Dashed by Amanda Quain

The quick cut: A recent high school graduate who avoids love and heartbreak finds her usually scheduled life thrown off balance when her love lorn sister crashes a cruise ship vacation. 

A real review:

 Thank you to Wednesday Books for providing the arc for an honest review.

 In many ways, graduating high college is a rite of passage. It's the moment you leave school behind and first start thinking about how you want to live as an adult. For a significant number of adults, that first step is college. How would you prepare for that moment? For Margaret Dashwood, that preparation is a summer enjoying a cruise with her older sister. 

 Margaret Dashwood typically lives her life in a similar manner to her older sister: by following a plan and sticking to it. Their plan for the summer is to enjoy a cruise ship vacation while the older sister's husband is the chaplain for six weeks. It's meant to be a relaxing break before their middle sister Marianne crashes their vacation and joins unannounced. Will Marianne's heartbreak provide an opportunity to excite Margaret's summer? 

 I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a Jane Austen fan, but I do often enjoy the retellings that have been written recently. I went into this one with an open mind, but in the end found myself torn by the result. 

Margaret is trying to control all the elements in her life and her middle sister Marianne has a way of making that impossible. When she shows up heartbroken, Margaret takes it upon herself to find her sister a summer love. This forces Margaret to deal with her own love problems, which is the focus of the story.

Margaret's plan to find a love for Marianne involves another cruise ship employee named Gabe. He's agreed to help with Margaret's plan and even becomes her fake boyfriend to pull it off.

It's a cute light hearted story, but the plot feels very thin and the budding romance between Margaret and Gabe feels forced. There's a lack of chemistry or depth that leaves you wondering if it's real.

Most of the development is focused on the sisters relationship with one another. While this does serve as a standalone novel, unless you've read the other books it's not nearly as enjoyable.

A Jane Austen retelling with inconsistent development.

My rating: 3.5 out of 5