I love this author. I have read a lot by this author and have loved every book I have come across. I was sucked into this book from the first page and wished I had more story to read.

If Emma St Clair writes it, I will read it. I loved this story with deep characters, real emotions and wonderful banter. Plus, it's just great writing, with evocative descriptions and great pacing.

I loved how, despite the wrong impression Josie and Wyatt had of each other at the beginning of the book, we saw how they got to know each other and both grew and changed. Josie thought Wyatt hated her, and she wasn't his biggest fan, but then we got to his POV! I really enjoyed how in Wyatt's POV chapters early on, he never outright admits to himself/the reader how he feels about Josie, but we pick it up pretty quickly in his emotional reactions to her, the details about her that he observes, and his memories from the past. That is writing mastery!

These two got into some hilarious situations (the fever honesty, the poison ivy, the dog outfits), which made for a great balance with the deeper emotions that were expressed and explored. I loved their chemistry! I also thoroughly enjoyed the cameos from Eli and Van from the Appies series.

Tropes:
*forced proximity
*brother's best friend
*past miscommunication
*second chance
*grumpy x sunshine
*flashbacks
*injured hockey player MMC
*nurse FMC
*dual POV

Content warning: estranged relationship with father and brother, emotional manipulation and neglect of father (past), recounting of past attempted sexual assault, light innuendo
Intimacy rating: 2 (makeouts)

Thank you Emma St Clair, NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Fiction for the copy of the book. I received a complimentary copy, and all opinions expressed in this review are my own.

If All Else Sails: A Novel
Thomas Nelson (August 5, 2025)

A 5 🌟 read for me
🏒 Wyatt embodies the qualities I admire in a man: he is strong, self-controlled, protective, loving, and sensitive to his partner's needs. Plus, he’s also a hockey player, which adds to his charm!
👩‍⚕️ Josie is truly wonderful. She’s independent and capable of handling life on her own, yet she also embraces the support and comfort her partner offers. I appreciate her nurturing spirit as a caregiver; it adds depth to her character.

I absolutely loved the setting and was captivated by the chemistry between Josie and Wyatt. Their “meet cute” at the “Murder Cottage,” where she almost got arrested, was both original and entertaining. The story is filled with hilarious moments that kept me laughing. The witty banter was outstanding, and I’ve even adopted the phrase “fever flirting” into my everyday vocabulary! This book is truly fabulous, and I can't recommend it highly enough. This is a delightful, clean romance that you can enjoy alongside your teens and young adults. Both leads showed remarkable respect for each other, presenting a great example of the qualities young girls should seek in a partner.

I received a complimentary e-copy of this book and read it with pleasure. I was under no obligation to leave a positive review. Thank you, Thomas Nelson and NetGalley.
#NetGalley #ifallelsesails

If All Else Sails by Emma St. Clair should be an automatic read for fans of fun, sweet, clean romances. It is a fast paced read with quick, witty banter between the main characters. It would be a great summer read. I give this book a 5 star read!

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

WOW! Another fantastic book by Emma St Clair, I absolutely loved this enemies to more story! So happy to see Wyatt (a former Appie) get his story, and Josie, a nurse at an elementary school. I laughed at the funny meet-cute that they had, so hilarious. Wyatt is grumpy and Josie is sweet and spunky. I loved the fun, witty banter between them, made for some good laughs. I loved the storyline and how it moved along, the slow burn built perfectly and kept me entertained all the way. Wonderful characters, even the side characters who added so much to the story. Fantastic story you don’t want to miss.

Thanks NetGalley & Thomas Nelson Publishing for the ARC!!
This was such a cute closed-door romance! I really enjoyed the characters. They were so fun, lots of cute banter between the main characters and some ridiculous moments that brought humor to it as well. Definitely worth the read!!
Wyatt is a grumpy hockey player who is dealing with an injury and is refusing to go to appointments or do his physical therapy. Although Wyatt is a grumpy character, he is very likable. I love that he realizes, he just struggles to talk to Josie and it always comes out worse. So, although Josie thought he hated her, the reader has an understanding of where Wyatt stands. I really like Josie, too! She was a fun character. She's an elementary school nurse and as she's trying to help. Wyatt. They joke about him being similar to the kids she helps. I really enjoyed this story and read it so quickly!

