so much emotion in all the characters Graeme and Henley. I was thrilled with Henley's determination and her drive to succeed and the outcome of the book that the author crafted. There was some sex in this book that I could have done without but overall the delightful chemistry between characters was very well crafted. I also enjoyed the conversation aspect of the novel and reading the authors end notes on that. I will read more by this author!!!

“With her career dreams in her sights and a growing attraction to the competition, Henley begins questioning her life choices. Because what’s the point of working all the time if you never actually live?”

*** E-ARC received through NetGalley in exchange for a review. Opinions are my own ***

Summary: READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!

I came for the cover, stayed for the tagline that it was a mix of The Unhoneymooners and The Hating Game, then fell in love with the writing and story. Honestly. Readers….this story? It is *chefs kiss*. It gave me butterflies, it made me laugh out loud, it made me upset, it made me cringe, it kept me so invested from start to finish in these character’s lives and the journey that they were on. Because trust me...it was a journey. A journey of character development, empowerment, friendship, and creating the life you want. I picked this book up to ease the tension from a really intense book but put this book down feeling inspired.
Now, I’m going to stop gushing over this book and give a detailed review of the pros and cons. As per usual, the cons will be stated first so we can end on a positive note! I gave this book 4.5 out of 5 stars for the below reasons:

The things I didn’t like….
1)The repetitiveness
While I really loved the story and the journey the characters were on, there seemed to be an unbreakable cycle in the middle of the book where things were going great, Henley would make a choice on what she was going to do or go after….and then it falls apart and she says or does something rash. Then she feels guilty and apologizes. Then things go great and there’s growth and then…..repeat. Now, I know this is necessary and realistic to the plot so this is 100% just a personal preference. While this was something that I am putting as a negative, it is not something that would cause me to lower my rating.

2)The pacing….
I don’t feel the story lagged at all in any area, however, I would have liked more time on the cruise and longer interactions with the other characters. There were scenes that were summarized or glossed over and I would have liked to see more of their trip and the adventures they went on. But this could just be because I never wanted the book to end lol


Now onto the positives….

The things I did like…..

1)The characters
Each character had a very distinct voice and did not blend into another character. While on the surface it seems that each character fits the stereotypical role that each contemporary romance or romcom has, however, this book went beyond and gave each character more depth and more drive so they didn’t just further the plot for the main character, but had stories of their own that I would love to hear if Hockman ever decided on writing spin-offs (hint hint, cough cough).

Along the same lines, I loved how our main character had flaws and messed up more than once. She had anger and she had past hurts. She was not a perfect character and it was so relatable to see how realistically she was written. And her growth was inspiring to see! I also loved how Graeme did not shy from those flaws or from her past hurts. He embraced them and worked with her through them. He was respectful of her wishes and her boundaries. He let her fight her own battles but he was still there to stand up for her. I think that is an important distinction between love interests and one that the author did really well.

2) The message….
The message of this book isn’t just one of love and romance but one of empowerment as well. This was an underlying theme I found throughout and one that became very apparent towards the end. This is a story about how Henley grows more into who she is as a person instead of who she is as a title or her successes. This is very relatable to readers in their mid to late twenties, and it was great to see this message and journey portrayed in such a well written and fun book.

Also, the message of how important it is to care for the things around us and to add value to things around us. Maybe I’m reading too much into this buuuut it was a theme I saw and resonated with. Wow, who knew a romcom would give me such deep-life reflection?! Without spoiling anything, the two main characters go on a cruise to the Galapagos and through them, the readers learn a lot about the islands and what makes them unique. We learn about the importance of protecting our climate and taking care of nature. I especially liked at the end how the author makes a note about this very topic and gives resources as well. It made the story that much more impactful.


So...those were the main things I liked and didn’t like with this book! As you can tell by how long this review is, I could go into even more details of the things I enjoyed so if you would like to talk more about the book, message me on Instagram (link in bio or type Ivaschlove) or comment on here! Suffice to say, I will definitely be pre-ordering a physical copy of this to own and patiently waiting for the next book Angie Hockman writes!

