The Shippers
The Shippers
By: Katherine Center
[Fulfills prompt: ‘A book that takes place on a boat’ for the Shelf Reflection 2026 Reading Challenge]
[On my list of Most Anticipated Books of 2026]
“‘I’ve always been on your team, Joey. Since day one.’”
It only took one sentence into the author’s note at the beginning of this book to know I would like The Shippers.
Because Katherine Center and I are cut from the same cloth: we want happy endings. She says (and I concur): “I only want a story that gives me something that matters to look forward to.”
She then argues that love is the best thing to write about.
“Love’s the best thing humans ever invented. It’s our crowning achievement as a species… I believe in every cell of my body that love is good for you… we all know, deep down, from the day we’re born, that love is nourishing. We need love to flourish— like we need air, and food, and water.”
Now, I’m pretty sure we, as a species, cannot take credit for ‘inventing love.’ But I think Katherine hits the nail on the head that love is essential for living. And that’s by design. Our Creator is love and we’re created in His image, thus we were created for love. What’s cool about marital love is that it’s a tangible picture and representation of God’s love and faithfulness towards us!
And that’s what I like to see in love stories: faithfulness, showing up even in the hard times, and forgiveness, and just the bliss of being with someone who loves the imperfect you.
I don’t know Katherine’s faith journey at all and she certainly didn’t write this book intending to point to any Christian truths, but The Shippers still reflects some of these principles.
It is a childhood-friends-to-lovers story which is one of my favorite tropes, honestly. It’s the sweetest and most satisfying connection. There’s no pretending, you’re already comfortable with the reality of each other and know each other so well.
And just as the Lord knows even the worst about us, yet is there waiting for us to come to accept his love, so is Cooper, waiting for JoJo to come to her senses and realize he’s been there the whole time— they were meant for each other.
That’s my kind of love story.
“After letting myself fall in love with him, for the first time in my life, I understood how love is not just an underlying structure holding our human universe together, but also a glimpse of something divine. Something awe-inspiring and infinite. Not the kind of infinite that’s out there far away, like the stars, but the kind of infinite that’s embedded in us— and between us.”
But of course there is a whole story to read between the first pages of Cooper stopping JoJo’s wedding to Pearce and the last pages of Cooper and JoJo sailing into the sunset.
There is some main character ridiculousness we must overcome first.
It’s a rom-com so humor is the theme and one of the main ways to get humor is exaggeration and over-the-top scenarios.
In The Shippers JoJo’s psychologist sister, Ashley, convinces her that the reason she has had commitment issues in her love life is because she imprinted on the subject of her first kiss— Finn— on a day her dad ‘abandoned’ her. To break the curse of that imprint, she must ‘woo’ that boy (now man) so she can move on.
The plan: use Ashley’s cruise-ship wedding and festivities (“eight-day cruise… accompanied by eighty of our dearest friends, lifelong neighbors, and weirdest relatives”) to get Finn to kiss her again. (He’s recently divorced so availability is not a problem)
“‘You just need to show him that you’re not just a scrappy little pain-in-the-butt neighborhood kid spying on him from that oak tree anymore. He needs to understand that you’ve grown up into an irresistible, obsession-worthy love sorceress.’”
We all know how great of an idea it is to change your entire personality and lifestyle to force someone to fall in love with you.
JoJo recruits Cooper to be her wingman in all of her cringey efforts as part of Operation Conquest; he acts as the sane guardian over her foolish shenanigans. But what we love most about Cooper is that he is willing to humiliate himself if it means JoJo isn’t humiliated alone. That’s true love folks.
Probably the biggest exaggeration of all (other than the fact that a school would have a kissing booth) is JoJo’s mini golf skills. First, how does one go from middle school to mid-twenties without playing mini golf?! Second, there is no way someone could possibly be that bad at mini golf. My five year olds shoot way better than she did. I just can’t imagine a world where an adult with full use of their body gets 23 on one hole. But I digress. In a rom-com, exaggeration gets a pass.
So why haven’t Cooper and JoJo already gotten together? To explain that we have to utilize the miscommunication trope and some suspension of belief. JoJo seems blind to the real purpose for Cooper showing up to stop her wedding or showing up for Ashley’s wedding because she’s convinced Cooper doesn’t like her like that. After all, when she got engaged he moved to London and ghosted her for four years. (Yes, the engagement lasted four years.)
Usually I hate the miscommunication trope. There’s no way I’m letting someone run off before I say the most vital information they need even if I have to shout it down a hallway. But it’s a little less frustrating in a book about love than a thriller with life or death scenarios so again, I’ll allow it.
Plus, knowing the miscommunication doesn’t wreck everything because there is a happy ending helps.
Though I get the exaggeration of a rom-com, I will say that I had to keep blinding myself to the immaturity of JoJo. I would have pegged her more as acting like a teenager than a gal in her late twenties. Even though she’s apparently a math whiz, her love life IQ is far lower.
When she regales the reader with her narratives of past events in her life, we just smile bemusedly thinking— Oh, child. You need a little lesson about how the world works.
For this reason, I did have a hard time visualizing her because these characteristics seemed too at odds with one another.
Lucky for us, her self-absorption subsides, she develops a little self-awareness, and eventually opens her eyes to the obvious.
When I think back on other rom-com books or movies, the main characters act immaturely in pretty much every one. Stupid is funny. That’s how it works. It’s harder to showcase intelligence and humor at the same time and no one has written a story about my life yet so we just haven’t seen it much.
All in all, it was a very enjoyable read. I laughed. I did little love-squealies (in my head). And I even got to have warm fuzzies about her parents finding love again!
I also liked the cruise setting. Our family just cruised this past summer so it was familiar territory (but without Mickey Mouse). I would have to agree on the elevators too— always take the stairs, the elevators are traps.
To give you a glimpse into the humor and the voice of JoJo, here are some quotes:
“… the loosest, puffiest, most sad-prom, princess-fantasy, pumpkin-skirted getup in history. It was like a parody of a wedding dress.”
“I don’t know what color joy is, but it sure as hell isn’t beige.”
“Somewhere, in a distant land, an ancient lady named Mrs. Allen was waiting for me to start my bridal procession.”
“Did this guy somehow make all the dudes in flip-flops and sweatpants look like total amateurs? You bet your life jacket he did.”
“‘Don’t call her Sock Girl… Her name is Bridesmaid Two!’”
As for a spice rating, I would give it a 2 out of 5. Probably a Honey BBQ or a Chipotle BBQ if you were picking out wings at B-dubs. Generally pretty mild. It is more innuendo than actual sex scenes. There is the drawn out scene where JoJo demands Cooper give her a hickey to make her more interesting. Compared to a lot of romance books out there, it was pretty closed door. The love was more about the relationship and emotional connection than the physical connection, though that wasn’t completely absent.
Comparatively speaking, I would say it’s a cleaner book than the Emily Henry or Ali Hazelwood ones I’ve read.
Recommendation
If you’re into rom-coms or are looking for a sweet romance with some witty banter, humor, and a happy ending, this is a great option that I would definitely recommend.
I had not read Katherine Center’s books before, but I think when I’m in the mood for a rom-com, I will be re-visiting her collection now.
I’m trying to think of why you wouldn’t read this book and I think the only reason you would pass on this one would be if you don’t find exaggeration or absurdity funny or if you want to avoid any spice altogether.
[Content Advisory: 1 f-words, 8 s-words; as mentioned: innuendo and a hickey scene but fairly mild on sexual content]
**Received an ARC via NetGalley**
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