Synopsis:
When Emily Parker, a fiercely driven American coxswain, lands a rowing scholarship to Oxford University, she’s determined to make the legendary team.
Far from home and desperate to prove herself, she comes up against a wall of privilege and prejudice. But Emily refuses to let anyone rock her boat – least of all the entitled and arrogant Oxford rowing captain, Hugh Willock.
Forced into the same team, their strokes start way out of sync, until competition and chemistry pull them into a dangerously smooth rhythm. What begins as a clash of wills soon builds into something that feels even more thrilling than winning…
But Cambridge’s golden boy and rowing captain, Xander Cadish, also has his sights set on Emily and the current between them crackles with something dangerous.
With the annual Oxbridge boat race looming on the horizon, Emily finds herself torn between two rivals – and two impossible choices. Can she find a way to pull together before her heart, and her team, capsize for good?
Review:
I honestly don’t have a lot to say about In the Same Boat, it’s one of those books that I read/listened to but didn’t really have many opinions on. It was a decent read, pretty entertaining, but it wasn’t as fun as I thought it would be.
I feel like if you’re going to the effort of having two narrators you may as well have the book narrated in duet. Now, I don’t think there was anything particularly wrong with the narration but having each narrator having to put on an accent to voice the other in their chapters doesn’t make complete sense to me. The accents and put on voices weren’t terrible, one of the positives of hiring actors for audiobooks, but it just felt a little off.
The actual story was ok, but the rivalry aspect wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be. The ‘love triangle’ didn’t come into effect for a long time and it was really obvious who Emily would end up with anyway. I also didn’t care much for either love interest. Will was overly rude and entitled when they first met – the bagel situation made me physically cringe. Imagine thinking you’re entitled to the last of a specific bagel because that’s the one you order all the time and the owners know you, gross.
Spice wise this book was fairly tame. It’s not the best written but it’s also not completely cringeworthy so it gets a point for that. The chemistry between the characters just wasn’t there for me. There’s a lot of telling rather than showing so you’re more told they should be together rather than shown why. Their feelings also seem to flip from hate to love very quickly, something that isn’t too uncommon in the genre, but considering this is a full length audiobook, their connection could have been built over a longer period of time. Especially as once they have connected, Emily then starts going on dates with Xavier – who was 100% more charming than Will.
I don’t have much else to say about In the Same Boat. I finished it a couple of weeks ago and didn’t make a single note so that tells you all you need to know really.
If you’re looking for a slightly spicy romance audiobook and you have Audible Plus, this is a decent read to pick up, but I wouldn’t suggest spending actual money on In the Same Boat.
Find out if you’re eligible for an Audible Plus free trial* or sign up for an Audible Plus membership*
Check out Young Creative Press on all socials
You can also check out my StoryGraph here