📖 ARC/ALC REVIEW 📖

Thank you @thomasnelson for an early copy of If All Else Sails by @kikimojo. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. 🤍

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Release date: August 5th, 2025

🛑Read on with caution; review may contain spoilers🛑

If All Else Sails is a charming enemies-to-lovers / brother’s best friend romance that pairs school nurse Josie with her brother’s hockey player best friend, Wyatt. The two are tricked into spending the summer together by Josie’s brother, Jacob, after Wyatt refuses to see a doctor or go through physical therapy following an injury.
As they learn to co-exist under one roof, Josie slowly realizes that there’s more to Wyatt than his grumpy demeanor. She finds out he had planned to sail to Savannah to scatter his late uncle’s ashes, honoring his final wish—and agrees to join him on the condition that he fully commits to his recovery.
I really enjoyed this book, especially Josie and Wyatt’s banter! Wyatt was such an endearing character—grumpy on the outside but clearly a softie where Josie is concerned. He suffers from what Josie hilariously refers to as “foot-in-mouth disease,” but his sweetness always shines through. Whether or not she asks, he anticipates her needs and supports her, even though she's technically supposed to be the one taking care of him. I just wish we had more of his POV, since it was obvious he’d been falling for her from the very beginning.
Though this is a light and cozy summer romance, St. Clair adds depth with subplots involving Josie’s anxiety and Wyatt’s grief and complicated relationship with his father. These issues were touched on with care, but I do wish there had been a bit more resolution or growth in those areas. Wyatt’s journey—physically recovering and honoring his uncle’s last request—felt like a symbolic step, but some emotional closure would’ve made it even more satisfying.
If you're looking for a sweet, slow-burn summer romance with heart, humor, and just the right touch of angst, If All Else Sails is a great pick. Plus, the supporting characters (Jacob! Jib!) add so much charm. I listened to the audiobook and the narrators did a fantastic job capturing Josie and Wyatt’s personalities—making the experience even more fun and emotionally engaging

This book was really cute. Cozy romance with some fun tropes like brother's best friend and forced proximity.

Wyatt and Josie were so sweet, and the grumpy/sunshine aspect worked really well. They were adorable, and their relationship was fun and teasing and had the right amount of depth.

I loved the sailing bit and seeing Wyatt and Josie heal and learn to communicate. This really felt like the love letter Emma meant it to be to some of her childhood memories. Emma's love for sailing and the locale were obvious in her writing.

As always, I loved Emma's writing, and the story had a lot of promise. Overall, a fun read that I would recommend to those who like closed-door but still sparky with good tension.

There were some things that didn't quite work for me. Going in, I was super excited and had a lot of fun with the intro to the characters and the situations they found themselves in. The further I got in to the story, though, the less I found myself enjoying it. There were a lot of dragging moments that made the story feel slow.

The book was promoted as enemies-to-lovers, but it felt more like miscommunication-to-lovers because it was pretty clear that Wyatt was super into Josie the whole time.

That being said, I did enjoy most of the book, and I think it's definitely worth reading. I'll read anything that Emma puts out. I've reread a lot of her books, and will continue to do so. This one won't be a reread for me, but it was fun to read once.

Notes about the audiobook, I really liked the female narrator, but the male narrator was difficult for me to listen to. A lot of his intonation and emphasis felt out of place, and I had to keep adjusting my volume to accommodate the changes in how loud he would get, which was really frustrating.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Fiction for the complimentary copies. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Notes:
Romance: Kisses only
Violence: None
Language: None
Content/triggers:

I am a boater and love anything that has to do with cruising and sailing so I really enjoyed this sweet romcom. The characters are funny and completely lovable. I would rate the book itself 4 stars but the audiobook was less enjoyable. The female narrator did an excellent job but the male narrator was extremely uncomfortable to listen to. He would YELL SO LOUD and then whisper so quiet. I found myself just rushing through his parts as quickly as I could. The copy from NetGalley was also missing chapter 21 which made the story a little confusing at first. I was driving while listening so I had to go back and read it in my eARC afterwords for it to make more sense. Overall, I enjoyed this book enough (plus it has the CUTEST cover) that I ordered a physical copy for my bookshelf.

This was such a great summer read! Josie was such a fun and positive FMC, especially when tasked with taking care of Wyatt who was the grumpiest of grumps. The setting was great, half of the book was on a sailing ship, talk about forced proximity 🤭. The other half set in a run down “murder cottage” in Virginia. The banter was great, I found my self giggling multiple times. I loved Jib the rescue dog who may have more swimsuits than I do…

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. I was so happy to get another small taste of the Appies! Wyatt and Josie are the perfect grumpy sunshine. The banter was golden. The dog outfits, the cute sailing terms, I loved it all! Emma proves herself an expert in closed door romance again and again.

