Love this author and love the Appies, so I was so excited when I saw this book.
It has some good moments, a lot of classic tropes. There were some funny scenes (like the pigs and the dr), sweet moments (the dancing and the dog) and a couple protective/jealous and some encouraging ones. Wyatt is the Grumpy to Josie’s sunshine. It has a brothers best friend kinda vibe too, with some grief and trauma to work through together.

He fell first, and I feel like it took her a bit long to work it all out, but a RomCom worth reading. 4⭐️


I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book was so good! I really loved the characters and how well developed they were! I enjoyed reading their story!

After standing her up for their annual sibling trip, Josie's brother calls in a favor. He convinces her to stay and use her nursing skills on his friend who is recovering from an injury. Wyatt is the stereotypical grump and has no interest in having Josie help him recover from his injury. Well, they strike up a deal where if he works on his recovery, she will sail down the Intercoastal Highway with him before summer is up.

Grumpy/Sunshine
Nurse/Patient
Forced Proximity
Brother's Best Friend

I loved how patient Wyatt was as Josie had to navigate through her misunderstandings about Wyatt. And when she was ready, she poured herself out to him and he just listened. I loved that. The forced proximity trope truly was the star of the show.

Emma St. Clair will continue to be an auto-read author of mine. However, it felt like the plot was following one trope into another without ironing it out. This made a choppy story. The first half felt like a different story compared to the second half. I feel like the second half felt stronger as a story and as a romance. Not only that, but Josie as a nurse vs Josie sailing felt very different. Both of them overcame something (Nurse Josie with her brother's almost death and Sailing Josie with her past relationship experience), but it seemed glossed over a little bit. Brother wise: I don't like that she truly catered to him and he could do no wrong. I wish there was a heart to heart about their relationship instead of her relationship with Wyatt.

Thank you Netgalley and Thomas Nelson for the arc in exchange for my review.

I loved this book. So much so that I forced myself to sit it down to prolong how long it took me to read it because I didn’t want to be done with the story and characters.

I was smiling and chuckling from page 1. Emma St. Clair must be incredibly witty in person to have written the witty internal and external monologues and banter in this. I want to be her friend now.

I also happen to LOVE the grumpy male MC trope (maybe because I’m married to one myself 😂) and the chemistry between these two characters was felt immediately while still keeping it clean and closed door.

I also enjoyed each of the secondary characters in this book.

If you like:
💕clean
💕closed door
💕 rom-com
💕 forced proximity
💕 grump + sunshine
💕 animals
💕 athlete MC
💕 wit
Add this to your TBR pronto!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

"If All Else Sails" a cute enemies-to-lovers romance following school nurse Josie and injured hockey player, Wyatt.

What starts as a week-long favor turns into an unexpected adventure as they sail down the Intracoastal Waterway.
Josie and Wyatt have good chemistry. Their witty banter and bickering really helping to set the "close proximity with the hot person I hate" tone of their adventure.

While the pacing can feel slow at times, the engaging dialogue and character dynamics make it worth the read.

Emma St. Clair's writing shines in the moments of humor and tension, making this a charming and heartwarming tale of love and self-discovery

Overall, "If All Else Sails", is a fun and heartwarming read.

If you like: brother’s best friend, slow-burn, clean romance,

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas Nelson fiction for the e-arc. I absolutely devoured this book in essentially one sitting.

What I loved
- Josie and Wyatt! Both were fully realised characters which made their thought processes, anxieties and hesitations easy to understand.
- the 70/30 Josie to Wyatt pov split. Wyatt’s pov = 🧑‍🍳💋
- the sport romance element. I don’t really consider this a sports romance in the traditional sense. Wyatt’s career was obviously an integral element to the story but hockey itself really took a backseat to sailing ⛵️. If anything I wish there was a little more focus on the journey

Things to note:
- it is a slower romance than my go-tos, with a lot of internalised conflict mostly from Josie’s end. I thought it was handled really well in this book, but it does slow the pace down a bit in the last quarter

Overall I would recommend as a really lovely summer romance read ☀️

Emma St. Clair is one of my auto-read authors. She knows how to craft a story that sweeps you away with humor and hope, carries you along with heart and delivers you and the characters safely and happily to the end. Wyatt and Josie are exactly the adorable people you expect to meet in her books and of course it wouldn't be an Emma St. Clair novel without a wacky animal story. (Beware of the murder pigs, y'all!) For heavens sake, do yourself a favor and read it already!

Wyatt Jacobs is a cranky, injured hockey player who just lost one of the most important people in his world. When he sinks into depression and refuses to do the therapy he needs to recover his health and career, his agent/best friend send in the big guns…his sister Josie. A nurse who met him before he was famous, she’s a blast from his past who shows up to rock the boat.

I loved how the reader is initially set up to believe that most of the character growth in this story will be Wyatt’s experience. However, the longer the story goes on, the more you realize that Josie has a lot of growing to do, as she realizes how much she misunderstood from their first encounters, and how those misperceptions clouded her judgment and understanding of Wyatt’s interactions with her.

Tropes include:
- Enemies to Lovers (lots of misunderstandings!)
- Hockey Player
- Nurse and Patient
- Hilarious Dog (in a bikini!)
- He falls first
- Grumpy MMC
- Childhood history together
- Best friend’s sister

When Wyatt Jacobs showed up in the Appies series, I really, REALLY hoped that we would someday get to read his story, and it was everything I had hoped for! There are a few trigger warnings – death of a family member, dysfunctional/abusive parental interaction, and some described memories of a sexual assault attempt. All of these are in the past when the story opens, and they’re described in a way that helps to shape the understandings of the main characters.

