Book Review: Hearts Overboard by Becky Dean

Genre: YA, Romance

Publication Date: July 9, 2024

Rating: 4.5 Stars

NetGalley Blurb:

Set sail with this banter-filled rivals-to-lovers romance between a STEM-loving girl and a jock guy that will fill you with wanderlust…and have you rooting for love in the great outdoors!

Love is on the horizon…

After a very public breakup during which her ex, Caleb, tells her she is both (a) boring and (b) stuck in her ways, Savannah Moore decides that going with her mom on her company cruise to Alaska presents the perfect opportunity to show people how fun she is.

It won’t be easy, though. Her longtime nemesis, Tanner Woods, is also on the ship. His family and Savannah’s are friends, and Tanner knows her better than she’d like to admit. When he learns of her plan, Tanner wants to help, and he encourages her to try everything: zip-lining and dogsledding, hiking the bear-infested Alaskan wilderness, singing late night karaoke, and taking a polar plunge. That’ll show Caleb just what he’s missing.

Except after spending so much time with Tanner, Savannah’s not sure Caleb is the one she wants anymore…

Review:

I’m convinced life is always better while reading a Becky Dean novel. 

I’ve been lucky enough to ARC for all of her books so far, and they always leave me in such a good mood! I absolutely love her style and will read anything she writes. Let’s put it this way, there is a project on Goodreads under her profile that has no title, no blurb, no cover, and it’s been added to my ‘Want to read’ list 🤷🏼‍♀️

What I liked about the book:

I ADORE academic rivals romances! As a former overachieving Valedictorian / current perfectionist, these are always so relatable and fun to read. Not only does it guarantee we’ll have characters who overthink everything (which, hello delicious drama!), but it means our characters will probably be spouting off fun facts for me to learn along the way.

I especially loved that this was a jock vs. STEMinist academic rivals romance. We got a smart jock who has a bit of a class clown thing going for him, as well as a smart type-A STEM lover. This could not describe high school Britt’s fantasy literally any better!

However, do not fear, this jock had a lot of deep and complicated feelings under the hood, and our Type-A was all about branching out in this book! I loved how they were able to balance each other out and truly help one another with the conflicts in their respective lives. Tanner was able to introduce Savannah to a lot of new experiences and ways of thinking, while Savannah was able to offer Tanner a connection to the person behind his mask that no one else saw. The opposites attract trope was executed so well in this regard! 

I loved the overall message that you shouldn’t settle for the comfortable “just fine”, when you can expand yourself and find the “truly great”. As a risk-averse person, sometimes I need to remind myself of this very thing! Not only is it a great message to be sending to the YA audience that will likely be reading this book, but it also led to a lot of adventure. I loved going sight seeing with Savannah and Tanner, watching them do different activities on the cruise ship, and just overall enjoying the experiences with them. Also, this book had a map which is one of my favorite things that can be in a book!

This book was swoony as hell! Not only was Tanner just the sweetest guy (who would also definitely mess with you lovingly), but you could tell from the very start that he had a thing for her and was barely controlling it. The romantic tension in this book was so accurate and delicious I felt like an adolescent again! Thank you Becky Dean for giving me the belly swoops and butterfly madness while reading this.   

Lastly, something I especially love about Becky Dean’s novels are all her nerd culture references. Her books feature countless references to Doctor Who, Star Trek, Star Wars, Legos, etc. and it makes me feel seen and happy when I get the references. I too stress build Lego sets 😊

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Children’s | Delacorte Romance, and Becky Dean for the opportunity to read this book. The thoughts and opinions expressed above are honest and my own.