A solid romcom with funny and sweet elementary school nurse Josie, matching wits with her brother's friend, grumpy (but really a sweetheart) Wyatt. After Wyatt injures himself, Josie's brother hires Josie to care for Wyatt as he recuperates whilst also mourning the loss of his uncle. Josie's sass is really fun and the story is thoroughly enjoyable for a summer read.
My only gripe was the male narrator. When listening in my car I had to keep adjusting the volume as his voice would go from very low to very loud making his chapters not as enjoyable to listen to. I understand he was playing a grumpy character but this was the first audiobook I have had this issue of such extremes in tone.
Thanks to Netgalley, Thomas Nelson and Zondervan Fiction Audio for the audiobook arc of this book for review.

I adored this! It was very cute and fun. The narration was wonderful. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this audiobook.

Absolutely loved. Characters with depth and growth. NO THIRD ACT BREAKUP OR TENSION BECAUSE OF MISCOMMUNICATION. A brother’s best friend, enemies (sort of) to lovers, HE FALLS FIRST story. A ONE BED MOMENT. I loved this one so much. Josie was such a a fantastic female main character. I loved her quiet strength, her tenacity, and how she was able to face her fears. Wyatt was the most lovable grump. And I am not one for nicknames, but Rookie is my new favorite.
Both narrators were fantastic!

*There is mention of sexual assault if this is a trigger for anyone.

*I received an arc of this book through NetGalley. All my opinions are my own.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #ThomasNelsonZondervanFictionAudio for an advance listening copy of #IfAllElseSails. A cute enemies to lovers romance. Four stars.

2 stars⭐️

For starters, this book was definitely not an enemies to lovers story! Not every book has to be labeled enemies to lovers. I felt like there were too many descriptions of the MMC being grumpy, but not enough actually showing that.

However, I did enjoy the funny parts of this book where the main character described being a school nurse. Unfortunately, the story was a bit repetitive.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an e-book arc.

This was really cute. I love that we didn’t have a third act breakup, I loved the dog and her outfits, I loved every interaction between the characters. BUT I listened to the audio and the male narrator didn’t work for me, he sounded too old and too gruff so not only was his male voice off for me, but his female voice was torture and his volume was so quiet I had to adjust every time we switched narrators. I almost DNF’ed because of that

This had a solid mix of tropes I usually enjoy (forced proximity, brother’s best friend, grumpy athlete recovering in isolation) but it didn’t fully hit for me. The banter started strong, and the slow burn felt natural, but there was just too much internal overthinking, especially from Josie. It made things drag and left little space for real tension to build. The sailing details were a bit much, too. That said, the narrators did a great job overall, even if the male narrator’s female voice was shaky at times, his tone was calming and pleasant. Decent, but not one I’d rush to relisten

If All Else Sails by Emma St. Clair is a cute romance novel with the classic tropes of grumpy vs sunshine, enemy to lovers, and brother's best friend. The story of Josie and Wyatt is a slow burning, cozy romance that is in the world of a professional hockey player and a school nurse. The nurse is needed to help the athlete recover from an injury and also fulfill a sailing journey he must do (or wants to do but not alone), and In comes the school nurse to provide the perfect help for both.

This couple has chemistry and romance that is undeniable and it just takes time for it to come to the surface. They both work through family issues as they work through their relationship ups and downs.

This clean romance was very predictable and had no unexpected moments that made it unpredictable.

The narration was great for the audiobook. Both narrators did a great job.

I would recommend this book to friends or family.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this alc.

I’m a huge fan of Emma St. Clair. When I saw she was releasing this book I knew it would be a must read. Let me just say, it did not disappoint. I love her brand of humor. It’s silly (and almost slapstick) with witty quips in between. Did I end up Googling dog bikinis? Yep, I sure did!

I enjoyed the added adventure in this romance with the sailing element. Getting to know both characters was fun. It was so obvious that Wyatt fell first that waiting for that moment of realization was a treat. The cameos from Emma’s Appies series was an unexpected treat.

Tropes + things
hockey player x nurse
brother’s best friend
grumpy x sunshine
forced proximity
slow burn
dual POV/1st person

🎧 For the most part I enjoyed the narration. I think they did a great job bringing the characters to life. I did struggle with the volume and speed. With the male narrator I was constantly adjusting the volume. Sometimes it was like he was yelling and too loud and others I could barely hear his whisper even at the highest volume. It was great voice acting but it made it so I couldn't get quite lost in the story. I also had to lower my usual listening speed to find a happy medium between the two narrators so I didn’t need to keep switching for each POV.

Thank you Thomas Nelson and Zondervan Fiction Audio for the advance copy. All opinions are my own.

3.75⭐️
This was a nice little cozy read.

It's definitely a great read for anyone in need of a clean, funny read.

This follows the story of Josie and her brother's best friend Wyatt.

