4 ⭐️ - This was such a fun and easy read! I absolutely die over second chance romance novels and this one really added a twist with a huge traumatic event. I loved the dual timelines, the maturity of the characters, and only wished for Wyatt’s POV. This really encapsulates what a rom com read should be like! What a BANG for a debut novel!

Thank you NetGalley, Avon, and Annie McQuaid for the ARC of book title. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Loved Piper and Wyatt’s story. The way the story blended past and present is was so well done. Totally would recommend!

3.5

3.5⭐

Tropes: One Island (lol), second chance romance, childhood lovers

Blurb: Piper's on her way to her best friend's wedding, only to have her flight canceled. Panicked, she takes up an offer to fly with her ex and her first love, Wyatt, but due to a tropical storm, crashes on an island. Armed with nothing but their wits and their emotional baggage, the two work together to survive their time on the island and the issues that separate them.

Listen, if a book is under/about 300 pages, I immediately love you. Because if you can get a love story succinctly in that amount of time, you are a good writer in my eyes and Annie McQuaid is just that! I loved how this book caught my attention immediately, and the premise of being stranded in a remote island is so unique. Wyatt is an adventure-hungry man and he is also so positive, it's infectious. Piper's apprehension is there, but the way she loves her friends and will do anything for them (including flying with her ex despite hating his guts) is so admirable.

The only thing that confused me with this book was what kind of romance if it was - YA or adult. I got YA vibes with the flashbacks and their time in high school, and the sex scene was also closed-door. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I wanted smut in this book, I was just confused on what the classification was.

Thank you NetGalley and Avonbooks for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion!

I was excited to read a survival story - I love a survival story! And I liked a lot of that half of the book.

Because this is a dual timeline story with a couple who were childhood friends, then fell in love, then broke up. Getting on a plane together and crashing is the first time they've dealt with each other since then.

I was not interested teen years side of the story. It broke up the action I was hoping to read. On the island, I liked how they re-connected, but I didn't feel the chemistry between the characters as strongly or consistently as I hoped. The MMC has a lot of trauma - both childhood and from serving in the military - and he shuts down a lot, making decisions for the FMC in the process. I with that had been dealt with a bit more.

The FMC's mother is also a fairly two dimensional villain.

Once again, I've talked myself down from a three star to a two star review. There were moments I enjoyed, but overall, this one isn't for me.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Piper has it all - she's in her second year of medical school, she's dating a nice guy, she has amazing purses (I especially envy the handbags), until she ends up stranded on a desert island with the high school ex boyfriend who broke her heart.

Crash Landing leans into the duality of a both amazing premise (your ex boyfriend! Forced to hear you out!) and a nightmare (your ex boyfriend! where you can't escape from him!). I do appreciate that the book hit the right note between making the experience romantic and noting that you would indeed, be incredibly hungry constantly and never able to wash your hair. I also loved Piper's friendship with her best friends Allie and Ethan, who she's clearly been close with since childhood and have evolved into supportive, sustaining adult friendships. The characters clearly have their flaws, but managed to grow up into people who are their kindest selves together, and I really loved seeing that modelled.

The book really delves into difficult parental relationships and has a sweet message of the importance of finding your own dreams and figuring out what makes you happy - and believing that we all deserve our happily ever after. The connection between the two main characters was well written and McQuaid navigated the dual timelines well. I know this was Annie McQuaid's debut novel and I am so excited to read her next ones as well. I'd recommend to anyone who enjoys Katherine Center or Hannah Bonham Young.

Beautiful cover!!! It first caught my attention and then the blurb made me sign up instantly. Thank you NetGalley for the early copy!

This was an awesome debut! Second chance romance but with forced proximity??? Heck yeah sign me up! I don’t know how I would react to being trapped on an island with an ex of mine.
This story is dual timeline and I liked getting to see how the relationship started vs how it formed in the present. So happy these two got their HEA and I cannot wait to see more from Annie’s writing in the future!

Crash Landing was a wild and romantic read about two exes finding themselves stranded on a remote island together, leaning on each other for survival and support and possibly working through their past.

I love second-chance romances, especially ones where you’re drawn into the couple’s story in the past and present. I enjoyed seeing the two of them grow throughout the highs and lows of their relationship and realize their paths and hearts have always led to one another.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.*

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced digital copy!

3.5 stars. This was a solid debut romance novel! I enjoyed the characters and their personal development throughout the story, but some elements felt a little undercooked or not necessary. There were a few times where I thought the story was going to take a different direction, but I was glad they got their happy ending.

Unrelated to the book, but I was lucky to meet Annie at an event and she is the sweetest!! I’m excited to see how her writing career develops and hope to read more from her in the future!

What a fun, debut with a trope that can be very difficult to pull off, second chance romance!

Many times, the reasons for forcing 2 exes back together doesn’t always make sense, but the forced proximity of being on an abandoned island after a plane crash creates a new perspective on this trope!

In this dual timeline, single POV story, we get to see Piper and Wyatt’s story through her eyes of puppy love in high school and where they are as adults, having not spoken for 8 years. At times, it felt like the exposition of what happened in the past was displayed a little too early in current time dialogue, but overall we truly see breaking through past hurt and traumas to get to the heart of the story, which is the growth of these 2 characters as they find their strength in one another.

Can’t wait to see what comes next from Annie McQuaid!

Thanks to Avon and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper & Avon for the eARC!
This was pretty good, for a debut novel. Second chance love, with pretty decent chemistry between the two characters, though I do feel it sizzled out at times. It was really straight to the point, not really a slow burn, and I really liked Wyatt. The end was so emotional, and written well, and it didn’t feel rushed. The plane crash concept is fantastic, and I loved it. Wish there would’ve been some descriptive spicy scenes instead of the fade to black, kinda closed door scenes like there was but oh well. I liked the length of the book, it wasn’t too short where things got cut off, and it wasn’t too long where things were dragging out. The backstory between Piper and Wyatt was great, and a nice addition to the story. Barbara can go away though. Second chance, fated, reunited love is one of my favorite tropes.
Overall, a fantastic read.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book.

