4⭐️

This was so cute! I wasn’t initially sure I’d like this after reading the premise but I’m a sucker for a second chance romance. The dual timeline really helped flush out the story!

Thank you to the author and publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

I loved this second chance enemies to lovers romance and listening to the audiobook made it an amazing experience. Piper and Wyatt are exes that wind up as survivors on a deserted island and have to rely on each other for support and sustenance. The way they gradually learned to trust again on the island made for a very entertaining read, and the conflicts that coming home brought their fragile relationship was frustrating. Fortunately they find their way and it's a beautiful thing.

I picked up "Crash Landing" because I thought the premise was really fun. I adore rom-coms that have some suspenseful elements or elements of danger, like this one. In "Crash Landing" two exes literally crash land onto a deserted island on their way to a friend's wedding. However, I'm generally not a huge fan of second chance romance (which I knew going in). Overall, I thought "Crash Landing" was ok, but my issues with it could have been matters of preference.

I thought that the survival aspects of the book were really fun, and I absolutely want to give some points to the author for creativity. Sometimes I feel like I see the same romance premises over and over and I loved that this was unique. I also loved how the author wove some of the characters' conflicts relating to their personal lives into the survival moments. I thought that was done really well.

I don't know if the romance really worked for me. I'm not a fan of second chance, but sometimes I enjoy it if the characters dated when they were young and have done some major maturing before the events of the book, as was the case here. However, I didn't super feel the chemistry between these two and I would have liked to see some more of their relationship in the real world. Are they really in love or are they just trauma bonded now?

Some of the elements of this romance felt a little cliche and predictable. I feel like I've seen this same exact miscommunication over a past breakup time and time again. <spoiler> Also their final miscommunication/third act breakup was solved when Piper realized she accidentally had Wyatt blocked on her phone. This felt a little silly to me. </spoiler> I'm also just not a fan of alternating timelines, it takes me out of the story.

I recognize that a lot of my issues here are personal issues, and other people may totally adore the things I didn't love. I'm definitely going to recommend this to people, but I'm not sure it was for me.

3 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Avon for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

Crash Landing by Annie McQuaid
Annie McQuaid had me hooked from the very first page of Crash Landing. This was an incredibly wonderful read.
The writing, superb. The characters, unforgettable. The storyline, addictive.

Tell me it’s a second chance romance and I will read it, especially if it’s a second chance with a first love. CRASH LANDING has all the elements to suck me in - second chance, forced proximity, childhood friends, first love, with a little bit of survivalist tension. What it lacked, for me, was a connection with the characters. I love books that don’t take themselves too seriously, but this one felt a bit cheesy.

Let’s focus on the positives. What I liked:
🏝️ Dual POV/Dual timeline
🏝️ Tropical setting
🏝️ Wyatt. I would mind being stranded on a tropical island with him. He’s smart, attractive, attentive, and patient.
🏝️ I laughed despite the corniness of some of the dialogue.

I found myself occasionally frustrated with Piper. She couldn’t seem to get out of her own way. It was a challenge to get through the first half of this book, but I’m glad I stuck with it and think this author has lots of potential.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the advance copy in exchange for my unbiased review.

3.25 stars.

"Crash Landing" by Annie McQuaid is a second-chance, friends-to-lovers-to-strangers-to-lovers forced proximity adventure romance with an interesting premise. It requires a little (read: *massive*) suspension of disbelief, but if people can enjoy romances between humans and big blue aliens, then surely they can get behind two former high school sweethearts reuniting because their plane crashed on a deserted island on the way to a mutual friend's wedding..... RIGHT!?!?! Right off the bat, let me get my negatives out of the way. My biggest gripe is that it feels a little too young adult at times. At one point, I even had to go online and make sure this wasn't billed as a YA novel because the prose is pretty juvenile. I think it's because the timeline jumps back and forth between Piper and Wyatt's high school years and their present-day adulthood, but the tonality of the characters remains mostly the same and not super matured over time. I also *loathe* that everything in and about this book stems from and because of, ultimately, one small miscommunication. I am really sick of romance novels that do this, but this book seems like an egregious offender! I did find this novel to be fast-paced and relatively engaging despite all of this. I really liked Wyatt as a character, though Piper was a bit insufferable from time to time. Could she name-drop brand names any harder? Cringe. It felt like some character development was missing for both characters. Despite Piper and Wyatt supposedly being in love with one another since they were teenagers, I found their connection to be surface-level at best. Their connection felt much more physical than it did emotional. Even when they are stuck on a deserted island together, I never got the sense that they were an end-game-worthy couple. Still, I had a decent time reading this, but I won't buy it, and likely won't think about it again.

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

This was a fun debut! I am a sucker for a disaster romance, and a plane crash with your ex leading to being stuck on a desert island definitely worked for me.

It wasn’t a perfect book for me - the romance felt pretty unoriginal (they dated BRIEFLY in high school, he dumped her before leaving for the army since she can do better as a college student, etc etc) and only some of the flashbacks felt like they added anything to the story.

