Review: Luck and Last Resorts by Sarah Grunder Ruiz

 

Luck & Last Resorts (Love, Lists & Fancy Ships #2) by Sarah Grunder Ruiz

Publication Date: August 9th 2022 by Berkley

Pages: 336

Source: Publisher & Library Audio Copy

Rating: ★★★½

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

I’m not going to summarize the story because the book description (see below) does an excellent job there. I felt really torn about reading Luck and Last Resorts because I thought it would be super angsty (not my thing) and that Nina would try my patience, but I loved the first book, Love, Lists and Fancy Ships so I thought I’d give it a shot.

Nina did try my patience, and I did understand she wanted to guard herself after what her parents put her through, but still, I wanted to shake her on more than one occasion! She pushed Ollie away so many times and I really had no idea why he took this waffling from her for so long. He was an absolute sweetheart. I was glad he gave Nina an ultimatum because it pushed her to finally start to acknowledge her true feelings for him. Of course, she didn’t change completely overnight, and it was painful in parts.

I know it sounds like I didn’t enjoy the story, but I did. The story flashes back to when Nina and Ollie first meet and they started a bit playfully adversarial but grew to be friends and then inseparable. It was fun and passionate. That is until Nina screwed things up. My heart hurt for Ollie, but also for Nina, because she was depriving herself of real joy and happiness by keeping Ollie at arm’s length.

Luck and Last Resorts was an angsty, heart wrenching read, but one that I enjoyed overall.

Karissa Vacker's narration was excellent!

 3.5 Stars

Book Description:

Commitment-phobe Nina Lejeune lives by two rules:
1. Always have fun.
2. Don’t rely on anyone but yourself.
The first rule is easy; the second, she’s only broken once.

Ten years after fleeing home, Nina is the chief stewardess on the super yacht Serendipity, single by choice, and perfectly content with how life has turned out.

But Nina’s ex-coworker and old flame, Irish chef Ollie Dunne, isn’t so happy with the status quo. One year after leaving yachting, he’s returned as the Serendipity’s chef with an ultimatum: if Nina continues to deny she’s in love with him by the end of this charter season, he’ll go back to Ireland for good.

Nina and Ollie’s shared secret from their past threatens to shipwreck not only their relationship, but the entire boat. But as their connection grows amidst chaotic guests and crew drama, could there be smooth sailing in their future?