3.5 stars ⭐️ A cute light-hearted summer read full of tension and banter. The author says she wants to “package joy into words” and she did just that! I think this one would have been better as a book versus audio due to the male narrator, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and Zondervan Fiction Audio for a copy of this audiobook.

"If All Else Sails" is such a cutie! Adventure, brother's best friend, dual POV and lots of growth from both characters! The ending felt a bit rushed but aside from that it's a great little escape!

The narrators were great and really brought the story to life! thank you so much to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for this ALC!

Love sets sail of in “If all else sails”. The story line was adorable and continued to have new things pop up that I wasn’t expecting. This was not a book on which I knew what would happen before I actually finished it. I found it hard to follow the male narrator but overall, definitely worth the read. Feel good, happy story!

This is a book that would be better read with your eyeballs vs listening to the audiobooks. The male narrator just sounded so angry the whole book and really pulled you out of the book.

If you could get passed this was still a good summer read.

3 stars(probably would been higher if I read in a different format)

This was such a fun, easy read! I love all of Emma St. Clair's books and this was one no different. Wyatt (a former Appies hockey player) gets hurt and isn't able to play hockey for awhile. He hasn't been taking care of himself, so his friend/agent Jacob sends his sister Josie, who is a school nurse, to help him. She thinks she is going on a siblings trip with her brother, but when she arrives at the address he gives her, her brother is nowhere to be found. Wyatt is a grump and has no interest in having anyone help him recover from his injury, including Josie. After a few days though, they strike up a deal that she will go on a sailing trip with him if he works on his recovery. I loved the slow burn and the banter between them. This is a closed door, no spice romance that I really enjoyed.

I thought the narrators did a great job voicing the characters. Every once in awhile though, the male narrators voice would get really quiet, then all of a sudden really loud.

Thank you to Netgalley, Thomas Nelson Fiction and Zondervan Fiction Audio for the ALC!

Wyatt is an injured NHL player who ironically broke his foot in a game of disc golf and has hunkered down in a remote cabin he inherited from his uncle. He’s jacked with a jawline sharper than glass, but he’s also really grumpy after pining for his best friend’s sister for a decade and doing jack about it because on top of having a bum leg, he’s riddled with foot-in-mouth disease. Josie is an elementary school nurse whose brother bribes her into chaperoning Wyatt’s recovery. She hates tall athletes because of a cryptic ‘who hurt you’ backstory that remains veiled for most of the book, but she doesn’t have to worry about falling for Wyatt because he like, totally hates her. They sail down the Intracoastal Waterway, which I never heard of until this book, and tension aboard runs high as Josie can’t stop lusting after Wyatt’s muscled quads while Wyatt keeps trying to declare himself. The slow burn crawls at a snail’s pace, but it finally pays off with a knee-buckling kiss that has Josie spiraling and Wyatt telling her she looks constipated. If you’re looking for spice, you’ll be left wanting, but the PG entertainment abounds between Josie’s sweaty arrest, pigs crashing parties, and a mangy dog in a tutu. My gut reaction was 3.5-stars, but I’ll round up to 4 for the elusive brother’s clandestine matchmaking efforts and Wyatt keeping his dead uncle’s ashes in a cool whip container. We all grieve differently I guess.

I loved this story very much. The banter was great the side characters really contributed to the plot and I enjoyed the narrators very much. This was funny and heartwarming and I recommend listening to it if you’re looking for a fun and cozy romance story.

I’m DNFing this audiobook at 73% because I CANNOT listen to the male narrator for a second longer. I feel like he’s either yelling at me, or mumbling so quietly I have to turn my volume super high… which is obviously a bad idea when he yells again the next line 🙄

The storyline is sweet, and the characters are lovable. I’ll probably pick it back up in actual book form just to finish the story ❤️

✨Brother’s Best Friend
✨Hockey Romance
✨Grumpy/Sunshine
✨Forced Proximity
✨Cinnamon Roll MMC

This story was super cute! A perfect summer romance where he falls first set half in a forced proximity hockey recovery/nurse relationship and half on a summer sailing trip.

You would like this book if you are looking for a light, low commitment contemporary romance with summer vibes.

