[New post] SHIP WRECKED by Olivia Dade – double review
atakefromtwocities posted: " After All the Feels and Spoiler Alert, Olivia Dade once again delivers a warm and wonderful romantic comedy about two co-stars who once had an incredible one-night stand—and after years of filming on the same remote island, are finally ready to yield to " A Take from Two Cities
After All the Feels and Spoiler Alert, Olivia Dade once again delivers a warm and wonderful romantic comedy about two co-stars who once had an incredible one-night stand—and after years of filming on the same remote island, are finally ready to yield to temptation again…
Maria's one-night-stand—the thick-thighed, sexy Viking of a man she left without a word or a note—just reappeared. Apparently, Peter's her surly Gods of the Gates co-star, and they're about to spend the next six years filming on a desolate Irish island together. She still wants him…but he now wants nothing to do with her.
Peter knows this role could finally transform him from a forgettable character actor into a leading man. He also knows a failed relationship with Maria could poison the set, and he won't sabotage his career for a woman who's already walked away from him once. Given time, maybe they can be cooperative colleagues or friends—possibly even best friends—but not lovers again. No matter how much he aches for her.
For years, they don't touch off-camera. But on their last night of filming, their mutual restraint finally shatters, and all their pent-up desire explodes into renewed passion. Too bad they still don't have a future together, since Peter's going back to Hollywood, while Maria's returning to her native Sweden. She thinks she needs more than he can give her, but he's determined to change her mind, and he's spent the last six years waiting. Watching. Wanting.
His shipwrecked Swede doesn't stand a chance.
Title : Ship Wrecked Author : Olivia Dade Series : Spoiler Alert (book three) Format : eBook (overdrive) Page Count : 413 Genre : contemporary romance Publisher : Avon Release Date : November 15, 2022
Reviewer : Hollis/Micky Rating : ★ ★★/★ ★★★
Hollis' 3 star review
This series has been a wild ride for me. We started strong, took a hard left into mostly nope, but then we are ending (right? it felt like the end!) on a mostly better note.. which I'm happy about.
I'll admit, though, this started off rough. But not literally. Chapter one? Hoo boy hot. Chapter two? My reaction to the Peter's behaviour was the buzziest of buzzkills. Eventually we get the reasons why but his defrosting was tough. Meanwhile Maria was delightful always. My only real issue was her quick pivot on her feelings for Peter out of nowhere offpage.
Naturally I hated the third act conflict but that's mostly because it felt a miscommunication-adjacent and I hate that trope.
I'm definitely here (again, always!) for all the positive rep. But the highlight, as always, was the snarky commentary around this not-GoT but definitely GoT show at the centre of the plot. It's incredibly satisfying. It's also a little fanfic-y in of itself for all the people who were real-life shipping two characters who were mostly, sorta, embodied by Peter and Maria. Basically all the homages to everything around the show and actors were (chefs kiss) the best.
Having said that, once again, I'm hear to warn you away from playing drinking games; this time the keywords had to go with goats, herring, and other over-used bits used for increasingly lackluster and tired banter the longer it all went on.
But when the romance was in the transition from pining to confessions and then actually together? Delightful. The pre and post bits? I could leave them. The group chat threads? Hysterical. So, yes, equal parts fun and not fun. All that to say, I will definitely make an effort to dive into Dade's backlist and continue to pick up whatever she does next.
Micky's 4 star review
Headlines: On set complications A love told over years Scandi humour
The GOT/Gods of the Gates has never worked so well in this series as this book. The characters that Peter and Maria were inhabiting were fantastic but IRL, they were a blast to read. I went from like to serious Peter side-eye to warm to heart eyes.
I appreciated that this was a slow-burn romance told over years without it feeling too long to wait to see things reach a conclusion. The build-up was everything and the time the characters spent on set was my favourite part of the book. That meant that the second half of the book was a little less exciting to me.
I enjoyed Maria as a character immensely, she was sunny but realistic. Her body positivity was infectious and inspiring. Peter was a introverted grump at times but her sunshine made him eventually sunny(ish).
For me, this was a welcome addition to the series and I enjoyed the cameos of the previous characters.
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