Santa Cruise starts out with a reunion of four high school friends Frankie, Amy, Rachael, and Nina. All four women are single and make a pact that if they are all still single around Thanksgiving, they will go on a singles cruise together. The first half of the book is all about the four women preparing for the cruise. Each of them have various things going on in their personal lives but, are looking forward to a week together away from it all.
These four women have went on different paths since graduation. Frankie lives in NYC and works in the publishing industry. Rachael also lives near the city and owns a dance studio. Nina lives in Los Angeles as an actress and the television show which she had a recurring role on has recently been canceled. Finally, Amy is a bioengineer and has recently applied for a position at MIT. When their paths cross at the reunion, they are quick to connect, reminisce, and plan their trip together.
My grandparents have been on several cruises together and I have tried to live vicariously through them. This story also gave me the opportunity to imagine I was traveling on a cruise ship. This ship starts from Florida and right from the moment that the four women board, you can feel the sense of possibilities for all of them. Each of them participates in various activities of interest and meet up each night for drinks and dinner at one of the various onboard restaurants. I enjoyed viewing everything that was going on and watching these characters grow and find themselves.
The cruise is a singles cruise so there is the possibility for romance but that really wasn’t the full focus of the story. This was an opportunity for these women to do something for themselves for a change. It came with no real expectations for them which was a nice change of pace. It was just a group of good friends having funding, causing a little bit of mischief, and making memories together. There were connections made for each of them and possibilities for the future. It ended with a feeling of optimism that even had me feeling a little bit more optimistic than when I started.
Santa Cruise had me imagining what it would be like to reunite with friends from high school and plan a fun adventure like this. There was a little bit of a holiday theme throughout but it was not the main focus. It was a little slow at times due to overdetail from the author but, it was still an easy and enjoyable read. These women set out to find love and along the way figure out that loving one self and doing what one wants is often most important.
Rating: 3.5 Stars
**I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.**
welcome to the zoo! 