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A review by lisaluvsliterature
Hook, Line and Single: A BRAND NEW hilarious, uplifting romantic comedy from Phoebe MacLeod for 2025 by Phoebe MacLeod
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I’ve wanted to read this author for a while, and with my own very first cruise planned for this summer, I thought what a fun book to get started with! There was a lot of fun in this story. I enjoyed the characters relationships with each other. Ruby has some great friends, and her family members were fun to spend time with as well. The whole going to church to meet a guy for her friend Sam was hilarious! Besides knowing from the blurb that Ruby was being tricked into a singles cruise by her friend, it was obvious something was up when her friend was asking her how she would describe herself in a dating app bio. Although honestly I think her friend did a good job with what she said.
So many of the activities the singles group had going were ones that made me cringe and are part of the reason my introverted self would not want to be a part of those things. It was so realistic though for me, to see how her friend Sam kind of left her behind in finding her own perfect guy. That’s happened to me most of my life. My friends find a guy, then I get left behind, not even included as a third wheel. Cameron was a pretty nice guy and while we knew that Ruby had reasons and didn’t want to date anyone, we didn’t know the specifics, so I got a little irritated with her as she kept pushing him away. When we finally did get her reasoning, I could see how it made sense. However I was glad to see that she could see how much she was hurting him and it made her look at her reasons after finally sharing them with Sam. And honestly, as great as Cameron was, there wasn’t a ton of romance involved on his end either, other than doing lots of things to help her out. This is an instance where I think if we’d gotten half the book from his POV it could have made up for that.
Even though I’m a dog person, I do adore the stories with cats that are such a big part of someone’s life, just like my dogs are for me. So I loved their cat, and how it went to the bookstore for work with her! And the nude beach scene was funny, I did appreciate that! However, the part where she didn’t know about morning wood? That was a little unbelievable if she’d been in a serious relationship or had sex before. Especially at her age, and her talk about how a vibrator was a good enough stand-in for a man. I have no problem with that, just doesn’t sync up with not knowing that. Her jokes about “little Cameron” were funny though, and Frou Frou, those parts did keep me giggling.
So many of the activities the singles group had going were ones that made me cringe and are part of the reason my introverted self would not want to be a part of those things. It was so realistic though for me, to see how her friend Sam kind of left her behind in finding her own perfect guy. That’s happened to me most of my life. My friends find a guy, then I get left behind, not even included as a third wheel. Cameron was a pretty nice guy and while we knew that Ruby had reasons and didn’t want to date anyone, we didn’t know the specifics, so I got a little irritated with her as she kept pushing him away. When we finally did get her reasoning, I could see how it made sense. However I was glad to see that she could see how much she was hurting him and it made her look at her reasons after finally sharing them with Sam. And honestly, as great as Cameron was, there wasn’t a ton of romance involved on his end either, other than doing lots of things to help her out. This is an instance where I think if we’d gotten half the book from his POV it could have made up for that.
Even though I’m a dog person, I do adore the stories with cats that are such a big part of someone’s life, just like my dogs are for me. So I loved their cat, and how it went to the bookstore for work with her! And the nude beach scene was funny, I did appreciate that! However, the part where she didn’t know about morning wood? That was a little unbelievable if she’d been in a serious relationship or had sex before. Especially at her age, and her talk about how a vibrator was a good enough stand-in for a man. I have no problem with that, just doesn’t sync up with not knowing that. Her jokes about “little Cameron” were funny though, and Frou Frou, those parts did keep me giggling.