That being said, I found it compulsively readable even if the romance was underdeveloped. I really enjoyed the plane crash and survival portions and pretty much read the whole book in one sitting because I just had to know how they’d survive.

Overall, I’d recommend it if you’re looking for a survival story with a light romance, but not if you’re looking for a really great second chance romance.

I absolutely devoured this book in one day. What a cute second chance romance. I also loved the military/veteran representation of the MMC.
This was the absolute perfect rom-com with cute, angsty moments that I loved. Second chance romance with forced proximity on a deserted island? Yes please!!
**
Thank you Avon and Harper Voyager for the early copy of this book.

What a fun summer romance! I love books that have the childhood friends that had a high school romance and then disconnected and need to reconnect as adults. The plane crash and the deserted island, forcing each character to evaluate their own insecurities, as well as their issues with each other was perfect plus them being stranded on this island added a level of suspense that made you want to keep reading. A perfect debut for this author.

Second chance romance always hit!! This book is so sweet and such a good time. The only tong really holding it back for me was Piper’s personality at times was a little difficult to find relatable. She was giving poor me vibes and did not love that.

Thank you for the arc and chance to read this early!

I was really excited for this romance, seeing as it differed from the usual meet ups and run ins with their exes, but I was really let down. I can sum up most of this book in one word: cringe. The potential was there, but it just felt like a a work in progress and not a completed, edited, rewritten novel. I could not stand that Piper was in med school when she couldn’t stand the sight of blood whatsoever. And the whole trope of the best thing for each other was to break up and not talk about was frustratingly obvious. It was really cheesy and predictable, but I managed to read through it, so for that it gets 2 stars.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the author for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

First, I want to say, with this being a debut romance novel from Annie McQuaid, I was thoroughly impressed. I will definitely be looking forward to more romance stories written by Annie because I ate this one up! It was such a great story line and she really kept you engaged with the back and forth from present day and past flashbacks.

Crash Landing follows 2 ex's who are both on their way to a wedding of their best friend and cousin, Allie. Allie is the best friend of the FMC, Piper and the cousin of the MMC, Wyatt. They run into each other at the airport on the way to the destination wedding, where they find out their flight has been canceled. The only wrench in the situation is they haven't spoken in years and Wyatt completely broke Pipers heart in high school when she thought he was the love of her life. However, Piper does not know the true reason that he broke her heart.

They end up getting a private plane from a friend of Wyatt's to use to try and get to the wedding celebrations on time. Wyatt will be flying the plane with Piper as his passenger (yes, he has flying experience) however, this does not stop them from experiencing a plane crash and ending up on a tropical island together for days.

I absolutely loved the premise of this book and felt like I had never read anything like it before. It kept me wanting to read more and I adored Wyatt and Piper, separately and together. Please pick this up and give it a read! You won't regret it.

This was such a lovely debut romance! This book has to do so much, establish the past relationship between the main characters, introduce the side characters, crash them on an island in the middle of the ocean and then have the two of them try to just...survive in addition to fall in love all over again and get past what broke them up in the past. Even just typing that all out was tiring! I think the book does such a good job of balancing all of these different things and one of the strengths was how weirdly believable it was that these two could crash a plane, survive and care for one another.

The book is told in two timelines with Piper telling us how she and Wyatt fell in love in high school and then in the present with the two of them trying to survive on a deserted island. Piper has a lot to discover about herself and what she wants and I also loved how being on the island not only gave her the strength to go after what she wants romantically but also to decide whether she can disappoint her parents and drop out of med school.

Wyatt is a great character and the moments with him and Piper clicking are really great. I wish there was more of them really trying to get past what happened in the past because I really feel like that deserved more time but overall I really loved their love story.

Thank you so much to Avon and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Piper is on her way to her best friend's wedding in the Bahamas when she runs into Wyatt, the former love of her life who broke her heart 8 years ago. Wyatt is on the way to the same wedding when their flight is canceled. As a last resort, Wyatt, who may be the most capable man in the world, manages to secure a small plane that he plans to pilot to the wedding. He offers Piper a ride, and she reluctantly accepts.

As you can probably guess, the plane crashes on an island in the Caribbean, and Piper and Wyatt are stranded...together.

I am a sucker for second chance romance + forced proximity, and I appreciated the alternating timelines. I thought the storyline was unique too - not something you'd expect in a romance, but it really worked. I think Piper's character was very relatable too. She feels a lot of pressure from her parents to follow their rules and to live her life a certain way, and she's scared to make significant changes, even though she knows she'd be happier if she took the leap. I found her mother's antics VERY frustrating, which I attribute to good writing!

On the other hand, I did find the writing and description repetitive at times, particularly in the present day storyline. This is reflected in my rating. Regardless, I enjoyed this debut from Annie McQuaid! I will keep my eyes out for more from this author.

“So am I your girlfriend again?”
“No.”
“You’re my everything”

Thank you to @avonbooks and @netgalley for gifting me an advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

If you enjoy forced proximity and the idea of being stranded on an island with your one true love then this might be the book for you!

