This was my first book by Trish Doller and I'll be back for more - I can promise you that it won't be my last. FLOAT PLAN was heartbreaking, emotional, sweet and educational. I had such a great time with this story.

Anna's courage to take her late boyfriend's boat after his suicide and travel to the Caribbean was inspiring. Learning about all those small islands and cultures was wonderful and made this book such a rich experience Keane you'll want to travel there.
Keane, a sailor in every cell of his body, has his own loss to deal with. After an accident in which he lost his leg it's hard for him to be hired on boats because only few people think he can handle the physicality of it. These two go on a journey of friendship, healing and falling in love again. This could have been a depressing story but the author balanced all aspects really well and wove some humor and uplifting moments into it that it was nothing but beautiful.

Trish Doller's voice is very engaging and I had no issues staying in the moment. If you have the blues because of the travel restrictions still imposed due to COVID and are in need of an inspiring, moving, emotional story full of hope and love grab this!
“I'm starting to understand that some people come into your life when you need them, and go when it's time."

This was my first book by Trish Doller and I enjoyed it. The premise, fulfilling dreams a trip you had wanted to take with someone else was touching, as was so much about this book.

The characters were fun to get to know and I liked the way the plot unfolded - not too fast, but it moved quickly enough to keep my interest. I will be reading more by this author in future.

Float Plan is a sweet, simple romance that takes place on a sailboat. A fun summer read, while not the most engaging romance novel out there.

Our main character is going on the sailing trip she and her late fiancé meant to go on before he took his own life. She hires a beautiful Irish guide to help her on the trip, and you know where this is headed. Overall, just a fine little book.

We meet Anna almost a year after tragically losing her fiancé to suicide. One morning, she wakes up to an alarm on her phone, reminding her that they were supposed to take off on a big sailing trip that they’d been planning for years. Anna decides spur of the moment to go with it, and hops on the boat, sailing towards the Caribbean.
After her first night on board, she realizes that she may need some help, and hires a sailor named Keane to help her on her journey. Close quarters is always a delight to read in romance, and putting them on a boat in the middle of the ocean makes it even better!
What I loved about this book was the actual healing & processing that Anna went through. So many books just magically make a woman better because she finds a man, but this one actually let Anna work through her loss & grief by herself. She knew she could do it on her own, and that was powerful to read. I also loved that Keane also had his own things in life to sort out. This book took a more realistic approach to romance, which I really appreciated! This is definitely going to be a book loved by everyone.

4.5/5 ⭐

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!

2.5 stars. After seeing some really positive early buzz, I went into this one with pretty high expectations. Unfortunately though, it did not end up living up to the hype for me. I really liked the premise and all the different beautiful locations the story takes place in, but I struggled to care at all for either of our characters. I feel like both of our main characters felt really one dimensional, which only made it harder for me to root for their relationship. Overall, this wasn't the worst thing that I've read, but I clearly didn't care for it as much as I was hoping to and I most likely won't read any more from this author in the future. Big womp :(

CW: suicide, death of a loved one

This was such a cute book and I have been recommending it to everyone! I cannot wait for the author's next book!

This was a very good book and hard to put down. Predictable story but enjoyable none the less. Great beach read!

Pleasant diversion from everyday life.The characters were not complex but that did not detract from the story.There were sufficient twists so the ending was not straightforward .Definitely recommend for a fun book club read.

I’m in the minority on this, but I found this just okay. I think the book started out well and I thought I was going to love it but then it really slowed down to the point that I was bored. A few positive things: the locations and descriptions throughout were so incredibly detailed, you could picture it in your mind. I definitely need to put a few of these on my bucket list. I also really enjoyed the sailing portion of the book, which is surprising for me. My issue was the heroine. I kind of hated her. She was whiny and all over the place. Her inner dialogue was exhausting. I felt like she went into this for the journey and healing and I just didn’t get that out of it. I would have loved Keane’s POV on this, just a chapter here and there or an entire book on just him. He brought so much to the whole story. Their romance really didn’t add up for me either. Didn’t completely work for me, but I’m definitely in the minority.

Anna lost her fiancé, Ben, almost a year ago and forgot that they had planned to take a trip together in their sailboat. When the reminder appears on her phone on the day their trip was meant to start, she decides to go anyway and take the trip by herself. It isn't long before she realizes she doesn't know enough about sailing to do it on her own, so she hires Keane, a very good sailor, to help her make it to the places she wants to visit. Although Anna is still working through Ben's death, she begins to realize that her time with him can still be cherished even while she moves ahead into her future.

I enjoyed this book! It was a quick read that kept me engaged. Trish Doller did a beautiful job writing about grief in a way that was raw and vulnerable. I loved that Anna was able to travel to so many places and fall in love with Keane during their time together; however, the romance aspect of the story felt very rushed and as though something was missing, in my opinion. Maybe it's because we don't really get to see Anna and Keane together long enough to watch them interact and grow as a couple, but when the story ended, I just felt like there wasn't enough there. The banter and dialogue between the characters were great, and it was fun to visit all of the islands with Anna and Keane; I just wish there was a bit more to the story!

Even though I cannot technically give this book half-star ratings on NetGalley or Goodreads, I am giving it 3.5 stars in my personal reading tracker.

Trigger warnings for suicide, grief.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of Float Plan by Trish Doller!

I really enjoyed this new to me author and this book. This story is a journey for Anna after the loss of her fiancé and finding herself in her new future. I absolutely loved Anna's bold and fierce decision to sail on her own to continue the trip she'd planned. This was an delightful read - I enjoyed Anna and Keane's development and healing from their pasts to a new future. Here's to setting our own rules in live and steering our ship!!!