Loved this audiobook! What’s not to love about forced proximity and enemies to lovers?!? The banter between Josie and Wyatt is chef’s kiss! 💋 When Josie arrives at a little dumpy cottage expecting to meet her brother and finds herself being watched from a window and her brother is nowhere in sight she starts to freak out until she soon finds out it’s her brothers best friend and client injured hockey player Wyatt. As a nurse she gets roped into caring for him (by her brother) and sailing on Wyatt’s boat with him for a long trip down the inter coastal. This book made me laugh so many times!

First off, I really enjoyed the narrators of this book and love that it had dual narration and POV. It also has some great tropes (Brother's Best Friend, Forced Proximity), but the story kind of fell flat for me. This was definitely advertised as an "Enemies to Lovers" or "Rivals to Lovers" book, but it definitely does not fit that category. I also felt like there was a lot of "telling" us, the reader, how they felt via their inner monologue but not a lot of "showing" it on page and the spark and chemistry just didn't seem to be there at times. I felt like it was trying to be a "Slow Burn," but in order to fit that description... the "burn" has to be there.

* This probably isn't a big deal to most people, but I really struggled when there was an on page severe, life-threatening allergic reaction described and discussed in detail. Having a husband who has an anaphylactic allergy, it was just a bit triggering because I read to escape "real life" and that, unfortunately, is not something I can handle reading about after seeing it in real life with someone I love so much. I am sure most people wouldn't think twice about it though, and that's ok! It's just a personal thing for me.

Thank you Thomas Nelson for the gifted copy #giftedbyuplit

This was my first Emma St. Clair book, and I’m already excited to dive into her backlist! I really enjoyed this one — it’s a sweet, feel-good romance with great characters, solid funny moments, and a tiny dog with an ultra fashionable wardrobe.

I liked the set up — she’s a school nurse, he’s a hockey player, and she’s taking care of him for the summer while he’s nursing an injury. He’s also her brother’s best friend who she’s clashed with for years. Definitely couldn’t be secret pining, no way 😉 They’re friendship (and more) gradually develops over the course of the summer. It’s soft and easy and sweet to watch. I wouldn’t say It’s one that’s going to stay with me forever, but I had a great time reading it (which is just what you need sometimes!).

A note on pacing: the title and cover suggest a sailing-themed story, but they don’t even discuss it until 1/3 of the way through, and don’t get on the boat until after the halfway point. It didn’t bother me b/c I enjoyed the rest of their story, but it is a little “bait and switch”-ish.

Audio: The audiobook is dual POV, narrated by Andi Arndt and Patrick Zeller, two prolific names in romance audio. Andi is always solid, though her male voices can sound a little mumbly (especially at higher speeds). Patrick is incredibly expressive, sometimes too much for me, but here he struck a good balance and didn’t pull me out of the story with his performance.

Josie is tricked into helping her brother's best friend recover from an injury. She thought she was meeting her brother for their Super Summer Sibling Extravaganza. Instead, she ends up detained in a police car for trespassing.
Wyatt is a professional hockey player. Josie's brother and Wyatt have been best friends since college, and is now Wyatt's agent. Josie is a school nurse on summer vacation. So when Wyatt refuses to comply with his PT, Josie is sent to help.
Josie hates athletes and never warmed to Wyatt. Their first meeting all those years ago didn't help. Wyatt has been pining for Josie since that first day.
As they spend time together while Wyatt heals, the walls start to come down.

I enjoyed this from start to finish. Both characters were well developed, as was their relationship. Both had personal growth.
My only real complaint was the Wyatt's audiobook narration, done by Patrick Zeller. It was very shouty and angry at times (which, Wyatt is a grump. But this was extreme). It was just too over the top.
Thankfully, Andi Arndt narrates most of the book. And she is fabulous, as always.

I received an advance audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

What an utterly delightful and sweet book. While the “sailing” aspect of the book didn’t happen until the latter half of the book, I loved this grumpy x sunshine, brothers best friend, second chance, closed door romance! I was giggling and laughing throughout.

Patrick Zeller is a little “too much” for me in his reading. Almost too much expression because sometimes I feel like he’s yelling at me and it makes it hard to listen. I loved Andi Arndt’s reading though.

This is a sweet summer romance between an off season injured hockey player and a school nurse. Overall it was pleasant, and the sailing bit is fun - but not enemies to lovers. Wyatt perhaps could be briefly described as grumpy, but in reality this is more of a pining romance than anything else. There is a lot that took me out of this story and made me say excuse me, what? the biggest one being ashes in the fridge in a cool whip container. This just would not happen and I don’t understand why it needed to be included. The romance is cute, lots of pining from Wyatt which was nice. However the biggest down for me was the male narrator, he’s basically yelling in the first few of his chapters and it was just off putting. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to provide my honest review.