Definitely a cute read!

I was struggling to like Henley at the beginning of the book, but then I realized it was only because I could relate to her work experiences with her boss and her reactions were so accurate that the “fiction” part wasn’t sinking in ;) The setting being on a cruise was definitely different and provided for a learning experience, which was an added bonus that didn’t feel like a crutch or fluff to fill empty pages.

Henley and Graeme’s interactions (aka banter) and relationship are well-written and engaging, which helped me stay on the Henley-Graeme train during the difficult chunk. I kind of wish that we would’ve learned a bit more about Henley (besides her liking to hike / being a workaholic) but overall a happy read.

10/10 would recommend to a friend who loves happy endings

ARC provided by Gallery Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Good story to pass the time but too derivative of too many recently published books. They said it was like The Hating Game meets The Un-Honeymooners and they were right. Just not in a way that felt fresh. So if you want to read a different version of exactly what you've read before, this is the book for you.

*the copy I read was an ARC from NetGalley

First book of the year that I read in one day! Shipped is now one of my favorite contemporary romances. At the beginning of the book, I didn’t like Henley. I’m not a fan of books with unlikable main characters, but this was well written and had enough intrigue to keep me reading. As I learned more about Henley and her past experiences, I quickly understood her and started cheering her on. Graeme and Henley’s sister were likeable from the start. I also really appreciated the incorporation of topics like climate change and conservation, and learning a little bit about the Galápagos Islands! If you’re in the mood for something heartwarming, funny, and with a beautiful setting, pick this one up!

If the past year has proved anything, it's that we all need a good escapist romance once in a while. Set on a cruise ship for most of the book, Shipped delivers in more ways than just a great trip to somewhere warm and full of sand.

Henley, our main character, is a feisty woman who has her sights set on a big promotion when her boss sends her and her arch-nemesis/competition on a trip to fully experience what their company has to offer. She goes on this trip with her intellectual guns a-blazing only to realize that that competition? Yeah he's not so bad after all.

This is an enemy-to-lovers romance and will leave you with that happily ever after glow.

I thank NetGalley and Gallery Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this book. I just wish I felt more of a connection btwn the two main characters.
I really liked the sister and hope there is a book that comes out for her!

3.5 rounded up. I liked the lead characters and the drive to achieve in this book. That being said, it felt longer than it needed to be and I was especially frustrated by the sister, Walsh, and the glossed over abuse subplot. The end promotion debacle felt a bit too clean. I did feel the chemistry between the leads and it was actually refreshing the hookup scenes were not overly thorough.

On a technical note, not sure if there's a plan to fix this in the final copy, but the formatting of the texts throughout was very difficult to comprehend.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘷𝘪𝘢 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵.

This book was utterly delightful from beginning to end.
It is love child of The Unhoneymooners and The Hating Game, softer version.
Henley and Graeme are in competition for same promotion and they go on business trip to win it.
Let's give a standing ovation for the rivals-to-lovers plot! 

As a couple, Henley and Graeme have amazing chemistry. They are sexy, good together and their dialogues are witty, funny, catchy. 

I like how we see them both grow as a person especially Henley, taking ownership for her shortcomings and choices in life, and finding who she wants to be in her professional career.

As a summary, it was, entertaining, great page turner and cute rom-com we always need!!!!

Henley Evans is focused on her career and climbing the corporate ladder. When a promotion opens it's finally her turn all of her hard work is about to pay off, the only thing standing in her way is Graeme Crawford-Collins. Graeme has always rubbed Henley the wrong way with his one-word email replies, putting her social media posts off till the last minute, and there was that one time when he took credit for her work. In order to get the promotion, each of them has to come up with a proposal on how to increase bookings for the Galapagos Islands. The problem is neither one of them has ever been on the cruise, until now. Booked on the same cruise, just one door down from each other Henley starts to realize that some of her assumptions may have been wrong.

