One of OprahMag.com’s Most Anticipated Romances of 2021! *Heartbroken by the loss of her fiancé, adventurous Anna finds a second chance at love with an Irish sailor in this riveting, emotional romance.After a reminder goes off for the Caribbean sailing trip Anna was supposed to take with her fiancé, she impulsively goes to sea in the sailboat he left her, intending to complete the voyage … voyage alone.But after a treacherous night’s sail, she realizes she can’t do it by herself and hires Keane, a professional sailor, to help. Much like Anna, Keane is struggling with a very different future than the one he had planned. As romance rises with the tide, they discover that it’s never too late to chart a new course.In Trish Doller’s unforgettable Float Plan, starting over doesn’t mean letting go of your past, it means making room for your future.”The perfect escape. Fresh, funny, and romantic. I wish I could sail away with this book.” – Meg Cabot, New York Times bestselling author of The Princess Diaries and Little Bridge series
more
Read this book back in August with my best friend, absolutely love this book and recommend it to anyone I know.
Love the yellow cover!
I’d seen this book splashed all over the media, but it wasn’t until a trusted friend recommended it that I picked it up. SO GLAD I did. This is not only a truly delightful and heartfelt romantic novel, it is masterfully written. I thoroughly enjoyed the author’s voice and storytelling choices, as well as the lead protagonists (particularly the adorable and almost too perfect Keane). It is clear that the author is an avid and well-traveled sailor, too, which made reading this “quest” of a sort a true escape and mini Caribbean vacation, which is something we could all use right now.
I don’t like to give spoilers, and everyone is free to read the blurb to get a sense of the premise. But if you are searching for something that will make you feel good, this is the book to read!
I loved every minute of “Float Plan” by new-to-me author Trish Doller and will definitely read it again with characters you want to be friends with, a story that immediately captivated me and I didn’t want the book to end when I got to the last page. I loved adventurous Anna Beck who decides to sail to the Caribbean when her fiancee leaves her a sailboat after his death and finds a second chance at love with an Irish sailor. If you enjoy riveting, emotional romance, set sail with Anna and Keane on a tour of the Caribbean and a bit of fun and adventure. I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving my review. I liked it so much, I purchased a copy.
Anna lost her fiancée Ben to suicide. An alarm on her phone set prior to Ben’s death about setting sail for an adventure triggers Anna to drop everything (work, family life) and set sail. Anna is quite inexperienced in her skills sailing, and in the midst of some embarrassing moments, she was rescued by Keane who helps Anna in the next leg of her sail.
This was a beautifully written novel that immersed me into the story and one that grabbed me right from the very first page! I loved the amazing development in the characters of Anna and Keane, as the story progressed. I really enjoyed tagging along in their journey from being lost, to them finding themselves and in each other in the process.
Both characters were dealing with loss and grief, and in each other, they find solace, hope, and a chance to heal their hearts to move forward in their lives.
A beautiful and heart warming story that will tear your heart apart and piece them back together again. I loved this book!
4.5 stars!
Climb aboard and get ready to set sail! What a captivating tale. It made me want to hop aboard a sailboat and sail away. And that’s just what Anna did.
Anna is lost in a mire of grief. Her fiance killed himself about 10 months ago, but you see, they made plans to sail the Caribbean. With no clear direction, Anna leaves everything behind and sets sail. Her first leg of the journey is somewhat troublesome and Anna decides to hire a crew member, otherwise she won’t survive the trip alone.
Keane is searching for more. He, too, doesn’t have a clear direction but he is trying to prove his capableness not only to himself but to the yacht racing community.
They set off together and form a fast friendship. Anna struggles in her grief and learning that it is possible to move on.
This story was amazing as we traversed the unsteady waters of the Caribbean and island hopped. The imagery was beautiful and makes you ready to board a ship and try it for yourself. You should definitely one-click it today.
An Adventure to Recovery
“Float Plan” by Trish Doller
I was caught hook, line and sinker by this story. I just could not put it down. This story has it all. Romance but no graphic details. Heart-break, Adventure, Poor Choices, Trauma from Choices, a Travelogue most of us will never witness ourselves (live in person)… but isn’t that why we read to be where we are not.. fantasy land. Sorry, got carried away there for a moment. You really do want to read this story to find out where the “Float Plan” takes Anna, from where she starts, where she goes, some of the people she meets, and how the story ends. You will not be disappointed. Happy Reading ! !
Note: I received an ARC of this story from the publisher. This review is my honest opinion.
TW: Suicide
This is not the light and fluffy rom-com I was expecting it to be. I forgot the premise of the book when I put the book on hold at the library a few months ago. I appreciated the premise (after I reacquainted myself with it). I was looking forward to seeing how Anna, the narrator dealt with her decision to set off on her own. While I liked Keane and thought their relationship was cute, I fall into the camp that the story fell flat for me.
