Really liked this story! The two main characters had great chemistry and I loved the friends-to-lovers plot. I do wish the ending of the book was a little more fleshed out but I still really enjoyed the book as a whole

"Hook, Line and Single" didn't quite live up to my expectations. While the premise was intriguing, the writing didn't quite capture my interest, and the characters felt rather one-dimensional, making it hard to connect with them. The FMC attitude was particularly frustrating, and the romance felt more forced than genuine. Additionally, the cruise ship setting only featured in about 40% of the book, and the relationship felt rushed, with the FMC's friend often overshadowing the main story. Although fans of light romcoms might find it enjoyable, I wasn't completely disappointed, it’s just another silly little romance book.

The book is set to release on February 17, 2025. Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books!

I really enjoyed MacLeod's last novel "the do-over' but I really struggled with this one. I was completely lost at the beginning as to where the story was going to go. I found parts of the novel to be a bit cringy, and wondering why these female characters would put up with such horrible people. The main story line was kind of predictable and I really struggled to get through to the end. Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an e-arc in change for a honest review.

Throughly enjoyed this book from start to finish, perfect read for by the pool on holiday

This was a cute, light hearted and easy read. For me it was just an ok read, there wasn’t much character development, lots of bad language which isn’t necessarily and overall I just found it very slow and predictable. I also found certain parts cheesy and almost cringy to read.
Not my sort of book and wouldn’t recommend.
Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book, all opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for this ARC.

Ruby co-owns a bookshop in Margate, Kent with gay friend Jono. She hasn't dated for 7 years, when she had a bad break-up from her college boyfriend Olly. Her flatmate and best friend Sam however is keen to find the one, so after trying to find a man in church but basically encountering a puritanical sect straight out of "Everyone Else Burns", she books both of them on a Mediterranean cruise. However, unbeknownst to Ruby, it is a "Single and mingle" cruise with nightly dating events that are almost impossible to escape due to coordinator Barry being relentlessly cheerful and believing in love, pushing people together.

So when she meets Cameron, a firearms enquiry officer with Kent Police, who is equally reluctant about the enforced dating games, he suggests to pair up and fake date to get Barry off their back. They become good friends and end up spending whole days together, with a day out in Barcelona not quite going to plan and forcing them to make alternative sleeping arrangements.

As travel escapism goes, this isn't the best as there are barely any descriptions of the places they see. There are tropes galore though, from friends to lovers to fake dating, forced proximity and one bed only.

Cameron is a nice guy but the problem I have with him is that he is basically a blank canvas we know hardly anything about. His job is about guns and their licences and his hobby is clay pigeon shooting. That is just a bit too much gun talk for my personal taste.

The romance is extremely slow-burn, which can be forgiven, but the very late revelation about why Ruby has sworn off all men came out of the blue and should maybe have been addressed sooner. I liked the scenes on the ship and the nudist beach scenes, though Ruby came across as a prude, also when she woke up next to Cameron and his morning glory, as if she'd never encountered this before.

As far as side characters go, there is a quirky mixture on and off the ship, with cat Samson possibly the cutest of the lot. Sam wasn't a good friend though and literally begged to be thrown overboard for her almost immediate abandonment of Ruby for a guy on the ship. Not cool. Sister Emerald on the other hand needs her own book!

Altogether, this is a light-hearted and funny story about friendship, second chances and self-discovery that can be read quickly.

The name of the book caught my intrest right away. The romance was cute, but felt a little predictable.

It was an easy read and I liked Ruby and Cameron, but was not a big fan of Sam in the book.

If you want a lighthearted contemporary romance, this would be a good choice.

3.75 stars

I've heard good things about Phoebe MacLeod's books but hadn't read any, until I spotted this one a featured a cruise. And I am a sucker for a cruise.

And having now read this, I may just be a sucker for this author's writing too, as I enjoyed it so much. That I was ditching things I possibly should have been doing in order to read more.

Initially I was more interested in Sam's story, but Ruby, as the main character grew on me the whole time, and on discovering the truth why she prefers to be single, my heart went out to her.

In between that we have Sam trying to prowl for single men at a new church she has heard about, and wow they have some rather interesting rules. After that she decides that a holiday with Ruby would be a good idea.

To Ruby's dismay they had been booked through a singles group, and were expected to go to organised activities each evening. Now this is a fabulous dynamic and it was a lot of fun, and Barry the Marco Polo group host is larger than life, but I kind of wanted to see a bit more of the cruise ship.

But really its a port intensive itinerary so its realistic for most of the action to be in the ports of call, and then evening activities, it's just the cruise fanatic in me wanted to see if I could work out which cruise line this may have been modelled on!

And there are some really memorable moments at some of the ports too, especially once Ruby starts hanging around Cameron who also isn't keen on the idea of dating, after Sam hits it off with a new man.

This had many amusing and fun moments, and is a book I totally enjoyed.

Thank you to Boldwood Books and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

This was a really cute read that I enjoyed but i did feel like it dragged on a bit at times. I did like the story and it had me giggling and kicking my feet at times.

