Never Been Shipped by Alicia Thompson
Contemporary Romance
June 10, 2025, by Berkley

Review by Angela

Everyone knows friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes, add in the “getting the band back together vibe” and a lovely cover and I’m all yours. Never Been Shipped is a friends to lovers, has been rockstar romance. It started out slow, which is probably why it took a little longer for me to make it all the way through to the end.

ElectricOh! is a band that broke up years before when the lead singer, and one of the band founders, Micah, bought out the remainder of the band’s contract and set out for a solo career. There hasn’t been any real contact between the band members since then, just anger and confusion over why Micah did what she did. John is the lead guitarist and the other founding member of the band; he and Micah were childhood besties who bonded over music. Their relationship never got past the friend stage even though John has been harboring feelings for Micah for years.

When the band is offered a contract to reunite for a remembrance cruise with the cast members of a teenage show they performed on years ago, they reluctantly accept. Steve, Ryder, and Frankie round out the band. This story is told from Micah and John’s POVs and neither have really moved on in a major way since the band (and friendship) breakup. John lives with a group of roommates and plays in cover bands and after Micah’s solo career divebombed, she basically lives off royalties and hides in her condo.

The animosity between Ryder (the other guitarist) and the rest of the band is pretty apparent from the get-go. He’s rude and abrasive and there are hints that “something” happened between he and Micah all those years ago that led to her decision to exit the band. As I said before, this book started out kind of slow for me. The getting to know all of the band members and understanding the dynamics between each of them took some time. The backdrop of the cruise and the laid-back situation led to a slower pace. Yes, there was a nice build-up between John and Micah and once they decided to actually give in to the connection between them, I became a little more engaged. There were sweet moments, several very sexy scenes, and two friends reconnecting and realizing they’ve always been meant for each other.

I do enjoy this author’s romances. Never Been Shipped was a slow start for me, but I really enjoyed the way the relationship between the main protagonists played out. And as always, I was thankful for the epilogue.

Final grade- B-