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paige_readss's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
lacers526's review against another edition
4.0
I went into this story knowing it was heavier than the cover would imply, and I’m glad I did. It helped boost my enjoyment; I’m sure of it. This is more a story about grief, but with a dash of romance that was done well. It respected the grief while also promoting healing and moving forward. The ending wasn’t exactly what I expected, but I didn’t hate it. The audio narration of this novel is excellent and engaging.
freckleface3's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
relaxing
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
4.0
julianareiner1's review
4.0
Float Plan made me wish I was sitting on a beach in the Caribbean (but honestly, when do I not want that?). It also made me reminisce about the sailboat my dad had when I was a child. This was such a fun read, especially for someone whose happy place is anywhere beach/boat related! This story deals with Anna living with the grief of her fiancé committing suicide 10 months prior. It is a story about self-discovery and learning that the only people we truly need in order to fulfill our goals and be happy are
cklbrown9's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
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? Yes
3.75
deejloueej's review
“I’m starting to understand that some people come into your life when you need them, and go when it’s time.”
With every page, I grew in appreciation for this story. It’s not like what I thought it would be (a fluffy romcom), and instead I got a dynamic story about someone refinding themself through an adventure (plus a romance).
There’s disability rep. There’s conversations about grief and processing. There’s a dog! What more could you want?
This is the perfect book to grab as we start moving into the summer and all the thoughts about Sun, surf, and sand start happening!
I would recommend checking content warning prior to beginning.
With every page, I grew in appreciation for this story. It’s not like what I thought it would be (a fluffy romcom), and instead I got a dynamic story about someone refinding themself through an adventure (plus a romance).
There’s disability rep. There’s conversations about grief and processing. There’s a dog! What more could you want?
This is the perfect book to grab as we start moving into the summer and all the thoughts about Sun, surf, and sand start happening!
I would recommend checking content warning prior to beginning.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CcnwUOkrUg6/
mariearoon's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
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
leannaham's review
5.0
This is probably my fav book of the year so far!
**Trigger warnings for suicide grief, and missing limbs**
I am so happy that I decided to pick this book up from my library, and I will be purchasing my own copy so I can reread it soon. And I NEVER reread books
**Trigger warnings for suicide grief, and missing limbs**
I am so happy that I decided to pick this book up from my library, and I will be purchasing my own copy so I can reread it soon. And I NEVER reread books
allisonwonderlandreads's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
This is a story about grief, but it's also a story about finding new life when you're certain there's none left to live. Anna lost her fiancee, Ben, to suicide before this book starts (please be aware of that content warning, especially since it has such bearing on the story). It's been ten months, and she's stagnant. Everyone's pushing her to move on, and she doesn't know how. When she gets a calendar alert to remind her of her and Ben's upcoming sail around the Caribbean, she summons her courage. She'll do it alone, hoping to find something, anything other than her all-consuming grief out on the water. The trouble is that she's not entirely prepared-- sailing was always Ben's dream, and Anna doesn't know how to do everything on her own. She can't ignore that she's out of her depth, so she hires Keane, a friendly Irishman and experienced sailor, to help her cross to Puerto Rico.
When it comes to Anna's journey, there were many parts of the story I respected. The author doesn't ignore Anna's grief when it might become inconvenient to the romance or show a simple, step-by-step recovery process for the sake of an arc. Keane offers a meaningful, empathetic reaction rather than the sympathy Anna'd been subjected to back home. He also suffered a major loss when a drunk driver hit him, and his leg had to be amputated. Boat owners' prejudices about his disability stop them from hiring him for competitive sailing teams anymore. As they sail together, both Anna and Keane are able to do some emotional healing and look to a better future they couldn't have imagined before. Despite these many opportunities to tell a powerful story, I was surprised that after bracing for the big feels, they didn't come. There are moments on the page that are theoretically intense or reflective, and they just didn't land with me emotionally.
I was much more invested in the romance. This is one where a single POV works well because Keane falls first, but Anna needs more time. With only Anna's perspective in front of us, we aren't diverted by Keane's inner thoughts, which might have included pining. Instead, his actions show us that Keane respects whatever unsteady route Anna needs to take, and the romance develops when the time is right for both of them. The love story is a soothing balm, both caring and respectful, a perfect counterpoint to the necessarily ragged wound that is Anna's past. Keane brings joy back into her life, and she does the same for him, even if she's not aware of it at first.
The major drawback of this book is how the social, historical realities of the Caribbean are handled so awkwardly. It first appears on the page when our sailors visit an abandoned plantation, and Anna's aware enough to consider the enslaved people more than the architecture/beauty of the setting like some of the other visitors. This tepid positive is washed away almost immediately by the glorification of missionary activity on the same island. There's no consideration of the colonialism involved. Instead, it's presented as a moment for Anna to appreciate Keane's religiosity. Later, when Anna and Keane visit a memorial for slaves on a different island, it snowballs into an emotional moment for our two white characters to reflect on their own losses in a more general way, but that's not the point? I don't think sitting with the history of violent, pervasive racism should be made into anything else, especially an opportunity for surface-level (if that) empathy from white people. Save your personal revelations for later.
