A review by coolbeans
Float Plan by Trish Doller

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.0

To put it plain and simple, I thought this book was absolutely heart-wrenching at times, delightfully adorable at times, and refreshingly hopeful at times.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It brought me out of a rather harsh reading slump and had just the right amount of everything to really make this book "sail" by for me.  I read it in one day and was not disappointed.  As a warning, this story does mention self-harm and suicide.

The story focuses on Anna, a Florida waitress we encounter almost a year after the tragic death of her fiance by suicide.  Three years before his death they had started making plans to sail through the Caribbean islands with an ending destination at an island where they would get married.  Still stunned and stunted in her life since his death, Anna decides to take their sailboat on the trip despite her last minute decision to try it and her very basic sailing skills.  On the first leg of the journey, after almost getting hit by another boat and passing out in her dinghy from a messy night on the closest town's shore, she ends up hiring a more experienced sailor to help her get to her destination.  Keane, an Irish professional sailor who lost his leg in an accident unrelated to sailing, is a calming, steady foil to Anna's attempts to clarify what she wants in her life going forward without her fiance.

The plot flows nicely, the scenery described is lush, the food sounds amazing, and the characters are wonderfully flawed and just trying to make it home, wherever or whoever that may be.  Anna was a character you can't help but want to give a hug and a pep talk to.  She's all over the place at times, but you can tell she's genuinely trying and finds herself mellowing and becoming increasingly confident as the journey goes.  Keane, on the other hand, is a precious, adorable man who also has his past to wrestle with just as Anna does.  I loved that even though both struggled throughout the journey with their past and their feelings on how to move forward in their own personal lives, they were always respectful, considerate strongholds for the other to lean on when they had to break down for a moment.  

Ultimately, a lovely, solid 4 out of 5 stars.  Read it in one day and loved every chapter.  Anna and Keane find themselves unexpectedly on a sailing trip together where they hope to run away from certain parts of their life.  When in reality,  they may find that they're running to something instead.  Also, love Queenie the pot hound.  She's truly the scene stealer in the story.  As the preface of this book warns, there is mention of self-harm and suicide in this book.  This story is a heartbreaking, heartfelt journey through how someone left behind by that act finds her way acknowledging that her past will always be with her but knowing that she can have hope for a future that can be navigated with someone else or even standing on her own two feet.  Would recommend.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this title.

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