If All Else Sails by Emma St. Clair Review

 Good Morning Sweet Friends :)

I pray today finds you all doing well, and I'm so thankful you've taken the time to drop on by The Preppy Book Princess this morning for another book review.

I'm Kirby, and I always look forward to getting to welcome you to my little bookish corner of the internet.

Life's been a little crazy lately, and as I've been dealing with a lot, I haven't had quite as much time as I used to for either reading or reviewing.

That being said, I still love getting to share my love of books with you all on my little bookish corner of the internet, so I am still trying to get on here at least once a week.

Hopefully eventually you'll see me around more again, but for right now, once a week is working, and I'm happy I'm still able to share reviews of some great books with you all.

Today's review is of an upcoming title by a new to me author, and I'm looking forward to telling you guys all about it.

Keep reading down below for today's full review.

If All Else Sails by Emma St. Clair:

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Publication Date: August 5th, 2025

Genre: Contemporary/Clean Romance/Christian Fiction

Synopsis:

In this enemies-to-lovers romance, school nurse Josie and her brother's best friend--hockey player Wyatt Jacobs--are tricked into spending a summer together that's anything but smooth sailing.

When Josie's brother sends her to a random address for their (sometimes) annual Super Summer Sibling Extravaganza, she finds neither siblings nor extravaganzas. Instead, ends up at a run-down cottage on the Northern Neck of Virginia occupied by a hockey player she knows and loathes.

A hockey player who isn't just one of her sports agent brother's clients. He's also his best friend. And Josie's sworn enemy.

Oh--and her brother wants Josie to help Wyatt recover from his injury.

Dragging grumpy hockey players to physical therapy is a far cry from bandaging skinned knees, but for the price her brother offers to pay, Josie is willing to try.

Even if it means sharing what she dubs the quaint little murder cottage with Wyatt.

Begrudgingly, Josie starts to see a little more of the man behind the grumpy exterior. And when she finds out he was supposed to sail the Intracoastal Waterway south to Savannah scattering his uncle's ashes, Josie surprises even herself by offering to be Wyatt's first mate.

Smooth sailing is nowhere to be found, and Josie begins to wonder if they'll be able to make it home without killing--or kissing?--each other.

And yet, the longer they share cramped quarters and canned food, the more of Wyatt's layers she peels back until Josie realizes she misunderstood him, their shared history, and perhaps herself as well.

(synopsis from goodreads)

My Review:

If All Else Sails is a sweet and sassy contemporary romance that employs enemies to lovers and the brother's best friend tropes. It was my first experience with a story by this author, and for the most part, I ended up being pleasantly surprised with just how much I actually enjoyed this.

The book starts off with elementary school nurse Josie thinking she's going on a sibling trip with her older brother, but instead ends up being forced to share a cabin with her brother's grumpy best friend, while her brother stays awol. A hilarious first encounter between Josie and Wyatt at the beginning starts off the story on an interesting note, and as more of the background of their shall we say lack of a friendship over the years is revealed, the story only grows more and more compelling from there. While Wyatt is recovering from an injury, Josie agrees to stay on in an official nursing capacity to help him along. This ends up including traveling with him on a sailing trip he's been planning for quite sometime, and soon neither can deny the sparks that are starting to fly between them. However, can opposites really attract? And can they ever possibly move past all the bad blood that's built between them over the years?

While I went into this one expecting more of a snarky, superficial type of romance, I was actually surprised by how deep some of the topics were. While we definitely got a lot of the banter I went into it for, I was also pleasantly surprised with how well the author tackled the deeper themes that are scattered throughout the story. I wouldn't say either Josie or Wyatt were super likeable as characters, but in an odd way it kind of worked, and I was still rooting for them to find their own way to happily ever after.

I did find the pacing was a bit slow and hard to follow at certain points of the story, but I did enjoy the author's writing style, and the way so much of the story focused around the two main characters themselves. It was a pleasant read to curl up with, and I'd highly recommend this one to anyone looking for a clean contemporary novel to take with them to the beach or the pool this summer.

One quick thing I wanted to comment on though, before I conclude my thoughts on this one is the fact that I'm getting a little tired of Christian or clean romances using the "sharing the same bed" trope to try and help the story along. It just seems out of place in a story that's not supposed to be overtly sexualized, and I'm saddened with how often I've been seeing this pop up as of late. It certainly wouldn't bother everyone, but it's not something I'm personally a fan of.

All in all though, I enjoyed this one and would love to read more from this author in the future. 

Final Rating: 4/5.

Thanks so much to Thomas Nelson for allowing me to read and review this one!

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary advance reader copy of this novel from the publisher (Thomas Nelson) via NetGalley. I was not required to give a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are my own, and this is my honest review.

Thanks so much for reading guys! Have a great rest of your day :)