Title: Shipped
Series: Until You: Book One
Author: Karrie Roman
Publisher: NineStar Press
Length: 69k Words
Category: Contemporary
At a Glance: I can’t recommend this one as strongly as I did Roman’s first book, unfortunately. But, I will most likely peek at the next book in the series, as I did totally dig the side character—one of the guys’ bodyguards that was introduced—who I suspect will be the MC there.
Reviewed By: Jules
Blurb: Ryan Lowe has been a lonely nobody all his life. The only time he ever feels the rush of living is when he’s acting. Wanting to get as far away from his small town life and alcoholic father as possible, he leaves Australia to pursue a career as an actor in the bright lights of Hollywood, never stopping to consider the fame that might come with it.
Lucas Evers understands fame. He’s been a successful actor on the small-screen for years and loves his career. Nothing comes for free though, and the price he’s paid for his success is keeping who he is hidden from the world. He married his best friend to keep both of their secrets, and until now, he has been content with the cost of his fame.
When Lucas and Ryan are cast in a new television series based on a wildly popular book series everything changes for them. The show is a worldwide hit and together they have just become the most popular ship on the planet. As they begin to realize it’s not just their characters falling in love, the cost of their fame rises. Together they must face stalkers, anxiety, panic attacks, and attempted murder.
Review: I didn’t become versed in all things ‘fandom’ until about ten years ago, when I started reading fanfiction. Until then I would have had no idea what someone meant if they said “I ship it” or used terms like OTP. Now though, I do know what those things mean, and even have a few favorite “ships” of my own. 😉 So, when I read the premise for Karrie Roman’s latest novel, Shipped, it definitely piqued my interest. I quite enjoyed her first novel, Saved, published last year, also with NineStar Press, so was interested to see what she would do with the celebrity romance trope.
Fandom can be a strange, intense place. People get, sometimes very literally, crazy over their favorite characters, actors, actresses, and couples. Which is something actors Ryan Lowe and Lucas Evers very quickly realize in Saved, and something Ryan was in no way prepared for. Ryan is a sweet, humble guy who came to Hollywood to escape his small-town life in Australia and an alcoholic father. He lucked his way into a leading role on a popular TV show The Witches’ Hammer, a role a different big fan-favorite was originally supposed to play. But, surprisingly, even as an unknown, fans of the show embrace Ryan as Sam. An embrace that unfortunately becomes suffocating and leads to anxiety and debilitating panic attacks at fan events. Luckily, though, his costar is there to hold him up.
Lucas Evers has been enjoying moderate success and popularity in Hollywood for some time. He isn’t a stranger to enthusiastic fans or dealing with the events that go along with promo. At the first major event for the show, however, he quickly realizes how serious the struggle is for his costar, and, as a result, finds himself feeling very protective of him. Lucas was immediately attracted to his soon-to-be leading man but was constantly worried about being too obvious. Thankfully the show calls for a certain number of amorous looks and touches, or he would have been sunk and his secret revealed. Because publicly, Lucas is straight and married to his childhood best friend, Anna, but what the world doesn’t know is that the marriage is just a cover for them both.
I liked both MCs a lot. Roman does a nice job developing the relationship, creating first a strong friendship, and then the romance. Lucas is Ryan’s best friend, and vice-versa; Ryan initially doesn’t act on any attraction not only because he believes Lucas is happily married to Anna but because the friendship is so important to him. I also loved Lucas and Anna’s friendship. They were so tight and loyal and so obviously adored each other…I loved them both. And, the romance really was very sweet. Lucas believes he has found his missing piece in Ryan. This little passage warmed my little romance-loving heart:
It was that elusive piece everybody is born without, because the love of your life had it with them. The ache of longing and wanting only eased when that piece was found. He’d found it now—with Ryan, and he wasn’t letting it go.
Where the book went wrong for me was in the story execution. There were so many threads and subplots going on that it took away from the big picture. I think Roman was just trying to do too many things. Evil families, crazy stalkers, attempted murders, alcoholism, etc. There were a couple of things that weren’t properly addressed or explored because there was so much going on. I felt like the first half was strong. As I said, I enjoyed the characters, the relationships, and the premise of fandom, ships, and the intensity of that kind of fame. But, it fell apart a bit in the second half for me as the author tried to catch all the plates she had in the air.
I can’t recommend this one as strongly as I did Roman’s first book, unfortunately. But, I will most likely peek at the next book in the series, as I did totally dig the side character—one of the guys’ bodyguards that was introduced—who I suspect will be the MC there.
You can buy Shipped here:
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