From the beloved author of Just Some Stupid Love Story, an irresistible rom-com about what happens when a cruise ship romance goes…overboard
Hope Lanover needs a vacation. Her relationship has imploded, her creative ambitions have flatlined, and she can’t seem to locate the badass girl she used to be. So when her best friend invites her on a luxury cruise, she goes along with it, despite decidedly not being a cruise person.
Felix Segrave, a sober, determinedly single, workaholic chef, hates leaving his restaurant and routine. But when his parents surprise him and his sisters with cruise tickets, he can’t say no—he’s disappointed them too many times in his troubled past.
Hope and Felix are prepared to grin and bear it . . . until they lock eyes at check-in. Suddenly ten days in the Caribbean doesn’t seem so bad, if it means a fling with a sexy stranger. But when their romantic demons catch up to them and a huge fight leaves them stranded in paradise, they must work together—not to mention share a bed—to make their way home. Can they navigate the stormy seas of love or will they face romantic shipwreck?
Hope Lanover needs a vacation. Her relationship has imploded, her creative ambitions have flatlined, and she can’t seem to locate the badass girl she used to be. So when her best friend invites her on a luxury cruise, she goes along with it, despite decidedly not being a cruise person.
Felix Segrave, a sober, determinedly single, workaholic chef, hates leaving his restaurant and routine. But when his parents surprise him and his sisters with cruise tickets, he can’t say no—he’s disappointed them too many times in his troubled past.
Hope and Felix are prepared to grin and bear it . . . until they lock eyes at check-in. Suddenly ten days in the Caribbean doesn’t seem so bad, if it means a fling with a sexy stranger. But when their romantic demons catch up to them and a huge fight leaves them stranded in paradise, they must work together—not to mention share a bed—to make their way home. Can they navigate the stormy seas of love or will they face romantic shipwreck?
Title: Total DreamBoat
Author: Katelyn Doyle
Publisher:
Publication Date: June 24, 2025
Review:
Thank you to Macmillan Audio, Flatiron Books, and NetGalley for providing me with an audio galley of this title to listen to and give my honest review .The opinions here are mine.
I recently listened to Doyle's Just Some Stupid Love Story and enjoyed it. I was excited to see she had a new title and I loved the idea of two people meeting on a cruise and having a fling that could turn to more. Close proximity is a fun trope!
I really enjoyed the female narrator for this book, Kelli Tager. I'd not listened to anything narrated by her before I she did the main character really well. As for the male narrator, Russ Bain, I really wanted to like him. I always feel like I'd love a British accent but, in all honesty, I just wasn't a huge fan. He was just ok for me. Not enough inflection or feeling in his narration. It fell flat for me and I didn't feel like he really was the character.
That being said, I did enjoy the story. I loved the baggage both Hope and Felix bring to the story. I found it quite easy to connect with their characters. Hope, being someone who couldn't find what she truly wanted for herself. Clinging to others to move her along rather than relying on her true self. And Felix with his addiction. This I really connected to having grown up in that environment. How he travels through his sober life and what that looks like. How hard it is. How he doesn't want to open up past that sobriety for fear it will push him over an edge and back to where he was before. I really felt that pain and how he'd worked so hard on his growth.
The romance was cute, even though it was quick. I get the time constraint seeing as they were on a cruise. So it had to happen fast. I feel like the connection could have been a bit deeper, this would have made the chemistry feel more believable.
I really enjoyed the side characters so much. The narrators gave then all their own unique personalities. I really enjoyed the relationship between Felix and his sisters, Pear and Pru. Lauren was a great friend, even if she did some things that were questionable. She did redeem herself overall.
I will say the miscommunication trope got a little old for me. I felt like we were running in circles a bit. When they resolved their first conflict about miscommunication they jumped right into another. I needed more growth from this. Why didn't they learn the lesson?
Despite those dips, the pacing held well. I wanted to keep listening to see how the story would resolve and I wasn't disappointed with where it went.
This one is a great summer read. It made me want to pack up and take a cruise (which I have never done). There's something about being on the water that is so romantic and soothing. If you're looking for a fun romantic read that dives into the world of recovery and self-exploration, pick thsi one up and give it a try!
Author:
Katelyn Doyle is the author of contemporary romances Just Some Stupid Love Story and Total Dreamboat. Her work has been called “fun and fresh as hell” by People and “a joy to read” by Kirkus. She also writes steamy, feminist, slightly outré historical romances as the saucy USA Today Bestselling novelist Scarlett Peckham.
Katelyn is a recovering crisis PR executive, a graduate of Columbia University, and a lifelong romance addict who got her start stealing her grandmother’s bodice rippers at the tender age of eleven. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and extremely small cat, and when not toiling away expanding her oeuvre, entertains herself with frivolities such as diamond painting, watching everything on Bravo, and consuming audiobooks at 1.6x speed.
Katelyn is a recovering crisis PR executive, a graduate of Columbia University, and a lifelong romance addict who got her start stealing her grandmother’s bodice rippers at the tender age of eleven. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and extremely small cat, and when not toiling away expanding her oeuvre, entertains herself with frivolities such as diamond painting, watching everything on Bravo, and consuming audiobooks at 1.6x speed.
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