Review: Ship Wrecked

Ship Wrecked by Olivia Dade
RATING: 1.5 STARS
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Sighs.

2022 has become a very lackluster reading year for me and after selecting “Ship Wrecked” among the numerous ARCs I failed to complete this year (a story for another time), I was really hoping for a win. Ha! Why do I always get my hopes up to only watch it crash and burn?

All in all, I didn’t like “Ship Wrecked” as much as I thought I would. The body positivity and plus size representation, yes. Everything else, no. The first few chapters were barely decent but it slowly started spiraling before I’ve even reached the 10-20% mark. The only chapter that is worth the read is chapter one. That’s all folks!

One of the noticeable issues of the book I had was the pacing. It was horrendous. As a reader, it's a vital part of any story and it was pretty much non-existent. One moment we’re with the main characters, Peter and Maria’s, one night stand scene then the next we’re transported a number of years later where their relationship betters for the worse all within the same sentences. Half the time I didn’t know where I was at with the out-of-whack jumps throughout and essentially found myself less and less enthused in finishing this read.

Additionally, readers were left out the loop on Peter’s and Maria’s relationship building and development, and it felt like we just had to trust the author’s word on it. Ugh no. That is typically my favorite aspect of a romance novel. Seeing how the characters interact and grow after pinning and finally getting together.

Despite the author being new to me—the likelihood of me reading from Olivia Dade is zero to none. Don’t waste your time in picking this up. You’re welcome.

Review: To Swoon and to Spar

To Swoon and to Spar by Martha Waters
RATING: 2 STARS
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Martha Waters has always been a hit or miss for me and surprise surprise! I unsurprisingly got nothing from this.

The storyline was dull with an ill paced plot that was essentially non-existent. Perhaps it was just me but I felt like I was reading the same paragraph over and over again—making it quite obvious the writing style left much to be desired. Then the biggest issue I came across were the main characters, Jane (intolerable) and Penvale (tolerable). They were terribly boring and poorly written. The lack of character traits that typically can draw readers in the storyline and the world that the author created were MIA. With that being said, I can't fail to mention the romance. Absolutely lackluster. Where was the chemistry? Where was the tension? Why were they such a boring AF couple?

Ugh. To put it bluntly—"To Swoon and to Spar" was an uneventful romance with one dimensional characters that would put you to sleep. I was really hoping for the swooning enemies to lovers banterful romance the synopsis made it out to be. But like I said—I got a whole lotta nada. 10/10 won't recommend it.