Former sweethearts, Piper and Wyatt, find themselves stranded after their plane crashes on a deserted island. They must work together to overcome obstacles as well as past hurts all while learning to trust each other once again.

I love second chance romance because of the history the couple brings to the story. These are characters that truly know one another and have a deep and strong connection. While there were parts of this one that felt pretty far-fetched and super cliche to me, I was still rooting for Piper and Wyatt the whole time.

Read if you like:

Forced proximity
Second chance
Dual Timelines
Survival romance
Adventure rom-com

Second chance romance via a crash landing on a deserted island in the Caribbean… Yes, it works!

But for real, this is a story of second chance, romance of best friends who let miscommunication and class disparities keep them apart the first time. I really enjoyed this story. Once you engage your suspension of disbelief, I found it very enjoyable. I’m a sucker for romance on a deserted island ever since my childhood watches of Blue Lagoon (which are super problematic now lol). I was rooting for Piper and Wyatt from the get go. Plus, I love a dual timeline romance.

Thank you #Netgalley for the ARC and exchange for an honest review.

I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for allowing me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is perfection in every aspect! To begin my review, I must mention how much I admire the cover; it instantly caught my eye, and I appreciated the entire design, from the title's presentation to the color palette and character illustrations. As for the story, I was captivated by the author's skill in seamlessly blending the past and present into a unified narrative that remained engaging and clear throughout. The characters were wonderfully crafted, and I found myself wishing I could be friends with them. Their depth and the way they reacted to various events allowed readers to connect with them on a personal level. Overall, I believe this book serves as a masterclass in writing a unique and refreshing second chance romance that avoids clichés and maintains interest. In summary, I am grateful for the opportunity to read this work and will certainly seek out more from this author if they continue to write in the future!

Crash Landing takes the forced proximity trope to the next level! A debut romance about two exes forced to reunite when a plane crash leaves them stranded on a deserted island.

The flow of this book was good - it bounced back and forth between present time and the past but not in a jarring way which I enjoyed. I liked the build up of story-telling where we learn what went wrong when the two main characters first fell in love to now.

I'll be showing my age but I remember watching 'The Blue Lagoon' when I was young and imagining being trapped on an island - so I definitely referenced these vibes when envisioning these characters stuck on a tropical island.

The meddling mom really struck a nerve (but I suppose we needed some sort of antagonist right?) - the crappy parent trope gets old though.

All in all, this one held my interest and kept me invested. Good debut book!
Rounding up to 4 stars.

Thank you Avon and Harper Voyager for my copy! All thoughts are my own.

I get very excited to read debut authors and I was very excited, as a LOST lover, for this concept. Unfortunately, this book didn’t work for me. Overall, it felt underwritten and overwritten at the same time. Some of the writing didn’t feel natural and it made it difficult for me to get lost in the story. It’s a relatively easy read so hopefully it finds the right audience!

Synopsis:

“Piper Adams is completely, totally, one hundred percent over Wyatt, the former love of her life. At least, that’s what she tells herself. After he broke her heart, she stopped taking risks and focused instead on building a perfect—and perfectly safe—life. But bumping into Wyatt at the airport on the way to her best friend’s destination wedding wasn’t part of the plan. Neither was a canceled flight nor Wyatt’s offer of a ride on the tiny plane he’s flying to attend the same event. Desperate to make it on time, she accepts his offer, but things go from awkward to full-blown nightmare when their plane crashes in the Caribbean, stranding Piper on a deserted island with the last person she ever wanted to see again.

At first, rule-following Piper clashes with adventure-driven Wyatt, but as the days tick by, she can see the boy she once loved has grown into a man. A man who makes her laugh, knows his way around a fire, and is annoyingly hot shirtless. A man she could love again. As the chemistry still simmering between them boils over, Piper begins wishing Wyatt was more than just a survival partner. But for their love to survive a second chance, she’ll have to not only trust Wyatt again, but also learn to trust herself and find the courage to let go of her carefully curated life for the chance at something far greater—if they can survive the island long enough for rescue.” —NetGalley

What I Liked:

The Trope—I love second chance romance so much and I haven’t read one in quite some time.

The Dual TImeline—Second chance romance with a dual timeline is one of my weaknesses! I really liked how the author used the device in this novel.

What Didn’t Work for Me:

The Writing—It just felt clunky and unnatural.

Character’s Dialogue—It felt like they just kept having the same conversation over and over again without there being miscommunication, just a refusal to hear each other. I also found the execution of their initial break up kind of cruel, making it hard to redeem the characters.

Character Authenticity: 3/5 Spice Rating: 2/5 Overall Rating: 2.5/5

Content Warnings:

blood, plane crash, injury, hospitals

I've never read a second chance romance quite like this one! Crash Landing had a couple of high school exes reuniting on a plane ride to a wedding both are attending and are stranded on an island when the plane crashes. There's a bit of angst due to their shared past and breakup, but it's not too much angst. We get flashback scenes showing their relationship when in HS and what happened between them. It's quite an adventure and a really fun debut romance from Annie McQuaid. Thanks Avon for the ARC!