I mean no disrespect to the genre, but this sure read like a YA novel. Loved the cover and premise. There seemed to be no chemistry between Piper and Wyatt. In the "now" chapters on the island, I had too many questions about things that made no sense: He was in the army for years and can somehow pilot (or not!) a plane but can't use a radio to signal for help? And she can, because she liked fooling around with old radios when she was a kid and knows how to put them together? She's halfway through medical school but seems flustered about simple first aid? She doesn't recognize his symptoms as being more serious when he hurts his leg? The first time they reach the coast guard on the radio, they don't give basic information, like how long they were in the air before they crashed, so the rescuers can somehow coordinate their position? The radio doesn't seem to work unless they're at a higher elevation, yet the first time they hear a rescue plane, they stay on the beach and surprisingly can't get it to work? And don't get me started with her mother. Geez. What an awful person. Obviously this one was not for me.

The book had a lot of potential. It was pretty good. I can see this debut author coming out with great stuff in the future. I just felt like I struggled connecting with the feelings and characters and story but the writing was great for her first book.

Piper and Wyatt are childhood friends to lovers to strangers who on the way to their friends wedding have a tragic plane accident. This story was very interesting with the anticipation of waiting for them to be rescued. I do feel like so much could have been avoided if Piper and Wyatt had communicated those eight years ago but I still enjoyed the story.
Thank you Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the arc of this book!

“Life is short, and you only get one, so you might as well live it on your terms.”

sometimes all it takes for you to reconnect with the person who broke your heart is a plane crash and a week stranded on a deserted island while trying to survive until someone rescues you.

Crash Landing is a book about second chances and following your heart, even when it’s scary!
—

this and that:
♡ childhood friends-to-lovers-to-strangers-to-lovers
♡ dual timeline
♡ ex-military
♡ fade-to-black
♡ forced proximity
♡ opposites attract
♡ second chance
♡ single pov
♡ survival on a deserted island

triggers:
☞ absentee parenting
☞ blood and injuries
☞ plane crash
☞ ptsd (as a result of military service)

I’m very grateful to have received an arc of this one! I definitely was in the mood for something light and bantery, and right off the bat, this book delivered. I definitely was hooked by the opening and found Piper to be easy to relate too, even though our lives were very different. I also loved the creativity of the setting/circumstances, and adore second chance romance!

Unfortunately this is only a 3.25 star read for me for the following reason: Believability. This seems odd to say when the whole premise is two people surviving a plane crash, which asks us to suspend our disbelief a little bit. But if I am willing to be able to suspend it to set up the whole novel, I needed the rest to be believable. I actually think they had too easy of a time on the island AND I don’t believe their reasons for breaking up and not talking to each FOR EIGHT YEARS!!! That seemed a little too neat and tidy and frankly kind of annoying. Plus the miscommunication at the end— from someone who doesn’t mind the 3rd act miscommunication/break up— felt too convenient too. That went beyond normal human lack of communication/nerves/etc. I also feel like Piper's career resolution was too easy and kind of came out of left field-- I wish she had maybe mentioned the beloved librarian a few times earlier in the book to set this up a bit better.

But I did really like premise. I found the authors voice and writing to be very enjoyable and I feel like she is a really promising new face on the romance scene. None of my complaints will prevent me from reading her work in the future.

This was such a fun and unique premise! I loved the idea of getting stranded with your ex like that!! I didn’t love the reason they broke up and Piper was a little bit of a brat haha. But I really enjoyed the scenes of Piper and Wyatt together and reconnecting. It was such a sweet one!

This was such a cozy and cute romance read.

The author provided us many flashbacks of Piper and Wyatt's relationship in high school. It was sweet to see them connect and become friends, then eventually lovers. In the present, they had not spoken or seen each other for eight years due to Wyatt breaking Piper's heart. The premise of their reunion was not anything new, but the reason for their forced proximity was something exciting I had not read before. Adding having to survive on a deserted island to the story really upped the stakes. I do wish there had been a lot more angst. There was a little bit here and there, but, with this being a second chance romance, I feel there could have been more.

I did find Piper and Wyatt together adorable, but, apart, they were not that memorable. Piper was a goody-two shoes who came off as a doormat to her parents. She did eventually grow a back bone, which I applaud. With this book being only from Piper's perspective, it was difficult to understand Wyatt on a deeper level. He did open up to Piper in some scenes, but I still wish we would have been able to see inside his head for better understanding.

Overall, this was a nice and simple read with very low spice and clean language.

crash landing review- Thank you sm to the publisher and author for the arc <3
This book was a really cute and fun read! I did read it like 4 months ago so my review might not be totally accurate lol.
❀ Pros ❀
☆ The two main characters had a really cute relationship! I loved reading about how they first got together.
☆ This book was really entertaining like I was never bored.

❀ Cons ❀
☆ I feel like this book could've done a better job actually exploring the fear and panic of being stranded on the island, cause like the mc was literally stuck on this deserted island and her main focus was being trapped with her ex 😭 it was very unserious but that did make it really fun to read, so it was still really good!

I had really high hopes for Crash Landing, the synopsis sounded right up my alley. Unfortunately I could not get past the third person narration. I think if someone enjoys reading in third person pov this book has a lot of promise! Especially if you love forced proximity and second chance romance. DNF 35%

This book was a great second chance romance of high school sweethearts with a blue lagoon vibe. I absolutely loved Piper and Wyatt.