The characters visit some beautiful places and so if you want a good Caribbean book vacation, this is a good book for that.
I would only recommend as a beach read that you don’t intend to get a lot out of.
The first book in the Beck Sisters series and my first time reading something by this author, this was a fantastic start to the series. This is one of those books that pulls you in from the very first page and doesn’t let go till the end. I was completely engrossed and engaged in the story. It takes you on an emotional journey of pain and loss and learning to move forward afterwards. The setting of the story is unique in that most of it takes place on a boat and we follow Anna on her travels as she tries to deal with her grief. She enlists the help of Keane to assist her along the way, and their relationship starts to slowly blossom into something more. This was a beautifully written, emotional read with wonderful, endearing characters. The author also did a nice job of setting the scenes and making you feel as if you were right there. A really great read, and I plan to read more by this author in the future!
I received a complimentary copy from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.
Oh this book makes you want to get on a sailboat immediately!!! fabulous romance – fabulous travel story. Check out my conversation with Trish on DAY DRINKING WITH AUTHORS
Stitcher: https://bit.ly/2GIjus1
Apple https://apple.co/2Gu7cUz
IHeartRadio https://ihr.fm/3jLqRgX
amazon: https://amzn.to/3EYYTJs
and More https://www.buzzsprout.com/1311937
When a book starts with a suicide note? Well, you know you’re in for one heck of an emotional journey. In Float Plan, Trish Doller gives us every possible range of emotion, from despair and heartbreak to joy and love.
After Ben, Anna’s fiancé, dies by suicide, she spends ten months buried in her grief, until one day an alert goes off on her phone, one that Ben had set long ago. It was supposed to be the day they set off on their grand sailing adventure. Anna makes the snap decision that she is going to honor his plans, so she gets out of bed, gathers what she thinks she will need, and sails away from her life.
Of course, Ben was the one with all of the expert sailing knowledge, so things quickly go awry for Anna and she makes the decision to hire a sailing guide to help her out. Enter Keane, who is grieving a loss of his own. Their story is a beautiful slow burn, their journey filled with stunning locales and interesting supporting characters.
I truly enjoyed following Anna and Keane on both their sailing and emotional journeys. Dollar does a great job of showing that grief doesn’t follow a particular path, and that just because you’ve been through the traditional stages of grief does not mean you won’t find yourself thrown back into them at any moment. I do wish that the idea of therapy hadn’t been so quickly and repeatedly dismissed by Anna, with her loved ones just accepting her dismissal and not pressing the issue. I’d like to see more authors normalize the idea of at least trying therapy.
One last note: I would have loved to see a map included to show the course of Anna’s sailing journey! But I love maps, so maybe that’s just me.
This was a fun read! I really enjoyed Anna’s journey. She sets out on her dead fiancée’s boat, grieving and struggling to find herself. What follows is a series of adventures, as Anna does find herself and grow and come to a place of peace she didn’t have at the start. A feel good story, for sure!
On Thanksgiving Day, Anna Beck awakens to an alarm reminder her boyfriend Ben Braithwaite set three years earlier. It was to be the day they set sail in his restored Alberg 37 to travel to the Caribbean and back. But Ben committed suicide ten months and six days ago and Anna has barely left her bed. She’s struggled to find something to motivate her to get on with her life and Ben’s plan suddenly gave her focus. Anna gets up, shops for supplies, cleans the boat and sets sail…all alone. She calls her family to let them know and, of course, they have a predictable reaction.
I have to believe that if Anna hadn’t been so miserable she’d never have undertaken a trip like this on her own. Her decision was born of grief and loss, an attempt to gain the ground back under her feet. Her life was Ben and now she had to figure out how to live without him. By the time Anna made it to Bimini, she knew she needed help after some close calls in the open waters. She hires on an Irishman named Keane Sullivan who’s looking for a ride to Puerto Rico. He’s got lots of experience, stories and his own disappointments but he’s just the grounding Anna needs. I loved how authentically Anna expressed her sadness, grief, despair and anger about Ben’s decision to take his life. I’ve never experienced that kind of loss but I connected with her sense of being rudderless after the death of someone important in your life. There were moments when I got emotional because I remembered what she was feeling in those moments.
Keane and Anna’s relationship is what made this story even more special. To categorize it as friends to lovers trivializes what I found to be a lovely growth of friendship, respect and admiration between two strangers who somehow found each other at the right time, in the right place. It wasn’t about a romance as much as it was their individual self discoveries and that led to their loyalty to one another. By the time they drifted into something more, it felt right. I enjoyed everything about this story, including the narrator who seemed to capture Anna’s youth, naïveté and sorrow. I liked how she handled the gradual transitions of her emotions. And, I learned a lot about sailing, enough to know definitively that I’d never attempt this kind of trip on my own.
