WOW! I was very pleased with this! Not at all what I expected especially when it came to those coworker games and the spice is ON POINT! at first I was team Tom, then I was team Oscar, then back again to Tom and back again to Oscar and then wanted both! whew! Such a fun ride!

I learned something about myself while reading this book…and it’s that I’m not really into the “other man” sort of drama. That isn’t to say that it wasn’t well done — I particularly enjoyed getting all 3 perspectives in the love triangle, and the premise of being on a cruise ship is super super fun. Just, the whole “who will she choose” drama is not my cup of tea. I can definitely see where this would be appealing to people who are into that sort of thing, though! Young gave each of the characters great depth, and I enjoyed the length of the novel. It felt “fluffy” without it being too long, if that makes sense. I enjoyed the fluff here, whereas with other novels sometimes fluff annoys me. The aspect of personal growth for Eliza, while also focusing on the romance aspect is very well balanced, and I appreciated the dynamic characterization. This is a lovely debut, and I am very glad I got a chance to read an ARC of it!

More Than Shipmates by: Philipa Young
Read if you love:
- Below Deck
- Workplace Romances
- Forced Proximity
- Love Triangles

RUN, DONT WALK TO KINDLE UNLIMITED AND DOWNLOAD THIS IMMEDIATELY (or get the paperback if you read physically)!!! The perfect spicy summer vacation beach read!

Special thanks to netgalley and the author Phillipa for the free ARC in return for my honest review!

This book was a solid 4.5 star read, for me.

I loved every single piece of it. It was such a fun read and I was chomping at the bit to finish it.

This kind of made me want to get a job on a cruise ship. Especially if life at sea is anything like it was described.

The tension between the characters, the friendships, the self discovery. It really had it all, and I lapped up every bit of it.

I saw in the back there will be another book to follow and I’m absolutely ecstatic and looking forward to snatching that up as well.

While I found the intial idea interesting, I found the story to be a little slow. I found the characters to be a little unrealistic in the way they behaved sometimes, very selfish and immature. However, if you watch some of those reality shows about being on a boat, maybe it's not THAT unrealistic.

I wasn't a big fan of the changing POV. I didn't feel that I needed to see what was happening from the two mmc's POV because it was pretty obvious what their feelings were from the fmc POV.

Overall, this wasn't the one for me, but maybe it will appeal to people who want just a quick read basically about honry teenagers (not really teens, but they act like it) on a boat.

Thank you so much Net Galley for the eARC!

This book was so fun start to finish! I can’t believe it hasn’t gone viral yet! I was impressed by the writing and hoping she writes more!

Thank you, Philippa Young for taking me out on a cruise without leaving my house. You made me feel like I'm one of the characters. I would love to read more books by you. I am a new fan!

First I would like to say that I really like the cover. this is definitely a cover I would pick up at the store.


This story is about Eliza.
Eliza decides to work on a cruise ship. Even before she gets on the ship she meets a very nice man, Tom.
Soon Eliza and Tom click and become friends. Once on the boat, they immediately have to work hard and there she meets her other colleague, Oscar.

both men are very nice and soon she has lust for both. in between all the hard work there is time for some games and I can tell you those games are spicyyyyy🌶.

I enjoyed the book! But it could have been a little less pages for me.
I really enjoyed the interaction between Eliza and her colleagues and enjoyed all the games that were played.

in the end Eliza went for my favorite man😁.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙎𝙝𝙞𝙥𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣-𝙛𝙪𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙, 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙢𝙮 𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙘 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙙𝙮 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙝 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙞𝙣.

I’m probably one of the few people who will say they actually like love triangles. I get why they’re not for everyone, but I think the author did such a great job of displaying it in this one.

I’m going to be completely honest, I have never heard of this book until an Instagram group I’m in brought it up… so of course I went to request it off NetGalley, and I’m so glad I read this because I enjoyed it.

It’s set on a cruise ship, which means forced proximity - and I equally loved both of our male characters, Tom and Oscar. I also adored Eliza with both of them, we also get POVs from all of them.

The atmosphere was so fun and delightful. With this being a longer book, I honestly wasn’t expecting it to keep me engaged the whole time - but it did. There’s also a few steamy scenes, which I can’t deny were fun.

The tension between all characters was so fun, and I loved the side characters. With this being a love triangle, I was expecting a bit more drama out of it.

I honestly can’t believe this is a debut. It’s fun, witty, and definitely worth the read. I won’t say who Eliza ended up with - I did prefer the other love interest, but the one she ended up with made more sense. I just hope we don’t see the last of “him” 🤐

This was fun and definitely a great summer romance. I know not everyone loves the love triangle, but I think it was so well written in this one. I would definitely recommend picking this up - if may be a long book, but it’s worth the read!

Thank you so much NetGalley and the author for the review eARC in exchange for my honest review!

