Author: Katherine Center
Published: May 19, 2026 by St. Martin's Press
Format: Kindle, 336 Pages
Genre: Romance
Blurb: After a whole lifetime of being bad at love, JoJo Burton decides to solve her intimacy issues once and for all at her sister’s destination wedding on a cruise ship. With the help of a little pop psychology, she diagnoses herself with a fixation on the neighborhood guy who was her her first crush and first kiss (and who just happens to be a newly-divorced wedding guest ), and she decides to woo him during the cruise for some long-delayed closure. Only problem is, her sister’s a little busy being a bride at the moment—so JoJo ropes in her childhood bestie, Cooper Watts, to be her wing man. Cooper: who RSVPed no, but then showed up, anyway. Cooper: who left town without a word four years earlier and moved to London. Cooper: who was, if she’s honest, the worst heartbreak of JoJo’s life. It’s bliss for her to see him again, and it’s agony, too—and the more they team up for Project Conquest, the more she obsesses over questions she can’t bring herself to ask.
Shipboard antics ensue in this witty, heart-tugging, childhood-friends-to-lovers romance—as JoJo and Cooper fake flirt, slow dance, share a cabin, sing duets, treat sunburns, get jealous, rescue each other over and over, and finally, at last, figure it all out in the most blissful, swoony, romantic way.
My Opinion: The Shippers hooked me right away. The opening had that fizzy rom com energy full of light, charm, and promise. But somewhere around the middle, the momentum slipped, and I found myself watching JoJo, a 29 year old commitment phobe, wander in circles trying to reenact a teenage kiss and “find herself.” And look, I enjoy a good story as much as anyone, but there’s only so long I can cheer for a grown woman who keeps tripping over herself
The big “miscommunication” at the heart of the plot? Most readers will spot it early. And that’s fine; if that’s the trope the author wants to lean into, I’ll play along. But I did spend a good chunk of the book muttering “okay, but can we please get on with it,” like I was stuck behind a slow driver in the fast lane.
This is my second Kathryn Center novel, the first being The Love Haters, which I genuinely enjoyed. That book had a fuller cast with background characters who added texture, humor, and emotional grounding. Here, we technically have a mother and grandmother, but they don’t offer the kind of guidance or maturity JoJo so clearly needs. It felt like the story kept teeing up opportunities for growth, only to let them drift away.
And the length… well, it went on a bit longer than the story could comfortably support. The miscommunication trope becomes a never ending loop, and some of the logistical leaps are so far fetched they feel like the narrative equivalent of “don’t look too closely at this part, because I had to make the story connect.” I get why the author made those choices since sometimes you need a wild detour to keep the plot moving, but it did pull me out of the story more than once.
For many readers, this rom com will absolutely scratch the itch: it’s cute, it’s breezy, and it has that signature Kathryn Center warmth. But I’m still on the fence. By the end of a romance, I want to feel like the characters have grown, like they’ve nudged each other toward becoming better versions of themselves. I didn’t quite get that with JoJo and Cooper. They’re likable enough, but their arc felt more like a loop than a climb.
In the end, it’s a pleasant read, just not the one that will stick with me the way The Love Haters did.
Shipboard antics ensue in this witty, heart-tugging, childhood-friends-to-lovers romance—as JoJo and Cooper fake flirt, slow dance, share a cabin, sing duets, treat sunburns, get jealous, rescue each other over and over, and finally, at last, figure it all out in the most blissful, swoony, romantic way.
My Opinion: The Shippers hooked me right away. The opening had that fizzy rom com energy full of light, charm, and promise. But somewhere around the middle, the momentum slipped, and I found myself watching JoJo, a 29 year old commitment phobe, wander in circles trying to reenact a teenage kiss and “find herself.” And look, I enjoy a good story as much as anyone, but there’s only so long I can cheer for a grown woman who keeps tripping over herself
The big “miscommunication” at the heart of the plot? Most readers will spot it early. And that’s fine; if that’s the trope the author wants to lean into, I’ll play along. But I did spend a good chunk of the book muttering “okay, but can we please get on with it,” like I was stuck behind a slow driver in the fast lane.
This is my second Kathryn Center novel, the first being The Love Haters, which I genuinely enjoyed. That book had a fuller cast with background characters who added texture, humor, and emotional grounding. Here, we technically have a mother and grandmother, but they don’t offer the kind of guidance or maturity JoJo so clearly needs. It felt like the story kept teeing up opportunities for growth, only to let them drift away.
And the length… well, it went on a bit longer than the story could comfortably support. The miscommunication trope becomes a never ending loop, and some of the logistical leaps are so far fetched they feel like the narrative equivalent of “don’t look too closely at this part, because I had to make the story connect.” I get why the author made those choices since sometimes you need a wild detour to keep the plot moving, but it did pull me out of the story more than once.
For many readers, this rom com will absolutely scratch the itch: it’s cute, it’s breezy, and it has that signature Kathryn Center warmth. But I’m still on the fence. By the end of a romance, I want to feel like the characters have grown, like they’ve nudged each other toward becoming better versions of themselves. I didn’t quite get that with JoJo and Cooper. They’re likable enough, but their arc felt more like a loop than a climb.
In the end, it’s a pleasant read, just not the one that will stick with me the way The Love Haters did.
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