This book had a cute premise, but I didn’t feel super connected to it and wasn’t reaching to pick it up. I didn’t love the writing style, and felt that from the very beginning, a lot was going on which made it confusing and hard to follow. I did like the concept but it wasn’t for me.

A nice take on second chance at love - and life - with interesting and layered background stories for each character. They work through grief and the past in a compelling way, and the easy prose makes their journey a nice one to follow, even if it felt lacking a bit of depth at times.


All in all, I would recommend this book to anyone who likes second chance story.


Note: I read the 2025 revision of this book, that the publisher and NetGalley kindly allowed me to read as an arc, therefore I can't give my opinion on the original version.

This was a quirky story of second chance love, set on board a gay cruise and featuring Silas who is working as Santa and Ellen who bought her place on the cruise from an advert. It's a funny story, perfect light and breezy holiday reading.

oh from the front cover this one had me hook line and sinker-ed to it(sorry, im truly sorry for that)
i am a sucker for found family vibes so this was also another bonus tick box.
Ellen and Silas had me truly hooked for their stories. i wanted to get to know them and where they were headed, and definitely where they were headed considering they were boarding a gay cruise.
Mo did such a wonderful job of bringing these characters to life for me. i was loving how true, bright, and involved i felt with them and their story.
i loved the ages of our main characters and its only when you get to "an age" that you truly notice how very litttttle there is in representation terms especially around romance.
the book covers some important topics and great way of doing so. it was also just part of the plot. it didn't feel stuck in or stuck for for 'being there' purposes or preachy ones. its done with heart. its done with thought. and it made me think but never brought me down.
the books brings us to Silas who doesn't get his usual job for the holidays. bummer. hes also a man that has been ghosted by his own son for years. hes adrift. hes out at sea. soooo.... why not be out at sea. and so he gets the gig of a Santa on board a gay cruise. perfect right??? and it might just get him closer to his son. winner.
Ellen is also in need of a shift, a change, an anything. she lost her husband to 9- 11 and since then has just been drowning rather than swimming. she would give anything to just blooming float. shes lost her purpose. her umph her anything. she sees something advertising a place on the cruise and thinks it might just be the kicker shes needs. its different if anything else.
what comes next is a fun ride. there is heart and wit and gay men all around. there is friends there is found friends and maybe a little connections that go deeper too.
i love how even at the end we simply are left with humans. so this means they dont all get neat and tidy present with a bun tied round it as their ending. they are human. there is work to be done but it doesn't mean this book still doesn't leave you with hopes. and thinking these folk might just be all right. or that this book and the adventure within gave them something and certainly me something.
loved it.
the front cover i will mention gets a great shout out from me. it was unique and somehow fit the book perfectly.