The Waves (Love in Chaos #1) by Amy Matayo {Review}

The Waves (A Love In Chaos Novel) by Amy Matayo

Kindle Edition, 258 pages

Expected publication: April 25th 2019 by SYG Productions 

Source: I received a complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are my own and were voluntarily given.

    

Dillon Hayes is twenty-eight and single, an unfortunate status her overbearing family is determined to fix. So when she’s stuck on a cruise ship for a seven-day reunion with the lot of them, she's desperate for any escape she can find, even if it means partnering with a sketchy stranger for an off-the-beaten-path snorkeling excursion. After her mother's last matchmaking attempt, Dillon is more than willing to trade all her good sense for a few hours of solace.

Liam Gamble is stuck in the middle of family vacation hell. The worst part: it's not even his family. This will be the last time he ever accepts a free-vacation invitation from his best friend. At this point, he'd be willing to hand over his life savings to get off this crazy ship. So when he catches one of his friend's cousins sneaking off board, he decides to join her, hijacking her private excursion and nearly blowing her cover. If she gets to leave, so does he.

But what starts off as a secret escape turns into a very real nightmare when their shady tour guide leaves them stranded on an uninhabited island with nothing but the clothes on their backs and no idea how to keep themselves alive.

As hours turn into days, and the weather proves as threatening as their need for food and water, Dillon and Liam must join forces and rely on each other if they have any hope of seeing their families again. Funny thing: sometimes in life, the end of the rope is when you discover everything you value has been in front of you all along. 

My Review: 5 Stars

I went on my first cruise just over a year ago and I'm sooo happy to report that nothing like this happened to me. Phew! Matayo drew me right into this story, evoking emotions I wasn't expecting to feel and delivering a powerful escape with exactly the right amount of romance, adventure, and fear.

Dillon has a big, caring (almost too much) family, and her mother especially is determined to see her married off. This family cruise gets to be too much and Dillon goes off by herself for a little excursion. Luckily for her, her cousin's best friend, Liam, jumps in the boat at the last second and they find themselves lost at sea.

I honestly can't imagine the terror, the intense sun, and the unknowns that Dillon and Liam experienced and I had to keep reminding myself--this is fiction. I loved the way they worked together to survive and especially the way they were both able to explore their tentative feelings with the influences of well-meaning family and friends. But yikes!

Amy Matayo is the type of author who somehow manages to completely transport me from the comforts of my couch to a whole new world, all through her ingenious words, descriptions, and characters. I was knocked flat out with the world's nastiest cold while reading this, yet for a few hours, I was drifting in the tropical sea, being burnt to a crisp by the glorious sun, and getting to know a deliciously handsome man. Maybe it's time to get working on that bikini body... 

Content: mild romance (swoony); mild moments of danger/peril; mild+ language