🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 (5/5 stars)

Enemies to lovers + one grumpy hockey player + one feisty school nurse = pure summer romcom gold. 🏒💘⛵

When Josie arrives at a rundown cottage instead of the promised sibling getaway, she’s greeted not by family, but by Wyatt—her brother’s injured hockey-star best friend and her sworn nemesis. Add in a forced summer together, unexpected sailing adventures, and a whole lot of unresolved tension, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a slow-burn that sizzles. 😤🔥❤️

This story has everything: sarcastic banter, emotional depth, "grumpy x sunshine" energy, and a sailboat road trip that’s both hilarious and heartfelt. Watching Josie and Wyatt go from barely tolerating each other to something way deeper was such a satisfying, swoon-filled ride. 🛶💬💞

The chemistry? Off the charts. The emotional growth? So real. The side of laughter, longing, and late-night confessions? Chef’s kiss. 👩‍⚕️🍲✨

If you love forced proximity, slow-burn tension, and romance with heart and heat, this one’s your next five-star favorite. It’s tender, funny, and utterly unputdownable. 📚💖⛵

Brothers best friend. Grumpy/sunshine. Hockey player albeit without any official hockey.

Things I loved about this book:
1. Wyatt! Oh my. He was such a dream boat! Coming from Josie’s perspective that he hates her to his perspective… loved him.
2. Josie was such a delightful character with how she faced hard things but was able to look past her preconceived notions about Wyatt and herself.
3. Josie’s brother Jacob and how he was a true friend to Wyatt.
4. The sailing adventure- the dog outfits and the people they met along the way.
5. Wyatt’s mom— she was delightful!

Favorite Quotes:
And I remember every word she’s ever spoken to me. Just like I remember every one I’ve said to her, all of which somehow came out of my mouth wrong.

“It’s the way he looks at you,” Eli says. “Like you’re all he sees.” “Or wants to see,” Van agrees.

“My last name looks good on you, Rookie. Maybe we can find a way to keep it there.”

“Because what I want—what I’ve always wanted with you—is everything.”

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

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5

Tropes:
🛥️ Enemies To Lovers
🛥️ Slowburn
🛥️ Brothers Best Friend
🛥️ Grumpy x Sunshine

Josie is a school nurse and severely under qualified to help hockey player Wyatt rehab his potentially career ending injury, her brother Jacob however has other plans…

I ate this book up, it was such an easy read and such a phenomenal slow burn. Wyatt is grumpy and Josie is the sun he needs to scare away his dark clouds. I am a big fan of Emma St Clair’s contributions to the Appie’s series, so I thoroughly enjoyed Eli and Van making a cameo.

Such a great easy mood read, the banter was so good and the pacing was done incredibly well. I am hoping we get a Jacob book in the future ( with more cameos pls) I would love to see him reform his player ways and have to ask Josie for advice.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Fiction for the ARC.

I don't even really know what to say about this one. It wasn't the worst romance I have ever read but it didn't particularly stand out from the others either. The characters weren't anything to write home about but I found their trip and the blossoming of their friendship and relationship to be somewhat enjoyable. I was hoping to feel the tension between them, but I think that the book lacked showing us the chemistry between Josie and Wyatt. It's a fine reading but I probably won't think twice about this book.

If you’re into enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, and tons of banter, may I recommend If All Else Sails?

Josie thinks she’s showing up for a fun sibling weekend and instead lands at a rundown cottage with Wyatt, the grumpy hockey player (!!!) she can’t stand, who also happens to be her brother’s best friend (fave trope alert!) and client. Josie’s stuck helping Wyatt recover from an injury (screaming rn), and soon she finds herself navigating tight spaces, awkward moments, and a whole lot of canned food.

The chemistry between these two is *chef’s kiss,* from hilarious bickering to heartwarming moments as they slowly start to fall for each other. The boat trip to scatter ashes adds a unique twist and an emotional depth to this book that I was looking for.

It’s a fun, sweet read with just enough tension to keep you hooked. Definitely a perfect summer read if you're in the mood for a sweet, heartwarming romcom.

This is a cute story about a school nurse who is duped into taking care of her brother's loathsome but pitifully injured hockey player friend.

I enjoyed all the banter and the slow and steady progression of the relationship. I love getting in the character's heads, though there were a few times when I got lost in the inner monologue between pieces of dialogue.

I'm so glad this was a dual POV - I loved getting both perspectives, which eventually led to all the secret mutual pining. 🤌🏼 Though, of course, it also had me silently screaming at them to talk to each other about how they feel!

