Ship Wrecked

A Novel

De: Olivia Dade

Narrado por: Kelsey Navarro

After All the Feels and Spoiler Alert, Olivia Dade once again delivers a warm and wonderful romantic comedy about two co-stars who once had an incredible one-night stand—and after years of filming on the same remote island, are finally ready to yield to temptation again…

Maria’s one-night-stand—the thick-thighed, sexy Viking of a man she left without a word or a note—just reappeared. Apparently, Peter’s her surly Gods of the Gates co-star, and they’re about to spend the next six years filming on a desolate Irish island together. She still wants him…but he now wants nothing to do with her.

Peter knows this role could finally transform him from a forgettable character actor into a leading man. He also knows a failed relationship with Maria could poison the set, and he won’t sabotage his career for a woman who’s already walked away from him once. Given time, maybe they can be cooperative colleagues or friends—possibly even best friends—but not lovers again. No matter how much he aches for her.

For years, they don’t touch off-camera. But on their last night of filming, their mutual restraint finally shatters, and all their pent-up desire explodes into renewed passion. Too bad they still don’t have a future together, since Peter’s going back to Hollywood, while Maria’s returning to her native Sweden. She thinks she needs more than he can give her, but he’s determined to change her mind, and he’s spent the last six years waiting. Watching. Wanting.

His shipwrecked Swede doesn’t stand a chance.

©2022 Olivia Dade (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

just OK

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for an advanced copy of this book - all opinions are my own!

Ughhh, this book started off strong, but then it started to slowly fall apart for me and then the conflict just did not sit well with me.

Things I Liked:
- our MC's relationship - they definitely had chemistry and there was some mutual pining.
- body positivity and pushing against Hollywood standards
- group chats between the whole Gods of the Gate's cast were hysterical

Things I Didn't Like:
- This is a one night stand, turned enemies, to friends-to-lovers and I just don't think I'm the biggest fan of books that start with one-night stands (chemistry/spice was good though!).
- a very inconsistent timeline!! We jump ahead 6 years at one point, which was fine, but then the author threw in text messages and email flashbacks from during that 6 year gap and idk, it just didn't jive. I feel like it took me out of the story and was used as a tool to create more relationship development between our MCs, which I would have rather seen as part of the storyline.
- the conflict... that hit at 88%.... I just did not like it one bit. IDK why it bothered me so much, but it did, and it really dampened my enjoyment of this book.

Rating: 3 stars

Didn't do anything for me

I really wanted to love this book, but the story didn't work for me. The behaviors of the characters were often confusing and I didn't relate to the female lead much at all. I didn't really understand her interest in somebody who was so unlikeable. Frankly, both of them lacked personalities. It was also slow and I had to keep backing up because my brain kept wandering. The wooden reading style didn't help. Olivia Dade is a solid author with a great sense of humor and there were several chat conversations that made me laugh. Might be worth reading for those alone. I will certainly read more of her books in the future, I just couldn't get in to this one and, sadly, ended up returning it before I finished it.

Damn it, she did it again!

If I had a nickel for every Olivia Dade book that made me hide my face behind my hands and GIGGLE I'd have 2 nickels 🫣😳🥹

Hot & steamy romance with heart & depth.

Love Olivia’s multi-faceted characters that face real issues many of us or loved ones live with in everyday lives.

Revisiting the cast of ‘Gods of the Gates’ from Olivia’s other books ‘Spoiler Alert’ and ‘All the Feels’ I loved diving into Maria and Peter’s story. Both complex people with emotionally traumatic upbringings that affect how they love and live in their adult lives, Maria and Peter meet by chance and following a hot and heavy night, meet again and are thrust together, along with an intimate crew, on a small island for a few month every year for 6 years. We follow their friendship as it develops and gets richer and more solid over the years- and finally becomes something more.

I love that Olivia’s characters are full-figured folks and that they aren’t defined by shame or apologizing for being larger-bodied. And this book especially highlights that it’s okay to own your body, own your sexuality and be seen for more than just a large body- but also a strong, capable and sexy body.

Well written and engaging, there’s elements of slow burn and sunshine & grumpy. But there’s also depth and maturity to adults who grew up with less-than-ideal elements of their childhood and parental loss and confront how it affects their relationships with those around them today.

I enjoyed the narration and Swedish terms of endearment and look forward to Olivia’s next book, whether we get to see our ‘Gods of the Gates’ friends again, or meet new characters. I’m a fan for life!

Oof

I really liked the previous 2 books in this series but this was not that great. I have two hours left and admittedly have been struggling to enjoy it. Towards the end here and the author has completely changed what should be a strong understanding woman (Maria) to needy and flaky.

Y’all this ain’t it.

Pretty good, kinda drawn out

Overall I think it was decent, but I also thought the story was longer than needed.

Another glorious fat-positive romance

Yet another glorious fat-positive installment in The "Spoiler Alert" series from Olivia Dade. I really enjoyed this one. It was humorous and sexy and I couldn't get enough. I loved that both our hero and heroine were plus-sized and that they both stood their ground when it came to them being potentially forced to lose weight. And the pining in this! Years and years of pining made them finally getting together after so long so much sweeter and hotter.

The reason that this isn't a five star is that it dragged some at times. Overall, I loved this book and this series. I will definitely be picking up whatever Olivia Dade comes out with next.

cute and a little all over the place

This was a cute story that was well performed. I did struggle with the pacing of this story. It did seem to care more about the TV show than the characters. I felt like it was too drawn out and not enough good details for the length of the story.

This is a great book to relax with. Very low stakes and emotional energy needed.

Love this series!!

I hope it’s not over year I love this series so much an would love to see it keep going

Luke warm

Eh. This was okay, but about 3 hours too long. I thought there was she editing that could be done. I had a hard time "getting to know" these characters. I did appreciate though that both the male and female main characters were "curvy" and plus size. That's not a combo you see often.

Kelsey Navaro's performance was top notch, as always.