Follow the rules. Be reliable. Don’t wear your heart on your sleeve.Living by these words didn’t put librarian Isla Hunter any closer to the life she imagined at thirty. With her birthday in only a few days, she can’t wait to sail away on a week in the sun with her friends Asher and Charlotte. It may be just what she needs.When an attractive woman takes a liking to Asher, Isla’s heart feels … to Asher, Isla’s heart feels threatened in an unfamiliar way. She’s used to Asher flipping through women like a playbook without a second thought, but this time it’s different. As she tries to sort out her emotions, she struggles with Asher’s connection with this woman. Is it time for Isla to finally break the rules or will that only lead her into hot water?
Circle in the Sand is the third book in the Oceanic Dreams series. This is a multi-author series and each book can be read on its own.
Books in series:
I Saw Him Standing There by Holly Kerr
Time of My Life by Laura Heffernan
Circle in the Sand by Tracy Krimmer
I Thought it Was You> by Kirsty McManus
I Will Follow Him by Holly Tierney-Bedord
Take a Chance on Me by Delancey Stewart
Shut Up and Dance With Me by Monique McDonell
The Best of You by Sophie-Leigh Robbins
more
Will Isla and Asher find love on the Oceanic Aphrodite?
Circle in the Sand by Tracy Krimmer is a lovely romance. I think that this story reinforces that sometimes love is right in front of your eyes.
Isla Hunter
Isla is our main character and only point of view. She is turning thirty, and she is going on the Oceanic Aphrodite cruise ship to celebrate with Charlotte and Asher her best friends. The last year has been a massive change for Isla as she broke up with her boyfriend Tim and she is turning thirty.
I feel like Isla grew throughout the story. It was like the veil of her ex-boyfriend was finally lifted, and she’s now able to see who she is, who she wants to be, and who she wants to be with. I liked her love of books and the excitement that she has for her job. The only thing that drove me a bit nuts is she would see or hear something, and her mind would seriously wander.
Asher Boyd
Asher has been friends with Isla and Charlotte since college. He also knew Isla in high school, but they weren’t really friends. Asher is sort of a playboy; he goes through lots of girlfriends. At least that is what Isla thinks.
I like Asher, he is nice, and he really stood by Isla’s side when she needed a friend. He is such a patient man. The only thing that I didn’t like was that he wasn’t open about his feelings, but then again, Isla wasn’t really receptive at the time.
Charlotte
Charlotte had to skip the cruise because her brother, who’s in the Army was coming home on leave and she didn’t want to miss him. Even though Charlotte wasn’t on the cruise, I feel like she played an intricate part in getting Isla and Asher together. Charlotte is also hilarious. She has got to be a great best friend.
4 Stars for Circle in the Sand by Tracy Krimmer
My rating for Circle in the Sand by Tracy Krimmer is four stars. I thought the story was adorable and enjoyed the happy ending. The book had great flow and fun twists. It’s an enjoyable read.
If you are looking for a quick summer read, I recommend Circle in the Sand by Tracy Krimmer.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from the author. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Circle in the Sand by Tracy Krimmer.
Anyways, until next time,
Karen the Baroness
Happy Reading
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Ilsa, Charlotte and Asher are set to sail away on the Oceanic, only Charlotte has bailed. How do Ilsa and Asher spend the cruise celebrating Ilsa’s birthday? Not bashing her ex. It was all about fun and laughing. It was also about falling in love for Ilsa. Quick fun read!
Another cute and fun novella in the series, and best-friends-to-lovers is one of my favorite tropes, anyway… 🙂
Isla and Asher made a cute couple, and Charlotte (the third musketeer in this close little posse of friends), mostly giving everyone a piece of her mind via phone, was a hoot!
Also: Mr. Feeney cameo! 😀
I really enjoyed Circle in the Sand. It is a fun, cute book. I love the cruise ship setting. I really like the characters. This is a sweet romance story.
I received a free copy from the author and voluntarily reviewed it.
Circle in the Sand was a cute read and I had fun reading it. Isla and her best friends go on a cruise to celebrate Isla’s birthday. When her best fired Charlotte has to cancel, it’s just Isla and her friend Asher on the cruise. They aren’t there for hook ups, but then Asher dares Isla to take a chance and talk with a guy and he himself meets a women too. And that makes Isla realize maybe she sees Asher as more than a friend.
This was a cute and short read. I liked the setting on a cruise and getting a bit of a feel for the ship and the activities. It easily pulled me into the story and I had fun reading it. Isla was a fun character to follow around, although she tended to worry a bit too much times. I liked the friends to lovers type of romance. The author has a pleasant writing style and it’s easy to get settled into the story and follow it along.
