Thank you to Sarina Bowen and her team for the advance reader copy of Waylaid, the eighth story in the True North series. This book hits shelves on July 20th!

I am so ecstatic to be bringing you guys a review of this highly anticipated Shipley story. It is finally time for the story of Daphne, the youngest Shipley. Sarina always kills these books! After reading so many World of True North books; I am ready to return to the world with the original author at the helm.

Check out the Goodreads synopsis…

“It’s a tale as old as time: the bad boy meets the good girl. He makes a daring proposition. Then the boy gets a mysterious head injury and loses a year of his life…

The first time I meet Rickie, I don’t know what to make of him. The second time we meet, he doesn’t remember the six hours we spent together. Or standing me up afterward.

I’m not the same, either. I’ve got secrets. I’ve told lies. Bad boys aren’t my type, anyway. Even the ones with troubled gray eyes.

But now we’re roommates. Cue the awkward moments in the hallway when he’s wearing only a towel and a smile. He’s determined to win me over, and his talented hands weaken my resolve.

It’s all fun and games until my past rears its ugly head and his secrets come to light, shaking our fragile connection, maybe even breaking it…

Note: this is Daphne Shipley’s story. Contents include Vermonty ice cream flavors, nerdy awkwardness, tattoos, and a playboy grandpa.”

Check out my more detailed thoughts below…

• Characters: Daphne Shipley is one-half of the youngest Shipleys. She is Dylan’s twin sister, Dylan you may remember from the previous True North book, Heartland. You may remember if you read any of the previous True North books, that all Daphne Shipley wants to do is get the heck out of Vermont. She has the opportunity to go to Harkness College. This story starts with her having to come back to Vermont and transfer to Moo U this upcoming fall. She is being incredibly secretive with just about everyone. I admired Daphne’s smart and driven nature. While also finding her lack of self-esteem quite relatable. Rickie is the male love interest and he is one of Dylan’s friends. Rickie is spending the summer working and boarding at the Shipley’s farm. He is a philosophy major who is quite the charmer. He has some major struggles that he is not forthcoming about either. He was forced to leave his university too, after waking up in a hospital bed with no memory of how he ended up there. So he is also incredibly secretive. He and Daphne both begin to open up and they do so with each other.
• Setting: The story is primarily set on the Shipley’s farm in rural Vermont. They are not too far from Colebury and the even larger Burlington, Vermont. It was so great getting to spend so much time on the farm. As the last installment had Dylan off at university we did not spend much time on the farm. Due to all the books set in Colebury like Benito’s and Zara’s, we really have not been on the farm in so long. The farm brings adorable family dinners with all your favourite Shipleys. Including their mom and grandma. Along with May, Griffin, Audrey and Dylan.
• Pacing: For a story, I read in a day it did not feel short by any means. I really felt like I had lots of time to get to know Rickie and get to know Daphne better. This story takes place over many months and it was the perfect amount of time for them to fall in love.
• Romance: This romance was one that started off as flirting and fighting. That turned into two people who could not stop hanging out and making out. They had such a sweet and adorable romance.

Waylaid receives five out of five stars.

You can pick up the story below…

Amazon | Apple | Kobo | Nook | Google | Audio

Thank you again to Sarina and her team for the review opportunity. Thank you for reading and supporting my blog!