I wasn't sold on this for the first half of the book- I found the cruise and their building romance all a bit cheesy and the 'English-ness' was not very English at all! The constant references to a house in Hampshire really threw me out of the storyline - I live in Hampshire and it is definitely not posh or quaint!

After the marooning on the island I was much more involved and I ended up absolutely loving the character growth and development. I loved that they didn't immediately get back together or their issues just disappear, and I loved that we got to see the side characters develop too! Katelyn Doyle always writes so characters so well so whilst the storyline wasn't my favourite, I was definitely invested and rooting for our couple!

Hope and Felix meet on a cruise. They story grabs you from the prologue and you want to find out what happens. Some great side characters too.

"You're every bit Beyonce" I ate this up, I devoured it in a day. It was brilliant, it was so much fun to read, I usually really struggle with long chapters but not with this. It was so easy to read, getting to know the characters in what was such a short amount of time was done so well. I liked how he put his sobriety first and gave himself time, I enjoyed how although he hurt her he did try to explain his thinking even if not executed well. The cement floor was a highlight, put that man in his place. I like how she finally started to believe in herself and at that point found her dreams can work and sometimes you just need to have faith. I am so glad to of read this book it leaves a sense of hopefulness and just love.

Total Dreamboat is a cute summer read, perfect for devouring on a beach day!

Hope is reluctantly on a cruise with her best friend (and influencer), Lauren. It’s very much lust at first sight when she meets Felix on the cruise, with his loving but slightly bonkers family.

I really enjoyed watching Felix and Hope start to like each other over the first half of the book, I loved them in their cooking class and the repartee between the two of them was funny throughout! I thought Felix’s sober storyline was fantastically well done, I liked the addition of him having a wobble when everything was going wrong. Often books just throw in the storyline without much thought but this seemed well researched and relevant to the story.

Sadly I thought the fallout and rest of the book was a little lacking, they’d known each other for six days yet acted like they’d both been betrayed after six months of dating! I didn’t really think the addition of Gabe was necessary, Felix could have found out about Lauren’s instagram differently (maybe through his sisters) and after the huge argument I just didn’t really see how they would then end up together again six months later. It didn’t even seem like they went from lust to insta-love, more of a lust to hate to like? Also Lauren was the WORST! I just don’t how Hope forgave her instantly after she crossed a major boundary line.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group for a copy of this ARC!

I loved this one! It felt like a rom com in a book! I enjoyed it so much and was so invested in Hope & Felix’s love story. I loved all the funny cruise shenanigans and highly enjoyed all the banter. Such a fun book to enjoy and add to your summer reads!

I love romance books and my absolute favourite ones are when a hefty emotional punch is gift wrapped in the sweetest of premises. "Total Dreamboat" executed its sucker punch in amidst a crab based meet cute, an Elvis impersonator , fairly far-fetched timing/coincidences (Middlemarch anyone?) and Olsen twins based nostalgia - but the main characters were charming and their struggles rang true. A tale as old as time- girl gets to be plus on an all expense paid cruise with her influencer best friend and boy gets taken on same cruise by family to celebrate a parental anniversary. The chapters are sweetly introduced like the daily activities' list of the cruise. Katelyn Doyle managed to write a story that felt fresh but delivered well worn and well loved tropes.

oh what a blast i had with this book. totally got my humour and had me smiling at the dry witty but also smiling those gushy reader smiles at the cuteness between these two.
i had so much fun with this book. there are different types of romance books and i tell you what if anyone puts them on a lower par to other they can go rot. because the cleverness you must bring to the table, the skill when writing them must be magical. they are wondrous things and cover so much genre styles within one genre! and this for me was fun. i was lightened by it and felt lifted by it and loved settling in from start to finish. one of those books that you just love you will come to and relax right in to.
Hope and Felix dont want to be here. here being stuck on a cruise ship. but the cruise ship was such a fun setting for their romance and for summer fun. they are both here for different reasons. but they might just find something they've been looking for in each other.
their meeting was top notch and there banter carried on throughout. i did want to shake the main male character a few times to just "decide!" but i think that something thats a me issue on not particularly a him issue, haha. he was also working through some real hard stuff so its a given there might be issues so to speak. his interactions alongside his family had me doing a wicked cackle a fair few times. they were fab.
Hope and Felix were a class act as characters. just the right balance for a reader to delve into. they both had things they needed to get over or heal from. they both needed growth. but that doesn't mean they arent good people. and thats what i got from these two. they were good people.
Hope best friend who she has originally come on the trip with is brilliant. i love her sass and honest dont give dam vibes but is also clearly a sweetheart.
this was a top notch book. id give it and want to be on the recieving of it anytime.