Float Plan ⭑⭑⭑⭑

Genre: Romance

US Publication: March 2, 2021

Print: 272 pages

Audio: 7 hours 8 minutes

Confetti Rating: 4 stars

REVIEW:

"He planned an adventure he never intended to take, imagined a life he never intended to live. Instead he sailed out on a tide of pills and tequila."

Ooof. When a novel begins with an advisory about self-harm and suicide, you immediately brace yourself for a gut-wrenching (and potentially graphic) read. Float Plan is neither of those things, but rather an escapist story about moving on from loss.

Anna is a 25-year-old waitress at a "Hooters-like" restaurant whose fiance died by suicide within the last year. Rather than continue to wallow in place, she decides to leave her life behind and go ahead with a sailing adventure he had planned for the two of them. Readers become companions on her journey as she departs from Fort Lauderdale and sails the Atlantic, visiting ports in the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, Trinidad, and others. Lucky for her (and us), she enlists the assistance of a professional sailor named Keane who quickly becomes more than just the hired help.

Ultimately Float Plan is a low-stakes gentle romance. We know where the story is headed, but the vivid setting aboard a boat in the Caribbean makes the journey more important than any destination. It's a fairly clean read (PG-13-ish), which is always my personal preference for this genre. I enjoyed the characters and would definitely follow them on any future adventures.

I'd like to thank the author and St. Martin's Griffin for the opportunity to read an advanced review copy

PUBLISHER SYNOPSIS:

Critically acclaimed author Trish Doller's unforgettable and romantic adult debut about setting sail, starting over, and finding yourself...

Since the loss of her fiancé, Anna has been shipwrecked by grief—until a reminder goes off about a trip they were supposed to take together. Impulsively, Anna goes to sea in their sailboat, intending to complete the 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.