Not too long ago I said I wanted to pick up more romance books. I’ve been able to read a couple and I want to talk about one of them today. A book club I’m in on Instagram voted to read Shipped by Angie Hockman. It was one that I’ve seen and have been curious about, so what did I think? Keep on reading to find out!

Between taking night classes for her MBA and her demanding day job at a cruise line, marketing manager Henley Evans barely has time for herself, let alone family, friends, or dating. But when she’s shortlisted for the promotion of her dreams, all her sacrifices finally seem worth it.

The only problem? Graeme Crawford-Collins, the remote social media manager and the bane of her existence, is also up for the position. Although they’ve never met in person, their epic email battles are the stuff of office legend.

Their boss tasks each of them with drafting a proposal on how to boost bookings in the Galápagos—best proposal wins the promotion. There’s just one catch: they have to go on a company cruise to the Galápagos Islands…together. But when the two meet on the ship, Henley is shocked to discover that the real Graeme is nothing like she imagined. As they explore the Islands together, she soon finds the line between loathing and liking thinner than a postcard.

With her career dreams in her sights and a growing attraction to the competition, Henley begins questioning her life choices. Because what’s the point of working all the time if you never actually live?

Review

Shipped is definitely a book that had me hooked from the start. I read it in two sittings and it had me laughing out loud during many moments. With everything in the world the way it’s been this last year Shipped definitely took me on vacation. The descriptions of everything made me feel like I was off on an exotic adventure.

This book is definitely filled with the enemies to lovers trope and I have to say it was well done. A lot of books go really far with the enemies side and it can become a bit much. Of course things happened in Shipped, but I felt it fit the story! It gave the humor and enjoyment it was supposed to and once you get to know the characters everything really falls into place.

Our main character is a hard worker and is determined to get a promotion. She works hard enough for it and doesn’t really give herself time to relax a bit. So when her boss sends her on a cruise with the other employee up for the promotion things get interesting. As we get further in the story I could really understand why she felt she needed to work so hard. It didn’t feel like anyone was really paying attention to herself and that she had to prove herself even more because of this. I loved watching her enjoy the trip more and more and it even lead her to a whole new dream. It’s definitely about finding balance.

Graeme is definitely worthy of a spot on the book boyfriend list. He’s sweet, caring, hard working and only wants what’s best for people. His story was really interesting and I loved how much it actually all really meant to him. In all honesty, I wish we had gotten just a bit more Graeme or even a few chapters from his POV. I wanted just a little bit more.

The banter and slow burn relationship between these two characters was really interesting to read. It’s clear there were some misunderstandings, but they also had fun teasing each other. Shipped leaned more towards their job and the promotion than the romance at times, so I wouldn’t be lying to say that I wanted more of them together. I do have to say that Shipped also had a great cast of side characters. They really made this book funny and I can’t not mention Nikolai. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on this author for future books!

If you’re wanting to go on vacation, but can’t at the moment Shipped definitely takes you along for the ride. I enjoyed reading this and can’t wait to see what Angie Hockman writes next. Have you read this one? What did you think?