ALC Review: The Shippers by Katherine Center
The Shippers
Author: Katherine Center
Narrator: Patti Murin
To Be Published: May 19, 2026
Audiobook: 11 hours 8 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: April 22-29, 2026
Jessica’s Rating: 5 stars
Book Description:
She wants him to help her woo someone else. Genius. Foolproof. Can’t go wrong.
After a lifetime of being bad at love, JoJo Burton vows to solve her intimacy issues once and for all at her sister’s destination wedding on a cruise ship. Armed with pop psychology, she diagnoses herself with a fixation on the neighborhood guy who was her first crush and first kiss (and who just happens to be a newly-divorced wedding guest). Determined to woo him for closure, she ropes in her childhood bestie, Cooper Watts, as her wingman. Cooper: who RSVPed no, but showed up anyway. Cooper: who moved to London without a word four years ago. Cooper: who broke her heart.
Shipboard antics abound in this witty, heart-tugging, childhood-friends-to-lovers romance, as JoJo and Cooper team up, fake flirt, slow dance, share a cabin, sing duets, get jealous, answer long-held questions, and finally, at last, discover truths about each other that will change everything.
Jessica’s Review:
Katherine Center has a new novel coming out and Patti Murin narrates it!?!? The Shippers equals a fun ‘beach read’ to start the summer off! Katherine Center books are almost always a ‘must listen to’ and they are just entertaining fun reads.
We have JoJo, our FMC who starts out the novel about to get married, but doesn’t. It’s a whole story on its own. Six weeks later JoJo’s sister Ashley is getting married on a cruise ship and the whole family is meeting up again. Joining this wedding after crashing JoJo’s is Cooper, JoJo’s longtime childhood friend and also Finn. Finn was JoJo’s first kiss as a child and is also newly divorced. The plan is to get JoJo and Finn together by the end of the wedding week/cruise.
There is a lot that goes on in the novel in addition to the romance. We have family coming together, and miscommunication galore! If the miscommunication trope is a negative foryou, then you might want to skip this one, but I loved it! We have a lot of fun side characters: JoJo’s parents (mainly dad), grandma, cousin Harmony, and ‘Bridesmaid 2’(Does she even have a name?). These characters were so much fun! I was fully involved in the novel from the beginning. We have JoJo who is ‘book smart’ (she’s really good at Math) but not ‘street smart’ in the slightest. She was just so entertaining for me. And she gets into so many over the top situations you can’t help but laugh at times.
Patti Murin is back narrating another Center novel. When I saw that I got excited! Murin always does a superb job and I have yet to feel like we need a separate male narrator for the male voices when she narrates. Murin is one of the narrators I always look out for.
This romcom is no spice, but there is chemistry and a little bit of steam. I knew the direction the novel was going to ultimately go (thanks to my love of thrillers!) but enjoyed the ride JoJo took me on.
Some people say romcoms are predictable but Center address that in her Author’s Note to the reader/listener. Center achieves what she meant to for me with this novel: A fun romcom. Romcoms are supposed to leave a reader with a HEA (Happy Ever After/ Happy Ending), even if you figure out the most of what is going to happen. The Shippers was a long time in coming (Thanks Covid) but it is finally being released for everyone to read and enjoy.
Many thanks to the publisher for approving me for this one, I really enjoyed it!
Pre-Order Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK I like this cover with the blue dress much better than the US cover!