Love, Lists, and Fancy Ships by Sarah Grunder Ruiz
Series : Love, Lists & Fancy Ships #1
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 thirty things she wants
to accomplish by her birthday. Jo has almost everything she's
ever wanted, including a condo on the beach (though she's the
youngest resident by thirty years) and an exciting job (albeit
below deck) that lets her travel the world.
Jo is on track until a family tragedy 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 ten countries, and sleeping in a castle) seem
impossible to complete in twelve 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.
I read this one last month and I was really surprised by the beautiful story and the amazing characters(how is this a debut novel?)! It was a mix of romance+women's fiction and I loved all of the characters here, I mean ALL of them - which doesn't happen very often!
Jo Walker is a yacht stewardess who had a list of thirty things that she wanted to finish before she turns thirty but the death of her nephew pushes everything to the side and she's been mostly dealing with this in her own way by keeping busy with work. She does want to check things off her list and has a trip to Europe planned out, but the sudden arrival of her two nieces - Mia and Kitty brings in a surprise and has her canceling her plans. Another surprise is her new neighbor and chef/coworker - Alex, who was the stranger that she'd kissed at a bar(another bucket list thing 😉). When her nieces learn about the list, they decide to help her complete it in creative ways along with Jo's BFF - Nina and with some occasional help from Alex and his daughter - Greyson.
I loved how the book and the different characters dealt with grief without making it too sad. I feel like that's always a hard balance to achieve and this showed Jo's emotional development right alongside the romance, which was pretty cute as well. I think what I really loved was the fact that I could see parts of myself in all of the characters and that's pretty unique in a book - to find characters that are very different from each other but relatable at the same time.
This is probably a February favorite of mine and I'm really excited to read Nina's book next!
You can also find this review on my bookstagram here
Sarah Grunder Ruiz is a writer, educator, and karaoke enthusiast. Originally from South Florida, she now lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with her husband and two children. She holds an MFA in creative writing from North Carolina State University, where she now teaches First-Year Writing. She is the author of two novels: Love, Lists, and Fancy Ships, and Luck and Last Resorts.
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