The Shippers
By: Katherine Center
Published Year: 2026
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Pages: 336
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this novel.
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): 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.
First Impressions
I love Katherine Center’s books. She is an autoread author for me. I was so excited to get a copy of this book early to review it I’m not completely sure how I feel about the cover. I do think the colors would catch my eye but I don’t know how I feel about the cartoon people.
What I thought
I loved this book.
Jojo recently walked out of her own wedding after her best friend, Cooper, showed up after RSVPing “no” and not talking to her for four years. Now she is stuck on a cruise ship for her sister’s wedding, and Cooper has shown up last minute again. Jojo and her family have decided the reason she is so unlucky in love is that she imprinted on her first kiss from years ago, so they decide that this trip is the perfect time to get her childhood crush (who is not Cooper) to fall in love with her.
At the very beginning of this book, Center has an author’s note talking about romance novels and how they can be predictable but that that is something to take comfort in. I think reading that before I started this book helped me to get in the right frame of mind. I love romance novels and I love that the Happily Ever After is predictable, but sometimes get a little irritated at the way it gets there being predictable. While doesn’t make much sense if you really break it down. Like, in this story, knowing that Cooper is in love with Jojo but that she doesn’t know it, might’ve irritated me if I hadn’t been in the right mindset.
I loved their banter and their shenanigans. I did want to smack Jojo over the head a few times, but I can also see how she ended up the way that she did. I also adored Cooper. He is a great male main character. I also thought it was a unique setting with everyone being stuck on the ship.
I wish I could put my finger on why, but I found myself unable to put this down from the very beginning. Center does a great job of writing realistic love stories with characters you can connect with and this book does not miss. A lot of her books have been being picked up for movie deals and I think this one would also be so fun to watch.
If you like romance without the spice, Center is the author for you. Her previous books used to always have a serious storyline/twist but this one is pure cotton candy. It’s happy and warm and delightful while also being balanced with depth and well thought out characters. Even the side characters are fun.