Review: Lovewrecked

When I first heard that Karina Halle was writing Lovewrecked, a novel about a couple who got shipwrecked, I thought, "Really? There's a pandemic and I'm supposed to read about a boat run aground on a deserted island?" The novel was coming out at the end of April and I was really struggling at that time. I shouldn't have doubted Halle. It turns out a sexy story set on a deserted island was exactly what I needed.

Here's the synopsis:

Daisy Lewis is experiencing a relentless string of bad luck.

Fortunately, Daisy has her sister’s destination wedding coming up. A week of sand, sea, and sun in the South Pacific as the maid-of-honor is exactly what Daisy needs to forget her upturned life and focus on the positive.

That is until Daisy meets the best man.

If you take tall, dark, and handsome, and add a dash of rugged, a pinch of brooding, and a whole lot of sexy, you’ve got Tai Wakefield. Unfortunately he’s also a major grump, total alpha, and seemingly out to antagonize Daisy at every turn.

As if being part of the wedding party with Tai wasn’t bad enough, Daisy’s bad luck soon resurfaces when she ends up on a cramped sailboat with Tai and the newlyweds.

Which then shipwrecks on a deserted island near Fiji.

Okay, so they aren’t completely alone. There’s an oddball research scientist who has been isolated for far too long, they have rundown bungalows as shelter, stores of water and canned food, plus a feral goat named Wilson.

It’s Lost…without the smoke monster.

But with rescue weeks away, Tai and Daisy realize the only way they’re going to get through this mess is to stop fighting and start working together.

And with their guards down, they get closer.

A lot closer.

Soon, Daisy realizes that the only thing worse than being stuck on a deserted island, is being stuck on a deserted island with a man she hates to love and loves to hate.

A man that can break her heart.

I think one of the things I loved most about this book (and there was a lot I loved) was the ability to do a bit of armchair traveling. I mean, I knew they were going to end up in a really terrible situation, what with the whole shipwreck thing, but I enjoyed reading as Daisy traveled to New Zealand, which is on my bucket list, for her sister's wedding. And even the scenes on the island were so vivid. I found myself sort of thinking, well, if you have to be in isolation, may as well be on a beautiful island. (Pandemics sure are weird, mentally, aren't they?) Halle pretty much only writes about places she knows and/or has traveled to at least once and has a wonderful knack for really capturing the setting. 

I really felt for Daisy...she's been dealt a pretty shitty blow with her boyfriend cheating on her and losing her job. For some reason, though, her family (particularly her sister) seems to think she just waltzes through life and is so lucky and doesn't work for anything. That perception drove me absolutely bananas. It was like her family refused to recognize who she really was and what she had worked for. Just because she and her sister were so different didn't mean either was better than the other. The sisters did work through their issues throughout the novel and Halle did such a good job of writing their relationship so I was feeling all the emotions right along with them.

Speaking of emotions. The relationship between Daisy and Tai? Hoo boy. Lots of tension and sexy times there. You get a little bit of both enemies to lovers and close proximity tropes in there and they're done in a really great way (no surprise for long time blog readers...I'm pretty much always gushing about the way Halle writes). They both had some things to work out and why not work those out together while stranded on an island and super duper attracted to one another? You could tell even through their early sniping that neither was a bad person and they were just putting up walls to protect themselves so it was so worth it by the time they decided they definitely belonged together - even if they figured it was just for the time they would be stuck on the island.

I never watched Lost but I appreciated the few little pop culture references Halle snuck into Tai and Daisy's conversations. They bonded over understanding each other when the others on the island were totally oblivious to the references.

Halle has since published another novel since Lovewrecked (she works fast!) and I definitely recommend both this one and One Hot Italian Summer (review here) for your pandemic reading. As well as a good number of her backlist. I am here and on social to help with your Halle recommendations needs!

Like almost all of Karina Halle's novels, Lovewrecked will give you all the feels and you'll enjoy ever second of it. There's angst, there's family drama, there's romance and steamy moments, and there's lighthearted banter (and a goat) to keep things from getting too heavy. Read it and enjoy!

*An eARC of this novel was provided by the author via Valentine PR in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*