I was intrigued by the sailing premise and excited to dive into another Emma St. Clair title.

It started off strong and had good energy and then something shifted. I was bored and struggling to get through it. unfortunately, I didn’t connect with either character.

His mom showing up and randomly taking her for a shopping spree before going to the country club was shown as a positive “pretty woman” kind of experience - when really it read like what she’d brought to wear wasn’t good enough and she manipulated our FMC into changing just to go to lunch. Bizarre.

It was great to see some cameos from characters from the Appies series!

I skimmed much of the last half of the book and have decided to DNF at 87%.

I will continue to read Emma St. Clair - but this one wasn’t for me

Thank you to Net Galley and Thomas Nelson for the chance to read this eArc of If All Else Sails in exchange for an honest review.

4/5 stars. This was so cute! Perfect summery vibes, great banter and so many of my favorite tropes. I highly recommend this one for the summer. Thank you to NetGalley for the arc

If you love playful banter and shenanigans in your romcom, you will enjoy this story about a brother’s best friend who is a hockey player and the sister who is a nurse. I thought the setting of a coastal town and taking a trip on the intracoastal waterway was really unique!

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the ARC.

Loved it! Fans of slow burn, laugh out loud moments, he is grumpy, enemies to lovers (at least she thinks so), kisses in the rain
TV Rating: PG (disturbing themes-sexual harassment (brief) in past)

Classic Emma St Clair humor! Loved the emotional aspects of this romance! Definitely a great summer rom-com to add to your tbr!

This was such a perfectly sweet summer read! In this favorite trope-filled book Josie is tricked by her brother into taking care of his best friend/client/star hockey player, Wyatt, who is recovering from a knee injury. As the summer progresses will we see Wyatt get back his health and maybe get Josie too?

Enemies to lovers, brother’s best friend and forced proximity are just a few of the tropes you can look forward to in Josie and Wyatt’s love story. I honestly wasn’t sure how I would feel about this one in the beginning but now I’m kicking myself for waiting so long to read it. It wasn’t cheesy in the way I anticipated and I actually really enjoyed how everything played out. Their chemistry was there from the beginning and I only wish they got together a little sooner in the book. I liked that they had the sailing trip as a journey together and it was fun seeing how well they worked together. Little Jib was also such a cute addition-I’m a sucker for a dog!!!

Overall, super cute book and would definitely recommend for a nice and light summer read. Thanks as always to Net Galley, the publisher and the author for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinions ☺️

Set sail with Josie and Wyatt on August 5th, 2025!

Josie’s brother, Jacob is in big trouble. He bailed on their summer trip, except he didn’t.

The summer trip was a cover to get Josie to Wyatt’s house. Wyatt, Jacob’s best friend and client, is a professional hockey player who is recovering from a foot injury and is struggling, both physically and mentally. Josie is a school nurse, and had time to kill & could use the money earned from a home care gig. Win-win, right?

Guess again. Neither Josie nor Wyatt had any idea about this plan. They started off on the wrong foot, considering they were both blindsided by Jacob. Wyatt’s goal this summer is to set sail as a tribute to his late uncle. Josie’s goal this summer is to not murder her problematic patient.

Can they fix this summer before time sails away?

I absolutely loved this book. It’s a cute enemies to lovers/forced proximity story. Loved both of the main characters. My favorite parts - sailing & a darling dog named Jib. This is a perfect read for someone who is looking for a low spice, highly adorable romance.