This was a surprise! I loved this one…part whimsical, the other part deep and serious, I fell for this story.
4.5/5 stars
I absolutely devoured this one! I’ve loved Trish Doller’s YA novels and I was so excited when I saw she had an adult debut coming out. Her writing is wonderful and emotional and has this ability to just completely suck you in and never let you go.
This is a beautiful slow burn love story about two people learning to heal and move on after significant loss, but it never feels heavy. There are moments of humor, incredible sweetness between Anna and Keane (from Keane’s very first scene I adored him – what a wonderful addition to the book boyfriend canon!), and a Caribbean island-hopping sailing trip that makes me long to get out on the water and explore.
If you love travel, beautiful explorations of grief, and an absolutely perfectly-paced romance, Float Plan is not to be missed!
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Thanks to Book Club Cookbook Giveaway and St. Martin’s Publishing Group for an advance readers copy. All comments and opinions are my own.
Loved this book! Yes it begins with sadness, but the sadness is gradually overcome by main character Anna as we follow her on a sailing trip. A young man commits suicide before the book begins, and his grieving girlfriend impulsively decides to singlehandedly take the sailing trip they planned together, in the boat he bought and recently outfitted. The term “float plan” is an overview of a boat excursion that can give authorities a head start in looking for a boater if he or she fails to reach his or her destination.
I liked Anna from the start, and cared about her and the results of the decisions she made throughout the novel. While the premise sounds dark, and Anna’s grief is realistically portrayed, the book is essentially a warmhearted second chance rom-com on a sailboat. Her love interest is professional sailor Keane Sullivan, who is conceived as that perfect guy who is struggling with a personal issue that, like Anna, changes the future he had expected. The various tropical locations sounded gorgeous, and the precarious sailing adventures kept me reading.
Author Trish Doller writes authentically about sailing, and notes that her husband provided her with accurate technical descriptions. But even if you don’t know your jib from your jibe, it’s the warm sunny days, salt water spray, and honest emotions of both the main characters that will have you turning the pages.
Such a treat! Loved every word, still getting over the book hangover.
With summer tantalizingly close, I knew Float Plan would be just the ticket to a much-needed escape. I have a SERIOUS soft spot for a heroine looking to heal herself–not just looking to heal a hero–and Anna had my heart from the start. Did I also mention I have a soft spot for stories set on sailboats? How about tropical settings with luscious descriptions of food and drink? Oh, and don’t forget charming Irishmen with rakish smiles and big beating hearts who bring both comfort and complication to our heroine’s already-messy life? Check, check, check.
Thanks to the seamless way Trish Doller threads details of life on a sailboat, I felt as if I was on the water with Anna and Keane–on deck, below, all of it. I rewatch the movie Sideways over and over because I feel like I’m on a wine tour with good, good friends, and Float Plan gave me the exact same joy. Anna and Keane’s affection builds with heat and believability–as they connect to each other, I connected with them. That kind of slow build is rare and Trish Doller crafts it beautifully.
But be warned–this is an immersive and addictive read. Start at bedtime at your own peril. If you need sleep, I recommend waiting to carve out an afternoon. And consider stocking your cabinet with rum and mangoes because you WILL crave.
Highly highly recommend! I loved this so much and could not read fast enough! Yes it is about grief and loss and rebuilding after that, but it’s more about friendship and love and taking risks. I loved Anna’s journey and Keane is a completely swoon worthy hero. There are a lot of sailing details (I wasn’t at all surprised to learn in the acknowledgements that the author owns a sailboat), and they really helped paint a picture of the setting and what daily life is like sailing from Florida to the Caribbean.
Two people trying to realign their futures. Anna is grieving the tragic loss of her fiancé. She embarks on a sailing trip that they had planned to take together and finds that sailing alone on the ocean is more difficult and dangerous than she thought it would be.
Keane is a professional sailor hired by Anna to help her sail through the most treacherous part of her trip. He is trying to decide how he will face a much different future than he had planned.
Float Plan is a gripping story of adventure and second chance love. This is the first book that I have read by Ms. Doller, but it won’t be the last.
I received a copy of Float Plan from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. I honestly loved this book. All thoughts are my own.
Audiobook was excellent! The narrator (Sarah Naughton) did a really great job! Loved this story. Makes me want to go on a tropical vacay! The settings were just fantastic!! Deals with suicide/self harm but handled very well. Loved the relationship Anna has with Keane, after the devastating loss of her fiance to suicide. Deals with grief, and learning to move on. So emotional and a beautiful story! Absolutely recommend this book!