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.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Rating: 4.25 Stars

Read This Book If You Like:
🐢 Slow-Burn Romance
⚔️ Enemies to Lovers Trope
🇬🇧 British Vibes and Places
🗣️ Miscommunication Trope
📚 Bookish Books
👭 Female Friendships
📝 Reflective Vibes & Life Stories
🧘‍♀️ Self-Discovery

I quite liked this book. It took me forever to get through, I think because there’s a lot to digest and I really felt like I needed to pause between chapters to fully appreciate the story, so I took my time with it. That said, I appreciated the book’s focus on self-discovery and how much the characters grew throughout the novel, the emphasis on storytelling and the beautiful places we got to visit through the pages. It was a fun ride!

WHAT I LOVED:
Humor - This book made me laugh out loud so many times! I appreciated the way that this came off almost as a rom-com (with a little less rom and more self-discovery thrown in), the ladies (especially Flossie, Berrta, and Doris!), and the back-and-forth banter between Alice and Robbie. It made the book lighter in areas where heavier subjects were thrown in and added a certain charm to the book that I thoroughly enjoyed.

The Ladies - Speaking of the ladies, I really loved them. The diverse cast of characters, all with different personalities and stories, really came to life on the page and I loved the bond that grew between all of them and Alice. Helena especially, though really almost all of them were so interesting to read about and hear from throughout the book. Their advice and stories were inspiring and therapeutic to read. Getting to know their stories slowly and witness their friendships develop was wonderful!

Bookish Places & Travel - I know this book is centered around a UK bus tour, but I hadn’t expected how many historical landmarks and beautiful places were going to be thrown into the plot. The vivid descriptions and name drops of significant places (particularly in literary history) made this book feel like a fun exploration of the UL and I loved looking up images of the places along the way.

Self-Discovery - I love this theme! Alice’s journey throughout this book is amazing to watch and I feel like even without the romantic subplot, it still would have been great to read about and really resonated with me as someone in her twenties still trying to figure it all out.

The Writing Style - I really loved the Bridget Jones Tally, the lists at the beginning of the book, and the lessons in each chapter. They were pretty funny to read at times and set the tone for the feeling of the chapter, which made me curious to read more. I also loved how the author slowly fazed out the lists as Alice grew throughout the book and became more spontaneous. It was an interesting way to demonstrate character growth throughout the story.

WHAT I LIKED:
Alice’s Personality - OK, hear me out lol! I know a lot of people felt like she was too pissed off in the beginning of the book and I totally agree (more on that below), but I also loved seeing her character’s inner dialogue. She’s funny, relatable, and pretty fun to listen to provided you give her a chance to overcome her initial grumpiness.

Robbie - The MMC is quite funny and I really liked his character overall. He’s a good guy, generally respectful and kind (save for trading some barbs with Alice, though not unjustified), and pretty likeable overall.

MIXED FEELINGS:
Tristan Storyline - I have mixed feelings about Tristan. I go back and forth between whether I like that he was included because it made the story feel more real and whether I didn’t like that he was included because it introduced unnecessary tension to the story and seems to have mostly been there as a plot device to move the story along rather than as an actual side character. But I dunno! 🤷‍♀️ I think he made the story more real, but I wish he hadn’t been included later in the book and had just stayed more in the middle and faded out from there.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE:
Alice’s Initial Grumpiness - When the two MCs meet for the first time, it just feels so unrealistic to me that Alice would be so upset that she would physically try to stop a man from finding a lost elderly person - that just seems like too much to me because I feel like, knowing the rest of her personality throughout the book, she would stop once she knew that. She also seems to hang on to her anger and irritation for far too long and has a personal vendetta against Robbie for a long time. In my mind, she was in the wrong there and she should have felt bad about that and let it go. Instead, it felt more like she was being portrayed as a “typical American” and was more of a caricature than a real person. This continued almost 1/3 of the way into the book and she wouldn’t let it go, which made me out the book down a few times because although it was entertaining at first, I grew tired of it. But once we got into the rest of the book and her personality grew, I got interested again and it felt like a much better read after that. I feel like it would have been better if her reaction wasn’t so overblown and she was more reasonable. She could still be irritated he was rude at certain points, but it just seems unreasonable the way it was portrayed at the beginning of the story.

