Have you ever been on a cruise to honor your favorite TV show? No? Well, you’re about to get the next best thing with Never Been Shipped by Alicia Thompson.
If there’s one author who can keep you guessing, it’s Alicia Thompson. Maybe it’s just me, but I never know what she’s going to publish next. Her last book was a romance between a baseball player and his heckler, but Never Been Shipped is different in the best way.
Before getting into my review, I have to say that if you’ve read With Love, From Cold World, then one of these characters might look familiar. While it took me a minute to place him, it might be great to reread it or read that book before picking this one up. It’s not necessary, but it would make for a fun time.
I’d like to thank Berkley for putting this one on my radar and sending me an ARC, as I adore Alicia Thompson, so there’s no way I wasn’t going to pick this one up.
Never Been Shipped is a cruise you won’t want to get off of.
Whether you were drawn in by the fun cover or the premise, Never Been Shipped will put you in vacation mode in the best way. This story follows ElectricOh! Who are reuniting to do a few performances on a cruise. The cruise is dedicated to a TV series that featured their music, and as you might guess, things aren’t exactly great for the band.
Micah, the lead singer, decided to break the band up and thus has harbored a lot of feelings about that, especially towards John. John is her former best friend and bandmate with whom she started the band. John was also a character featured in With Love, From Cold World, if you remember him. At first, things are a little bit awkward, but it’s clear there is still a lingering friendship between John and Micah.
John and Micah start spending time together again, and it’s clear their feelings go much deeper than friendship. The romance between these two is equal parts sweet and steamy. It’s that classic “It’s Always Been You” trope we all love while also giving us some angst. John and Micah both have feelings about how the band broke up and their interactions afterward. Everything just felt so realistic as emotions were running high, and it made sense.
Never Been Shipped has everything you’re looking for in a romance book. There was yearning, tension, angst, steamy scenes, and a fair amount of drama. Aside from that, Alicia Thompson peels back the layers of Micah and John and sees why they made the decisions they did and why they behave in certain ways.
Aside from that, I’m just really hoping that we get a movie or TV series made out of this book because it felt so cinematic. There were stakes, tension, and so much opportunity to make this into a show about music, friendship, and love. While I don’t think a TV show is planned, I’d absolutely love to see Never Been Shipped play out on the small screen.
Never Been Shipped by Alicia Thompson is out now, where books are sold.