Overall I felt like there wasn’t anything new in this book that I haven’t seen so that led me to be a little bored during some parts. Also this was possibly the slowest burn I have read in awhile. They do not admit their feelings until the very end and you hardly get to bask in their relationship with each other.

I enjoyed the audio production and female narrator but I felt like the male narrator parts threw me off a bit. He went from yelling to murmuring quite often.

If All Else Sails is author Emma St. Clair’s first book released by a major publisher. It’s a standalone book but is connected to the independently published Appies hockey romantic comedy series by Emma St. Clair and Jenny Proctor. All of the Appies books are free of profanity and sex scenes, with the romance limited to kissing.

Wyatt Jacobs was introduced in earlier Appies books as a member of the Appies minor-league hockey team, but he was promoted to an NHL team in Boston. Wyatt comes from a wealthy family who own a chain of successful restaurants in the Richmond, Virginia area. Wyatt became close friends with Jacob during college and often went to his home during school breaks. He was attracted to Jacob’s younger sister, Josie, but was told that she was off-limits.

Fast forward a few years and Wyatt is living at his late uncle’s remote cottage in coastal Virginia, recovering from a foot injury. He’s mourning his beloved Uncle Tom and trying to figure out how to renovate this dilapidated structure that he’s inherited. He’s mad at the world and refusing to go to physical therapy for his foot. Whan a young woman unexpectedly appears at his cottage, he calls the police to report a trespasser. He definitely wants to avoid nosy reporters. He’s shocked to learn that the lady is his agent and friend Jacob’s sister, Josie, who he’s had a crush on for years.

Josie is an elementary school nurse in Virginia who is struggling both financially and socially. Her parents sold her childhood home and are travelling the country in their RV. Her older brother, Jacob, is a successful sports agent with famous clients, and a string of affairs. Josie experienced two traumatic events in her youth and is emotionally stunted. She doesn’t date and specifically avoids athletic men. When Jacob invites her to their (sometimes) annual Super Summer Sibling Extravaganza, she is thrilled to be able to reconnect with him. A previous extravaganza was a tropical cruise complete with norovirus, so she’s happy that they will be meeting in coastal Virginia instead. When she arrives at the rundown cottage that looks like a place where a murder has occurred, she’s arrested and put in a police car without air conditioning. When she gets ahold of Jacob, he informs her that he can’t come but he needs her to take care of his buddy, Wyatt, for a few weeks. Josie agrees to stay with Wyatt for four weeks to oversee his recovery after Jacob offers to pay her an exorbitant amount of money, more than she could make from summer school.

Wyatt and Josie get off to a rough start because Wyatt doesn’t want anyone helping him. However Josie’s nursing skills and experience with childish behavior help her figure out how to motivate Wyatt to follow his doctor’s orders and attend physical therapy. When she learns about the history of the cottage and Wyatt’s plans to scatter his uncle’s ashes on a sailing trip to Savannah, Josie offers to accompany him if he will get onboard with the recovery process. She researches sailing, and slowly a friendship forms.

As they sail the Intracoastal Waterway south to Savannah, Georgia, they have many interesting adventures. Josie learns more about Wyatt and discovers that she misunderstood their past encounters. She realizes that he’s not the enemy that she thought he was, and she falls for him. Josie has to work through her past traumas in order for their relationship to deepen.

If All Else Sails is partial romance and partial character development with lots of humor. Both Wyatt and Josie are well-developed, likable people who readers will root for. The scenes are described so vividly that it’s like watching a movie. The reader can absolutely sense Jacob’s matchmaking while both Wyatt and Josie are oblivious. While there are references to a sensitive topic, it’s a realistic scenario for many young women and is explained with care and sensitivity. I really enjoyed this book so much that now I want to go on a sailing drip on the Intracoastal Waterway!

The audiobook is narrated by Andi Arndt and Patrick Zeller, with approximately 2/3 of the chapters being from Josie’s point of view. Andi Arndt, the female narrator, did a superb job performing the chapters from Josie’s POV, voicing all the characters in those chapters. I disliked Patrick Zeller’s narration of the chapters from Wyatt’s POV. In addition to him being too dramatic, his volume levels fluctuated too much within a paragraph. He mumbled when he was narrating Wyatt’s internal thoughts and shouted when he was voicing Wyatt’s words/speech. I was constantly adjusting the volume so I could either hear the mumbling or quickly turning it down because he was yelling. I have never experienced this before in any other audiobook. I sincerely hope that the audiobook company can re-engineer Mr. Zeller’s chapters so that they can be enjoyed by listeners.

