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✨ Quick Book Details
Title: Love Overboard
Author: Kandi Steiner
Genre: Contemporary Romance | Second-Chance Romance
Format: Physical + Audiobook — Immersive Reading
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨ 4.5/5
📖 Synopsis — Spoiler-Free
Welcome aboard a Mediterranean superyacht where the water is gorgeous, the cameras are always rolling, and apparently your unresolved romantic trauma can be hired as the new chef. 😂
Ember Reed is finally living her dream. She’s the chief stew aboard a luxury superyacht and one of the stars of Close Quarters, a hot new reality TV show following the crew as they navigate demanding guests, workplace drama, and life at sea.
Everything is going according to plan… until Finn Pearson joins the crew.
Finn isn’t just the yacht’s new chef. He’s Ember’s past.
He’s the man who once made her believe they could have forever—and then disappeared from her life without a word.
Now they’re stuck working together for eight weeks, surrounded by a crew that notices everything and producers who know that unresolved romantic tension makes excellent television.
Because nothing says “healthy work environment” quite like cameras, an ex, and producers who wake up every morning choosing chaos. 😂
As old feelings resurface and unanswered questions refuse to stay buried, Ember and Finn have to decide whether their first ending was really the end—or whether this unexpected reunion might finally give them a second chance.
💭 My Thoughts
Love Overboard was such a fun reading experience because it gave me more than just a second-chance romance. It gave me an entire reality TV production happening around the romance—and that ended up being one of my favorite parts of the book.
I’ve never watched Below Deck, which this book is perfect for fans of, but after reading this, I feel like I got a crash course in what a reality show set aboard a luxury yacht might look like.
And apparently?
It is MESSY.
The combination of yacht life, workplace drama, reality television, producer manipulation, and unresolved romantic history made this book incredibly entertaining.
At the center of everything are Ember and Finn, who have a complicated history filled with hurt, unanswered questions, and feelings that clearly never disappeared. Their second-chance romance unfolds while they’re trying to do their jobs, navigate life with the rest of the crew, and deal with the fact that cameras are capturing everything.
But what really elevated the story for me was the way the reality-show format was incorporated into the storytelling.
This wasn’t simply a romance that happened to take place on a reality show.
The reality show actually mattered.
❤️ What I Loved
One of my favorite elements was the reality TV atmosphere.
Even though I’ve never watched Below Deck, Kandi Steiner did a great job making me feel like I understood what filming a show like Close Quarters might actually be like. There were cameras everywhere, producers watching relationships develop behind the scenes, crew drama, confessionals, and plenty of strategic interference.
I especially loved the crew interviews/confessionals woven throughout the story. These moments often gave us little hints about what was coming next. Sometimes a comment seemed completely innocent until you realized:
Oh.
Something is about to happen.
That foreshadowing added another layer of anticipation to each chapter and made the book feel like I was watching an actual episode of reality television.
I also loved how the story broke the fourth wall by allowing us to see some of what was happening behind the production.
And those producers?
MESSY.
They knew exactly when to reveal certain pieces of information to certain crew members, and they clearly understood how to create situations that might lead to drama.
Watching information slowly make its way through the crew was fascinating because it raised an interesting question:
How much of reality television is actually “reality,” and how much is carefully nudged into existence by the people behind the cameras?
That element made the story feel much more immersive.
I also really enjoyed the superyacht setting. The Mediterranean backdrop added a glamorous escape while the demanding charter guests, crew responsibilities, and tight living quarters created the perfect pressure cooker.
There may be an entire ocean around you…
but there is absolutely nowhere to escape your ex. 😂
💔 What Didn’t Work for Me
There wasn’t anything I strongly disliked, but there were moments when I wanted Ember and Finn to communicate more openly about their past.
Their history is the emotional foundation of the romance, so there were times when I found myself thinking:
Please. Just. TALK.
Of course, if fictional characters communicated perfectly, half of romance novels would be approximately 47 pages long. 😂
I also found myself occasionally more invested in the overall Close Quarters crew dynamics and reality-show drama than in the central romance itself. That isn’t necessarily a negative—the supporting cast and production elements were simply that entertaining—but it did mean the romance sometimes had to compete with everything else happening aboard the yacht.
Those smaller issues kept this from being a full five-star read for me, but they didn’t take away from how much fun I had reading it.
🎧 Audiobook Review
I paired the physical book with the audiobook, and immersive reading was a great way to experience this story.
The reality-show format translated especially well to audio. The interviews, crew interactions, emotional confrontations, and behind-the-scenes drama made parts of the book feel almost like listening to an episode of a reality show play out.
The audiobook also helped bring the personalities aboard the yacht to life and made it easier to become immersed in the chaotic Close Quarters atmosphere.
If you enjoy audiobooks with strong dialogue, interpersonal drama, romantic tension, and an ensemble cast feel, this is a fun one to experience in audio.
🎯 Favorite Themes & Tropes
⚓ Second-Chance Romance
🎥 Reality TV / Behind-the-Scenes Drama
💔 The One That Got Away
🔥 Forced Proximity
🛥️ Workplace Romance
🌊 Luxury Yacht / Mediterranean Setting
📺 Producer-Created Chaos
🤐 Unresolved History
❤️🔥 Rekindled Feelings
👀 Everyone Is Watching
🔥 Favorite Quote
“I didn’t trust my rearview mirror anymore. So, I ripped that motherfucker down.”
Okay… MIC DROP. 🎤
This might be my favorite quote from the entire book because it perfectly captures one of the biggest themes of Love Overboard: what happens when you’ve convinced yourself that the only way to move forward is to stop looking back
👀 Who Should Read This?
I would recommend Love Overboard to readers who enjoy:
⚓ Second-chance romances with unresolved history
📺 Reality TV-inspired stories
🛥️ Below Deck-style settings and crew dynamics
🔥 Forced proximity with an ex
❤️🔥 Romantic tension, angst, and lingering feelings
👀 Messy interpersonal drama
🎥 Behind-the-scenes looks at reality television
🌊 Destination romances with an escapist setting
🎧 Books that work well for immersive reading
And if you already watch Below Deck?
I have a feeling you’re going to have an entirely different level of appreciation for this one.
👩🏾⚖️ Final Verdict
⭐ 4.5/5 Stars
Love Overboard delivered romance, reality TV chaos, gorgeous Mediterranean vibes, and enough producer-instigated mess to keep me entertained from beginning to end.
What really made this book stand out for me was how well the reality television element was incorporated into the story. The crew interviews, foreshadowing, fourth-wall-breaking moments, and behind-the-scenes producer manipulation made Close Quarters feel like an actual show I could turn on and binge.
Kandi Steiner didn’t just put a second-chance romance on a yacht.
She put two people with unresolved history on a yacht…
added cameras…
added producers who clearly believe peace is bad for ratings…
…and then sailed everybody directly into the drama.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
4.5 stars—and I would absolutely watch Close Quarters if someone made it a real show.
📌 Let’s Discuss!
Have you read Love Overboard yet?
Are you a Below Deck fan—and if so, did this book capture the reality-yacht-show experience?
And the most important question:
Would you ever agree to work on a super yacht reality show if you knew the producers might secretly hire your ex? 👀😂
Because personally, I’m going to need to see the contract—and the paycheck—before I agree to that level of emotional sabotage.
Drop your thoughts in the comments! ⚓📚💕
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