The characters feel wonderfully real, and the emotional journey lands perfectly. A warm, hopeful story that leaves you smiling long after you turn the last page.

A warm, heartfelt romance with charming characters. An emotional journey that’s easy to sink into, with just enough tension to keep you turning pages. A lovely, uplifting read.

Ship of Dreams is an engrossing, emotionally rich reimagining of the Titanic story that focuses less on the mechanics of the disaster and more on the women whose lives are forever altered by that “unsinkable” voyage. Donna Jones Alward centers best friends Hannah Martin and Louisa Phillips, both boarding in first class but carrying very different burdens—Hannah desperate to mend a marriage hollowed out by grief and hiding a secret that could upend everything, Louisa fleeing a loveless match and risking the bond she treasures most as she reaches for a future on her own terms. The novel shines in its intimate character work and meticulous period detail: from the opulent decks and dining rooms to the suffrage-era tensions and quiet acts of defiance, you feel the glamour and the constraints closing in at the same time, with the iceberg we all know is coming adding a low thrum of dread beneath every scene. It’s not quite a five-star read for me only because some of the emotional beats around secrets and forgiveness follow familiar historical-fiction patterns, but overall it’s a heartfelt, beautifully researched tale of friendship, love, and survival that brings fresh poignancy to one of history’s most told tragedies.

I think I have read everything connected with the Titanic, fiction and non-fiction. I have visited every Titanic site. I am especially drawn to Halifax and the cemetery where many victims are buried. So, this book fits very well into my Titanic obsession.

This is the story narrated by 2 friends, Louisa and Hannah, passengers on the infamous voyage. Their stories are compelling and interesting. The author has placed the women amid many of the real people on the voyage. Devotees like me recognize characters like Margaret Brown, the Fortune family and the Astors. The background of the ship is meticulously woven into the story. Additionally, the social norms of the period help shape the lives of Lou and Hannah.

Their story is one of love, marriage and pregnancy. All of these events take place within the few days that the Titanic sailed.

The story takes the women, with other survivors, to NYC and ultimately to Halifax where so many were buried. I found this a beautiful story enfolded in the horror of the ill—fated voyage.

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read and review another tale of those o the Titanic.

A heartbreaking story of the Titanic. It touches on so many lives and their stories after the sinking. A wonderful story of friendship. A must read.

An absolutely beautiful novel of strong and true friendship that survives love, heartache, tragedy, death, life, and distance.

Hannah and Louise are lifelong friends who embark on the Titanic with two different missions. Hannah, the dutiful and loyal wife, is desperate to repair her marriage that has fallen into a stalemate after a tragedy - and she believes the romantic setting of their first class trip is just the place to do it. Louise, the rebellious and risk-taking single woman, is desperate to escape England and the arranged marriage awaiting her.

Both Hannah and Louise experience many hiccups in their plans while on the Titanic’s maiden voyage - and find their lives upended after the tragic sinking.

It was a beautiful novel that shows the resilience of women, through love and triumph, and shows the bond between two friends is never easily broken.