Jasmine and Jake Rock the Boat by Sonya Lalli

Jasmine Randhawa likes everyone to think she has it all—great job, perfect Seattle apartment, and a handsome boyfriend. But she’s not as confident or successful as she seems, and her relationship is at a breaking point. 

 

When Jasmine finds herself single and tagging along on her parents’ vacation, she’s not sure her life can get any farther off course. It's a nightmare for someone who's been so fiercely independent to find herself on a cruise full of family friends who’ve judged her since childhood. Things only get worse once the ship leaves the harbor and she realizes that this is a seniors’ cruise, and the only other person under fifty on the entire boat is her childhood acquaintance, cocky and successful Jake Dhillon.

 

Jasmine and Jake clash right away, with Jasmine smarting over how their South Asian community puts him on a pedestal as the perfect Indian son, whereas her reputation as a troublemaker precedes her. Except they can’t avoid each other forever during the ten-day cruise, and they soon recognize a surprising number of similarities, especially in how many secrets they’re keeping hidden from their families. Their restlessness seems to disappear whenever they’re together, but is this relationship strong enough to last on land?

Publisher: Berkley  | Genre: Contemporary Romance  | Source: Publisher | Rating: 4.5

This was my first Sonya Lalli book and it won’t be my last. I really enjoyed this book and I found myself rooting for Jasmine.

 

Here’s what’s going on: Jasmine’s just split from her boyfriend (again); she’s living with her best friend (across the hall from her ex) and forced into using her vacation days at work. Calling her mother’s bluff, she invites herself to join the Alaskan cruise her parents are taking with all the Aunties and Uncles. Expecting the kids she knew growing up to be tagging along, she’s shocked when she discovers this is a seniors cruise but there’s a light at the end of the tunnel when she discovers that Jake, someone she knew from her youth, was onboard as well. While Jake’s the perfect son, Jasmine’s been known as a bit of a screw up, which makes for an interesting time. Although, surprisingly, the two have more in common than what they thought and something seems to be brewing between them.

 

I had such a good time with this book. Don’t go into this one thinking it’s a full blown romance because it’s so much more than that. I would almost say this is women’s fiction with the added joy of romance and I really enjoyed the deeper tone of this book. Can we just pause for a moment to admire how much character growth was in the book?

 

Jasmine’s life has been a bit of a wreck and she needs to do a bit of self-discovery to find out who she really is and what she wants to do. While she spent some of the cruise getting to know Jake, she spent a lot of the cruise figuring herself out and I really enjoyed how the book explored that avenue. It took me a minute to warm up to Jake and, while I liked him, I don’t really feel as though I got to know him. I would have liked something from his POV.

 

The romance in this book was such a sweet romance and very much a slowburn romance, which worked because both Jasmine and Jake are figuring out who they are. I feel like the romance was very realistic in the way it came together and showed Jake and Jasmine growing as people and as a fledgling couple. A few of my reviewer friends have called this an ‘age gap’ romance but, honestly, it was only five years so it wasn’t that much of a gap.

 

There’s also the rebuilding of the relationship between Jasmine and her parents. They’ve had a bit of a rocky relationship and it’s caused some self-worth issues with Jasmine so I glad to see everyone taking time mending this relationship.

 

This does follow A Holly Jolly Diwali but I had no problem jumping straight into this book.

 

Overall, this was such a great romance/women’s fiction. It had everything that I loved: romance, witty banter, sparks, humor, a stellar setting, and character growth.