4 Missing Name Tag Stars ⭐️
Spicy Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️.5/5

THIS IS NOT A WHY CHOOSE - which was the first very quick realisation I made and I was initially disappointed because I might have gone into this thinking it was RH and not Love Triangle, and I do not like Love Triangles...

Actually, I hate them - WHICH IS WHY THIS IS SUCH A SHOCKER because I was legitimately ADVOCATING to get my friends (who also dislike the Love Triangle trope) to give this a try because it was so much fun and the trope was done really well!

This book is a three-person POV following Eliza, Tom and Oscar (Harvey) but most of the book is spent in Eliza's perspective. She is running away from her life and problems in the UK for 6 months, while she joins a crew onboard a Carribean luxury cruise liner as part of the entertainment staff. There is nothing for her in England so she sets on this journey to find herself, with one rule -DO NOT MIX BUSINESS WITH PLEASURE! She will let nothing distract her from her goal of doing a good job, but soon finds not one, but two very pleasurable-looking distractions in the crew that will make her rule VERY HARD TO FOLLOW!

I am sure the advert she applied for read:
Wanted:
ᴀʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ʟᴏᴏᴋɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ʀᴜɴ ᴀᴡᴀʏ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ᴀʟʟ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴛʀᴏᴜʙʟᴇ ᴀᴛ ʜᴏᴍᴇ?
ᴀʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴏᴛ ꜱɪɴɢʟᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛᴀʟᴇɴᴛᴇᴅ?
ᴀʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴄᴏᴍꜰᴏʀᴛᴀʙʟᴇ ʙᴇɪɴɢ ᴘᴜᴛ ɪɴ ᴍᴜʟᴛɪᴘʟᴇ ꜱɪᴛᴜᴀᴛɪᴏɴꜱ ᴏꜰ ᴀʟᴍᴏꜱᴛ ɴᴀᴋᴇᴅɴᴇꜱꜱ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴄᴏᴡᴏʀᴋᴇʀꜱ ᴡʜɪʟᴇ ᴡᴏʀᴋɪɴɢ ᴏɴ ᴀ ᴄʀᴜɪꜱᴇ ꜱᴇᴇɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏɴᴅᴇʀꜰᴜʟ ᴄᴀʀʀɪʙᴇᴀɴ???
ᴡᴇʟʟ ᴀᴘᴘʟʏ ɴᴏᴡ!!!!!

The plot of this is very much Eliza figuring out who she would want to see herself with, with both men having their pros and cons for why they would be a good choice. I am glad that her choices led her to who she ended up with, as he was very much my frontrunner right from the start. For me, his relationship with Eliza had more substance and foundation than just overt sexual attraction. I loved how much he cared for her, looked out for her and noticed those little things. It was really sweet to see how each and every day he and she fell more in love with each other.

Eliza is very hard on herself, and her self-esteem and worth is basically shot to shit. Having been rejected by multiple drama schools for "not being good enough", with all of her English friends having moved on, becoming famous and leaving her behind, she feels very worthless and untalented, when the opposite is very much true. She is a BEACON of energy and light that everyone cannot help but be drawn into. She is fantastic with the guests as she has a hypnotizing likeability that makes everyone want to know her - which is perfect if your job is entertaining new strangers every week.

I liked that each guy, both Tom and Oscar had their own deep backstory to explain who they were and why they behaved like they did.
Tom is instantly likeable as he is very much the funny guy, being an amateur standup comedian he brings a lot of joy and laughter to the table, but underneath he is hiding his grief as he struggles with personal loss and how that has impacted his life.
Oscar is a reformed "bad boy", with the reputation of currently being the most "unfun" person due to how serious he is. But he has a fantastic quality of making Eliza see what she is good at and rebuild that lack of self-esteem while also giving her that safety of being spontaneous, while also allowing her to open up and get out of her comfort zone.

The one thing that I found annoying about Eliza's character is that she runs away from her problems. But this is very much an intentional annoyance placed on the reader as it is a theme of who she is and how she has to learn to overcome this issue. I think why it felt a little annoying is that it dragged on very long and occurred VERY OFTEN before she learnt to work through it. Every time that she had an issue with one of the boys, she tended to run away from that confrontation and shut them out. This would just lead to drama and no communication while she spirals on assumptions. She almost always leaves it up to the boys to push her into a literal corner and confront her before she would deal with it. I DIDN'T let this annoyance influence me toooooo much because you're not going to have perfect characters who learn everything in a book. The whole point I believe is to have realistic people, and I know for a fact that almost everybody chooses to run away from their problems instead of facing them head-on - even if we say the opposite!

Something to note is that even though this is a slow-burn romance - it takes a while for actual P in V action and a "relationship" to form, there is A LOT OF STEAM!!!! Imagine the type of vibes you would get for a bunch of horny "early adults" living in a coed dorm, with drinking allowed and almost everyone is single. Basically, every time there is alcohol in their system, someone is TAKING THEIR CLOTHES OFF... (Well maybe not fully). BUT there are rowdy games, and kissing, and touching and fondling in the dark. A literal STEAM FEST that will satisfy your little smut heart as it makes you feel like you're reading something really dirty and explicit but it's not fully there yet.

This also had a really sweet found family element to the story that given all the hardship and trauma these three main characters experienced prior to the start of this book, was sweet to see how they managed to find a family in their friends aboard the ship.

Other small little things I liked about the book:
✤ All the Pop Culture References
✤ The whole "Cloud 9"-Amy name tag thing where Oscar doesn't have his actual name on his tag
✤ ALLL THE SHOW TUNES and Musical Theatre References

The Tropes ▶ and Micro Tropes ▷ that can be found in this:
▶ Love Triangle
▶ Forced Proximity
▶ Workplace Romance
▶ Slow Burn
▷ Good Girl
▷ Mine
▷ It Won't Fit
▷ Forehead Kisses
▷ Public Sex
▷ View is Amazing (While he looks at her)
▷ Lift your Hips for me
▷ Surnames for Nicknames

Overall, this was FUN - and made me rethink that I might not hate Love Triangles AFTERALL!!!!!

Thank you to Phillippa Young and Netgalley for my gifted copy!
All thoughts and opinions are my own.