Work in Progress is a charming debut romantic comedy that transports readers on a literary bus tour through the UK, blending humor, heart, and self-discovery.

The novel has garnered positive reviews for its engaging characters and witty dialogue. The dynamic between Alice and Robbie highlights their chemistry and the humorous banter that defines their interactions. The secondary characters, particularly the elderly women on the tour, add depth and warmth to the story.

Work in Progress is a delightful read for fans of romantic comedies and travel narratives. With its engaging characters, witty dialogue, and heartwarming story, it offers a refreshing escape into a world of literature, love, and personal transformation. Whether you're seeking a cozy read or a vicarious journey through the UK, this novel delivers a satisfying experience.

I thought it was a fantastic read, it was a bit slow at first for my liking but I quickly fell in love with the characters and the pacing. I really enjoyed the writing style and the overall, dynamic between the characters and how much they felt fleshed out. You can tell the author really loved her characters to develop such a story around them and I felt it with every passing chapter! I highly recommend this read!

‘Work in Progress’ by Kat Mackenzie is a perfect enemies-to-lovers travel romance. I said what I said. (In fact, everything hit so right for me that I ended up reading this in one sitting, at night.)

First, it fits one of my favorite micro-tropes of “running to a foreign country to get away from my problems but oops, I fell into the arms of a handsome, but grumpy man.” In this case, Alice Cooper says (probably), “School’s out for Spring,” & books a last-minute UK bus tour as an escape from the loss of her job & her last relationship. Look, we all grew up with the Mary-Kate & Ashley international travel romcom movies, so we cannot fault Alice for expecting this trip to be an opportunity for life-changing moments. And from the moment that Alice runs into Robbie at the airport & we are treated to their delicious chemistry, we know (as a reader) that this trip will indeed be life-changing.

But this is also a story that shows us the magic that can happen when things don’t go according to our plans & to-do lists. Because nothing goes as planned for Alice, including finding out that the trip she booked is not for other twenty & thirty-something women, but rather that this old bus is full of feisty old ladies & one very handsome, but grumpy Scottish bus driver. (I’m also learning that I love the micro-trope of “travel bus full of feisty old folks who have many stories & many lessons to teach the random young person also on this bus.”)

This story is utterly delightful & it’s been a while since I’ve read an “enemies-to-lovers” romance that really gets it right. And by right, I mean the “I loathe you” scene from The Princess Diaries 2 & the Zac Efron episode of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. This book serves up these vibes exactly as we watch Robbie & Alice argue (banter) & pick on each other (flirt) endlessly before they finally smash their faces together. Oh, and there’s caretaking? Multiple moments of it?? Between enemies???

And all through this book, you truly feel like you’re in all of the tour locations, in a way that clearly shows how Kat Mackenzie has actually been to these places in-person & not just through a google search. I very much look forward to any future book she writes, especially as she takes us along to these very beautiful & very real foreign locations.

Thank you to Avon & NetGalley for providing a digital advanced copy of this book for review. All thoughts & opinions expressed are my own.

Sweet, somewhat formulaic, rom-com - an American who has lost her fiance and job and feels aimless in life, signs up for a UK literary tour without reading the small print. She shows up to a bus full of women of a certain age and a grumpy, but sexy, bus driver, not what she had in mind when she booked the tour! the pair's adventures and laugh-out loud side characters makes this a sweet read about keeping yourself open to possibilities.

Thank you to the publisher and thank you to NetGalley for the chance to review this e-ARC. Full review will be available soon

Work in Progress is a sweet and funny rom-com with a lot of heart. I really enjoyed the bookish road trip vibe and the quirky cast of characters. The main character’s journey of self-discovery was relatable, and the romance was cute without being over-the-top.

Some parts were a little predictable, but it didn’t take away from how fun and comforting the story was. A great pick if you’re looking for something light and uplifting!

I read a copy of #WorkinProgress by #KatMacKenzie through #NetGalley. This book made me grin and laugh as I read about Alice Cooper and her spontaneous trip through Boadicea Adventures run by Robbie Brodie. The tour she expects is not the tour she has as it is with old women who all become her friends by the end of the book. Robbie she treats as her enemy but there too the relationship changes. The book is funny, lists books as it is supposed to be a literary tour. It is a feel good romantic story and I highly recommend.

