Oh I really liked this one. The setting was beautiful and engaging, the side characters were endearing and hilarious, and the love story was adorable. I loved Robbie and Alice, I loved their banter back and forth and how it just all felt so natural. A great read.

This was a cute story with an adventure across the UK with little old ladies involved. The main characters fighting did get annoying after awhile and it was sometimes immature. Besides that, it was a funny and cute love story.

***Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC ebook.

“Work in Progress” by Kat Mackenzie (you wee beasty! I loved this!) is an incredibly witty, hilarious, and heartwarming romance about Alice Cooper, almost 30, and feeling completely lost in life. Fired, alone, and depressed, she finds herself on a literary tour hosted by Robbie Brody, her new sworn nemesis, along with a gaggle of charmingly quirky old ladies for company.

The adventures they embark on are pure magic, and the descriptions of the setting made me wish this was based on a real company (Kat, please confirm!). As Alice journeys through this experience, she opens up in ways that are both touching and delightful. The characters are endearing, and I found myself laughing, crying, and swooning along the way.

It was absolute perfection. As a side note, listened to the audio book as well--it was wonderful and I loved the different voices the narrator made up for everyone.

A must-read for anyone in need of humor, heart, and romance (open door, but maybe only 1-2 times)!

I wasn't sure how I would feel about this one as it's set during a tour of England and Scotland with a Scottish hero. A hero that I'm normally not a fan of. But I ended up loving the book and falling in love with Robbie before Alice did. I loved watching Alice find herself on this journey as well as new friendships. While dealing with her epic break up and her life falling apart.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine alone.

this is what a REAL rom-com is. alice and robbie had me giggling and kicking my feet the entire book.

road trip books are always so much fun to read and so entertaining when you actually learn things from it. the banter and romance worked really well together and made for such a fun read.

i really enjoyed alice’s journey in this book. her road to self discovery and healing felt so raw and relatable and was such a heartwarming part of this book.

thank you netgalley for this arc!

The general idea of this book held promise, and I'll start with the good because the description of the literary tour through the UK was so cool. I'm not a history person (at all) and haven't read a lot of British literature, but the author's writing of the tour activities and buildings really made me want to visit these places!

Unfortunately, this was a romance novel, not a tour guide, and the actual book missed the mark for me at nearly every turn ... The banter was not teasing or grumpy, it was weird and very mean for no reason and I had trouble believing that either of the characters would fall in love with anyone as rude as either of them was to strangers. The other ladies on the tour were overdone (like caricatures of characters rather than actual people), and the amount of weight each of them got didn't feel appropriately balanced/consistent throughout the book. Lastly, the chapter intros were more distracting than they added anything. I liked the idea of "journal entries" that I think the author was going for, but the actual blurbs didn't work for me and were more distracting/confusing than anything else.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publishing team for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Who doesn’t want to go to Scotland after a breakup? Alice’s journey was an easy escape from reality, and any girl who has dreamed about going to Scotland to reset her life will enjoy this book.

The character development and friendships in this novel were phenomenal. I loved how Alice grew to learn from and appreciate the women that she was on the trip with. I also enjoyed the descriptions of sites throughout England and Scotland.

I found this pretty slow and it didn't keep me interested until the last third. Maybe this partially had to do with the secondhand embarrassment I felt while reading some of this.

The romance ended up being pretty sweet, but the miscommunication frustrated me a bit.

I think if you like a slower-paced romance with the charm of travel and friendships across generations, you could be charmed by this novel. I enjoyed it enough that I'll definitely check out this author's future novels.

Okay, this book was an absolute delight—a cozy, funny, feel-good romance with the perfect mix of self-discovery, grumpy x sunshine tension, and a quirky, unexpected travel adventure. Alice was recently dumped, freshly unemployed, and maybe having a quarter-life crisis (relatable). So what does she do? Joins a three-week literary bus tour across the UK to reset her life.

The Problem? She expected a group of cool, book-loving women in their 30s… and instead, she’s surrounded by a crew of hilarious elderly ladies and one VERY grumpy but VERY attractive Scottish tour guide, Rory. Cue banter, forced proximity, and all the tension.