The setting of the book is fun, from the murder cottage to the sailboat. It made me want to get out in the sunshine! This would be a great summertime read. ☀️

Tropes to look forward to:
⛵ Brother's Best Friend
⛵ Grumpy x Sunshine
⛵ (One-Sided) Enemies to Lovers
⛵ Forced Proximity
⛵ Only One Bed (clean)

💕: kisses, mild innuendo
⚠️: abandonment by family, brief description of past abuse

Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas Nelson Publishing for allowing me to read and review this eARC.

Loved this book!!! It was absolutely adorable, a very unique yet believable plot, and as always with Emma st. Clair, great writing!!! I would recommend this to anyone looking to escape and be happy for awhile!

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Fiction Publishing. This is such a cute little romance. I’m absolutely in love with Josie and Wyatt I’m sad this books is over! This book had me giggling and kicking my feet the whole time. Wyatt is the perfect grumpy but sweet MMC and Josie is quirky sunshine. I will never be able to look at a hockey stick without laughing and thinking of rouge pigs 😂 I can’t wait to read more of what Emma St. Clair writes!

Josie thinks she is meeting up with her brother for their annual siblings trip, but she is surprised when the address he sends her to is actually occupied by his best friend and hockey superstar Wyatt. Wyatt is recovering from an injury and Josie's brother convinces her to stay and help with his recovery -- even though Josie and Wyatt have never gotten along in the past. As they spend time together feelings start to change, and it all is heightened when the two head out on a sailing adventure together.

This was a great slow burn romance with enemies to lovers, forced proximity, and brother's best friend tropes. I loved the chemistry and banter between Wyatt and Josie and appreciate the sibling relationships shown as well.

I would absolutely recommend this as a fun summer read!

4.5⭐️Obsessed with this cozy cottage/boat romance! I zoomed through it. I love when a book has dual first-person POVs. It adds such depth to the characters and their relationship. Josie being a school nurse was fun and relatable at times too! And there’s a dog! Sign me up.

Side note I love Josie and Wyatt’s names.

Huge thank you to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for the ARC!

𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪 𝗢𝗙 𝗜𝗙 𝗔𝗟𝗟 𝗘𝗟𝗦𝗘 𝗦𝗔𝗜𝗟𝗦 𝗕𝗬 𝗘𝗠𝗠𝗔 𝗦𝗧. 𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗜𝗥: 3.5/5 𝓢𝓣𝓐𝓡𝓢 ⭐️

This book wasn’t quite what I expected—but in a good way. I picked it up thinking I’d get a lighthearted, maybe tropey grumpy/sunshine romance, and while it was sweet and had its cute, funny moments (Wyatt and Jib the dog totally stole my heart), it also surprised me with how real and emotionally resonant it turned out to be.

Josie is a school nurse who ends up caring for her brother’s grumpy, injured best friend Wyatt, a former hockey player with a wounded pride (and knee). She’s prickly, sarcastic, independent—and underneath it all, so deeply vulnerable. She’s also a nurse who loves books… just like me. There were so many times while reading when I caught myself thinking, 𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵, 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘦? The way she talks, the way she processes emotions, even her banter—it felt so familiar that I had to pause and sit with it.

⚠️ 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐒𝐞𝐱𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐮𝐥𝐭 (𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲)
There’s one scene that hit me 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥. Josie opens up to Wyatt about something that happened to her when she was younger. She brushes it off—says, “nothing actually happened,” and that it’s worse for other women. And when I tell you I 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 that? I mean it. I’ve had something similar happen to me as a teenager, and I’ve never talked about it. When it does come up, I do the same thing—minimize it, try to convince myself it wasn’t that bad. Seeing Josie say those exact words made me feel so 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 and understood in a way I honestly wasn’t prepared for. And Wyatt’s response? That trauma doesn’t need to be compared to others to matter? That it hurt her, and that’s enough? It felt like something I needed to hear but didn’t know I did. That scene alone brought tears to my eyes.

The romance itself is soft and patient. Wyatt is a cinnamon roll in a grumpy shell—loyal, protective, and surprisingly emotionally intelligent. There’s this quiet steadiness about him that makes him easy to love, even if I sometimes wished I could see more from 𝘩𝘪𝘴 perspective. I also felt like parts of the story dragged a little, especially in the middle, and I wanted more tension or spark to keep things moving. The ending tied things up nicely, but I wouldn’t have minded a little peek into their future—just a bit more payoff after all that emotional buildup.

Still, I’m glad I read this. It was validating, tender, and unexpectedly personal. Josie’s journey felt like mine in more ways than I expected.

𝐅𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐨𝐭𝐞: “𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦’𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳.”

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺, 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘴 𝘕𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘍𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘌𝘮𝘮𝘢 𝘚𝘵. 𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘊𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.