I was so excited to read this book based on the synopsis. It's charming and sweet and has some humor, but I just didn't love it. There's nothing wrong with the plot or writing it, it's tropes that I love, enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, the characters were really well written, Henley was relatable, Graeme felt real and was such an advocate for her. I adored her friendships and how her crew rallied around her, working out her relationship with Walsh, it has gut punches in all the right places. It just missed the funny mark a little for me. Overall it's a good read and if you enjoyed The Unhoneymooners and The Hating Game you'll probably enjoy this too, just know that the humor isn't quite the same. I feel like I should also make the disclaimer that with 2020 being what it has been I've struggled with really enjoying books, so it could just be that too.

I liked Shipped, but I didn’t love it. It’s been billed as The Hating Game meets the Unhoneymooners, but ehh maybe sort of. It’s definitely an enemies to lovers trope.

We have Henley who is a career driven, overworked, burnt out, career woman who is trying desperately to be promoted. Then we have Graeme who is a big of an enigma in the beginning but is definitely her more laissez faire counterpart also up for the same promotion.

They are working on promoting a struggling cruise line, and therefore are sent to the Galapagos in order to experience what the cruise is like and create a plan for the company. Obviously a bit of chaos ensues but not enough for me to be like ohh yes fire!! It’s a slow burn kind of book. I didn’t love Henley’s sister as a character, I found her annoying and I found Henley’s response to her annoying. That said I think the relationship as written seems very true to real life. Actually this whole book felt real, and maybe that’s why I find myself feeling slightly underwhelmed. Not the authors fault, and I can see how many people would love that about this book!

Also the eco-conscious aspects of this book were fantastic and the story surrounding the Galapagos was amazing! Very much enjoyed that. Also I enjoyed Henley getting some comeuppance after learning the real Graeme. I know she has a “history” and she had a misunderstanding but come on hahaha... he is the legit best and her friends are legit the best too!!

All in all I recommend!! Thank you to Netgalley and Gallery books for the arc in exchange for my full and honest opinion.

Thank you NetGalley and Gallery Books for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I really enjoyed this book and I honestly needed it. I read it during the week of the US Presidential Election and it was the perfect escape. I liked the characters immensely, especially Henley’s sister Walsh. Their dynamic felt similar to my own sister and I. Plus Nikolai was great comic relief. There wasn’t as much steam as I expected but it was very cute. Graeme and Hensley made a great pair. A cute rom com with a hint of female empowerment and environmental conservation Recommend!

Shipped is marketed as the love child of The Hating Game and The Unhoneymooners, two of my favourite romance novels. As soon as I saw the titles and the synopsis, I never clicked the ‘Request’ button so fast and was delighted upon seeing that my request was approved. There and then, I downloaded the ARC and began to voraciously read it.

I quite enjoyed this one to be honest. It tells the tale of two rival co-workers gunning for a badly wanted promotion and competition ensues as they are forced to go on a work cruise together and come up with their own brilliant proposals. The perfect recipe for love and disaster, what could go wrong?

The story started out really strong and I was brimming with anticipation of seeing Graeme and Henley interacting face-to-face for the first time. It was glorious. However, as I progressed towards the middle, I found myself starting to get bored.

As this is being marketed as an ‘enemies-to-lovers’ romance, I didn’t quite get to see that unravel throughout the book. In fact, this was using more of the miscommunication trope than anything. Henley Evans (h) strongly believes that Graeme Crawford-Collins (H) was set on ruining every prospect of her career ever since the start of the book. However, she starts to realise that what she thought was happening might not have exactly been accurate. Here comes the miscommunication trope. I’ll admit, I’m not a huge fan of that and was expecting more of the spark that enemies-to-lovers usually have to shine brightly, but the romance slightly fell flat. There was almost zero to none feelings of annoyance upon seeing their co-worker (in this case, Henley especially) and they were both instantly attracted to each other. What I’m saying here is, I expected more of the rivalry to happen on the cruise ship but instead I got a romance that happened a bit too quick for my liking. It still isn’t bad, I think Graeme is the biggest sweetheart, and personally I think the book shouldn’t have been marketed as the child of The Hating Game. The Unhoneymooners? I can see that.

