In The Situation Ship, Kate Callaghan delivers a fast-paced romantic suspense novel that blends glitz, danger, and heartfelt connection. The story follows MFC Poppy, a celebrity reeling from the death of her iconic aunt. Seeking solace after a high-profile funeral, Poppy retreats to the serene luxury of a cruise ship. But peace is short-lived.

What starts as a getaway quickly spirals into a high-stakes mystery. When deadly threats surface aboard the ship, Poppy must rely on her enigmatic bodyguard—who doubles as a detective—to survive. As the duo digs deeper into a web of intrigue, their partnership intensifies, evolving from professional to profoundly personal.

Callaghan expertly balances action and romance, with the isolated cruise setting adding both elegance and claustrophobic tension. Poppy is a compelling lead—vulnerable yet resilient—and her chemistry with the brooding protector adds emotional depth to the life-and-death stakes.

Perfect for fans of romantic thrillers, The Situation Ship is an entertaining voyage through loss, love, and danger on the high seas.

This was a fun read! It was a good mixture of mystery and rom-com. It had some of my favorite tropes in it, so I went in with high hopes and it did not disappoint! Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC copy.

"The Situation Ship"- A book with a very great first few chapters. I loved the premise and I loved the idea of the characters. The storyline is excellent and the ending felt good. But the middle left something to be desired. The spice scenes are great but some of the banter and dialogues felt off. But all in all a great summer read.
Thank you NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

ARC review

4,5 stars

"The Situation Ship" by Kate Callaghan is a romance with a side of murder mystery.

I received an ARC from the author.
Opinions from this review are completely my own.

✨Tropes & Themes✨
- detective/Bodyguard X Pop Star
- cruise Ship
- Murder Mystery
- Opposites Attract
- Shared Cabin
- Reluctant Allies

I enjoyed this book a lot.
In the beginning I did not like Poppy, but her story was emotional.
She is strong, determined and deep down she has good heart, even if she is also morally gray.
I did not expect Isaiah to be so protective of Poppy, considering he was trying to find out if she is guilty of murder.

My favorite part of the story was the mystery that kept me interested.
There are some twists that I did not expect and I am glad that the stalker was not the person that I suspected.

I was also happy that Phoebe and Axel from "Not Another Rockstar" make an appearance.

Even if it is a romance there are mentions of trauma, stalking, murder, emotional and physical abuse which may be triggering

Picked this one up because it sounded like a perfect combination of my two favourite genres - romance and mystery. It was different from what I was expecting - definitely more of a mystery/thriller than a romance but I still enjoyed it. It’s giving Death on The Nile / Agatha Christie. I love mysteries that take place in an isolated location. This would be a great vacation read - especially for a cruise. It was fast paced and filled with action.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the ARC of this book!

Pop star Poppy Roe is under investigation and maybe in danger. Detective Isaiah Rivers has notice that people just end up dead around Poppy and he’s determined to find out if she’s a killer or the next victim. When Poppy is scheduled to go on an exclusive cruise, he manipulates his way into being her bodyguard. The deaths are done though; as soon as the ship sails, more dead bodies turn up. This book was a mess. There were too many convoluted story lines, zero romantic chemistry between the main characters, over explanatory dialogue, lots of telling rather than showing, and several loose ends never wrapped up for the reader. This was unbelievable and needed more editing for pacing, relationship building, and character development. 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this title from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book was like a cosy, trashy, ‘who-dun-it’ from the 00s but in the best possible way.

The plot was interesting and did take a lot more twists and turns than I expected. There was a few moments where I was seriously shocked and surprised.

The characters were flushed out but still morally ambiguous which I’m a huge fan off. That also helped wonderfully when it came to the plot.

The writing was simple and easy to read. Many murder mysteries always try to be too smart or over complicate the writing. This was easy to read and easily digestible.

The romance was cute and realistic but it felt a little rushed. I wish the smut started closer to the 60% mark so we could see the evolution of their relation prior to them succumb to it.

this book was so cute and had me laughing and smiling. i totally loved the characters! cannot recommend enough!!!

Final Rating = 3.5/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

I have not read the other standalones in this series leading up to this book, and I half-expected this book to lean more heavily into the romance with the murder mystery portion taking a bit of a back seat, but it was just the opposite.

THE STORYLINE + MURDER MYSTERY PLOT 📖

We’re following our FMC celebrity musician and actress Poppy who is being stalked by a murderous unsub while simultaneously investigated for murder herself by the detective she’s hired as her bodyguard for her upcoming cruise vacation.