One of my favorite reads of the year

This is not a conventional romance book. It wasn’t about suicide but it wasn’t NOT about it either

It’s tropical. It’s sad. It’s sweet. It’s a quick read.

I love sailing and was so excited to read this one. I read it in the height of summer and was captivated. It was dark and very raw. I love an island vacation romance and the mix of this genre with a second chance and grief process was so good. I loved the adventure and cried a number of times.

I read this book in one sitting. The story was heartfelt, and I loved how this book handled grief and learning to love again after something traumatic happening to you. It made me want to immediately go sailing and hopefully find a hunky guy to help me sail my boat around.

Let me get this off my chest – years later, I’m still bitter that Trish Doller did not become a household name with Something Like Normal. I’ve been very invested in Trish’s career ever since because one, her writing is magical; and two, she’s not afraid to explore uncomfortable topics. More people need to read her books! Fast forward to the present – Trish’s adult romance debut title is announced last year, and it was almost like kismet that I’m also primarily reading adult romance. Needless to say, my expectations for one of my favorite YA authors’ adult debut is high. And you know what? I shouldn’t be surprised – once again, Trish Doller DELIVERS.

Writing a review for a book I adored so much is always difficult. I just want to gush nonstop and shove as many copies as possible to everyone I know, but let me try.

If I were to summarize Float Plan in one phrase, I would say that it’s a love letter about learning to move on after the unthinkable. The book opens with our heroine, Anna, starting her sailing journey through the Carribean. Her fiancee Ben organized and planned the trip for the both of them, but he died of suicide before they were able to go. Anna is lost, grief-stricken, and months down the line, she hasn’t dealt with everything that’s happened. After a difficult first night of sailing, Anna decides to hire professional sailor Keane to help her with part of her journey.

As the story progressed, it started to become obvious that Anna and Keane were at similar points in their lives. They’re both dealing with the loss of their dreams, and they were scrambling to hold on to what’s familiar for as long as they can because they don’t know what else is next. For Anna, it’s her boat, and for Keane, it’s sailing. Seeing them decide if these two things have room in their futures made for an engrossing read. As Anna and Keane sailed to each new island, I loved seeing them shed layers of their past selves, and see who they want to be after their personal tragedies.

At the start of the trip, Anna was focused on fulfilling Ben’s itinerary, and she didn’t entertain Keane’s suggestions of places to visit. As time passed by, however, Anna started realizing that she wasn’t really interested in some of the places that Ben planned to go to, and she made changes of her own to the itinerary. This seems minor, but I felt like this was an important turning point in not just the story, but in Anna facing her grief – she starts remembering that Ben isn’t perfect, and she slowly realizes that getting mad at Ben for making the decision he did is part of the process. Anna’s journey was tough to read about – it’s something so private, yet at the same time something that a lot of people go through and need to learn more about.

Anna and Keane’s relationship goes through different chapters throughout the story. They start off as colleagues who need to run a boat together; they then become friends, slowly getting to know each other; and then confidantes, trusting the stories of their pains and troubles to each other; and finally, a hint of something romantic. Their travels were the perfect backdrop to their relationship slowly but surely growing – we see hints of how they treat each other change through their many adventures. Anna and Keane have the most beautiful love – full of warmth, comfort, and trust.

All in all, if it’s still not obvious after reading the last few paragraphs, I loved and couldn’t get enough of Float Plan. It has everything I’ve come to expect from Trish Doller’s books, and I can’t wait to read her next release!

What a FABULOUS book! I read it months ago (and forgot to share my review) but this one was so much fun.
I honestly went into it not knowing a ton. I knew that that MC had lost her fiance to suicide and that one year later, she was about to set sail on the boat they were fixing up together, even though she didn't know how to sale.
The romance was so sweet and charming. I LOVED the story and the love interest and the setting. It made me want to go sailing (even though I get sea sick!) So much fun!

Float Plan by Trish Doller is a contemporary romance or women’s fiction title. Just one glance at this one I new it should be a great read for me being someone that loves boating and travel so I just had to pick it up.

Anna has spent the last year nursing her broken heart and thinking she will never recover from the death of her fiancé. When a reminder goes off for a trip that the couple was supposed to take together Anna decides that she needs to still go on her own.

Anna packs up their sailboat and heads out on her own but before long she realizes she’s in over her head thinking she will make it all the way to the Caribbean on her own. Anna meets Keane who happens to be a professional sailor so she decides to hire him for the rest of her journey.

Thankfully this is one of those times I saw a cover that caught my eye and it turns out that I found a real winner. Float Plan was a beautiful story of personal growth and healing that happened to also have a little romance. I don’t think I even need to mention that the setting of this story out on the ocean and along the islands was absolutely wonderful. This definitely would make a lovely beach read with the summer season upon us right now.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

This was definitely a quite unique storyline. I learnt a lot about sailing and I did appreciate the fact that this wasn’t solely a light romance novel and had some more substance.

I thought the romance aspect was a bit unnecessary and would have preferred if this novel solely followed our main character on her sailing adventure while mourning the death of her fiancé. Overall, it was an interesting and unique novel that unfortunately felt a bit cliche at times.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the gifted e-book in exchange for my honest opinion.

CW: suicide

I knew going into this not to expect a standard romance which was a great perspective to have. While there is a romance threaded throughout the story, this book is really more about grief.

After Anna’s fiancé dies by suicide, she struggles to move past her grief and decides to take his boat that he left to her on the sailing trip that he had planned for them to take together.

Her story had me close to tears constantly and I really appreciated that the resolution wasn’t that another man filled the void. It was a beautiful story that made me want to sail around the world.