I received an Advance Review Copy (ARC) e-book from NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Publishers and the ARC audiobook from NetGalley and Zondervan Fiction Audio for free. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I really enjoyed the story and plot of this book. Wyatt and Josie were a fun couple to hang out with and i loved the setting and the trip they took on the sail boat!! I didn't really love the male narrator for the audiobook. When sped up the narration was a bit slurred and mumbly. However the story was good enough to push through with the audio but i would probably recommend to people to just eyeball read it for the best experience! Again, that's just my personal preference though!

I’m a big fan of Emma’s novels. This one hit differently. In a good way. I truly enjoyed it and it was exactly what I needed to suck me in and distract me.

I didn’t read the burb and went into it without knowing anything. I enjoyed the two perspectives. It’s interesting how a shared experience can be so different for different characters.

I loved the humorous beginning. I loved the moments of introspection and growth for the characters. I loved the longing and the easiness of the relationship as they became friends and then more. I loved that it made me laugh.

While I’ve seen some criticism of this being marketed as enemies to lovers, I think I can agree it wasn’t the usual enemies to lovers, however Josie thought they were enemies and their past had “evidence” that they weren’t friendly. This definitely had elements of grumpy guy, optimistic sunny girl, brother’s best friend, and he falls first. I also love the close proximity trope and it definitely had this.

I loved joining these two on an adventure as they learned more about themselves and each other. I loved the humorous moments, as well as the deeper ones. Definitely a book I couldn’t stop listening to.

3.25 ⭐️

This was cute and fluffy but it felt like it was lacking any depth. I didn’t feel invested in the characters until right before the end, and I didn’t really feel compelled to root for them. I wish the trip had happened a little earlier on, because that was when things starting to get more interesting.

I loved this book so much! The author crafted characters that are so lovable and relatable. The relationship dynamic and banter is so fun. I also really enjoyed the change of format once the sailing trip begins. Such a great summer read. I will be going back to read St. Clair’s books. Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

. ݁₊ ⊹ — 4.25 ⭐️ — . ݁˖ . ݁
started may 17th | finished may 29th
ˋ°•*⁀➷ tropes: brother‘s best friend, best friend‘s sister, forced proximity, slow burn, audiobook, summer read

ˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝 ♡
so first of all, i freaking adore the characters and the character development in this book. that‘s so important to me and emma st. clair did such a good job. i don‘t like grumpy x sunshine tbh and wyatt WAS slightly irritating in the beginning but i started loving him slowly. i really need to start taking notes about the books i‘m reading because i don‘t remember shit 😭 i don‘t think i read a lot of boats that were about sailing and the plot felt unique. also there weren‘t unnecessary scenes and there wasn‘t too much or too little of anything, it was perfectly balanced and i love that. now let‘s be real, the miscommunication trope is annoying because like JUST FUCKING TALK TO EACH OTHER, you know what i mean, but this might be the first time i liked it. and the TENSION guys.

ˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝 ♡
jacob. i didn‘t like jacob. i don‘t really like people like him, they piss me off. there few other things i didn‘t like tho. first of all, the beginning was SO boring, like the first few chapters made me scared i‘m gonna get myself into another reading slump. and it did get better but i still feel like the time they spend in the murder cottage was so long, like half the book and it felt so stretched out, even tho the stuff that happened was hilarious, like the hockey stick scene was gold. also the narrator sounded like my chemistry teacher and made me sleepy. but i actually really started liking her throughout the book. i feel like the narrators fit the characters so perfectly. but when i heard wyatt‘s narrator‘s voice for the first time i had a little (big) jumpscare, i was REALLY not expecting that.

── .✦

⌞ 𝐣𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐞 ⌝ she is a really amazing character and i love her sm. she felt so…real.