•𝗧𝗪/𝗖𝗪: Sexual Content, Infidelity, Toxic Relationship, and Vomit

I adored this book! I really like that it was on a cruise ship and I found the story line is easy to follow!

I absolutely loved the vibes of this book, although a love triangle isn’t my favourite thing in a book this was different. I loved the setting and how different it was from other summer books! The only reason I didn’t completely love it was because of the love triangle.

<b><i><u>please note that the trigger warnings and topes/themes may contain spoilers</b></i></u>
<i><u>I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. </i></u>
<b>POV:</b> 1st person, multi POV
<b>HEA:</b> yes
<b>spice:</b> several open-door spicy scenes
<b>TWs:</b> death of parent (recounted), cheating (not MCs), OW drama, OM drama
<b>standalone:</b> yes
<b>final thoughts</b>: the teasing and slowburn and steam had me on the <b>edge of my seat</b>. The antics of the shipmates were so much fun to read, and I never knew how it was going to end. I don’t typically enjoy love triangles, so I was really hoping for some multiple partner action… LOL but alas we don’t get that. Great characters and world building of this environment that kept me captivated but I felt like Eliza’s family/home life was so confusing and distracting that I had a hard time caring about any of those characters or storylines. That being said, I enjoyed reading about the boat so much and seeing what they got up to


read this book if you love
🏝️ forced proximity (colleagues on a cruise ship)
🧑‍🤝‍🧑 great side characters
🌍 world building
💞 friends-to-lovers
🥰 nicknames
🌈 LGBT+ representation
😬 angst
💓 slowburn
🎸 singer/performer FMC/MMC
😡 grumpy/sunshine
🔼 love triangle
💼 workplace romance
🫡 big MMC

This was an interesting book to say the least. I enjoyed the glimpse into cruise life, I wonder if any of it was true. I really didn’t enjoy the love triangle aspect and the back and forth. It was a lot of will they or won’t they? I’m not happy with who Eliza chose but that’s a personal opinion and not a criticism of the book

rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.75/5

“But trust is as much of a gut feeling as it is a choice. And I’m choosing to trust him. Because my gut is telling me to.”

More Than Shipmates follows Eliza Chapman, Eliza lands a job as an events coordinator on a cruise ship. After an awful breakup, falling out with friends, and getting rejected from drama school, Eliza is looking for new beginnings and has sworn off men. But now that Eliza’s met her co-workers Tom and Oscar, she’s not sure how possible that’s going to be.

✨If you’re looking for a super spicy beach read, More Than Shipmates is for you!

This book gives you workplace romance, forced proximity, friends to lovers, and love triangle. I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about the love triangle trope but it was done so well. There were many plot lines in this book and I feel like at times it was a bit too much going on for me.

The characters in this book were so relatable. I feel like I related the most to Tom. I also lost my dad to cancer and could relate a lot to his family situation. Eliza is a girl who is just trying to find herself and it was so relatable to see her go through the ups and downs of that journey. Eliza, Oscar, and Tom all had so much depth to them and I loved that we got all three of their POV’s.

The biggest struggle I had while reading was how long it is. I think the book could’ve been a lot shorter and still have the same effect.

Overall, I think this book would be a good one to bring with you on vacation. I enjoyed the setting and I think it definitely captures the chaotic, unhinged energy of being on a cruise. If you love spice, this book won’t disappoint. There’s A LOT of it! I just wish it was shorter and had a little less going on.✨

Thank you NetGalley and Philippa Young for sending me this ebook to review!

I honestly loved this; it was different than other things I have read so far which was nice. It did start off slow for me and I was Kind of disappointed it wasn't a why choose. Which was honestly my own fault for going in blind. But it was a vibe. I also didn't like the POV would change mid-Chapter it would throw me off. But overall, I can't wait for the next book to come out I'm so excited and invested to see what happens in the next story.

‘More Than Shipmates’ by Phillippa Young was such a fun read! Full of great characters and beautiful destinations, this is definitely perfect for summer. Recommend!

This book is certainly longer than most like it but that actually is a good thing. I feel like we got to really understand the main character and her past and that made the romance so so much better!

Thank you NetGallery for the ARC, but sadly had to DNF at page 138. It just wasn’t for me and didn’t really flow well. I couldn’t make out what the plot exactly was or when things were present or past.

I’m a bit disappointed on this one. I just couldn’t engage in this book. The beginning of the relationship side was too blasé.
From there it was almost impossible to relate to the characters and their story.

When I first started reading this story I was starting to get into it and enjoyed the different characters. At one point about half way through to me it just went slow and I was beginning to lose interest. I thought at first that this would be a reverse harem but it turned out it’s not. The main character Eliza starts to have feelings for two of her shipmates and jumps to conclusions when she over hears things about them without even knowing the actual story. It does have a happy ending.