I forgot I had this book and jumped over to GoodReads to read the back cover blurb… It’s sitting at a 3.30 star rating. I have a feeling I’m not going to enjoy this. And honestly, reading blurb, I’m not sure why I grabbed it to read in the first place.

So, this is a DNF. I try my best to get through ARCs because that’s the deal. I get the book early and I provide an honest review. But this was horrific on so many levels. The opening page reads like a rough draft. There are so many things that pulled me out of the story. From ‘the sound of the door slamming’ to her roommate saying she’s upset, to Ruby telling us now that she sees said roommate she knows she’s upset.

There’s the gay coworker who is terrible on so many levels.

But this is where I stopped reading. Ruby comes home from work and there’s a random guy on her couch. It’s her roommate’s date. But it’s also a former classmate. And he’s just beyond gross. This is directly from the ARC and I won’t direct quote anything else.

“Got it!” he exclaims. “Here come Rubes, with her monster pubes. God, those days were funny, weren’t they? So much banter.”

This man is 28. I can’t think of a time in anyone’s life where that would be appropriate or funny. Ruby then tells us this same guy used to try to look up girl’s skirts and down their shirts and her roommate is like ‘he’s not going to grope me in public’

Yeah. I’m done. This isn’t funny. This isn’t cute. This is gross.

Beyond that. I’m not enjoying the book. Life is too short to read books that are this boring and stupid.

I see from other reviewers that they felt the book takes too long. Others said they enjoyed the first part but lost interest later. I can only imagine how much I would detest the rest of the book if I hated the beginning this much.

The characters from this book are from england just a little fact that I like to know when i'm going to read a book just so I can get in the frame of mind for the slang and the locations and whatnot just a side note

Ruby has a complicated history. She's never really told the truth about what happened with her first love, right? And she's okay with that. She told herself she doesn't need anybody and she can just be alone. She has her beautiful cat Samson. She co-owns her bookstore with a bestie and she has her very best friend. Sam as a roommate- sam, however, sam's looking for love and she believes in it. She talks ruby into going on a vacation, just the two of them, it's not until they get on the ship, that ruby realizes she's been taken hook line and sinker, right onto a singles cruise- the cruise, it's not just any old singles cruise, it's got games. It's got colors, it's got an over the top believes in true love host- she gets matched app with Cameron, and they decide to fake it as a couple so they can get out of all of the he was blooming single events and they start spending time together and a bunch of mishaps of course occur. .
What will happen when the cruise is over? And they both end up back in England. Do they have a chance to make it, did rupees bestie sam find anybody?That story is almost as good as the main story.Definitely a good book

Thank you, net galley for the arc in exchange for an honest review

A fun and easy read for the days when you just want to cozy up with a romance and leave the madness of the world behind. Loved it! Will look for more by Phoebe MacLeod! :)

Hook, Line and Single by Phoebe MacLeod will be published February 17, 2025.

Such a cute title, especially seeing that this book is set on a single’s cruise ship. The plot was very interesting but the execution of the story fell a bit short for me. Very slow pacing. I feel like several of the characters were a bit underdeveloped and didn’t quite connect or believe the romance between the FMC and MMC. It was a still a quick and easy read with some parts had me giggling.

I received a copy from the author/publishing company via NetGalley in exchanged for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

When Ruby is convinced by her friend to go on a cruise she is very surprised to find out that she has been signed up for the singles club.

Ruby is sworn off men and really doesnt want to take part in any of the events but when she meets Cameron someone else who really wasnt there to find love. They come up with a plan if they agree to act as partners they are able to avoid all the other singles desperate to hook up.

As the holiday goes on they seem to becoming closer and closer but Ruby cant risk another relationship, can she

I loved this book, it was a really lovely read, the characters are very engaging and the story moved on a fast lick another fantastic book by Pheobe - cant recommend enough

This was just silly and I didn’t enjoy it. It’s all over the place and the characters weren’t great.

Very cutesy book. Enjoyed the cruise ship setting- something new I hadn't read before. Felt like it was more about Ruby's friend, Sam, than her. Definitely was a little slow getting into the groove of things- nonetheless a quick, easy and lighthearted read.

This was an okay book. It was lighthearted and fun but the characters had no depth or development, the dialogue felt forced, and the writing in general was just flat.

This is a fun read set on a cruise ship and darts between places in Europe. The romance element felt more like platonic friends rather than a romantic slow burn and I didn't feel the romantic chemistry between Ruby and Cameron, that being said I liked their friendship. I liked the setting, albeit they didn't actually spend a lot of time on the cruise, and the idea of accidentally joining a singles cruise was funny with a lot of potential. One element that I didn't understand the relevance was the church / religious subplot with Ruby's friend Sam. I'm not sure what this exactly adds to the story. Overall, I enjoyed the setting and there was potential for a cute and slow burn romance but it didn't quite happen.

I like the idea behind this story, but it fell short for me. I am not quite sure what it was but I just struggled a little. We don't know hardly anything about the male character Cameron. I wish we could know more about him. I didn't feel any depth to any of these characters. And I didn't feel love between Cameron and Ruby. I wanted this story to be a little more.

This book is cute and the characters are wonderful but the synopsis doesn’t match up with the story you read. It was an easy and enjoyable read though!