☀️ grumpy x sunshine
⛵ enemies to lovers
🐶 brothers best friend
💛 clean romance

Josie is on her way for the annual Super Summer Sibling Extravaganza, but when she arrives at the address she is shocked. Her brother is nowhere to be seen and now she is alone at the creepy cottage. When she calls her brother Jacob to ask what's going on, he tells her it was all a ploy to get her to care for his client and best friend, Wyatt.

Wyatt is a famous hockey player and is now recovering from an injury on his foot. Josie has always hated Wyatt from the first time her brother took him home years ago. After some negotiations and money, Josie is persuaded to care for Wyatt for a few weeks.

After these few weeks, Josie started to like caring for Wyatt and decided to go with him on a sailing trip he was planning. This trip wasn’t smooth sailing. Every step of the way something went wrong, but with every step, or rather misstep they learned more about each other and got to know each other better.
Will they still hate each other after this trip or has this trip changed their feelings?

OMG! I loved this book so much. It was funny, cute and sweet but sometimes it was also serious. This book has everything I want in a book.
It felt like I was flying through the book. There was always something happening and there was never a dull moment.
I’m absolutely in love with the characters. I liked them all so much. The banter and the chemistry between Josie and Wyatt was amazing.
This is my first book by Emma St. Clair but I will definitely be reading more of her book. I recommend this book to anyone.

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Fiction for the ARC. All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

While having nothing to do with the author, I have been finding myself so annoyed recently with authors maing every love interest famous in some capacity. The story would've worked just fine without needing for Wyatt (?) to be a famous hockey star. Like, why does everyone have to be famous these days, my god? Other than that little tidbit, I think the book was good. Not my favorite read ever, but enjoyable nonetheless. I just wished there was more real drama, because the little drama that was there was brushed over quickly and very random, in my opinion.

If All Else Sails is full of Emma St. Clair's signature wit and banter, I have yet to be dissapointed by one of her novels.

The hilarity of the opening scenes combined with the superior character development had me devouring this book within 24 hours.

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing the opportunity to read this ARC!

If All Else Sails* presents an enemies-to-lovers romance featuring Josie, a school nurse, and her brother's best friend, Wyatt, a hockey player. Following an injury, Josie's brother persuades her to care for Wyatt during his recovery.
Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy *If All Else Sails* as much as I had hoped. I struggled to connect with both Wyatt and Josie, and I didn’t feel the chemistry between them. The story didn’t fully engage me.

I really genuinely enjoyed this book. I didn't know too much going into it but I'm thankful to have been given an ARC. I have to say it's really the best feeling ever when a book does NOT have a third act break up! To be honest, this book was pretty low drama throughout. I liked the relationships between Josie and her brother. I am a SUCKER for a man who has been down bad since the beginning and the FMC just has no clue at all. This book was cozy and good vibes all around. It was the nice short calm read I needed in between my other very stressful books. The only thing I didn't really love was the male narrator. He wasn't a bad narrator I just felt that his voice sounded much older than the character was supposed to be and it really interfered with how I pictured him. I would 100% read another book from this author, in fact I'm kind of hoping that she has something up her sleeve for Josie's brother.

Wyatt’s story! While not technically part of the Apple series, If All Else Sails tells the story of Wyatt (former Appie mentioned in the books) and Josie, his best friend’s sister. After injuring his foot Wyatt needs someone to help out; Jacob (agent/best friend) sends his sister Josie. A wonderful novel about family, forgiveness, and love. Great cameos of the Appoes too!

A sweet story, but not one that stayed with me!

If All Else Sails was a cute and enjoyable read while I was in it. Emma St. Clair has a lovely, easy writing style, and I appreciated the gentle pacing and heartfelt moments throughout the story. The romance was slow-burn and clean, and there were definitely scenes that made me smile.

That said, I struggled to feel deeply invested in the characters or their journey. While I liked them, I didn’t quite feel them—and once I finished the book, I realized it probably won’t stick with me in the long run.

This is still a well-written, feel-good romance that I think many readers will enjoy. It just didn’t leave a lasting impression for me personally.

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Fiction for the E-Arc in exchange for my honest thoughts.