From the author of The Ingredients of Us comes a moving story about true love and heartbreak, mistakes and redemption, forgiveness and second chances.
Five years ago, marine biologist Abby Fisher made a mistake that cost her everything. Rather than face the consequences, she fled home to start anew—and built the career she’d always dreamed of. But when her research program runs out of funding, … program runs out of funding, she’s adrift once again and decides to return to the safe harbor of her family and friends.
Except nothing at home is how she remembered.
Her friendships are strained, her normally affectionate parents seem distant, and her once-great love story is now just a painful memory. What’s worse, she keeps running into the people she hurt years ago—and they aren’t ready to forgive her.
Abby is determined to atone for her mistakes, but she can’t seem to move beyond her guilt for a chance of future happiness. Can Abby learn to sail through the storm, or will she remain lost at sea?
Poignant and heartfelt, Keep Me Afloat asks the question: How can you expect forgiveness from others if you can’t even forgive yourself?
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Thoughtful, absorbing, and emotive!
Keep Me Afloat is a redemptive, heartfelt story that immerses you in a tale about confronting the past, accepting the things you cannot change, forgiving one’s self, taking chances, and moving on.
The writing is fluid and well turned. The characters are genuine, flawed, and supportive. And the plot is a hopeful, tender tale full of life, love, heartache, loss, grief, guilt, friendship, family, romance, community, introspection, and forgiveness.
Overall, Keep Me Afloat is a beautiful, uplifting, moving tale by Gold that reminds us that life is truly precious and even with all the ups and downs, highs and lows, it’s always meant to be lived to the fullest.
Jennifer Gold, author of “Keep Me Afloat” has written a poignant, memorable, heartbreaking, and thought-provoking novel. The Genre for the novel is Fiction. The timeline for this story takes place in the present goes to the past when it pertains to the characters or events. The author describes the characters as flawed, complex, complicated, and confused.
Abby Fisher has returned home after being at a job that ran out of funding. Five years before, Abby made some choices that have cost her trauma and pain. Abby is once again in her parent’s home and has to start over again. Abby finds it difficult to move on from her past mistakes and forgive herself and sees that other people have a hard time forgiving her as well. Feeling guilty seems to be holding Abby back from going forward.
I love that the author discusses the importance of forgiveness, second chances, and having a fresh start. I also appreciate that the author discusses the difficulties for women having a career they want, and also a stable relationship. Women shouldn’t have to make a choice of a career or marriage.
There was one OMG part of the story, where I was both surprised and having a Kleenex moment. As I wiped my tears away, I realized what a thought-provoking novel this is. I highly recommend this novel for those readers who appreciate a memorable and poignant story.
When funding runs out on her research project, 35 year old Abby, a marine biologist, heads home where she is finally forced to face her past mistakes head on. With the loving support of her parents and best friends from high school, Chrissy and Nick, will she finally find forgiveness from others and, most importantly, be able to forgive herself?
Ever since being deeply moved by Beneath the Surface: Killer Whales, SeaWorld, and the Truth Beyond Blackfish (5 stars) and Blackfish, a documentary about orcas, I have been heartbroken over the treatment of such majestic and intelligent creatures. I loved that Afloat brought attention to this topic and it’s obvious that this is also a passionate subject for the author. For this reason and more, this book literally moved me to tears several times. I loved reading about the boat tours, and I definitely hope to experience one myself some day. This book was poignant, and I found myself rooting for Abby as she began to create a new life for herself.
Last summer, I read the author’s debut, The Ingredients of Us (3.5 stars), and I knew then that this new author was very promising. I was so excited to read Afloat, especially once I learned it would be about whales, and as soon as I started reading, her writing style felt familiar. I was soon fully immersed in the story, devouring it in only two days because I could not put it down.
Location: Port Townsend, Washington
I received an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
Excellent Sophomore Effort. In this followup to 2019’s The Ingredients of Us, Gold does an excellent job of telling a serious tale of a woman struggling to learn to forgive herself while managing to keep the overall tone hopeful. Once again she plays around with using dates as chapter names, which is an interesting construct. Unlike Ingredients, this one uses a more month to month structure, with flashbacks to the same few years prior as events from those periods are revealed. This is also the second book where the lead, as it turns out, is childfree – and still Gold doesn’t actually use that term in the book itself. Overall truly a remarkable effort that shows Gold’s growth as a writer and storyteller. Very much recommended.
