Liz Alden, $3.99, ISBN 978-1-954705-03-6
Contemporary Romance, 2021
I kind of envy the heroine of Liz Alden’s The Sailor in Polynesia. Some people get fat and crazy after a divorce. Mia keeps the sailboat and sails off, making YouTube videos of her adventures in the French Polynesian islands. As someone that still wishes that I could just drop everything on a whim and go off on crazy adventures, I wish I have the courage to do things. Then I remember Mia is a fictitious person, and I feel so much better about myself.
In this story, she meets Jonas, a Norwegian sailor who is also a fan of hers. Since this is a romance novel, he’s naturally hot and sexy, instead of someone that smells of whiskey and fish. Also, because this is not a Lifetime movie, he’s not a psycho, and hence it is perfectly sane and fine for Mia to invite him onto her boat. After a while, things get steamy as to be expected, but he will soon sail off to somewhere while she is heading in a different direction—and yes, the author intends this to be both a figurative and literal statement.
So oh, are they just two ships passing in the night—oh please, you don’t expect me to miss my chance of dropping that in this review, do you?—or are they going to sail off together to somewhere beautiful?
Similar to the previous book in the author’s Love and Wonderlust series, this one isn’t some kind of exciting adventure thing. It’s more of a sedate story of hot people snogging and talking about their feelings while posturing and getting a nice tan under the sun in exotic locales. That makes sense in this context, as both Mia and Jonas know what they are doing, so it’s not like she’s going to do that so-typical romance heroine thing and accidentally sinks her ship because she’s such a cute dork like that.
The romance isn’t the main draw here, I feel, because there’s nothing about it that stands out or tug at the heart strings. Jonas feels more like a “Here’s a reward for you for having gotten through a divorce!” consolation prize than a character in his own right, and in fact, I’d argue that this entire story bends over to ensure that Mia gets the jackpot in the love and sex department—the perfect vicarious fantasy for a reader wanting to be swept away in a tale in which everything works out fine, no, better than ever after having gone through a heartbreak.
This fantasy works because the locale, the atmosphere, and even little descriptions like the romantic stillness of the night all come together to create the perfect getaway. It’d be better if Jonas had come off more like a fully fleshed character, as if you ask me, there are very few romance hero archetypes more attractive than a handsome, charming rogue that has seen the world and know places—lovely, wicked places.
On the down side, I find myself annoyed by the presence of two secondary characters that seem to be the author’s gimmick: annoying hee-hee types that show up in every entry of this series to offer counsel and love advice because, I don’t know, maybe the author doesn’t trust her characters to work things out on their own. Also, the last few chapters begin to drag as the heroine start doing a rather mundane should she or shouldn’t she song and dance that takes what seems like forever to resolve. After the dreamy getaway cruise that are the chapters leading up to that point, these chapters are snooze material in comparison. The inadvertent takeaway message here is that the dating phase is far more exciting than actually settling down with that person.
So, The Sailor in Polynesia. I love that it takes me to nice places, but I wish the author had maintained a more consistent momentum throughout her story. It’s tad too easy to be bored with the adventure earlier than intended.