This is a fun read with lots of literary references for book lovers.

Hyperorganized Alice is desperate for time away from her currently depressing life (brutal breakup, unemployment, AND an impending 30th birthday), so she impulsively books a spot on a “women only” literary bus tour of the UK. She expects to bond with other like-minded millennial women as they visit noteworthy locales of some of her favorite novels. What she encounters instead is a rickety old bus full of white-haired elderly women and a Scottish tour guide/ bus driver who immediately sets out to put Alice in her place. Many hijinks ensue.

I enjoyed the descriptions of each of the many tour sites - “learning through imagination” - and the tie-ins to books I love and books unfamiliar to me. The banter is great and the developing friendships are fun to witness.

Any Anglophile or bibliophile will enjoy Work in Progress, as long as you also enjoy contemporary rom-coms. You can even formulate a book list from the story, as the tour comes with a reading list of titles the women discuss at each stop. Sort of like a book group on wheels.

Thank you to Avon, Harper Vogayer, and NetGalley for this ARC.

The only reason I kept reading was because I was curious about all the stops they were going to make on their tour. But for all the details and adventures they went on while at these stops, it is more likely they just stayed in Edinburgh and looked at a photo album. There was more time spent describing putting on a dress and all the bloody zippers than time spent in Startford-upon-Avon.
Most of all Alice Cooper is unbearable. I wanted to throw her off the bus every other page. I'm glad her suitcase got pooped on.
Robbie, have more self respect.

Alice joins a spur of the moment trip around the UK that is themed as a literary bus tour after a bad break up. She has been holed up coping with losing her job and her relationship. She wants to take a chance, get out there and have some fun. What she doesn't know as she fights to get her lost luggage and stumbles across the street dumping her purse everywhere is that she is about to board a well-worn in bus with a group of older ladies and a hot Scottish tour guide. Although Robbie is quite literally driving her crazy, Alice is learning so much about herself on the trip. But she is also learning so much about everyone around her.
Such a cozy and humorous found family tale that has stuck with me since I have read it.

Alice decides to do something rash for once and books a bus tour of Britain but not without a few hiccups along the way. Little did she know the man she had a disagreement with in the airport would turn out to be her tour guide, Robbie.
One of my favorite things about the book was Alice’s relationships with the older women on the tour. While most of them were 50 years older than her, over the course of the tour they were able to find common ground and become great friends.
Alice and Robbie’s relationship grew from snarky comments to much more. I wish there had been more of their time together in the book, that I had been able to see their relationship grow more.
Once Alice returned home, I was confused by the Tristan storyline. It didn’t seem necessary and was confused by it.
I loved that she went back to Edinburgh and they were able to get their happily ever after.

Alice has lost it all and decided to take a trip of a lifetime. Unfortunately, from the start, the trip is pretty rough. What she thought was going to be a book trip with other ladies in her age group, is actually full of little old ladies and her brand new nemesis. In this book, you follow along as she let's go of her preconceived notions, and learns about life and love.

I loved everything about this. The humor, the travel, the slow burning love. The group of ladies is full of wonderful characters. They were each full of so much personality without becoming a caricature.

Read this if you love travel, slow burn love interests and lots of mishaps and laughter.


Thank you to netgalley and HarlerCollins for this copy! This was left voluntarily and honestly.

Alice has always wanted to take a tour of the UK, to places she's dreamt of and read about in books. When she finds herself out of a job, and her engagement ring on the hand of her ex's new girlfriend, Alice takes a leap. She'll go on her UK trip, and then she'll know what her next steps are after that.

Her arrival does not go as planned. Layovers drag her flight time from a pleasant 12 hours to 36. Her suitcase has literally exploded, and the woman at the service counter can't be bothered. Then she's interrupted by a grumpy Scottish man, and Alice has had it. She's been walked over and derailed, and heaven help her if she's going to let it happen again.

Except the man's problems are abruptly solved, and he gives her a cheery, evil farewell before leaving her picking up the literal pieces of her luggage. And heaving said pieces out to the city beyond, where her tour bus awaits. A bus that's driven by none other than her Scottish nemesis. A bus advertised as an all women's getaway that is filled with... older women. Senior women. White haired women who have already begun falling asleep.