⌞ 𝐰𝐲𝐚𝐭𝐭 ⌝ BOYFRIEND MATERIAL RIGHT HERE. i love him guys. i love him sm

────୨ৎ────

ˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 ♡
i really liked this and i‘m definitely gonna be reading emma st. clair‘s books in the future.

⤷ thank you to netgalley and thomas nelson and zondervan fiction aufio for providing me this audiobook in exchange for an honest review <3




ˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝐩𝐫𝐞-𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰
oh how i love audiobooks. just made two powerpoint presentations for school while listening to this. that’s what i call multitasking and habit stacking guys.

This book was such a cute romance book. I love that it has to do with a hockey player and an elementary school nurse.
It’s an annual siblings trip turned into taking care for her brothers best friend who she thought hated her.
I absolutely loved how it also was a smut free book. Even though I love it, at times it’s nice to have that break and just have a cute rom-com. I also loved that the author used real life stories that she’s experienced to help make this book.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book before it’s published.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson and Zondervan Fiction Audio I received the audiobook ARC!
This was seriously such a cute, clean romance. The banter had me laughing out loud and the narrators did an excellent job. Josie’s retelling of what happened to her in high school hit so close to home and the things Wyatt said to comfort her I definitely needed to hear too.
This was a good palette cleanser from the books I usually read.

ARC/ ALC REVIEW

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫/ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Josie, an elementary school nurse, thinks she is headed for a sibling getaway. But when she discovers she will be caring for her brother’s best friend, Wyatt- a grumpy, professional hockey player who just so happens to be her mortal enemy- she gets the shock of a lifetime. Will she stick around until he fully recovers, or will the total seclusion be too much for her to handle?

Emma St Clair’s upcoming book, If All Else Sails, is set to release later this summer. This is perfect timing as it makes for the ideal travel companion. In fact, upon release it will be available in ALL formats. With endless options for consumption, reading just got a whole lot easier!

As with all of St. Clair’s writing, she hooked me right from the start. This book features popular tropes such as enemies-to-lovers, brother’s best friend, grumpy/ sunshine, forced proximity, and so much more. But don’t be fooled. While this book does have its light and fluffy moments, it also tackles heavy topics.

Being a die hard Emma St. Clair girly, I would have loved this book, no matter what. But I loved it ten times more when I found out it featuring Wyatt, a former Appie player. While it isn’t apart of the Appie Series, it is apart of the Appie Universe. You can even count on a few fan favorites to make a surprise appearance!

While I could talk about If All Else Sails for hours, I don’t want to spoil the plot. I hope I have encouraged you to give this book a read the second it comes out. Special thanks to Netgalley, Thomas Nelson Fiction, Zonder Fiction Audio, and Emma St. Clair for allowing me to read/ listen to this book in exchange for my honest review.

If All Else Sails was a sweet romcom. It’s a perfect summer read for something light and sweet. I enjoyed the characters and their back stories, as well as their sunshine and grumpy energies. These two already have a history, so it’s interesting to see how it plays out.
I did think the description of the brother was a little off… like he’s selfish and rude, but also everyone loves him because he always thinks of others… small thing, but it just felt off every time he was mentioned. The narration was good, though the voice for the male pov sounded older than I would have anticipated.
Overall, I enjoyed this romance and it was a quick read.

Ok- first things first: I did like the story, the characters were good and overall- yes, four stars seems like a decent and accurate rating. There is a grumpy injured hockey player, and an anxiety ridden nurse who just happens to be his best friend/ agents sister. Lots of misunderstandings, trauma, misadventures, and though it did feel like it could’ve been a bit quicker to get where it was going, the story was sweet.
My only misgivings would be that this is the audio version of the story & here I did have a slight problem with one of the narrators. Mr. Zeller had a tendency to raising his voice or to drag it like he was bored. I know he was trying to capture some of Wyatt’s anger and frustration, but dear lord was it disconcerting! Up and down up and down, just unbelievably distracting. Then when doing Josie’s voice, he’d drag it like it was half asleep or bored. Fortunately, Andi Ardnt was the other narrator and carried a majority of the story or I honestly would have dnf’d the audiobook altogether and tried the ebook copy. However, as always, this is just my opinion and others might really enjoy it this way! 😉
**Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this audiobook!**