Through a series of plot twists and turns and never knowing who we can fully trust, The Situation Ship really kept me on my toes the whole book to solve the murders/crimes that happened throughout.

My one qualm that held back a higher star rating would have been that the big reveal (while well executed) didn’t feel superbly original BUT I had such a great time getting to it nonetheless.

THE CHARACTERS 👤

Poppy’s lowkey unhinged killer instinct made her immensely more likeable that I thought she would be. Originally, I thought she was going to be more of an Alexis Schitts Creek type of character but again my expectations were exceeded when she was actually giving more dark femme fatale energy with a side of sass.

Isaiah Rivers our love interest MMC was super fun to get to know too. Although, perhaps less complex and layered than Poppy, Rivers did have that grumpy sunshine back and forth with our FMC quite a few times that added to his charm.

THE ROMANCE ♥️

While I did enjoy the flirty banter and relationship between Rivers and Poppy once we got over the will they won’t they routine, it did feel a bit off in terms of the pacing before getting there, and felt like we did a bit of a 0 to 100 pretty quickly in terms of their arc from “rivals” or butting heads to being physically intimate. More on my Goodreads so I don’t spoil anything here!

THE SETTING 🚢

Callaghan does a brilliant job at making the cruise ship opulent and feeling big enough to keep the setting from getting stale since 90% of this book takes place on the ship.

With secret passageways and huge suites and rooms that give mansion on the sea, Callaghan made it so that we never felt like we were running in circles on this ship. It felt like Glass Onion/ Knives Out in the way the setting was illustrated to us, and that made for a really fun world to jump into everytime you picked up the book.

EDITING ✏️

I only spotted 1 typo while reading the book and felt like the length was comparable for how much we had to cover in the story - so overall, the book felt well-edited and finely tuned while reading.

OVERALL 🫶

I had SUCH a fun time with this one and would definetly recommend picking it up for a twisty turny summer murder mystery with a tasty side dish of romance!
🚢🔪💕🌊✨

I really enjoyed watching the relationship between Poppy and Isaiah develop naturally alongside the suspenseful plot. The pacing was solid, with enough twists and red herrings to keep me engaged throughout. The cruise ship setting added an extra layer of tension and claustrophobia that worked perfectly for the story.
Overall, this book had everything I look for in a romantic thriller: fast-paced mystery, believable character dynamics, and a touch of steam. I’m excited for its release and think it’ll be a hit with fans of locked-room mysteries and romance on the edge.

Who knew I needed a murder mystery romance that takes place on a cruise ship in my life!
I enjoyed Poppy’s strong character and Isaiah’s depth which both added to the narrative. This book is great as a closed door murder mystery with some slow burn romance thrown in.

The Situation Ship follows a pop princess haunted by a string of suspicious deaths, and a skeptical detective who goes undercover as her bodyguard to uncover the truth, all set aboard a glamorous luxury cruise. It's part murder mystery, part rom-com, with a sprinkle of glitzy drama.

While the concept was interesting, I found it hard to stay fully immersed due to frequent inconsistencies and contradictions in the plot and character development. The writing skewed more YA, while the content leaned more mature, which was occasionally confusing. The pacing was a bit off and failed to keep me engrossed. The romance felt somewhat forced and lacked the chemistry I was hoping for. This was advertised as a romance, but it’s mainly a whodunnit type murder mystery with some romance sprinkled in.

That said, readers looking for a quick, quirky, murder mystery with a touch of romance, set on the high-seas, might enjoy this one!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Kate Callaghan for giving me an ARC of this book, definitely a fun read and something a little different to the pop-star genre. This was a good blend of thriller, murder mystery and then the romance aspect, and it all works surprisingly well. I think this is a strong debut novel from Kate Callaghan, and I’ll be curious to follow her for more books. I enjoyed her writing, the banter and interactions with Poppy and Isaiah are so well executed.

Gifted from NetGalley and Kate Callaghan, thank you so much!

This is a fun, easy read. It starts off really good, but fizzles out a little bit towards the end but overall it doesn't take away from the story and I can imagine this will be huge in the book community. The suspense and the tension between the main characters is spot on, but also hilarious at times too. Definitely the perfect mixture of romance which had me kicking my feet and mystery / suspense which had me at the end of my seat.