Miscommunication Trope - This trope isn’t my favorite, but it can be pulled off effectively. However, I don’t feel like it was really necessary here and was more used to add drama to the story. A simple, straightforward conversation would have resolved everything much sooner without people (specifically Alice) making so many assumptions. Granted, they weren’t all unwarranted - but again, why skip around the issue when you could just talk about it? I also didn’t like that she was basically still falling for him while she thought all of this was going on. I would’ve liked it more if she confronted him directly about it, especially because that feels more respectful <spoiler>to the supposed “other girl.”</spoiler>

Alice & Robbie’s Mom’s Similarities - <spoiler>Am I the only one who found it kind of weird or creepy that they had so much in common down to even her appearance? I know this was probably meant to be cute, and it was a minor mention, but I found that kind of weird/icky. I forgot about it since it was a quick mention in passing, but that made the miscommunication trope all the more weirder when finally revealed.</spoiler>

The Timeline - It’s hard to shove a bunch of self-discovery into three weeks, but this author managed to do it. The thing is - I kind of forgot about the timeline until the end of the book and then was thrown off guard - like, they got this close in THREE WEEKS? It seems unrealistic to me, even if they’re spending all that time together. But maybe I’m wrong, I dunno. 🤔 I think a two-month timeline or three month timeline would have been more realistic, particularly for the level of change and self-discovery that Alice experienced throughout the book. Three weeks just doesn’t seem like enough time for that to me.

Overall, I really loved this book! It was funny, charming, reflective, and relaxing to read. I related to a lot of Alice’s struggles to find herself and release planning and perfectionism. I loved seeing her grow and the ladies giving her advice to take more risks and become her own person. It was inspiring to me, even though I know it’s somewhat unrealistic (lol it’s a rom-com), and I feel like it was a book that made me think about the bigger questions in my life and how I want to live it. It’s reflective in a way that makes you think about it even after you finish reading, which to me makes it a great book. I’ll be excited to see more releases from this author soon, particularly if I’m in the mood for a slow burn romance with some travel vibes thrown in! 😊

crying the happiest of tears as i write this review because this book was such a sweet reminder of how good life can be. the cast of characters in this story are so special and provide such an insight into the myriad of ways life can look, i feel so connected to each of them. never would have thought a trip through the scottish countryside could have me crying at every turn.

work in progress is a book lovers dream, every moment is imbued with the feeling of falling for a good book. this story is romantic and butterfly inducing but deeply thoughtful. the platonic relationships also shine so brightly and kat mackenzie wove such a beautiful tale of womanhood and friendship. it truly takes a look at all the different ways to live life and how to learn from those around you.

this book feels like a warm hug and also a push to dig deeper into what brings you happiness. i know i will be revisiting this story, and these women frequently when i need a little pick me up!

🧳 Her POV
💚 Scottish & American
🧳 Bad First Impression
💚 Hate to Love
🧳 Force Promixty
💚 Banter
🧳 Slow Burn
💚 Bus Tour🚎

Alice took a trip to Edinburgh when she needed a change of scenery. Alice had a tough time when a lot of mishaps throughout her travels. Until she finally made it to the tour she signed up for. Alice signed up for a bus tour around the UK with all women tour. Alice was surprised with elderly women besides herself.

The worst encounter was the guy she interacted with at the airport. Very bad first impressions! Guess who Alice saw again. Yep! The guy from the airport. Alice and Robbie didn't get along at first until the force promixty changed that.

Alice found love and new friends in her travels. Alice was able to find herself again after everything that happened before her trip.

The ladies in the bus tour are hilarious and great cast of characters. They had some life experiences to share with Alice. The bonds they created during their bus tour were amazing!

Robbie is my favorite character in this story! The cute scenes that Robbie did for Alice are so sweet!
Like when:
He took care of her when she was drunk.
He carried her when she got injured.
He bought her the book she wanted for her birthday. (My favorite scene was her birthday gift from him). 🎁

I went in not expecting to love Work in Progress because it’s not the typical book I like but boy was I wrong. Work in Progress is laugh out loud good. Th banter between the main characters had me laughing, they really did hate each other and ended up together. The elderly side characters were my absolute favorites, they were sage and full of advice that one could reflect on. The ending shocked me in a way because it was not what I expected in a romance but it fit the story perfectly.