What I Loved:
- Legit LOL Funny – The old ladies? ICONS. The humor in this book lands, and I had so many laugh-out-loud moments.
- Grumpy x Sunshine Energy – Alice is chaotic but determined, Rory is gruff but secretly soft, and their dynamic?? Chef’s kiss.
- The Travel Vibes – Exploring the UK, visiting literary landmarks, and actually feeling like you’re on this journey with Alice? Perfection.

It took a minute to really get going, but once it did, I was hooked. I wanted more of Rory & Alice earlier on, but when it hit, it hit. This was a hilarious, heartwarming, wanderlust-inducing rom-com about finding yourself, unexpected friendships, and (obviously) falling for a grumpy Scottish man. If you love travel romances, slow-burn tension, and quirky ensemble casts, you NEED this book!

Now, who wants to go on a literary bus tour with me?

What an utterly charming debut filled with fun, sass, and banter.

Oh my goodness a rom com set in the beautiful Scotland. The chemistry between our main FMC Alice and main MMC Robbie took off pretty quickly from the start. We see this enemies to lovers slow build. I loved Kat's writing style and her personality really shows through her sassy and addicting writing.

All of the side characters are so like-able and I LOVED the side gang of older ladies that are on the bus tour with Alice and Robbie. I was dying on so many scenes in this book. From the first scene of Alice having a meltdown at the airport to the ladies trying to figure out the town that sounded like penis.

I loved how the author organically progressed the relationship between Alice and Robbie. It felt slow burn but the perfect way falling in love should be. I also really loved how we see Alice grow so much within herself and her outlook on life.

I really enjoyed this debut and excited to see book two from Mackenzie!!

Thank you so much to the author and publisher for my gifted copy.

4/5 stars

If you enjoyed Kilt Trip, this definitely needs to be on your list. Work in Progress was joyful, funny, and warm. Not to mention I'd pick up any book with a busload of funny old ladies!

3 stars.

"Work in Progress" by Kat Mackenzie is... fine. It's not so bad that I will drag it, but it's not so good that it will stick with me. In fact, I will admit, I read this a week or two ago and I already forgot that I read it. It just doesn't do enough to set itself apart from the many books just like it. I found it difficult to connect with Alice as a character until it was already too late in the book. I love a grumpy female main character, but Alice was unlikable, not just grumpy! I really did like Robbie, though, what a gent. I hated all of the miscommunication between the two of them. The tour group ladies are, by far, the best part of this story. I loved them all so much! They help make Alice as minuscule-ly relatable as she is, and they help propel the plot forward. Still, my main complaint is that the book tends to drag on and on. It also gets repetitive in several spots. There will likely be some readers who love this one, but I found Alexandra Kiley's "Kilt Trip" to be vastly superior.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kat Mackenzie, and Avon and Harper Voyager for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

This felt like a rom com movie was playing in my head while reading this! And it just adds more to it that it took place in Scotland! This had banter and tension and all the fun things. Enjoyed this one!

Alice Cooper just got brutally dumped and drunkenly decides to book a three week bus tour across Scotland and England, but little does she know that the tour guide is a jerk/a really hot Scotsman and everyone else on the all female tour is 70+.

It should be expected that not everything will go perfectly on any kind of vacation - especially one that’s three weeks long. But the things that happened to Alice Cooper are just one bad thing right after another to the point where it was giving me travel anxiety.

The book felt really slow up until about the halfway point, and I honestly considered not finishing it. The banter was fun, but the enemies part in the enemies to lovers lasted until about the 75% zone and sometimes it was hard to root for them.

Once the pride was finally sat down and miscommunication trope talked through (a literal 5 minute conversation) they were really cute together. LIKE REALLY FREAKING CUTE. Which made the third act break up, the miscommunication trope, and the random other guy that was thrown in there (FOR WHY IDK) all the more infuriating.

The best part of the book was the descriptions of England and Scotland which I think the author really nailed. It makes me want to go back to England so bad! The book is in first person and it felt like reading someone’s travel journal which hit sometimes and felt a little too “Dear Diary” at others.

Overall, it was cute. I haven’t felt the full range of emotions like this throughout a book in a long time. There were points where I genuinely didn’t want to continue reading, and later on in the book I couldn’t put it down.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy and exchange for an honest review!