This was a very interesting book. I really enjoyed the the whole coastal setting and the backdrop of the local sea life that Jennifer Gold inserts into the story. Her characters are an interesting blend of good and loyal friends, supportive parents, and of course the one that makes your life unpleasant, as well as a strong love interest.
Abby, an aspiring Marine Biologist is madly in love with her construction worker husband Dennis, but they want two different things. She wants to work with whales and dolphins and he is content in their small hometown, working with his father, and with no idea how Abby’s job at the bank, is just eating her up, as she searches for opportunities in her field. A heart problem puts everything on hold, as she feels obligated to be with Dennis. An eventual separation occurs and she leaves.
This is a story of a guilt that completely overwhelms, as Abby tries to find herself, and even when she returns years later she struggles to deal with those she has hurt and resolve the losses of friendships, love ones and especially her love of being on the water.
This book has something for everyone and it’s an easy read. It was sometimes confusing with its two timelines, but generally moves along nicely.
I thank #NetGalley LakeUnionPublishing for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
A solid from me for this fast read about Abby, trying to have it all. She falls in love with being a marine biologist and then with Dennis. Great career and great love, right? But, what happens when you have guilt for wanting both and feel like you are being pulled in two directions. This story has so many lesson…love, friendship, redemption, regret, guilt and forgiveness. Abby May take longer to figure things out, but you’ll be cheering her on.
Since seeing the humpback whales in Hawaii years ago, the story of Abby’s journey with marine biology is an added bonus!
Jennifer Gold did not disappoint with this newest book. Her writing comes from the heart as she describes what Abby is going thru perfectly. All the feels, have tissues handy!
I received an ARC of this book. Opinion is mine alone!
Keep Me Afloat by Jennifer Gold is a heartwarming story following Abby through love, mixed emotions, loss, heartache, and learning to love and trust oneself. My emotions were all over the place and as I read the last few chapters I had tears pouring down my face. Truly an amazing and wonderful read that kept me intrigued the whole way through.
I enjoy this author’s writing style. It’s hard to explain but it just flows so easily that you feel like you know the characters. The one thing that keeps popping up in my mind when I think of this book is Abby is a Marine Biologist. She makes some choices about her career for other people and puts herself on the back burner. This decision digs a hole in her soul and she is desperate to get back on the water. Life with Dennis is anything but exciting. The love of her life is comfortable in the little town they grew up in but doesn’t realize the anguish Abby feels working at a bank so they can pay bills. She yearns for a life of freedom and finds Eli a bank customer who is a professional photographer who travels the world who can provide conversation to draw her back to where she wants to be. Abby’s choices affect more than herself. I loved the characters the author created of her best friends Chrissy and Nick. Everyone should have friends like them to help get us through the most difficult aspects of life.
Jennifer Gold has written another heart stopping novel in Keep Me Afloat. The story takes place beginning in 2000 and also in 2018, the present. It weaves seamlessly from past to present and back to the past again in the life of Abby and the love of her life, Dennis. I found it very hard to put down and also very emotional, especially toward the end. I felt anger, sadness, peace, fear and joy nestled in the pages of this lovely novel. I knew Abby’s love of the sea aboard the whale watching boats where she worked. It all began with one drop of sea water, she says, and I as a reader, felt alive as the whales breached and dived by the boat. This was an excellent novel. The characters were so real, their emotions so well portrayed. I highly recommend Jennifer Gold’s Keep Me Afloat! Thank you to the author and Net Galley for an advanced copy of this book.
Keep Me Afloat was a first Jennifer Gold book for me and I loved it. Ms. Gold wrote a wonderful story which drew me right in, making me forget everything else and did not let me go until I turned the last page. This is a book about learning to forgive yourself and so much more. You must face and deal with the past to have a better future. This book was very well written, the characters were well developed and believable. The descriptions were very vivid making you feel you are right there in the Pacific Northwest watching the whales and hanging out with the characters. This is a heart-wrenching, tear jerker book that will have you with tears in your eyes. Make sure the tissues are close by. This book told in both the present and the past. The unexpected twists and turns will have you turning the pages and keep you fully engaged. I loved this book and will have to go back and read her book “The Ingredients of Us”. I am excited to see what she has in store for us next! This is a must-read for book!