4.5⭐ This was such a sweet book. I loved Keane and I loved Anna. I loved that two broken halves became whole together. I really enjoyed how the author brought us in to all of the adventures. You really feel like you're touring all these islands and meeting these amazing people. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

"Be brave, but careful. Be smart but also reckless once in a while. If you have sex with a stranger, use protection. And don't sink the boat."

Solid advice for life if I've ever heard any. If someone ever wrote the perfect book just for me, this might be it. Seriously, this book might be my soulmate. I'm stunned. I sat down on the couch to read one or two chapters and found myself sailing around the Caribbean with Anna and Keane until their journey's end.

There is deep, soul-gutting loss in this book. There is breathtaking beauty in the people and islands and the simple everyday joys. There is friendship and love and fear and happiness and fun. Anna and Keane grow so much in this book - Anna as she deals with the loss of her fiancé to suicide and Keane as he learns who he is after a partial loss of limb. The idea of potentially facing life on your own and reinventing yourself is one I truly feel and I loved how both Anna and Keane did just that.

On top of all that, the writing is just beautiful. Doller's description of sailing, the food, the places they visited and people they met truly made you feel you were there with them. While there are sad parts to their stories, this book made me so happy in so many ways. Reading it felt like true soul care.

I picked up this book based on the cover and had no idea what to expect as I had not read anything from this author before. I couldn't be happier I did and instantly purchased my own copy to re-read on days where I need that bit of sunshine in my life. I loved this book and would recommend to anyone.

I adored this read- and I know nothing about sailing-but I could not get enough of the travel aspect of this book as our main characters took us aboard various islands and the struggles at sea. And while it does mention the main character, Anna, losing her fiance to suicide, it is not a heavy book. It's a beautiful path as Anna tries to find out who she is and what she wants at the end of this trip...and if her first mate turned romantic lead Keane, will be a part of it after the boat docks.
If you need a heartwarming, sweet story about finding love after loss, pick this one up!
Thank you to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A heartfelt and moving story with a little something for everyone: surprising insights into healing a broken heart; realistic romance; adventure; and an inviting Caribbean setting.

A beautiful and poignant story about grief, love and second chances.
I loved Keane; he is probably one of the nicest and most interesting characters I have found in contemporary romance books. I liked Anna, but sometime I could not understand her. I liked the growth they both had, though.
The story combines in a very good way a touch a romance and more important issues such as suicide, grieving and depression. The writing style is rich, powerful, and evocative of all the places the sail to. However, the first chapters were very slow for me and throughout the book; and it was hard for me to understand the sailing terms and boat parts.
Overall, it was a very enjoyable story that will make you feel and think.

A heartwarming novel about finding oneself after loss. Anna loses the life of her life to suicide and goes on a floating adventure on his boat. She Mets, Keane, an Irishman and hires him to help her sail. Their relationship grows into a beautiful story of hope and love. A fun read!

I want to start by saying that despite suicide and grief being a strong aspect of the plot here this actually wasn’t super heavy. Just wanted to get that out of the way because when I started this I was in the mood for something on the lighter side and was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t all that sad. Maybe a little at times but overall it was a lighter read for me.

Ok, so I freaking loved this one y’all. It was such a beautiful, emotional, tender and sweet story! It leans more to the side of women’s fiction than a straight up romance but it definitely had romantic elements. It really was more about Anna’s path to healing, the ability to heal herself and give herself permission to move on. I just adored her and loved every single minute of her journey and Keane was a wonderful character in his own right. Their relationship was so gentle and pure, I loved that things developed between them so slowly, it felt very authentic and raw. Add in several vibrant and beautiful settings throughout the book and this had everything I wanted and more. Highly recommended by!

I had seen positive ratings for this, but once I read the description, this did not make my initial To Read List. Even the opening line warning readers of possible triggers made me think twice before I embarked. My own 2nd thoughts, and 2nd guessings - all small bits of tension may not be unsimilar to what our heroine may have had to go through at the start of her voyage - and like her, I plunged into the open waters anyway.

While the start was definitely rough seas - she was young, angry, selfish, difficult to like - the journey got better. There was character growth, an enviable love interest and a happy enough conclusion. It's romance on the high seas and a pilgrimage to reclaim oneself. It was a good read and well worth my time.

While this book was undoubtedly good, there were times I was regretful?

