The Shippers, Katherine Center [A Book Review]

July 2, 2026 3 Min Read 0

All aboard the S.S. Romance for the newest novel penned by (one of the) reigning summer romance queens!

Katherine Center strikes again with a swoony Yacht-Rock hit!

Book Cover of The Shippers by Katherine Center featuring an illustrated couple in the wind with a lifesaver from a ship in bright, neon colors.

This book takes place on a tension-heavy cruise as JoJo attends her sister’s destination wedding after yet another failed relationship. She’s ready to apply all cylinders to adjust her usual approach to relationships using her sister’s psychology advice, and she’s become convinced the man destined to fix all the problems in her love life is also on board.

Seems like a reasonable plan…? Ha!

Also on board is JoJo’s childhood bestie, Cooper, who ghosted her four years ago when he yeeted off to London out of the blue. He said he wouldn’t come, but here he is, showing up anyway, unbeknownst the fact that he’ll be roped into helping lasso JoJo an (aspiring) lover.

You can set your watch (or storyteller’s pacemaker?) to beats in Katherine Center’s books. You don’t have to worry if her setups are going to pay off, or if everything will get wrapped up in a nice little bow at the end. They will. Every time.

I can’t say this is my favorite Katherine Center book (The Rom-Commers is still my #1 pick!), but this sits in a comfortable second tier. Everything about it was engaging and drove the plot forward, layering and layering and building up threads that almost anyone can relate to on some level.

It’s a little more tropey than I tend to prefer, which made a lot of what to expect from the plot pretty darn predictable. But there were a ton of moments in this book that made me sigh, or smile, and even cringe (but in a good way?). I just felt really good about it, overall. JoJo gets to heal a lot of the wounds she actually carried (not just the ones she thought she did), she and Cooper clear the air (and then some), and she even mends some of the old wounds she had within her family.

If you’re looking for a romance to sweep you off into another happy-ever-after…The Shippers will serve you well.

Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Details

Title:: The Shippers
Author:: Katherine Center
Genre:: Contemporary Romance
Publisher:: St. Martin’s Press
Length:: 336 pages
Published:: May 19th, 2026
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars