Ride the Wave

by Natasha West

Natalie Silver is painfully single. But that doesn’t mean she’s up for being sent on a lesbian singles cruise by her pushy sister. Damn non-refundable tickets.

Still, it’s not all bad. At least she’s got an excuse to get away from work for a week. Away from pressure and long hours, not to mention her beautiful and popular boss, Eden Tyler. It’s not easy being around such a perfect human being, especially when your own imperfections feel so obvious. Natalie’s looking forward to the chance to step out of Eden’s shadow.

But there’s one problem. Eden is on the same cruise. Because her life isn’t quite as perfect as Natalie thinks. She’s struggling with finding love too. She can’t believe it when she finds herself sharing a singles cruise with her most intimidating employee, the smart and stoic Natalie.

Neither of them are happy about finding themselves pushed together on the cruise, certain they couldn’t possibly share common ground. But between the various dramas of the lesbian singletons aboard the boat, not to mention a few dramas of their own, they’re about to find out that they’re more alike than they could have dreamed. A hilarious and witty romantic comedy from the author of 'The Plus One', 'Just Married?' and 'Lost and Found'.

Genres: Romance, Lesbian Romance, Lesbian, LGBT, Contemporary, Queer, Fiction

201 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 27, 2020

Reviews

[Jude Silberfeld-Grimaud · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is going to be short. I expect more from Natasha West. I know she can touch me deeply so I’m disappointed when she doesn’t. I like her writing because it has a fresh and almost juvenile quality to it, but it needs more of a story to stand on. There is almost no story here, and the choice West made of repeating almost every scene from both MCs’ POV makes it seem even lighter. This book feels like a missed opportunity. I'm sure my next West book will be better.

[Jacob Proffitt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh man. These two are painfully stupid. And worse, it's in the exact same way. They both have self-defeating narratives running in their heads that tell them how worthless and awful they are. So they're both wonderfully beautiful, and have women hitting on them all the time. But they are convinced, beyond every feedback and all reason, that they are undesirable and unlovable. Which means they're in this stupid, reality-denying pain-space that keeps them locked into a cycle of failure.

And at about two-fifths in, they sleep together. And it's wonderful (so they say, the author faded out fast) and soul-connecting and dreamy and the best they've ever had. And they each then say stupid crap, sending the message that it was a momentary stupidity, thus reinforcing the idiocy of their respective internal monologues. It's bad enough when it's one character pulling the "poor me" self-sabotage but it's both. And it's insufferable. Self pity is unattractive enough on its own. It's hideous when it's an irrational break with reality. And then square that and you have the morass of moronity that is this story.

[lov2laf · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those that aren't aware, Natasha West is a one woman lesbian rom-com writing factory. Every so often she strikes a darker, more serious chord but more often than not, you're in for a silly, irreverent ride. That's what I was in the mood for and that's what I got.

This time we get an employee/boss, not quite ice queen, love story where our two leads are unwittingly trapped on a lesbian cruise with each other. Shenanigans ensue.

A strength of West is to bring in a cast of characters that actually expose the obnoxiousness of lesbian dynamics and/or humanity. So few writers nail this, I can't help but give her a nod of appreciation. She also is one of the few writers that tries to make me laugh and actually succeeds. Her wit tends to be more dry and deadpan and it works for me.

I'll state that one of my main peeves in lesbian fiction is when drama arises from assumptions and non-communication. That's in abundance here. I do find myself more forgiving though because of the rom-com tone. Also, this isn't a trait of all of her books but the leads are apart more than I tend to like, interacting more with other characters. And, we get less deep leads than in some of her other books.

But I was amused by the little gang that formed on the cruise and I loved the karaoke climax. I was entertained.

Overall, this is an enjoyable, easy to read tale. 3.60 stars

[Kexx · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good fun, which sparkled and made me laugh out loud! Yea, flimsy, yea, no world beater, but in times of isolation and feeling down the perfect pick-me up. Thank you.

[AnnMaree Of Oz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quirky fun book that was hilarious yet frustrating with the characters insecurities.

The lengths our love interests go to in order to hide their issues and feelings for one another is truly something else! The same goes for the gaggling host of characters they meet up with on the cruise!

But despite my own introverted nature finding these circumstances unbelievable and often uncomfortable, I still ended up rooting for the characters and finding the book thoroughly amusing!

Highly recommended for some very British and offbeat humour!

[XR · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the moments between Eden and Natalie but there wasn't enough of it. The swan incident was hilarious though. The other characters were interesting, but were a hindrance than anything. I liked Isabella though, she was rather funny.

Overall, it was a fun read.

[Carly · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars for me. I love Natasha West novels and her writing is amazing, you read her books with ease like the story is playing out in front of you. This was no different. The reason for my lower rating for this book is the story itself. There was a bit too much angst and not enough time together for the two main characters. It was however a silly fun read, and totally blows up and makes fun of the "stereotypical" lesbian. Not my favourite but not put off by any means, I enjoy reading Natasha West.

[Lorraine Rusnack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rock the boat

This story was a lot of fun. All the drama of a singles cruise was quite amusing. Just goes to show that no one is ever really perfect and that's okay. Natalie and Eden had real chemistry. This is a very sweet love story. I love Natasha's writing.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75⭐

[Eclair · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is most likely going to be a fairly negative review, so i will make a couple of disclaimers before i start. This is by no means a terrible story, it had some good scenes and concepts. Most of my grievances come from a place of enjoyment, its a story i could have seen myself really liking had it done better.

The concept is pretty simple, coworkers turn to lovers, with the singles cruise setting adding some spice to it. We see how the characters see themselves and how it contrasts how they view eachother. The characters were initially one of the best parts of the story, but as the story went on, i grew more concerned. Natalie and Eden are both very flawed people with self worth issues. I thought it was actually fairy realistic in the sense that they were relatable issues. The problem with this characterization, especially with how it relates to their love lives is that i dont view either of them as being emotionally healthy enough to enter a relationship

This is my opinion obviously, and maybe other people could see having a successful relationship even with these issues not really sorted out. I think the writer saw this as a problem as well, so near the end of the book the writing tries to have the characters work through their issues, but with limited success. These arent issues that go away overnight and in the story, that is pretty much how they end up getting resolved. With these sorts of issues, you really needed a much longer story with a longer time span so we could see the characters develop rather than just flip flop. This is by far the biggest issue with the romance itself because for me it just doesnt work as it is presented.

Even taking that out of the equation, there just werent enough character interactions between Eden and Natalie for me to buy into the love connection. The majority of the story is one misunderstanding after another without much real meaty interactions to make me care. Even the sex felt unearned given that the first sex scene came after only one somewhat significant interaction. Not to say that there arent good character interactions, there are with the side characters. The sad thing is, by the end of the story i felt more engaged with the side characters than with the main characters. Its nice to have a good cast, but they should have focused more on the main relationship.

I just dont think the set up works with the premise. You can have characters with alot of room to grow, but that idea doesnt work well with a week long cruise setting. Maybe if the cruise were a month long, the book was longer and they spent more time on interactions than misunderstandings, then it could have been a favorite. Granted, not being a writer myself, maybe that would be bad. All i can say for sure is the book didnt work for me. Like i said, not terrible, but just alot of missed opportunity.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found both characters hard to connect with at first because they’re deeply insecure and run themselves down a lot. Neither woman can see how amazing she is, even though that was all the other could think about her. However, I’m glad that they’re both insecure, because it keeps them on equal footing. Did it lead to Natalie being kind of a jerk to Eden? Sure. But they both came around and it was lovely to see them each accept the other’s perception of them.

Full review: https://www.thelesbianreview.com/ride...

[Best Lesfic Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

Natalie Silver works in a PR company. She is offered a promotion but passes it. The company brings in Eden Tyler in the position. Eden is gorgeous, charismatic and popular. She also constantly pleasant and respectful of Natalie. All these things become reasons for Natalie to hate her and freeze her constantly despite Eden’s best efforts to connect with Natalie.

Read the full review @ https://bestlesficreviews.blogspot.co...

[Ailsa · Rating 2 out of 5]

i’ve read a few other natasha west books which are an absolute joy but this one ... not quite on the same level :(

[Alexa Steli · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,25/5
Why was I enjoying this???

This was a mess,a complete mess,based on miscommunications and jealousy .They didn't even spent that much time talking with eachother other than jumping to conclusions.

Some scenes just completely caught me off guard to make my eyes roll but not enough to make me roll this book to the "DNF" category

[currentlyreadingbynat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I literally read this in one sitting just over 2 hours and I think it was due to the amount of lesbian drama this had - it was definitely entertaining and I laughed out loud more than a few times. Great book and perfect for when you need an easy, entertaining read.

[Jaie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Natasha West never disappoints!

[Danielle Summer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was almost painful at times. The characters are good, but it seems that some of the secondary ones would make a hell of a better story (maybe they do? is this part of a series?). I get caught in stories like these all the time but come on, we are talking adults. There have to be some other ways to make good drama and romance besides miscommunication and misunderstandings. Can people talk openly for once?

Besides, thanks to reading these on a Kindle now, I can see (and love) how by-the-numbers these stories are: you can bet good money that first kiss will happen around 35%, after building some sexual tension and a lot of "Why am I thinking about her like this?".

[Netgyrl (Laura) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable but also super frustrating with how long the misunderstandings/miscommunication/wrong assumptions go on. However, I still pretty much read it in one sitting AND it has one of the funniest scenes involving a psycho swan I have ever read.

Shelved:
read, fade-to-black, falling-for-the-boss, frustrating-af, just-talk-to-each-other-already, kindle-unlimited, lesbian-romance, on-holiday

[Anastacia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is very smooth and quite funny. I enjoy reading this book.

[Yahli Rot · Rating 4 out of 5]

great characters, funny situations, a very messy lesbian drama. can't recommend this highly enough

[Keisha Ming · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading the summary of this book I was excited to read it but I'm disappointed by the end

The author started out strong she outlined Natalie and Eden insecurities the fact that both are trying to find love and show us how they end up on the same cruise unknowingly all good stuff.
However Natalie became too judgemental for unnecessary reasons too many miscommunication and unnecessary drama or maybe my concept of what the book was to be was too much because after they got together I expected this was the turning point for these two women to start getting to know each other maybe have a proper conversation build a foundation; I didn't expect chapters of stupidness and child like behavior.
It got away from the author because the last three chapters of them finally having a conversation and admitting to liking each other is not enough for them to overcome or accept their deep insecurities and it felt mediocre after all the constant nonsense. This book had the potential but his wasn't it

[Flausenimkopf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Natasha and Eden work together in a PR company. Eden is Natalie's boss and she's perfect at everything she does. Natalie is at odds with herself, her skills and her looks, and she doesn't really like Eden.
On a lesbian cruise for singles, the two meet unexpectedly and spend a lot of time in each other's orbit.
The story is marked by many misunderstandings, big and small, which could have been quickly cleared up by honest conversations. But of course this is not the case.
One positive thing is that it is a boss - employee situation where there is no age difference. Both main characters are in their mid-thirties.
I found it hard to see if the main characters have chemistry between them, as they mainly avoid each other in the book. Most of the interactions are between the main characters and side characters, of which there is a lot.

[Zingari · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually love Natasha West books, but these characters were juvenile and their insecurities were so poignant it made the entire thing hard to read. Natalie treating Eden poorly for most of this, and Eden being a coward and assumptive... ugh.

