The Shippers by Katherine Center
First line: Mrs. Richmond’s wedding gown was itchy, for one thing.
Summary: After leaving her groom at the altar, JoJo Burton has decided she is going to finally break her cursed love life. With the help of her sister and her former childhood best friend, Cooper, she is determined to catch the eye of her teenage crush. Luckily, he happens to be attending her sister’s wedding cruise. However, with her sister busy with wedding details most of the scheming falls to her best friend. As they spend time together, she remembers all the things leading up to their falling out years before. JoJo hopes that this time together will help her and Cooper’s friendship but with each passing day, there seems to be something more between them. Will she need to abandon her plan or is she willing to lose Cooper forever?
My Thoughts: Again, such a wonderful summer read from Katherine Center. I had so much fun with this one. It took me back to the days when I spent summers outside with the neighbor kids until the sun went down. It was funny, charming and heartwarming.
The book begins on JoJo’s wedding day. She is stuck in a horribly itchy wedding gown belonging to her future mother in law. It seems like a sign and then her childhood best friend, Cooper, shows up to save the day! What a wonderful start to a rom-com, then add to it a cruise ship, former crush, a plan to seduce said former crush and a lot of miscommunication.
As readers, we watch her make mistakes when it seems so obvious to us what she should choose. However, while feeling exasperated with her choices I laughed along at the ridiculousness of it. In the end, everything always works out but the middle full of messiness kept me reading until the end. While sitting by the pool or enjoying a summer getaway this should be in your reading pile. It will make you laugh and remember your childhood summers spent with all your neighborhood friends.