Review: Cruising Towards Love – Christi Barth

Cruising Towards Love by Christi Barth
Series:
Release Date:  August 30, 2011
Publisher:   Bookstrand
Page Count:  312
Source:  Provided by Author
Buy the book at: Amazon 

Can an unexplained breakup and ten years of heartache be cured by the romance – and endless buffets – of a tropical cruise? When her sister is left at the altar, small town librarian Zoe Balis jumps at the chance to take the bride’s unused ticket for the honeymoon cruise. But she didn’t count on sharing a cabin with the man who broke her heart ten years ago!

Army medic Nate Hyatt never told Zoe goodbye when he enlisted – or the real reason why he dumped her on prom night after a year as high school sweethearts. And he never stopped dreaming about the girl he left behind. Could this voyage be his chance to fix the worst mistake he ever made? After all, a Caribbean cruise should be romantic… if he can convince her to move past ten years of bitterness and hurt.

Once aboard the luxury liner, Zoe befriends a bored Internet mogul with more heart than tact. Nate vents his problems to a ship’s photographer battling PTSD. The four team up on an island hopping treasure hunt. The stakes grow higher with each of Zoe’s mysterious brushes with death. They race to discover why she’s a target and who’s behind it, while still competing in the treasure hunt.

Zoe’s never gotten over her first love, and is tempted to let Nate back into her life. But she already lost him once. She’s not willing to risk loving a man whose career keeps him in a combat zone. Can Nate breach her defenses and suture her broken heart? Grab a deck chair and see if they survive the stormy relationship seas as they cruise toward love!

When I first started reading this, I thought kept trying to figure out how we were going to be cruising towards love between Zoe and Nate.  There was so much going on around the wedding that never happened and Zoe’s hate of Nate and the townspeople’s inability to leave Zoe’s love life alone that I was beginning to wonder if we were ever going to get to the cruise ship.  Once we did get to the cruise ship, I realized this little vacation Nate and Zoe were on was going to be less than relaxing…which was sometimes entertaining and other times leaving me wishing they’d taken a shorter cruise!

The romance between Zoe and Nate was cute.  High school sweethearts who’s break up lead to misunderstandings, broken hearts and longing over the past ten years.  Their inability to truly communicate with each other was a bit irritating at times.  I mean, Nate blows into town and honestly thought Zoe would have any hard feelings about the way he left her.  No matter how noble your reasons are, there is going to be fall out.  It was as if these two thought it was better to ignore what happened or assume the other knows how the other feels rather than saying anything.

New friends, Callie and Reed have their own little romance, that was cute and had a little more meat to it (as it dealt with Reed’s PTSD from his stint as an embedded photographer in Afghanistan).  It was refreshing to see how Callie could see through Reed and help him deal with his PTSD and not feel as if he was a broken man.

The treasure hunt mystery was ok, but it lost it’s believability at the end.

If you’re looking for a quick weekend or beach read, this is definitely one for you.