The Shippers

This was a cute romance that's set on a cruise ship and features a story with good banter, a few tropes and a delightful 'cinnamon roll' of a leading man in Cooper. It was a fun read but wasn't quite the page-turner romance I was expecting after loving Center's previous book The Love Haters last year. 

I enjoyed the forced proximity and childhood friends to lovers trope that's complicated by messy feelings the duo keeps hidden from each other. And the story was delightfully easy and satisfyingly predictable, making it a good book to read while I was on holiday. 

I just wish I loved the FMC Jojo more. I love that she's smart on paper (she's got a PhD in Mathematics), but she's an excessively flawed, chaotic character who's prickly socially and doesn't take responsibility for her mistakes which was frustrating. But I loved her sweet relationship with her dad and the excellent banter with her best friend. He was the saving grace for Jojo (and the story). Cooper was a swoony, vest-wearing fella who always has Jojo's back, despite some of her less than brilliant decisions. 

Heartwarming and a bit goofy, this book is about messy, complicated relationships, friends, family and finally seeing what's been right in front of you the whole time. 

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to St Martin's Press for the complimentary digital advanced copy that was given to me in exchange for my honest review.

My Rating: 3.75 stars

Author: Katherine Center

Genre: Romance

Type and Source: ebook from publisher via NetGalley

Publisher: St Martin's Press

First Published: May 19, 2026

Read: April 21-29, 2926

Book Description from GoodReads: One of the hottest, fastest-rising rom-com stars delivers her latest swoon-worthy novel about a destination wedding on a cruise ship.

After a whole lifetime of being bad at love, JoJo Burton decides to solve her intimacy issues once and for all at her sister’s destination wedding on a cruise ship. With the help of a little pop psychology, she diagnoses herself with a fixation on the neighborhood guy who was her her first crush and first kiss (and who just happens to be a newly-divorced wedding guest ), and she decides to woo him during the cruise for some long-delayed closure. Only problem is, her sister’s a little busy being a bride at the moment—so JoJo ropes in her childhood bestie, Cooper Watts, to be her wing man. Cooper: who RSVPed no, but then showed up, anyway. Cooper: who left town without a word four years earlier and moved to London. Cooper: who was, if she’s honest, the worst heartbreak of JoJo’s life. It’s bliss for her to see him again, and it’s agony, too—and the more they team up for Project Conquest, the more she obsesses over questions she can’t bring herself to ask.

Shipboard antics ensue in this witty, heart-tugging, childhood-friends-to-lovers romance—as JoJo and Cooper fake flirt, slow dance, share a cabin, sing duets, treat sunburns, get jealous, rescue each other over and over, and finally, at last, figure it all out in the most blissful, swoony, romantic way.

No one does summer romance quite like Katherine Center. THE SHIPPERS will take readers on the cruise of a lifetime in a story awash with romantic longing, top-notch banter, long-held secrets . . . and true love rediscovered.