Author: Angie Hockman
Total Pages: 321
Personal Rating: 4/5
Review:
In her debut novel, Shipped, Angie Hockman describes her book as “The Honeymooners meets The Hating Game” which perfectly depicts the premise of this book. In Shipped, Henley Evans and her nemesis, Graeme Crawford-Collins are sent to the Galapagos via their company’s request to compete for a digital director position. Due to their impractical first impression, Henley has always held a hatred for Graeme, believing he is the bane of her existence. But when she meets Graeme for the first time (he works virtually from home), Henley realizes he is nothing like the stuck-up man she depicts him to be via their email battles. With a promotion on the line, Henley must deny their mutual attraction until the trip is over, or will she?
This book is really cute and definitely bears similarities to The Honeymooners, in which the reader sees the “enemies to lovers” trope. But unlike the typical books of this genre, Shipped focuses on a female protagonist and what it feels like to exist in a male-dominated workspace. There really isn’t much comedy or romance, but I really enjoyed reading the realities of adulting, which could possibly help me in my future. For example, the reader finds out that Henley’s boss has plagiarized not only her work but other ex-employees as well. Relating this to the real world, this is totally realistic as we often see executives abuse their status power. Not only that, but Angie Hockman wrote the book so you could personally see what goes through Henley’s mind as she goes through her days. Reading about Henley’s personality made me realize how similar I am to her, as we both are control freaks / extremely adamant about doing the best.
Overall, Shipped was such a pleasure to read and I loved everything the lengths these individuals would go to for a job promotion. But most of all, the underlying message about how women always have to work harder than men for the same benefits truly sets this novel apart from others.
Another great review from Gwenyth!!