I admit I laughed at the pee sodden scene and swan incident, but those were the only good parts to me. Nothing before, in between or after felt worth it. 'Angst' is not the word for this. I don't remember the last time a book has ever made me this frustrated with the main characters. I was less than 40% in when I started questioning if I should finish.

I understand that most of the sides were supposed to be more complex than their surface displays after 60%, but for me it was too late. 90% of this was the two mains at odds. Quite literally.

The biggest slap to the face was the fact the reader is literally RickRoll'd at the end. I won't say more, it's all in my highlights.

[monica.b.czuba · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ride the Waves

What a hilarious and thought provoking story about two different women who worked together. Eden being the Manager and Natalie who had turned down the promotion. Each one having insecurities when it came to love. Each one going on a cruise for single women, without realising it was the same on. They only find out when they meet ten other women as they each sit at student tables. And what a bunch of hilarious characters we have. This was one of Natasha West best writing so far. Couldn't stop laughing whilst reading it. Highly recommend this it is an excellent book to read and one to keep as you want to read it again and again it's what good.
5****stars cannot wait for her next book.

[RA Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another hit, but no surprises

As usual I chuckled my way through another Natasha West romance. I never miss one, because it's a garunteed good read. There were at least three times I laughed hard enough to put the book down, particularly when I learned of Maggie's final love interest. West's timing with her humor is on point as always. I've yet to find an author who can write contemporary romcoms with such reliable finesse. I got exactly what I expected out of this book.
All that said, I'm curious what it would look like if this author pushed her boundaries a bit, like doing a longer more involved story, or changing up genres. I mean, I'm for sure going to keep reading everything I can by her but I bet if she expanded her horizons it would be really interesting.

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5-2 stars. Issues/reasoning:
- Incorrect grammar for dialogues was really annoying and confusing.
- Too many characters to keep up with - Maggie, Isabelle, Max, Florence, Beatrice to name a few, and none of those are the main characters.
- A wanna-be slow burner that doesn’t mature and comes too quickly (reference sex on the beach scene) leaving the reader disappointed asking “What? Where?” Or rather, ‘what, where?’ Several times I had to go back to the previous page to try to put a scene back into context and the last 30% found myself skipping whole pages but for a few sentences.

I’m giving this two stars to round up and because I didn’t see any spelling errors. Send this one back to storyline development, and try again.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fun and light and a nice easy read. Was it perfect? No, that’s why I’ve given it 5 stars instead of 4. But I really enjoyed it. There’s a whole lot of tension, fun coincidences, and confusing dating patterns in a lesbian friend group. So it’s really pretty good. I did find myself getting a little frustrated around the 70% mark, because at that point the whole main conflict of the book could have been resolved by the main pairing just having an adult conversation, but I understand that the book would have been way too short if they had.
Overall, a great summer in quarantine read for when you want to forget how crappy everything going on in the world is right now.

[Patricia OHara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny read with laughable drama

Very drama filled and hilarious story. A frankly uplifting story about lesbian cruises and quite drama filled ! Natalie and Eden's characters were well defined as very confused as to what they actually wanted from each other or better yet what they wanted to tell each other. The supporting characters were extremely funny and made for extremely weird experiences. Alot of misconceptions about who was doing who sexually actually led to funny things happening between Natalie and Eden.overal a funny story.

[Fran Sappharc · Rating 4 out of 5]

A number of lines that made me chuckle. A number of miscommunication plot devices that just stayed on the side of not too frustrating. I liked the book from the start, tho funnily enough the synopsis had not dragged me in immediately. I'm glad bought the book - it was lighthearted, a different setting, and an interesting cast of secondary characters. The book held my interest and during lockdown that has not always been the case. Good job.

[Brigitte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lesbian singles cruise: an invitation for drama

I really enjoyed how the author portrayed the dynamics of struggling between showing vulnerability and lying to save face. The two main characters battle through a series of self sabotaging actions and slowly break down their walls. The power of vulnerability was truly magical during Natalie's reaction to Eden's song. My absolute favorite scene of the story.