Apart from the romance, one thing I loved was the descriptions of the islands they visited. You could tell the author did a lot of research on this and it made me feel the yearn to see these places with my own pair of eyes. I am a fan of road trips and even though this technically isn’t a ‘road’ trip, I still really enjoyed it.

Secondly, I also enjoyed reading about the secondary characters i.e. Walsh, Nikolai, Christina, and Tory. It was heartwarming to see Henley’s relationship with her younger sister improving throughout the book and her relationship wither her friends as well. Even though Nikolai annoyed me at times, that one scene with the two of them on the ship made me smile.

Overall, even though the romance didn’t turn out to be what I was expecting, I think I still enjoyed this. The beginning was a bit slow but then I practically steamrolled the remaining 40% of the book once things started to get going. The cover is also really pretty, which is a bonus.

What a perfect read to ease the anxiety of the current chaos in our country! This is just what I needed. A perfect escape to the Galapagos Islands. I wish there was more steam, but I also loved the dynamic of Henley and Walsh and their complicated sisterly relationship. All around a great pandemic read.

This book is described as a mashup of The Unhoneymooners and The Hating Game, to which I'd also add Dating You/Hating You (Christina Lauren). Henley and Graeme are both marketing professionals working for the same company, and Henley has declared work warfare on Graeme since he stole credit for her work a year ago. The stakes are raised when Henley and Graeme are pitted against one another for a promotion. Part of the hiring process is to go on a work-sponsored cruise to the Galapagos, during which time Henley and Graeme meet in person for the first time, and Henley finds out she might have been wrong about Graeme.

Overall I liked this book, but it wasn't a big standout for me compared to others in the genre.
The good: There were no mean spirited pranks in this book (unlike The Hating Game), and the level of hijinks was pretty believable. Nikolai was great comic relief, but also had some depth. Walsh's story was believable and ended on a a hopeful note. I enjoyed the extended descriptions of the Galapagos and focus on conservation efforts.
The less-good: I connected with Graeme's backstory and "return to the world" storyline, but found Henley to be less easy to like. She's kind of a stick in the mud. The book wasn't over the top entertaining for me, either.

I took a chance on a new to me author and it panned out! I am so thankful that it did because I really needed some laughs and a well written book to lighten up my current mood. I'm always hesitant when I see a book being compared to another successful book in the genre, but never fear. Shipped will have you smiling with the feels and laughing during certain scenes.

Shipped is a delightful story of two characters that are vying for the same position within their company. Yup, it's an office romance with a side of frenemy to lover. While it is a fade to black when it comes to any sort of sexy times, I honestly didn't miss it. It wasn't necessary. I just adored the characters of Henley and Graeme and thought they were well fleshed out and you get to see them grow within their storyline and in life. Everything was well paced, from the relationship, to all the little stories taking place on the side with the wonderful supporting characters. Plus, we get to travel to the Galapagos Islands for work! If that isn't a plus, I don't know what is. ;)

If you need a book that is told from one person's POV (this is all told from Henley's view) that makes you smile and feel good, then this book is for you. It will have you smiling and enjoying not only the story but the characters and the way they all connect to one another. They all have a strong voice in this story, but it never takes you away from Henley and Graeme's journey to get their promotion. You get a strong female character in Henley and you get Graeme who is misunderstood. Trust me when I say you will adore him. And major kudos for all the research put in on the cruise they took. It honestly left me adding the islands to my list of places to visit one day.

Put this one on your TBR for your winter reads. It will have you looking forward to vacations and the sun.