I really enjoyed the main characters and suspense of the plot thickening throughout, whilst throwing in good bits of banter and the occasional spice. This is one of them books that you can fly through and have a good time with :)

Whilst saying it fizzles out towards the end a tad, the plot is still strong and definitely worth a read, but kind of wished it ended a little differently but that's just a minor thing overall. As the author got us so hooked from the beginning with characters dotted throughout, I really enjoyed their roles within the book, so it would have been fun to expand upon them more.

I would 100% recommend this fun, summer / holiday read on.

⭐3.5 - The book follows Poppy, a pop star, who finds herself trapped in a cruise that was meant to be a relaxing holiday after a sudden family loss, but ends up being a hunt for a killer and the murders that lead back to Poppy. Detective Isaiah Rivers, who's been hired to protect Poppy on this cruise, did not expect to get so caught up in the dangers that are lurking on this cruise, nor to be so determined to be protecting Poppy no matter what.
The beginning chapter/letter from Poppy was such a cool way to open the book. The writing style was captivating and kept me interested the whole way through. It was super easy to follow and the events were fast paced. Poppy was such a strong and fierce fmc, and hers and Isaiah's friendship/relationship was endearing.
I wish we had a bit more of a build up to see their connection grow and their feelings blossom during the crazy situation they were in. It felt a bit too sudden, but with the nature/plot of the book, it made sense.
I kind of guessed the twist at the end, but that didn't spoil the reading experience too much for me. Overall, I had a great time reading this book and kept turning the pages (on my phone 😂), wanting to keep reading. Definitely realised that I enjoy the romantic suspense thriller type of stories a lot. Excited to read more from this author.

𐙚₊˚⊹ ARC review from netgalley! 3.5 stars (rounded)

⤷ “Princess of Pop” Poppy Roe hopes to escapes the death of her aunt on a luxury cruise to grieve her death in peace. When a string of people close to her turn up dead, detective Isaiah Rivers sets out to find if she’s in danger or rather if she’s a suspect by becoming her body guard. Poppy’s past seems to follow them aboard when more people are found dead. Isaiah and Poppy must work together to find out why before anyone else can get hurt.
⤷ Overall this was a great book and I look forward to reading more from this author. The plot and characters were great and I love how Poppy and Isaiah were opposites as characters but still drawn to each other. However I wish Poppy and Isaiah had a little more romance or more of a lead up to it. The ending left me with a few unanswered questions that feel like those sub-plots might have been forgotten about. In addition I was expecting some dramatic plot twist to come but never did. The ending was slightly predictable but nevertheless the book still exceeded my expectations and was great.

This was a fun read. It was equal parts mystery and romance. I really appreciate the author's note indicating where the spice is located in the story if you want to skip. Really enjoyed Poppy as a character. A lot of times with pop star type characters you get someone pretty one dimensional and that wasn't the case with Poppy. I love a mystery set on a cruise ship. Overall a little predictable but still a really run read.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book started off so well for me but it lost something along the way. When I started I genuinely thought that this book would be so popular when it is published and I do think the concept will appeal to a lot of people, however, by about halfway through, it loses it.

I found the ending to be quite convoluted and like we’d run out of people to finish up the story so we randomly threw in two newbies (phoebe and axel). This is where I contradict myself a bit because even though the end was just all over the place, the epilogue needed more. It fizzles.

Book Review: The Situationship by Kate Callaghan
Rating: 3.75/5 ⭐️

This book was such a wild ride—and honestly, I had a great time with it. What really stood out to me was how much I liked the characters. They felt very real and messy in the way actual people are, and it made the story feel grounded even when the drama got intense (and oh, it did get intense).

One thing I really appreciated was that I couldn’t guess the ending at all. I had my little theories along the way, but the reveal still caught me by surprise—which is always a win. And what made it even better? The story didn’t just drop the mic and end right after the big “whoa” moment. Everything actually got followed through. The truth came out, the characters talked it out, and the plot wrapped up in a way that felt complete. No loose ends just… dangling. I love when authors take the time to resolve things properly.

There was one moment that threw me off a bit—I’m still not sure if it was a small plot hole or just a little mistake, but it pulled me out of the story for a second. That said, it wasn’t enough to ruin the vibe or take away from the overall experience.

If you’re into stories that mix real, emotional messiness with satisfying plot resolution—and keep you guessing along the way—The Situationship is definitely worth picking up. It’s sharp, funny, and surprisingly heartfelt.

Absolutely loved this. I didn’t see the ending coming. I loved poppy’s and Isaiah’s bickering banter. I loved that it was mostly mystery with a small bit of romance. It was perfect. Hands down I would recommend.
Thank you NetGalley for allowing me the arc of this. Just what I needed for a summer mystery