Love, Lists, and Fancy Ships

By: Sarah Grunder Ruiz

Narrated by: Karissa Vacker

Sometimes a yacht, a bold bucket list, and a kiss with a handsome stranger are all a person needs to dive into the deep end of life.

For the last year, yacht stewardess Jo Walker has been attempting to complete a bucket list of 30 things she wants to accomplish by her 30th birthday. Jo has almost everything she's ever wanted, including a condo on the beach (though she's the youngest resident by several decades) and an exciting job (albeit below deck) that lets her travel the world.

Jo is on track until the death of her nephew turns her life upside down, and the list falls by the wayside. But when her two nieces show up unannounced with plans to stay the summer, they discover her list and insist on helping Jo finish it. Though the remaining eight items (which include running a marathon, visiting 10 countries, and sleeping in a castle) seem impossible to complete in 12 weeks, Jo takes on the challenge.

When she summons the courage to complete item number five - kiss a stranger - and meets Alex Hayes, all bets are off. As her feelings for Alex intensify and Jo's inability to confront difficult emotions about her family complicates her relationships, she must learn to quit playing it safe with her heart before she loses what matters most.

©2021 Sarah Grunder Ruiz (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Love, Lists, and Fancy Ships is a delightful love story about setting and settling goals, about the journeys of the heart, and about how you have to let go of the past in order to move forward. You’ll be rooting for Jo from the first page.”—Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Two Ways

“This book is a love letter to letting yourself feel your feelings instead of pushing them away, or pushing away those who want to love you through it. Sweet, beachy, and emotional, you will want to read this one with a box of tissues.”—Sarah Hogle, author of Twice Shy

“Love, Lists, and Fancy Ships is funny, touching, swoony, and brimming with heart. Sarah Grunder Ruiz writes characters you'll cheer for and fall in love with, and leaves you wanting more.”—Trish Doller, author of Float Plan

Woman’s World pick

Recommended by woman’s world, I decided to give this a try. First time for the author. I enjoyed the story. It was a tale of many journeys. One through grief, one through personal growth and friendship. Written in a way that draws the reader in and entertains at the same time. I like a happy ending. This doesn’t disappoint.

Super emotional

I had no idea it would be this emotional going in. Grief makes you do funny things and everyone processes differently. What a great story that felt so real. It was messy and raw and painful.

Brings true love to life in the most unexpected way!

I love a good love story! Heartbreak, overcoming, tragedy… and make out sessions! This book has it all and I couldn’t stop listening! It’s a must read and needs a movie deal! #1 Bestseller for sure!

Perfect balance between drama, comedy, and romance

This is the first book I have read/listened to by Sarah Grunder Ruiz, and I now need to read the rest of her books ASAP. I picked this book up off of a clearance table at Books-a-Million. I loved the cover and the premise, but needless to say, at $3.97, I did not expect much. Don't judge a book by its price tag. Needless to say, lesson learned.

I loved this book from start to finish. It never suffered through "sloggy middle syndrome". I had a blast through most of the book and cried like a river through a couple of scenes. There is a grief narrative at the heart of Love, Lists, and Fancy Ships, but the narrative does not weigh the story down in melodrama. Most of the novel is about a young woman who is about to turn 30 and her quest to finish her "30-by-30" list. I loved every single character in this novel, and that is truly a rare feat. There is a romance in the novel, but I actually rooted for Jo and Alex. They did have a "third act moment", if you know, you know, but it did not drag on or make either or both characters unlikable. In fact, it made sense.

The next book in this series is about Jo's best friend Nina, and I can't wait to read it. Nina is easily my favorite character. Thank you, Sarah Grunder Ruiz for completely exceeding my expectations.

SGR has become one of my favorite authors

As beautiful as come to expect from SGR, this one hit pretty darn close to home for me. I laughed out loud more times than I can count, which made the tears easier to take.

I’m so grateful to master narrator Karissa Vacker as she did such an amazing job with the characters, and because following her voice work led me to this amazing author.

Great Book and Audio

Reading is hard for me and with the audiobook it helped a lot. I’ve been reading this book since July and finally forced myself to push through because I would never make time for myself to read. This book is super cute! The romance aspect picks up and once it does you can’t put the book done. Overall the book is really good and I would love to read more books like this one and I will definitely be reading the second book! The audiobook was amazing and helped tremendously, though I will say for this book I had to speed up the audio. The person changed the voice for each character which helped picture the book together.

Ridiculous

Ridiculous is the best descriptor for this story. Stupid adults who can’t communicate effectively and are unable to deal with emotion. Then top it off with over-indulged teenagers. This long drawn out story is very redundant and completely implausible,