Other, less obvious moments show the book's "almost but not quite" approach to considering inequity. Anna and Keane's social circle in the Caribbean is largely limited to the welcoming community of boating expats. Their warmth for Anna helps turn her life around, but their globetrotting is a source of jealousy for her at first. There's a lot to unpack there that just isn't. For one, we know Anna lacked the opportunity to drop everything in her life and set sail previously. Her low-class waitressing job was a problem for Ben's family, and it's only because of his generational wealth that a) they had a sailboat in the first place and b) Anna could quit her job now to make the journey. So while Anna gains confidence the more she explores, contributing to conversations about worldly travel that were once closed to her, there's no awareness or healing around why it's not fair to compare.
To take it a step further, I was uncomfortable with how Keane, Anna, and the other expats are (largely) white and from the Global North, traipsing through countries that have come to depend on tourism because of economic disparity. Anna's essentially a tourist herself, though this isn't exactly a vacation-- a status the expats have turned into a permanent state. For most of her major social experiences, she passes local people by to stay in her expat bubble that's a) more familiar to her and b) provides a comforting layer of privilege to her travel. When she ventures beyond that bubble, Anna has some positive experiences with locals when she's welcomed and catered to... and some negative ones when she's scared and uncomfortable with cultural norms she doesn't understand or doesn't want to bend to. It only heightens the sense that she's passing through in a position of privilege, only observing, respecting, and participating in what suits her. She gets these life-changing experiences, but only on her own terms.
Here's the thing. This romance has so much going for it. It has a rare final act breakup that's deftly handled. Anna gets the space to discover just how much she can do for herself, and it's a source of pride after so much time subsumed by other feelings. Over the course of the story, she sets a new course, finds a new love, and even takes in a new dog. I just couldn't be distracted from the bigger picture, even when I appreciated what parts of the story had to say.
When it comes to Anna's journey, there were many parts of the story I respected. The author doesn't ignore Anna's grief when it might become inconvenient to the romance or show a simple, step-by-step recovery process for the sake of an arc. Keane offers a meaningful, empathetic reaction rather than the sympathy Anna'd been subjected to back home. He also suffered a major loss when a drunk driver hit him, and his leg had to be amputated. Boat owners' prejudices about his disability stop them from hiring him for competitive sailing teams anymore. As they sail together, both Anna and Keane are able to do some emotional healing and look to a better future they couldn't have imagined before. Despite these many opportunities to tell a powerful story, I was surprised that after bracing for the big feels, they didn't come. There are moments on the page that are theoretically intense or reflective, and they just didn't land with me emotionally.
I was much more invested in the romance. This is one where a single POV works well because Keane falls first, but Anna needs more time. With only Anna's perspective in front of us, we aren't diverted by Keane's inner thoughts, which might have included pining. Instead, his actions show us that Keane respects whatever unsteady route Anna needs to take, and the romance develops when the time is right for both of them. The love story is a soothing balm, both caring and respectful, a perfect counterpoint to the necessarily ragged wound that is Anna's past. Keane brings joy back into her life, and she does the same for him, even if she's not aware of it at first.
The major drawback of this book is how the social, historical realities of the Caribbean are handled so awkwardly. It first appears on the page when our sailors visit an abandoned plantation, and Anna's aware enough to consider the enslaved people more than the architecture/beauty of the setting like some of the other visitors. This tepid positive is washed away almost immediately by the glorification of missionary activity on the same island. There's no consideration of the colonialism involved. Instead, it's presented as a moment for Anna to appreciate Keane's religiosity. Later, when Anna and Keane visit a memorial for slaves on a different island, it snowballs into an emotional moment for our two white characters to reflect on their own losses in a more general way, but that's not the point? I don't think sitting with the history of violent, pervasive racism should be made into anything else, especially an opportunity for surface-level (if that) empathy from white people. Save your personal revelations for later.
Other, less obvious moments show the book's "almost but not quite" approach to considering inequity. Anna and Keane's social circle in the Caribbean is largely limited to the welcoming community of boating expats. Their warmth for Anna helps turn her life around, but their globetrotting is a source of jealousy for her at first. There's a lot to unpack there that just isn't. For one, we know Anna lacked the opportunity to drop everything in her life and set sail previously. Her low-class waitressing job was a problem for Ben's family, and it's only because of his generational wealth that a) they had a sailboat in the first place and b) Anna could quit her job now to make the journey. So while Anna gains confidence the more she explores, contributing to conversations about worldly travel that were once closed to her, there's no awareness or healing around why it's not fair to compare.
To take it a step further, I was uncomfortable with how Keane, Anna, and the other expats are (largely) white and from the Global North, traipsing through countries that have come to depend on tourism because of economic disparity. Anna's essentially a tourist herself, though this isn't exactly a vacation-- a status the expats have turned into a permanent state. For most of her major social experiences, she passes local people by to stay in her expat bubble that's a) more familiar to her and b) provides a comforting layer of privilege to her travel. When she ventures beyond that bubble, Anna has some positive experiences with locals when she's welcomed and catered to... and some negative ones when she's scared and uncomfortable with cultural norms she doesn't understand or doesn't want to bend to. It only heightens the sense that she's passing through in a position of privilege, only observing, respecting, and participating in what suits her. She gets these life-changing experiences, but only on her own terms.
Here's the thing. This romance has so much going for it. It has a rare final act breakup that's deftly handled. Anna gets the space to discover just how much she can do for herself, and it's a source of pride after so much time subsumed by other feelings. Over the course of the story, she sets a new course, finds a new love, and even takes in a new dog. I just couldn't be distracted from the bigger picture, even when I appreciated what parts of the story had to say.