This trip is nothing like she had planned, and her only source of joy is trying to make Robbie - the bus driver from hell - as miserable as possibles. And the cities and locations she photographs. The historical tours that are actually enjoyable and enlightening. And a few of the women who actually have interesting stories to tell. This trip is nothing like Alice planned, but maybe it's exactly what she needs.

I loved the way the tour destinations were described. It wasn't like the author had simply picked locations and looked them up, but as if she had been there herself. The history tidbits were fun, but not too lengthy, and the locations added to the story in fun and interesting ways.

I loved Alice's growth in the book, and the companionship she found with her tour group. My first adventure with Kat Mackenzie, but an author I'll certainly be on the look for in the future!

3.75🌟
This was a really cute and charming rom-com, about Alice whose life got turned upside down after losing her fiance and job within a short amount of time. Deciding to Eat Pray Love her way through the English countryside, she booked herself a month long guided literary bus tour. Upon arrival, she finds herself among a group of elderly women and a grumpy Scottish tour guide. Throughout her month long soul searching comes life long friendships, a bunch of wisdom and of course romance. The characters in this book were fun and witty and made me want to jump onto a literary bus tour asap!

Thank you NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

"Work in Progress" may be one of my favorite books of the year!

Alice Cooper is going through a crisis. She's lost her boyfriend, job and apartment all within a month. Not knowing what else to do to get her feet back under her, she decides to take a trip and signs up for a bus tour for women through England and Scotland. She hoped the change of scenery would help her make sense of her life and what she wanted to do next. What she hadn't expected was that the other women on the tour would all be old ladies, and the tour guide would be infuriating (and handsome).

Robbie has been leading these tours for the last three years and loves what he does. But he's never met anyone so unwilling to ask for or receive help before as Alice Cooper it. And the more they butt heads, the more he likes her.

All their crossed wires lead to some hilarious misunderstandings, while the bonds Alice makes with her unlikely new best friends are heartwarming. The witty banter between Alice and Robbie was wonderful too. There were just so many things to like about this story, which had me laughing out loud at times, and wiping away a tear at others.

Well done, Kat Mackenzie!

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an advance review copy.

dnf at 14%

i truly tried reading this book but was so put off by the main character, alice, that i could not get myself to continue. meet alice, a nearly 30 year old woman who is going through a rough time after losing her job and her ex-fiance. she joins a bus tour around britain, hoping to make new friends around her age, and instead is upset to find out that the bus is filled with elderly, mostly retired women and one seemingly grumpy tour guide who alice is incredibly hostile too. i was just so irritated with how immaturely the fmc was acting. at nearly 30 years old, she's yelling and screaming, and so rude to robbie, the mmc, that i could not continue and felt secondhand embarrassment reading. overall, not for me, and not a book i would recommend.

This was such a fun little ride. Alice Cooper decides to impulsively set off on a tour of Scotland after a nasty breakup (and her ex-fiance's rebound). Along the way she encounters Robbie, the tour guide that she can't stand but also can't escape. It was so much fun seeing Robbie and Alice's love story develop as they became friends and then more. Alice's discovery of herself with the help of the women she's on the tour with was most enjoyable. This one hit hard as I just turned 30 and felt like I really related to Alice.

It was a little silly but that just made for a fun, enjoyable read.

Thank you to Avon for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A wonderful read!
This novel drew me in from the very first page and kept me hooked until the end. The characters were vibrant and relatable, the writing was engaging, and the story had just the right balance of heart and humor. Highly recommend!
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

I feel like it would be fitting to start my review with a British-ism, so here it goes: this book was not my cup of tea.
I've lived in Edinburgh and traveled around Scotland a bunch, and I absolutely loved the travel bits of the book, but I absolutely could not get over how much I hated the dislike-to-love romantic plot of the book. It gave me oodles of second-hand embarassment, to the point where I could only read a couple of chapters at a time before cringing and needing to put it down. Now, I'm sure this is someone's cup of tea! But maybe this was like a hibiscus, and I definitely prefer an earl grey.
I cannot emphasize enough how much the author clearly loves Scotland and the UK, and you could definitely feel that through her writing.
Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for this eARC!

Work in Progress is a fun, romantic, and mildly steamy adventure in love. I enjoyed Kat Mackenzie's writing, and the illustration she managed to do of the beautiful setting.