I have read quite a few Emma St Clair books and she is one of my go to closed door romance authors. She has the ability to get the reader to feel the connection between the characters without any of the typical “descriptions”. I LOVE the nurse / patient trope. The banter between the grumpy MMc and “tells you how it is” FMC is perfection. Emma writes amazing banter. If you are looking for a cute summer rom-com this is it!

4.5 ⭐️

I want to thank netgalley, the publisher and author for allowing me to read this arc.

This is my first book by this author and i really enjoyed it, i had such a good time with this book.
The story is about Josie who is a school nurse and Wyatt who is a hockey player recovering from an injury. It all started with her brother tricking her into thinking they are going on a sibling vacation but she ends up having to take care of Wyatt. He is a bit grumpy and doesnt want the help. I loved the dynamic between Josie and Wyatt and the forced proximity on the sailboat made for some great banter and slowburn tension.
If you like slowburn, brothers best friend, he falls first, forced proximity then this book is for you and i highly recommend it!

Fun story, love the antics! The author does a great job of writing fun, engaging characters with big hearts and real insecurities that are easy to relate to. I enjoyed getting to know Josie and Wyatt, but there were a few small issues that kept the book from being a slam-dunk for me.

I had a hard time getting into the story -- because the title and cover are about sailing, I expected the sailing angle to come up pretty quickly and be a main focus throughout the book. The book does have plenty of sailing, but not until the second half. As chapter after chapter rolled by without anyone getting on a boat, it felt like the story was still going through introductory build-up and not onto the central premise, but that could just be due to my expectations.

I ran into quite a few typos (hopefully those are still being ironed out), and the pacing at times seemed a little off. Several of the scene changes or time jumps were abrupt and jarring.

Lastly, I'm pretty sure that cops don't turn off their cars -- in my understanding, cop cars run a whole bunch of essential electronics that take time to boot up, so cops usually leave the car running throughout their shift (even if they run into a convenience store or take a brief break). Since the hot back seat of a cop car featured so heavily in the first few chapters of the book, every time it came up it pulled me out of the story.

To start out, I have to say I have loved every book I have read by Emma St. Clair. But this one is probably my favorite one of all! It was such a cute romcom and I loved every minute of it.
I definitely recommend you give this a read especially if you love an enemies to lovers romance between a handsome famous hockey player and a kind-hearted school nurse. If you like sailing, there is a lot of that mixed in too. Plus the witty banter and the swoony kisses, this book is sure to make you smile.
This is a closed door romance featuring just kisses and lots of fun flirting. My favorite kind of romance.

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

*Thanks to Netgalley, Thomas Nelson Fiction and Emma St Clair for this Digital Arc Copy*

Okay so, I actually really enjoyed this book. The setting felt realistic and immersive, I found myself constantly wanting to escape into this book and join Josie and Wyatt.

I loved Susan, and how she basically treated Josie like a daughter the minute they met. And she was so funny???? I love when side characters aren’t just there simply for the plot. However, there was one person in this book that annoyed me like no other, no matter what he did; Josie’s brother. Your best friend is recovering from a series injury and you’re more bothered about the career aspect of it??? Please…And the way he treated Josie actually enraged me. That man was so selfish, it was gross.

Loved Josie and Wyatt’s relationship and their banter, I found myself laughing out loud at some points. However, I didn’t quite understand why they were enemies?? But overall this was a cute, funny read, that I would 100% read again.

This book was an unexpected delight. A slow-burn romance that builds tension without crossing into spice territory, it’s sweet, wholesome, and full of charm.

Add in clever chapter titles and well-paced humor, and you’ve got a story that knows how to warm your heart while keeping a smile on your face. Perfect for fans of clean romance that still hits all the right emotional beats.

cute & lovely read! i love the writing style and the characters were super super cute!

definitely recommended for anyone who wants to read a cute romance, it reads easily and you just fly through the book!

DNF at 29% - as much as i really would’ve loved to love this, i think my gut was telling me something when i didn’t feel motivated to pick this up for a good month. the concept was alright… but not interesting enough that i could continue without falling into a slump. i’m sure there are people out there who would enjoy this but i unfortunately wasn’t one of them 😔

If All Else Sails releases on august 5, 2025. thank you to netgalley and thomas nelson fiction for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. i received a complimentary copy of this book and all opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Thank you Emma St. Clair & NetGalley for this ARC. First of all, I absolutely loved this book. Every trope that I love was in this book. Also, I love Wyatt and Josie. Their chemistry and banter is so good. Also, Jib is so cute. I absolutely loved the direction this book took. If you're seeking a heartwarming romance set behind closed doors, complete with an adorable dog and a sports microtrope, this book is for you!