Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Float Plan by Trish Doller

14 reviews

thekindredreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

[4.25 Stars] It's pretty rare when I wish for a book to be longer, but I wanted Float Plan to have more pages! This book was great but had the potential to be fantastic if only the characters were more fleshed out. I loved this book, even with its darker tone and themes of grief and suicide. Honestly, I had a difficult time classifying this solely as a romance novel because it felt more like a character work on healing and grief, and then added romance down the line.

The setting of this book is escapist and lush, and I loved how the Caribbean islands felt like their own character. Anna was an interesting FMC, and I also loved Keane as her counterpoint and friend. I appreciated the way Trish Doller wrote Anna's character arc so that when she was ready for a new relationship with Keane, it didn't feel like a band-aid to her grief--it felt like she was wholly ready for it.

Overall, I thought Float Plan was a heartbreaking, but beautiful book. I can't wait to read more adult fiction by Trish Doller!

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coligmueller's review against another edition

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4.25

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cassmills's review

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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nlghtshade's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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mel_s_bookshelf's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

3.5 ⭐

This book was highly recommend to me by a friend, and from the synopsis I was prepared for a beautiful story about self discovery and overcoming grief, with a little bit of romance splashed in.

Instead, this was very much a romance novel. I did actually really enjoy it, despite it not being quite what I hoped. I liked both of the main characters and had fun following them along on their trip, learning a bit about sailing and some of the Carribbean islands along the way.

I think this could have been a really great book if it had been a bit longer, allowing for deeper character development of Anna. I would have loved to have seen more of her self-discovery happen on page, rather than off, and have her love interest introduced a little later in the book.

That being said, I definitely think this is one for the romance lovers, particularly those who like romance based on forced proximity. There is also a loveable four legged friend that made my soul extra happy when reading this book

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lauramarkey's review

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emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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kelly_e's review against another edition

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hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Title: Float Plan
Author: Trish Doller
Series: Beck Sisters, #1
Genre: Romance
Rating: 3.0
Pub Date: March 2, 2021

T H R E E • W O R D S

Quick • Fearless • Adventurous

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Ten months following the unexpected suicide of her fiancé, Anna finds herself at a complete loss. When she gets a reminder for the sailing trip Ben and her were supposed to embark on, she decides to pack up and go it alone. After just one night, she realizes there is no way she's going to be able to do this alone. Enter Keane, himself reeling from a life upended, who offers to help her set sail on the path Ben planned out. Together they set sail, finding ways to rebuild their lives, and find themselves.

💭 T H O U G H T S

My own partner died in 2020, so even before I began reading, I knew I shared a connection with the main character. But for me Float Plan lacked the emotional depth, I was hoping for, and which so many readers have alluded to. It felt as though the trauma surrounding Ben's suicide and Anna's grief took a back seat, while they should have played a bigger role. As a whole, the aspect of grief felt entirely rushed and inauthentic. Don't get me wrong, I know firsthand how every grief journey is different, but to me there was so much potential to develop emotional depth and grief awareness here. And maybe for the average reader, the author has accomplished that.

If I could put myself outside my own grief journey, I'd likely be more forgiving of that side of the story because there's certainly a solid story, welcoming cast of characters, and the writing has a good flow. I just constantly found myself yearning for more of Anna's relationship with Ben, and his life. The locals in each of the places they visited were a definite bright spot in this story.

Even though this one was underwhelming for me on a personal level, I will be keeping an eye out for the follow up book coming out this year.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• slow-burn romance readers
• anyone needing an escape

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Someone at his funeral told me that Ben will always be alive in my memories, but it's not the fucking same at all."

"'Eventually - and I say this from experience - you'll start building a new house beside the ruins of the old. When you're ready, you'll know.'"

"The stages of grief are not linear. They are random and unpredictable, folding back on themselves until you begin mourning all over again. I have bargained with a universe that is not listening. I have cried myself hollow. I have leaned into the belief that I can't live without Ben Braithwaite, but kneeling here in the sand on a beach four hundred miles from home says maybe I can - and that terrifies me."

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hawk13's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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ellariawrites's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This was a sweet, short read. I think the pacing of Anna and Keane’s relationship could have been better but overall I enjoyed it. I will say, as a Bahamian, reading this story was…interesting. I didn’t hate the way my country was depicted, but I was relieved when they finally left. I can’t speak to how the other countries were depicted, and it definitely gave “white girl finding herself in brown/black countries” at times, but it’s not the worst I’ve ever seen. I do wish people would stop assuming that every Caribbean country only listens to Bob Marley and reggae music though. I also wish the voice actor for the audio book didn’t try any of those Caribbean accents.

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grizzlysnack's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.5

I reimagined almost all of the big plot points of the story in my head as I was reading so it would make more sense in the aspect of Anna making an 'Anna-type' of decision based off the information that the author gave in the book, same goes for Keane, etc. etc.

The only redeeming factor I found present in this story was the characters. They had so much to give and could've been written in such a way that made them feel like a human being but they were written VERY flat and vaguely. The only reason a character would be introduced was to further Anna & Keane's relationship onto the end goal (dating) and not give the reader any more depth into the main characters themselves. I also found that Anna's decisions would have made a lot more sense if Ben had died a couple months before they were supposed to take the trip, not ten months after the fact. Anna would have been much more impulsive immediately following Ben's death based on her actions we see a few chapters in, not after she'd have almost a year to gather her thoughts and trying to be okay without her fiancé. I know everyone's road of grief is different, but the way the story is written is not realistic in my eyes.

The foundation which every character was standing on was made of popsicle sticks. Each character's actions and thoughts rarely match up to cooperate intermingled; almost as if Anna & Keane were accidentally written like they both have Disassociative Identity Disorder but neither of them knows it.

I was thoroughly disappointed in this story. The concept is amazing, but the execution was worse than poor :(

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