The Shippers

Center (The Love Haters) sets this beguiling contemporary aboard a weeklong cruise. Middle school math teacher JoJo Burton has left a string of broken hearts in her wake, most recently when she dumped her fiancé at the altar at the encouragement of her childhood best friend, Cooper Watts. Jojo’s sister, Ashley, diagnoses her inability to commit as stemming from her having “imprinted” on Finn Turner, the boy with whom she shared her first kiss at 10 years old, and cooks up a scheme to help JoJo win over Finn, who will be attending Ashley’s cruise ship wedding. Cooper, who is also unexpectedly in attendance despite having RSVPed no, thinks the entire plan is bonkers and repeatedly comes to Jojo’s rescue, for example during awkward mini-golf outings and dance contests. It’s clear early on that Cooper and JoJo are the ones with real chemistry, but their relationship is still strained from when Cooper ghosted Jojo for a job in London four years before the start of the book, and she’s hesitant to trust him again. Center employs the forced proximity trope to excellent effect in bringing these two back together, and the characters’ sparkling banter effortlessly captures their long-standing intimacy. It’s a joy to watch their friends-to-lovers journey unfold. (May)