First, it opens with a still deep in grief Anna, reeling from her fiance's suicide and discovering him. I wouldn't normally start out with something like this, but it deserves more than a passing note. Anna's sadness-depression really-is surface for much of the novel. I read 3 pages and walked away from it for the afternoon. So, I want you to know that in case that may hurt you to read about. There is also discussion of Ben throughout, and I didn't know if I liked how he was used as a device in that way. So I need to say that too. I think in a sense some of that is very honest and true-to-life because suicide is complex, but there are times that doesn't play well to move intimacy or personal growth along-in my opinion. It was a risk, and generally it was executed well, however-for me-it grated at times.

And while this book is really lovely overall, I had that creeping <i>but</i> in my mind.

Keane is a near-perfect hero from him literally saving her as the meet cute to him literally saving her later to ... well you get it. It'd be impossible not to love him. Nothing was wrong with him. He was quite literally teaching her she could save herself, always there, always saving her. So this isn't that book where the heroine saves herself, but where the heroine has it pointed out to her that she is capable of doing so. Rarely does she steer her course, which is apt for this book, right until the very end. And that conflict was super unsatisfying to me.

So the main conflict here is grief and anger toward her dead fiance-and her learning her own path from there. I know-I know-I am really categorizing this as a romance. Because it very frankly is. But I felt that despite forced proximity and a heavily couple-focused novel being very okay with me, this failed in many romance fiction aspects. At least, for my contemporary eye. At times, because of Keane's lack of need for growth it just hit me that it might have been going up against my ever-growing expectations.

If you got through all that and want to read about a woman letting go of her plan,her grief, her anger and falling in love along the way, it really is a solid book. There's a lot to like. But I'm an absolute snot about so much contemporary romance that in that sense it fell short for me. 3.5 rounded down, for I've no need to reread.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Less than a year after her fiance Ben's death, Anna decides to embark on the journey they'd planned to take together--sailing through the Caribbean. But when the "easy" part of the trip challenges her skills as a sailor, she impulsively decides to hire a helper.

Keane, her skipper, turns out to be a world-class sailor who is struggling to come back after a serious injury. He not only teaches Anna to sail, but together they learn how to live. Anna finally lays Ben to rest, while Keane also comes to grip with the new direction his life will take.

To be honest, romance hasn't been my favorite genre during the pandemic, but THE FLOAT PLAN is definitely the exception to prove that generalization wrong. Anna and Keane are both such flawed but really good people, and their love story is so much more than meet cute (though their meet is definitely cute) and shallow conflict (their conflict is their own backstories). I haven't been sailing since I was a teenager, but now a Caribbean trip is on my bucket list. #FloatPlan #NetGalley

After losing her fiancé to suicide, Anna was drowning in her grief. As the day of their scheduled departure approached, she decided to make the trip on her own. What started out as a way for her to complete their planned journey ended up being a means for Anna to work through her grief, find her way back to herself, and see possibilities for her future.

Doller does it again! I swear, her books always make me cry, touch my heart, and leave me brimming with joy. She did such an incredible job capturing all the complicated emotions that accompany losing someone to suicide, as well as the guilt one may feel when they attempt to move on. It was truly beautiful seeing Anna's progression. As she sailed from island to island, I saw her slowly coming to terms with the choice her fiancé made, while also beginning to envision her life without him.

Obviously, there were tears, but Doller's super power is her ability to keep the story from being too sad. First of all this was an incredible trip! I have only been to a few of the islands, so I embraced my armchair vacation with both arms. I loved that she took me off the beaten path and incorporated the local flavor so well. I also met many wonderful people as we hopped from island to island.

One of my favorites was Keane. He was hired to help Anna complete some of the more difficult parts of the journey. He was a talented sailor, who always seemed to see the bright side of things. But he was also dealing with a great loss, and though his loss was different from Anna's, it allowed him to relate to her in a way she really needed. He was also swoony and had incredible chemistry with Anna, and I have placed him high on my list of stupendous romantic heroes.

I simply had the most incredible time sailing with Anna and Keane! Though the author and the promise of romance were initially the biggest draws for me, I found Anna's healing journey to be one of my favorite things about this story. It was emotional, touching, and just beautifully done.

This book has it all - lush tropical islands, a little romance, and a lot of heart. Anna's fiance dies by suicide, and she is left to pick up the pieces of her life. What starts as a mission to complete his sailing goal turns into a journey of self-discovery.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It is a bittersweet journey with many tender moments, and the setting is extraordinary.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for the ARC.

Critically acclaimed author Trish Doller's unforgettable and romantic adult debut about setting sail, starting over, and finding yourself...
Love, loss, and getting back to life and falling in love again! A rom-com and romance. The descriptive setting, sailing, and the islands a perfectly paced book. I really enjoyed it.

TW: loss of loved one via suicide
Representation: Work against ableism, Grief, Depression, Mental Health

I must be needing books that deal with grief at the moment because somehow they are all finding me and working their magic. The author states in her Goodreads, "Advice givers always say you should write the book you want to read. This is it. I hope you like it." I am so glad she wrote this book because it is also what I needed and wanted to read too.

I loved this book.

Grief is never-ending - you will have good days, bad days, okay days, and just days you get by. This book touches on many important stages of grief all while showing no matter how much time has passed grief can sneak up on you.

I loved how Anna 'navigated her grief and learned how to process it one step at a time.

Her meet-cute with Keene was just adorable. I just adored Keene!! I really enjoyed learning how he was coping with his disability and how ableism affects him daily - and ideas of how anyone can help fight against ableism.

I loved how the author touched on some of the grief stages: denial., anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

There is such a powerful story here that I highly recommend you read it.

Have you ever wanted to skip town? Pack a bag, choose a location, and just leave your life behind? Float Plan finds Anna in this mindset, setting sail to escape the hand she's been dealt.

With an unusual cast of characters and picturesque settings, Trish Doller perfectly paints what it means to find yourself in your toughest times. This book portrays the real hardships of finding who you are amongst the grief you have endured. Anna's story reminds us it is okay to ask for the help we need and continue living after loss.

Doller beautifully portrayed not only the locations, characters, and tiny details, but the raw emotions as well.

Float Plan grabs you by the heart and never lets go. I wasn't sure I was in the right headspace for this one, but once I started reading, I didn't want to put it down. The writing was phenomenal and there was so much raw honesty and emotion that it sometimes made my chest ache. Anna's character arc and journey is one of the best I've read in a long time. It's painfully relatable and so wonderfully human. Her struggles and triumphs become the readers. So much so, that you might find yourself crying right alongside her and also cheering for her victories.

The friendship that blossoms between her and Keane was truly beautiful. The tenderness, vulnerability, and rightness in that relationship gave me all the warm fuzzies. Yes, the forced proximity amplified everything, but the connection also shifted so organically and naturally between them. I loved how they helped each other face their own demons and made each other stronger. Strong enough to even stand alone when needed. Keane was such a wonderfully rugged cinnamon roll. Half the time he opened his mouth to speak I was swooning and the other half I was laughing. As much as I loved Keane though, I loved Anna more. Watching her grow, heal, and really come into her own is the heart of this novel. Everything that happens (even the bit of angst at the end), shows how far she has truly come. I had a huge smile on my face and a hopeful heart as I finished this one. An absolutely amazing novel from start to finish and one not to be missed!

CW: suicide, depression, amputation, grief

*I voluntarily read an advance review copy of this book*

This is a love story but it's also a story about overcoming grief and the challenge that life makes us face. In my opinion Float Plan was more of a slow burn romance that really built on the character development of Anna along with the vivid imagery of the Caribbean. I loved how the two main characters dealt with grief but through different stages.

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for providing me with an eArc in exchange for an honest review.
TW: suicide and death of a loved one (they mention how he died and his suicide note)
When"Float Plan" starts it has been almost a year since Anna's fiance Ben has passed, Anna decides to go on the trip he had planned for the both of them. We join Anna on her journey to find closure through the world, She hires a sailor named Keane to assist her.
I enjoyed how "Float Plan" didn't just focus on romance but also grief and finding yourself. It has a cute romance with amazing characters. This book is about loss, love, and how to deal with them.

Float Plan comes out in the US on March 2!!

Float Plan was such a romantic, emotional read & it reminded me how well her books punch me right in the feels every time. This book swept me away to the Caribbean, and life on a sail boat. The book follows Anna, who impulsively sets sail on a trip she planned with her late fiance. After a disastrous night at sea, she hires Keane to help her complete the journey. Together, they go off course in both life and love, and what they find could be the best destination of all.

I loved the way Trish’s writing transported me to all the places Anna and Keane visited. I felt like I was there with them, which is always a magical feeling when reading a book. But more than that, I found myself fully invested in their stories and their journey. I loved getting to know the people in this book, and following along on their adventure was a wonderful way to spend my time. FLOAT PLAN comes out March 2nd.

What darling characters and such a cute romance. Anna has lost her fiance to suicide and decides to remake her life by taking the sailing trip they were planning on. She hires Keane to help her and rediscovers that life and love are worth it.