This was a sweet, dual POV summer romcom that takes place in South Carolina and has an injured hockey player recovering with help from his agent's elementary school nurse sister who he's happened to have a crush on for years.

Full of laughs and heart and based on the author's family history, this had me smiling and cheering for the two MCs to get their HEA. I especially loved the rescue dog, the free range pigs and the ICW sailing trip.

I wasn't a huge fan of the male narrator though, he tended to wisper/mumble any inner monologue/thoughts which made for an uneven listening experience. For that reason I would recommend reading a print copy of this one and highly recommend it for fans of books like Float Plan by Trish Doller.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review. This is the author's first trad published book but there were some fun cameos from past Appies Hockey team players so fans of her indie works will delight in those Easter eggs!

4.5 out of 5 stars. This was a really sweet read that managed to take on some bigger, more serious issues at the same time (be sure to check trigger warnings before going in, it’s not a dark novel by any means but there is some content in there that’s relayed on page which some people might prefer to know about ahead of time). I really loved the dynamic Josie and Wyatt had. Their history felt full even when time to represent it was scarce given the book relies on flashbacks to do so. And the misunderstandings that led to them not liking each other (Josie more than Wyatt) in the beginning felt real, like two humans could genuinely not get along based on those misunderstandings. The sailing storyline was also quite cute. I will say one of my pet peeves lately has been hockey players always being at the scene of the crime. I probably would have liked this slightly more if Wyatt had a different profession and the other plot points were fleshed out more fully but that might just be me getting a bit over all the men being hockey stars when it doesn’t feel like they need to be for the story itself. Everything other than that gelled really nicely though and I’d definitely read this again.

Thank you Netgalley and Thomas Nelson And Zonderfan Fiction Audio for letting me in on this one.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you NetGalley, Thomas Nelson, and Zondervan Fiction Audio for allowing me to listen to this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

First, I have to say they say this an enemies to lovers trope, but it’s not fully! Which I was there for in all the best ways. This was such a refreshing retelling of that typical trope in what I thought was a new and fresh way. I really enjoyed the banter, and enjoyed the rotating narrative between our two characters.

Josie is a broke, hardworking school nurse who has always thought that her brother’s best friend (and client) hated her. When her brother tricks her to taking care of him while he heals from an injury, she quickly discovers that maybe she has read him wrong the whole time. The character development between these two was an enjoyable ride!

However, I must say. My one critique was actually in one of the audio actors (I’m so sorry). Patrick Zeller didn’t work for this character for me, his intensity didn’t quite match the supposedly quiet roil that this character is described to have throughout the book. I think he is still a good narrator, it just felt disconnected from the character he was reading for.

Overall, I really enjoyed the writing style of Emma St. Clair as it was my first experience with her work. I enjoyed the authors note and the end and it added a personal touch, and yes! I did have a smile on my face while listening to this book, so job well done!

This book was adorable. It had such great grumpy/sunshine vibes! There were several funny moments that made me laugh out loud. I loved the dog and all of the outfits! Enjoyed the connections and references to the Appies. The narrator’s did a great job!

I really enjoyed this book! It was the perfect summer read, and the chemistry between the main characters was great without any awkward sex scenes. I didn’t love the male narrator and found his narration over the top, but I still enjoyed the book overall.

This book was so cute! I loved the characters and the journey they went on. It was even cuter learning that a lot of this story was inspired by the author and her family's life. The sail journey was lots of fun and I enjoyed watching their relationship develop. Fun, easy read! 4.5 Stars

This was a fun, lighthearted read perfect for summer vacation. For me personally, I would have rather read the physical copy instead of listening to it because the male narrator was very inconsistent. I listen to my audiobooks in the car primarily and I kept having to turn the volume up and down. In the same scenes and even sentences I'd have to turn the volume up and then down and then up and down again because the male narrator would go from a whisper to almost shouting back to whispering again and it just made the listening process a little less enjoyable

This was such a sweet and wholesome good time. I loved the banter and tension between the two main characters. I also want to jump on a boat and go sailing immediately! The secret pining and then all of the barriers being broken down bit by bit for Josie to come to terms with how Wyatt really feels….SWOON! Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advance audio copy of this sweet book!

This is a sweet and clean rom com that had me both laughing and crying throughout. I loved both main characters, Josie and Wyatt. I even enjoyed learning a little bit about sailing as the book went along. The middle got a little long waiting for the inevitable to finally happen, but I really enjoyed the comical and sweet way it all came together. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.