Wyatt is a hockey player recovering from an injury. Josie's brother tricker her to go help Wyatt with his recovery

This is not my first Emma St.Claire and surely will not be my last.

☀️ 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.

I was drawn in by the cute cover and clever title, and I'm a complete sucker for the brother's best friend trope.
I will say, I'm not sure why this is advertised as an enemies to lovers story, when you can tell from the beginning Wyatt has feelings for Josie. I would classify it more as a slow burn. And Josie's adversion to just jocks and not all men was slightly skewed, but I guess it could fall under the "trauma isn't linear" umbrella. There's also forced proximity, grumpy/sunshine, he falls first and hard, and a few more tropes I'm sure were thrown in for spice - since this book is a clean romance, that's all the spice you'll get.
Josie's humor really made her character stand out. Other than that, and her being a nurse, she was also compassionate (rescuing Jib and helping someone she mistakeningly thought hated her) and a great sister.
Wyatt didn't have much of a personality beyond being amazing at hockey (which we only see in videos of him playing since he's injured and it's the off season) and good at sailing. It could be because he's grief stricken in the beginning - both being injured so not knowing if he'll be able to play hockey again and losing his uncle who he was very close to. I feel like his only other personality trait was "foot in mouth disease" as they kept calling it and having feelings for Josie. I wish he would've been more fleshed out.
I did feel some parts were drawn out more than they should've been, but overall, I felt like the book flew by! I was listening and looked down to see I was at 79% and wondered if I'd missed part of the book.
I enjoyed the book a lot! Despite the murder cabin, it was a light-hearted and cozy read.

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.

Wyatt's (?) voice in the audiobook was not my favorite. It was so low and hard to hear a lot of the time.

This was a quick and sweet read!
I really enjoyed Wyatt and Josie’s love story—their chemistry was easy to root for. I do wish we’d gotten a bit more development in the romantic side of their relationship, but I loved watching their friendship grow throughout the book. Their connection felt genuine, and it made the eventual shift into romance feel natural, even if it was a little fast.

Gosh, I really wanted to love this book. The premise and tropes had so much potential and I could see some readers really enjoying this book.

Unfortunately, so many parts of it didn’t work for me. I’ll say this, if you don’t enjoy the miscommunication trope then I’d skip this one. Miscommunication doesn’t always bother me, but without miscommunication this book would’ve reached the end result in a couple chapters.

There are some TW’s around grief, loss of a loved one, and SA to be aware of.

This was such a sweet story! I was initially attracted by the title (cute!) and the setting, as I love the Northern Neck of Virginia. I enjoyed all of the references to and descriptions of familiar places in Virginia and the Carolinas. I also liked how the story incorporated sailing and felt that it wove nicely into Wyatt and Josie's love story. If All Else Sails was my first of Emma St. Clair's books and, after reading this one, I will definitely check out her other romances.

4.5 ⭐️

I was lucky enough to get to listen to the ARC audiobook of this novel, set to release in August!

This book was the ultimate witty, cozy romcom—and I loved every second of it! It follows a grumpy pro hockey player sidelined by a disc golf injury (yes, really) and the sunshiney elementary school nurse who ends up playing caretaker over summer break. Their dynamic is perfection, especially once they’re stuck together—along with the world’s sweetest dog—in forced proximity on a sailboat for four weeks. Cue the banter, heart-melting moments, and a million adorable outfits for the dog.

It nails the grumpy x sunshine trope, and the One Direction reference? Absolutely good for the soul. The dual POV narration was spot-on, with 5-star voice acting that made it even more enjoyable. Bonus points for lovable side characters and the fact that he fell first—chef’s kiss. The book had me laughing and giggling the whole time!

If you’re into slow-burn chemistry, cozy vibes, and a dog who kind of steals the show, this one’s for you.

I thought this closed door romance was cute. Lots of cute banter and quips. That being said, it did drag on a bit but I appreciated the forced proximity, grumpy-sunshine, sports rom com.
I appreciated the female narrator but could not stand the male narrator. He was far too exaggerated and I couldn't tell the emotions he was trying to convey. I cringed each time he came on and I was thankful that there were more chapters for Josie versus Wyatt.

This book was so good! I absolutely loved it! In this grumpy sunshine romance we meet Josie and Wyatt. Misunderstandings and years later they come together by Josie’s brother’s scheming. Josie accepts to help Wyatt as he recovers from an injury. They spend time and eventually go on a boat ride together, all the while sparks flying! The romance in this book was top notch! A clean read with great chemistry. The story was sweet, romantic, and funny, with just enough sizzle. I highly recommend this book and will be trying other books by this author! I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley in trade for my honest opinion. My thoughts are my own.

This audiobook was so slow. I thought I was done and I was only at 50%. It started so cute and then just draggggggged.