Float Plan by Trish Doller: Book Review

Float Plan by Trish Doller

Rating: 5/5
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Pub Date: March 2, 2021
Purchased at Barnes & Noble
Available: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop

TW: Mentions of Suicide, Ableism, and Grief

Float Plan Synopsis: When Anna’s fiancé commits suicide, she is left with insurmountable grief and she’s finding it hard to move on. When the alarm goes off on her phone for the planned trip to travel the Carribean, she picks up her things and sets off on the trip alone. After a disastrous first leg of the trip Anna realizes she might be in over her head. She places an ad out for an experienced sailor to help her move along her route. Keane Sullivan responds and they’re off on their adventure. Much like Anna, Keane is dealing with his own struggles and realizing his future might not be as he planned either. Together they’ll set sail and find a new way to build their lives and maybe even open to love.

Review:

Wow, just wow. This book really went above and beyond all my expectations for it. I’m a sucker for a character driven book and this is one. The plot is nice, but the development of the characters is stunning.

Let me just say, this is not a light read. It’s kinda similar to Beach Read in the sense that there is a lighthearted cover/title. It’s not. It deals with grief after the suicide of a fiance. It also deals with the grief of losing your limb and dealing with ableism in the workplace.

It’s a slow burn romance, but watching their relationship change throughout the novel is sweet. The characters are incredibly heartfelt and Doller slowly brings them along through their journey. It felt genuine and just the right amount of time for everything to develop. I hate when things are rushed and this one is not!

I loved watching Anna come back to herself. Keane was so much fun and bringing him through his moments of hurt was also lovely. Each of the characters brought in felt fully developed and breathed on their own. I felt like I was on the journey with them. While it is light on the romance/sex side (like one sorta-ish scene), the development of the relationship sold me. One of my favorite things was watching Anna learn to be strong on her own, even though it did make me want a longer ending..

My biggest issue was the ending. Keane’s actions at the end felt off from his character and their reuniting was rushed compared to the rest of the book. There were some other questionable moments thrown in there that weren’t the best too like Keane’s brother randomly arriving.

Long Story Short:

Do I recommend this book? Yes, with caution. Overall I loved this book. It’s a 5/5 for me. It’s heartwarming and sweet. It’s a heavy read, but it hit you the the gut with so many happy feelings in the end that it is completely worth the read. I have recommended it to several others so far and definitely plan on continuing to do so! It’s so good!!

If you liked this one I would recommend reading Beach Read by Emily Henry. It’s definitely in line with deceiving cover and title to content. But it’s heartwarming in a similar way and was easily another 5/5 read for me. Here’s my full review of it here.