I attempted to read this book multiple times and only made it to about page 75. I loved the plot and the proffered story and setting, but I felt like the inner monologues from the main character were overly written and distracting for my liking. I couldn’t get past this personal reading preference and ultimately could not finish the book before it expired.

I will not leave a review on Goodreads because I did not finish the book and the book just wasn’t for me.

✨ARC Review✨

Wellllll, here’s the deal. This was one of the most imperfect FMCs I’ve read in a romance novel (let’s not talk about The Favorites) maybe ever. Alice Cooper is quick to judgment and temper flares. She’s a real pill honestly. I actually set this book aside for a week or so because I wasn’t sure I wanted to finish it. Her behavior is entitled and mean.

BUT, I did pick it back up and started to enjoy it UNTIL she had another unconscionable temper tantrum over something so monumentally stupid, I had to message @sherry_reads_books to rant.

So, here’s the deal: This book is okay in general. I love the literary tour. I looove the geriatric set of ladies. Robbie as a MMC was fine. There were some swoony moments. But Alice. Dear lord, Alice is terrible. I could not root for her.

I do not recommend this book.

I received an eARC via #netgalley and @avonbooks. All thoughts are mine alone.

#booksbooksbooks #romancebooks #contemporaryromance #workinprogress #bookreview #bookstagram

Alice Cooper is a planner. She's a list maker and has a strategy for everything. She considers the pros and cons of just about every move she makes.. So she doesn't handle it well when her life begins to spin out of control. In an effort to pull herself out of the funk she's been in, she does something completely out of character - she spontaneously books a three week literary bus tour through the UK. It's for women only, so Alice expects a wonderful bonding experience.

Alice's first meeting with her tour guide, Robbie, is less than auspicious. Despite her instant dislike for the man, and the fact that the women she was hoping to bond with are all grandmotherly, Alice chooses to bear with the situation and enjoy the trip. Along the way, she finds that maybe she needs to take a deep breath, ignore her lists and her plans and simply take life as it comes.

I found Alice a very hard character to connect with. Her banter with Robbie is meant to be fun, but Alice's s side of it comes across as nasty. While Robbie's reactions and the author's descriptions of his tone and expression, show he's amused by her insults. But Alice's inner musings about the exchanges all felt mean spirited.

Robbie is the much more sympathetic character. I think he has more fun because he's trying to draw Alice out, to get her to let down her guard. The only time we see Alice's vulnerable side is when she connects with some of the women on the tour. They are more than willing to share their hard learned wisdom with Alice. It isn't until well into the book that we even begin to see her softer side.

I am a sucker for a story set in Scotland, so I was happy to get the chance to read it. Even though I had a hard time with Alice, I did enjoy the interactions of the other women on the trip. They each had their own personality, they were excited to be traveling and they accepted Alice as one of them from the start. The descriptions of the sites and the pieces of history Robbie shared about them had me ready to hop a plane to visit them all.

Despite my issues with Alice, I did like Robbie. He offered a bit of light heartedness against Alice's personal issues. The sight seeing kept the story moving. The bright spots were the moments of fun among the women and their individual interactions with Alice and pieces of wisdom they dispersed. The book was worth reading for those voices of experience.

Discover: A woman looking to escape realizes that what she actually needs is to come back to herself while traveling on a dreamy bus tour of the U.K. that will set Anglophile bookworms' hearts aflutter.

Review continues on Shelf Awareness....

I enjoyed this far more than I expected, for a debut novel I was shocked, because it's pretty dang good. the first part of the book was a bit rough, I don't always love major inner dialogue moments, i more so enjoy "moments of clarity", but the main characters truly won me over.

I loved this book I definitely felt a kinship with Alice and her current life turmoil and lists, ya girl loves some list.

but what was truly top notch? THE BANTER!!!! the back and forth and the flirty-ness was truly the best. It helped make things enjoyable going through the novel, especially when some of the moments in the book were a little too cheesy cute, it helped balance it out and pull me out of the cheesiness.

this book also painted a beautiful picture of Scotland, and I really really want to visit this beautiful place. like so so bad, this book made me realize just how much. especially if it comes with hottie Robbie ;)

This book was so charming, and fun to read!!

I've never traveled overseas but now I want to! Even taking a tour bus filled with old ladies sounds like a blast.

If you want to laugh, and smile, and fall in love, please read this book!!!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.