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A review by justmevictoria
More Than Clickbait by Philippa Young
4.5
This book was kindly sent to me by the author in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
A fresh start on a cruise ship leads to some unforgettable experiences…
After being given the extreme villain edit on a reality dating show, Gemma Harvey has escaped to cruise ship crew life alongside her brother Oscar and his girlfriend Eliza. It’s world’s away from her life as an influencer and she hopes that none of the guests recognise and expose her. Plus, being on the Neptune finally puts her in the path of Eliza’s friend Tom Parks, who she’s been crushing on since the moment he popped up in Oscar’s photo stream. Delaying his return to the ship, Tom is immediately drawn to Gemma - or Megan - and after an unforgettable first night together in the most unexpected place, he knows this is a women he needs to get to know. When Harvey offers Gemma’s social media services to Tom, who is trying to maintain a comedy presence on TikTok while on the ship, it’s the perfect chance to spend quality time with her. But Gemma, rightfully, has some walls up, and Oscar isn’t afraid to tell Tom to not hook up with his sister. No matter the obstacles though, Tom knows that Gemma is it for him, he just has to prove that to her, no matter what anyone says.
When the first chapter features an orgy, you know damn well you’re in for an unputdownable read! I absolutely ADORED More Than Shipmates and the swoony and spicy crewmate shenanigans that Philippa put the characters through, and she followed all that up with another fabulous romp on what has to be the horniest ship sailing the high seas! THIS is what cruiseships need to be using as advertisements to get people to apply to be crewmates, because they’d be inundated with applications in the blink of an eye!
After everything that Tom went through in book one, I was very excited to see him get the happily ever after he deserves. And as we got to learn about Gemma and her backstory, it was clear that she too deserved the love and HEA just as much as Tom. Both had intense chemistry from the get-go, spurred on by Gemma finally having a chance to explore her sexuality and experiences with Tom. There was so much love and care between them, especially on Tom’s part from the beginning, and the spice only intensified that. And yes, the spice was spicing real damn good - I did say this whole thing started with an orgy, and it only got better from there!
Once again, I ADORED the setting of a cruise ship, which is the perfect fodder for the forced proximity trope. And again, I was VERY close to uprooting my entire life and embarking on a new journey working on a cruise shop, despite the fact that I’m an introvert and my social battery would NEVER be able to handle it! While we didn’t get to see as much of the crew activities like we did with the previous book (the scavenger hunt still lives rent-free in my head), we got to explore more off-shore locations. And while there was also less focus on the larger friend groups, there was strong focus on the stronger friendships, like between Tom and Jack.
Not going to lie, I was lowkey VERY invested in a potential throuple situation, and I would have been very satisfied if that was the route Philippa had taken with Tom and Gemma. But the group activities that we did get with these two were *chefs kiss* and I definitely could have done with more! And although Philippa ended the book with Jack seemingly getting his happy ending, I do kind of want to see him get his own book so we can explore that more - he was such a great inclusion in this story, and I loved his friendship with Tom, and eventually Gemma, so it would be so fun to follow his own HEA after everything he’s been through.
If you love Below Deck and want to experience all the drama that comes with living on a cruise ship for six months, this book and this series NEEDS to be at the top of your TBR! You’ll 100% be itching to apply for cruiseship jobs the moment you start reading, and you’ll be packing your bags by the time you reach the final page!
A fresh start on a cruise ship leads to some unforgettable experiences…
After being given the extreme villain edit on a reality dating show, Gemma Harvey has escaped to cruise ship crew life alongside her brother Oscar and his girlfriend Eliza. It’s world’s away from her life as an influencer and she hopes that none of the guests recognise and expose her. Plus, being on the Neptune finally puts her in the path of Eliza’s friend Tom Parks, who she’s been crushing on since the moment he popped up in Oscar’s photo stream. Delaying his return to the ship, Tom is immediately drawn to Gemma - or Megan - and after an unforgettable first night together in the most unexpected place, he knows this is a women he needs to get to know. When Harvey offers Gemma’s social media services to Tom, who is trying to maintain a comedy presence on TikTok while on the ship, it’s the perfect chance to spend quality time with her. But Gemma, rightfully, has some walls up, and Oscar isn’t afraid to tell Tom to not hook up with his sister. No matter the obstacles though, Tom knows that Gemma is it for him, he just has to prove that to her, no matter what anyone says.
When the first chapter features an orgy, you know damn well you’re in for an unputdownable read! I absolutely ADORED More Than Shipmates and the swoony and spicy crewmate shenanigans that Philippa put the characters through, and she followed all that up with another fabulous romp on what has to be the horniest ship sailing the high seas! THIS is what cruiseships need to be using as advertisements to get people to apply to be crewmates, because they’d be inundated with applications in the blink of an eye!
After everything that Tom went through in book one, I was very excited to see him get the happily ever after he deserves. And as we got to learn about Gemma and her backstory, it was clear that she too deserved the love and HEA just as much as Tom. Both had intense chemistry from the get-go, spurred on by Gemma finally having a chance to explore her sexuality and experiences with Tom. There was so much love and care between them, especially on Tom’s part from the beginning, and the spice only intensified that. And yes, the spice was spicing real damn good - I did say this whole thing started with an orgy, and it only got better from there!
Once again, I ADORED the setting of a cruise ship, which is the perfect fodder for the forced proximity trope. And again, I was VERY close to uprooting my entire life and embarking on a new journey working on a cruise shop, despite the fact that I’m an introvert and my social battery would NEVER be able to handle it! While we didn’t get to see as much of the crew activities like we did with the previous book (the scavenger hunt still lives rent-free in my head), we got to explore more off-shore locations. And while there was also less focus on the larger friend groups, there was strong focus on the stronger friendships, like between Tom and Jack.
Not going to lie, I was lowkey VERY invested in a potential throuple situation, and I would have been very satisfied if that was the route Philippa had taken with Tom and Gemma. But the group activities that we did get with these two were *chefs kiss* and I definitely could have done with more! And although Philippa ended the book with Jack seemingly getting his happy ending, I do kind of want to see him get his own book so we can explore that more - he was such a great inclusion in this story, and I loved his friendship with Tom, and eventually Gemma, so it would be so fun to follow his own HEA after everything he’s been through.
If you love Below Deck and want to experience all the drama that comes with living on a cruise ship for six months, this book and this series NEEDS to be at the top of your TBR! You’ll 100% be itching to apply for cruiseship jobs the moment you start reading, and you’ll be packing your bags by the time you reach the final page!