Angie Hockman's first novel, Shipped, is a smart, crackling romantic comedy narrated by the driven and self-deprecating Henley Rose Evans. The 28-year-old shares her single life and one-bedroom Belltown, Seattle, apartment with a gray tabby. Henley had designs on seeing the whole world until "life happened," and adult bill-paying became her priority. A job at Seaquest Adventures--a boutique cruise ship line--seemed right up her alley and inspired her "big dreams for a shiny, successful career." After three years of hard work, while pursuing her MBA at night, she's on track to being named director of digital marketing.
But her smooth sail up the corporate ladder is stalled when a promotional marketing video Henley creates is co-opted and undermined by a "virtual" coworker: Graeme Crawford-Collins from Michigan. Graeme, with the company for only a year, is suddenly minted the new social media manager. Henley deems handsome Graeme "the bane of my professional existence... a sneaky, entitled user." This suspicion is further confirmed when Henley's video goes viral and their boss gives Graeme all the credit. In shock, neither Graeme nor Henley corrects the faux pas. This raises the stakes between the coworkers as they are suddenly forced to compete for the directorship position. A cruise to the Galápagos Islands pits them--and their individual creative visions for the company--against each other as part of the final selection process.
What ensues is a host of madcap, flirty adventures set in beautiful locales and featuring clever, breezy banter, sarcastic wit and an endearing supporting cast. Hockman offers readers a fun literary escape with undercurrents of deeper truths. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines