Publishers Weekly
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Center (The Love Haters) sets this beguiling contemporary aboard a weeklong cruise. Middle school math teacher JoJo Burton has left a string of broken hearts in her wake, most recently when she dumped her fiancé at the altar at the encouragement of her childhood best friend, Cooper Watts. Jojo’s sister, Ashley, diagnoses her inability to commit as stemming from her having “imprinted” on Finn Turner, the boy with whom she shared her first kiss at 10 years old, and cooks up a scheme to help JoJo win over Finn, who will be attending Ashley’s cruise ship wedding. Cooper, who is also unexpectedly in attendance despite having RSVPed no, thinks the entire plan is bonkers and repeatedly comes to Jojo’s rescue, for example during awkward mini-golf outings and dance contests. It’s clear early on that Cooper and JoJo are the ones with real chemistry, but their relationship is still strained from when Cooper ghosted Jojo for a job in London four years before the start of the book, and she’s hesitant to trust him again. Center employs the forced proximity trope to excellent effect in bringing these two back together, and the characters’ sparkling banter effortlessly captures their long-standing intimacy. It’s a joy to watch their friends-to-lovers journey unfold. (May)

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

While on her sister’s wedding cruise, a woman enlists her childhood best friend for help as she attempts to woo her longtime crush. JoJo Burton is bad at love. After she leaves her terrible fiancé, Pearce Richmond, at the altar, she’s convinced she might never settle down. But during her sister’s wedding, which is being held on an eight-day cruise to the Bahamas and Cozumel, she and her family concoct a plan that will help her seduce her recently divorced childhood crush, Finn Turner. The two of them once shared a blindfolded kiss that might have ruined JoJo for all other men, and she’s never forgotten it. But then JoJo’s best friend, Cooper Watts, shows up. Cooper and JoJo were inseparable as children but didn’t talk for years after she got engaged to Pearce. She doesn’t know why he suddenly disappeared on her, but it doesn’t matter—he’s here now, and she needs him to help her get Finn to reenact that long-ago kiss. But after she and Cooper share a cabin, get thrown together for every wedding week activity, and even engage in the classic friendly flirting meant to make another man jealous, JoJo starts to realize that Finn might not be the man she’s been waiting for, after all. Center keeps things light, focusing on humor even when the subject matter veers into family drama. JoJo and Cooper find themselves caught up in the sort of tropes that are catnip for romance fans—he takes care of her when she has a sunburn, for instance, and they participate in a slow-dance contest. As Center reveals in an author’s note at the beginning, “Spoiler: This bookwill end well.” The destination may not be a surprise, but the journey is a delight. A fun, positively frothy friends-to-lovers romance. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

The last thing JoJo expects is for her childhood best friend Cooper to show up at her wedding. She hasn't seen or spoken to him in four years, when he abruptly left Texas for London and stopped talking to her. Cooper's arrival forces JoJo to face the fact that she doesn't really want to marry her aloof fiancé, and she calls off the wedding. Six weeks later, JoJo and Cooper are once again brought together for her sister Ashley's nuptials on a cruise ship. But instead of facing her obvious feelings for Cooper, JoJo is focused on trying to win the affections of her childhood crush, Finn, who she thinks could be the solution to her commitment issues. Readers will no doubt realize who JoJo really belongs with long before she herself does, but they'll enjoy her wild antics and the banter between her and Cooper as they find their way to each other. Center's latest, following The Love Haters (2025), is a charming escapist romp.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Readers are hungry for fun rom-coms, and best-selling Center has become a go-to source.