This book was everything I wanted it to be, and it even included a couple of the other Appies players, so I’m delighted that I got a chance to read it!

The love story of Josie and Wyatt flowed easily with lighthearted banter and heart to heart conversations. It was easy to fall in love with Wyatt's grumpy demeanor and Josie's anxious personality. Fun read that will help you escape reality for a bit!

This was such a cute book! I love Emma St. Clair books, so I knew this would be a good one. I couldn’t put it down and read the whole book in one day. I love the witty lines/banter and the overall writing style of the book. My only wish is that it could have been a bit “steamier.” In the romance department. It certainly felt like a slow burn. Otherwise, great book!

Josie has been sure her brother’s best friend Wyatt has hated her since the moment they met. Every interaction they’ve had over the years has been awkward, stilted and sometimes even disastrous.

When Wyatt’s professional hockey career is threatened by an off-season injury, Josie’s brother convinces her to spend a month with Wyatt nursing him back to health. As the two spend the summer together, first in Wyatt’s tiny run-down cabin and then on a sailboat, it starts to seem like maybe Wyatt doesn’t hate Josie at all. Perhaps, his feelings are the exact opposite.

Tropes:
Grumpy (him)/Sunshine (her)
Brother’s best friend
Forced Proximity
It’s Always Been You

This is a sweet closed door romance (no on page sex). I’ve read quite a few Emma St Claire books and they are always swoony, sweet love stories with a satisfying happily ever after

Brothers Best Friend. Grump/Sunshine. Slow Burn. Sort of enemies to lovers. Sweet. Funny. Charming. Engaging characters. Great writing. The setting was amazing and makes me want to go sailing. Emma St. Clair wrote a great romance in this book. It's a fun, summery, warm, nostalgic, cozy read. When I say slow burn though, I mean slow. Which I actually enjoyed here but then the ending felt slightly rushed and abrupt but still enjoyable. Romance readers will adore this story.

This book is about Josie and Wyatt who is her brother's best friend. He had serious injury and was really bad mentally and physically so Jacob who is his manager and Josie's brother sends Josie to help him recover.

If I needed to show my perfect slow-burn, brother's best friend, enemies to lovers book this is it. This book is so charming and funny I can't even explain my love for this book. This writer is describing their feelings and thoughts so good.

Set in Virginia then along the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW), school nurse Josie helps her sport agent brother's star athlete Wyatt recover from a foot injury before sailing together down to Savannah. This is a sports adjacent romance, since this is set during summer (not hockey season). This features Emma St Clair's charming writing and some of my favorite tropes!

Some things I loved:
⛵ Grumpy MMC
⛵ Forced Proximity
⛵ Brother's Best Friend
⛵ One Bed
⛵ He falls first
⛵ Slow burn
⛵ Miscommunication ("foot-in-mouth disease")
⛵ Cameos from other Appies (check out this series if you haven't yet!)
⛵ Adorable animal side character

5 / 5 stars

Closed door / kissing only and no profanity

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for this eARC!

Thank you, Netgalley and Thomas Nelson Publishing, for an E-Arc copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Emma St.Clair is an author that I read automatically. I was so excited for this new book from her and it was such a fun and sweet romance story. It has brother friend, forced proximity, enemies to lovers; he falls first tropes all in one great story. Wyatt got hurt and wasn't able to play hockey for a while, Josie is tricked into going and helping her brother's friend, who she doesn't like, while he is injured. While being forced to spend the summer together, they begin to bond over sailing. Wyatt was set to go on a sailing trip before he got hurt, and the only way he can go now is if Josie comes with him. Over the summer, they both begin to have a great friendship and relationship. It was a sweet romance.

#IfAllElseSails #Netgalley

I loved this book!
It was such a sweet story and it had the perfect amount of slow burn.
Even with it being no spice you could feel the romantic tension between the two characters.
It was funny, charming and the storyline was fantastic, I was hooked.
The anxiety representation in this book was spot on, I felt a real connection to the FMC and her struggles with it.
The world was so immersive, I really felt pulled in by the whole book.
Would highly recommend ✨

If you are a follower of the Appies series by Emma St.Clair and Jenny Proctor, buy this book now. If you aren't a fan of this series - today is your lucky day as you not only get this great book but you can go back and read other books in the series. Reading those books aren't necessary for reading this story, but if you fall in love with it, this is highly important info!

Loved the story, it had funny parts, it had drama, it had romance. It's a great book to curl up with. The characters were well written and not 1 dimensional. Definitely a good rom com - Can't wait for the next one.

I receive complimentary books for various sources, including Netgalley, Authors, and other such sources. I am not required to write a positive review and have not received compensation.

This book is perfect for book clubs. There are so many great tropes that work well together. Story is a swoony, fun, sweet romance. The ending felt a little rushed but overall I enjoyed the story a lot.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own

This book is prime rom com material. Especially at the beginning, I particularly enjoyed the introduction to Wyatt at the murder cottage and the fever/poison oak incident. There’s no third act breakup and the brothers best friend trope is done nicely with no dramatics

What a fun book! I love Emma St. Clair’s writing style. All the delicious wit and banter and none of the spice. That’s not to say there’s no tension or swoon. Just the perfect combination.

My favorite quote was —
“But perhaps love is being the exact right size of drill bit to tighten the other person’s very specific loose screws.” Haha! But so many good lines!

I loved the sassiness Josie exhibited through all her misfortunate experiences, like being trapped in the back of a cop car in the sweltering heat with no A/C, pigs, etc. she was a great FMC.

Wyatt was the perfect grump, unintentionally throwing out insults when he meant the opposite. Yet he was so understanding, caring and patient with Josie.

If you’re looking for entertainment with sweet slow burn romance this is it.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. All thoughts are my own.