I liked Isla and Asher together and it was clear they had mutual attraction and knew each other well form their years of friends. There are some great scenes with them together that shows them being friends and I liked when later on Asher did something sweet for her, but the shine of the scene was stolen a bit by something else that happened. I just wanted to see them together and close a bit more.
There were a few things that didn’t quite work for me, like how much of the focus was on the other women with Asher and Isla’s jealously over that. I wanted more of Asher and Isla together and to see why they were so good together. It also lacked some more fun moments later in the book and I was a bit sad about how Isla’s birthday went. I also thought it a bit weird how Asher not spend more time with Isla alone on her birthday. And how Isla jumped to conclusions at times and almost didn’t believe Asher when he told her it wasn’t true.
While this is part of a series it easily can be read as a standalone. I think all of the stories take place aboard the same cruise ship, so they share a setting. There were some parts like the ferret that I think will be part of most of the stories in this series. And it makes me curious about the other books in the series.
To summarize: I liked this short cute read. The setting on the cruise ship was interesting and well done. I liked how Isla and Asher had been friends for a long time and it was clear they knew each other well and cared for one another. There were some fun scenes of them together. It didn’t really care for how part of their developing feelings was brought out by Isla being jealous of Asher being close to another women. I also would’ve liked a few more scenes of them together as I liked seeing how they acted together and wanted more of that. While part of a series this can easily be read as a standalone. I am curious about the rest of the series and which parts will overlap between the stories. I liked how things got wrapped up at the end.
I am a fan of Tracy Krimmer but this was not my favorite book of hers. Isla is turning 30 and is going in a cruise with her 2 best friends, Charlotte and Asher. Charlotte bails on the cruise leaving Isla and Asher alone for a week on the water. Isla has trouble trusting men after her last relationship and Asher usually has a stream on women around him but there is a chemistry between them.
While I liked the characters, I didn’t feel like I got to know them very well with this book being so short. I felt like they were both being very dense about their feelings for each other. I didn’t care for Isla’s jealousy of Helena being such a major part of the story.
Overall it is a quick cute read but not my favorite story.
Circle in the Sand is the third book in the Oceanic Dreams series featuring romantic comedy novellas from a wide variety of authors. With a cruise ship setting, our romantic couples have a perfect atmosphere to find love.
Isla Hunter’s 30th birthday is coming up and what better way to celebrate than to take a cruise with her besties, Asher and Charlotte. When it’s time to get packing for the trip, Charlotte bows out, leaving just Isla and Asher on a ship for a week. Isla knows that Asher is a ladies’ man but when he’s approached on the ship by yet another attractive woman, Isla can’t handle it. Only – she doesn’t know why. Isla’s jealousy of Helena takes a front seat in parts of the story and leads Isla into actions her rule-following life would never have allowed for before.
I enjoyed how the author developed the characters, the story, and the romance. I enjoyed the friends-to-lovers trope with this book. The author did a great job bring the reader onto a cruise ship. I’ve been on a couple cruises and it was fun to reminisce about my times onboard and the fun I had (not in the romcom style of this series, though). I was able to visualize the story, the characters, and the ship.
If you are looking for a quick and fun read, Circle in the Sand is just the novella for you!
I was provided a copy of this book to read.
This review will also be post on other outlets.
I totally enjoyed this book. To start with Isla and Asher were from Milwaukee. I grew up there. The description of Milwaukee and Lake Michigan were spot on. I would have disagree with Isla though. I don’t find the Lake to be beautiful. It’s grey, cold, and choppy. But that is just my opinion.
Isla and Asher had quite a journey to get from being friends to a better understanding. It was cute and was fun to read about. I connected to the characters and felt frustration with each of their problems. I was rooting for Asher the whole time! Tracy wrote a story that tugged at my heartstrings.
My favorite part is how each of these stories follows a different couple on the same cruise ship at the same time. It is fun to see how these talented authors weave in details that all the books share. I hope they put this in a box set when all the stories are published.
This is the third in the Oceanic Dream series. It can be fun to read as a standalone. Thank you to the author for this story. This is my honest opinion. You can find this on Kindle Unlimited.
Romance on a Caribbean Cruise
This is a fun little novella. It sits right on the border of sweet and clean because it is almost neither. The plot is cute and totally unbelievable. Our heroine is turning 30 and emotionally acts like she is turning 20. Nice short read. I received this ARC book for free from the author and this is my honest review.
What I liked:
The writing style
Part of a series: Oceanic Dreams
Standalone
HEA
I look forward to reading the other books in this series.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC.