This book was a treat! I heard about it on a publisher webinar and thoroughly enjoyed the main characters, their arc, and the highly original setting. I already know who I will recommend this book to!

Reaching for this book, I was convinced it was going to be a light romantic comedy with cute characters and laugh-out-loud moments. I was totally wrong in that it was a heavier, emotional, intimate, heart-wrenching, absolutely beautiful and inspiring romance!

But I was right in some things: the characters are truly loveable. In short, Anna, who lost her fiancée to suicide, hires a professional sailor Keane, who lost a leg in a car accident, to sail through the Caribbean - a trip which Anna was meant to complete with her now dead fiancée.

I usually avoid the motif of grief in books because life is already difficult enough without additional sadness. However, had I known this was such a prominent motif in Float Plant, I would have never picked it up, and I would have missed out on this beautiful story of two damaged people. I loved Anna and Keane separately as much as I loved them on that boat together, which to me is a very important criterion in a romance novel.

But that's not all - the trip itself is packed with unexpected problems at open sea, which is thrilling and keeps the novel pacey!

*Thank you to the Publisher for a free advance copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

Well how cute was this one?! I come to this review with some bias because I have traveled to nearly all of the locations in this book by boat as well. It was a fabulous journey down memory lane and the island-specific observations and emotions were right on point.

I initially wondered how this will resonate with those who aren’t used to sailing terminology or those who may have never heard of some of these places but I believe the journey (both geographical and emotional) is strong enough to hook even those afraid of the high seas!

*Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. Pub date: March 2, 2021

This author has a special place in my heart, she always manages to write a story that always gets to me. It can make me cry, laugh and always love. When you find an author like that, you just work to get your hands on all their books! This one was no exception!

Don't let this fuzzy yellow cover fool you in to thinking this story doesn't pack an emotional punch, because it does! Anna lost her fiance 10 months ago. She wakes up to an alarm reminding her they should be leaving on their sail boat to travel to the Bahamas and hit all the stop her finace wanted to. It's hard, reading Anna mourn her loved one and try to move on.

The other side is Keane. He's the heart and soul of the sea, hired by Anna to help her navigate her sailboat but also as a tour guide. He's there to help her try to find a new normal. It was amazing to read these 2 and very easy to flow in their story, even if that story was sometimes so very heartbreaking. I loved learning their lives and about the islands and the food. Such a wonderful read.

Thank you Net Galley for this book. The story is amazing. It’s a second chance love story. Anna’s fiancé Ben commits suicide nearly a year ago and her life is shattered.She is trying to cope up from that loss and come out of the grief. One day she receives a reminder about the sailing trip to the Caribbean that she and Ben planned together. She wanted to relive the memories she made with Ben and so not thinking much, she goes for sailing alone.Soon she realises that she needs to hire someone professional. She hires Keane an Irish sailor. Keane himself is dealing with his own struggles after losing a leg in an accident. The two characters start to fall for each other during their journey and form new memories. The writing is amazing. The characters seem to be very strong and the descriptions related to the voyage seems to be really fun, interesting and realistic.Overall the story was awesome.

I am typically a sucker for any type of rom-com or modern romance type book, especially in these current times when I just need something fun and uplifting to read. While I love these type of books, I can usually tell you immediately where each of the plots will go and exactly what will happen before getting past Chapter 1. Float Plan however was not this way and I was very pleasantly surprised about the topics touched on in this book and how much I loved it!

Anna loses her fiancee to suicide and decides to set off on a preplanned trip they had to help her numb the pain that feels being left behind. While Anna starts the trip alone, she soon realizes she is not equipped for this trip and after a drunken mistake, decides to hire Keane to help her for the duration of her journey.

I loved how this book not only focussed on the eventual love story that grew between Anna and Keane, but also Anna's story of growth. Readers follow along as Anna finds her own strength, voice and confidence that allows her to move on after tragedy and accept other love into her life after the passing of her fiancee. Many of the topics discussed in this book are very real world and it makes it easy to connect with the characters while reading.

Huge thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the Advanced Reading Copy of this book in return for my honest feedback. This was my first experience being granted an ARC and I could not be more pleased with the book that came with it!

I loved this book! It’s a story of a woman finding herself after her fiancé commits suicide. She goes a boat trip that they we going to take together and she has to find herself.

I loved the strength in this book. She is heartbroken over her fiancé and has been for 10 months. This trip helps her heal and I loved how it did that. Truly amazing book!

DNF at 20%

While I understand where the story is likely going and is dealing with the grief of the main characters ex, this isn't a romance to me. 20% of the way in, we met Keane, but we never actually got to see their meeting on page - which in a romance, I feel like is a big no-no. That means there's no real connection with them. To me, they're just two people, with no tension between them and just their pasts weighing them down like anchors.

I really wanted to like this because the cover is great and the reviews I've seen so far have been pretty positive across the board, but this to me is false advertising. I need the beginning of the story to grip me, especially with romantic tension, and sadly, this didn't.

If it would've been advertised a simply Fiction or Women's Fiction, then I wouldn't have had the expectations, but as a Romance, this didn't deliver the hook like it needed.

After her fiance commits suicide Anna, driven by her heartbreak, impulsively decides to set sail and embark on a voyage they had planned together. Along the way meets Keane, and together they embark on a journey.

I have such conflicting feelings about this book!! I was so excited to read this book because it sounds just like the type of story I love to read!! Unfortunately, it didn't work out for me!!

Let me start with what I liked about the novel. I loved the general plot and the overall theme. I thought her relationship with Keane was really sweet, and I applaud the author for trying to broach deeper subjects.

However, I just couldn't get invested in the story. I think a lot of it had to do with the writing style. I had a hard time connecting to Anna and really caring about what she was going through.

Even though I didn't end up falling in love with this one, I always think people should read for themselves since we all have such different reading tastes. If you like women's fiction and are interested in reading about overcoming grief, you might like this one!

Thank you to St. Martins Griffin and Netgalley for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC. Right at the start of the book, Anna’s fiancé commits suicide. They were deep into plans for an extended Caribbean cruise on his sailboat, Although a novice sailor, Anna decides to complete the navigation plan alone. After a harrowing sail, she makes contact with Keane Sullivan, an experienced sailor who asks to accompany her to Puerto Rico, his passage paid by being a crew member. There are a couple of very minor problems to solve. I was turned off by the passage where Keane objects to landing on the island where Christopher Columbus was reported to have first set foot in the New World. He judged Columbus as a murderer, rapist, and instigator of the whole institution of slavery. Keane Sullivan had an amputated foot, which led the author to educate us on the care of both everyday and waterproof prosthetics. Though interesting, that detail did nothing to further the plot. This seems like a perfect story for a Hallmark movie.

This was a very sweet and enjoyable book. As someone fortunate enough to not have gone through intense grief yet, I think there are some portions of the book that didn't resonate with me as they might with other people. I loved the setting, though, and found the way life on a sailboat was portrayed fascinating. It made me wish I was island hopping and spending time on the beach. I definitely fell for Keane, but I think it would be hard not to. This isn't all light and fun - there's a ton of heart in it. Read this for something that will explore feelings, with a slow burn payoff at the end.

I loved this book. It took me a while to get around to reading this one even though I fantasize about sailing the Caribbean. I think the cover threw me off a bit, it's so sunny and light, while the description seems like an emotional commitment (which I can get totally onboard for sometimes). How could you not fall in love and root for Anna? There is so much to admire in a character who impulsively takes a risk that, at it's root, takes so much courage. Her courage and strength is hidden just beneath the surface and Doller makes it believable, honest, and accessible. Keane Sullivan is the 'sailor' in shining armor. Irish heroes are always charming, adorable, irresistible. I'm totally down for it.
Doller has done a nice job of balancing the sailing terms with the story. I still searched a few things to solidify the images when it was convenient and my imagination was never hindered by the language.
Great read! Can't wait to get the hard copy in March. This would be a great book club read - fairly short, enough romance and pull to keep members reading, exotic locations to drool over collectively, and opportunities for discussion about grief, personal setbacks, growth, love and loss.
Thanks so much for galley!

I got this book solely because it was available and I’m so glad I made the rash decision . This book is one that I’m holding close to my heart . I love that at the beginning of this books there’s a little note that to give us reads a heads up about the content, that may be triggering in this book.
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I love that the love interest wasn’t a Douche cause I’m tired or their horrible guys 😩, Keanne is perfect and I need to be apart of his family because they all sound amazing. I love how the character Anna grief is portrayed in a realistic way because there’s no time line or a certain way to grieve a lost .
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This is a second change romance and just a great book about life and the bumps along the way. I really love hearing about the food , I’m from the Caribbean so seeing my culture in the book really made me happy .

This is a very positive, uplifting romance. Both characters have survived different tragedies that have left them with different experiences than they had planned. What I loved was how neither character showed pity towards the other. They just accepted each other's stories and helped each other when needed. Ultimately, this is a story of survivors. Survivors that learned that they could handle their new lives alone or together. This story lacked unnecessary drama and some of the more common romance tropes. I don't think that is easy to pull off.. Thank you for a great story.

When Anna’s fiancé commits suicide, she sets off for an adventure aboard his boat. She hires a professional sailor, Keene, to help.

This book is billed as funny and light, and while it was romantic and steamy, I thought it had a lot of substance and was more emotional than I expected. The writing is excellent, the chemistry is intense, the story is compelling. I loved it!!

Oh my. This book is just beautifully written. I literally just finished it and I am sitting here thinking about it. The first thing I have to say it was an unexpected surprise for me and I mean that in a good way. Part of the reason is that the cover does not fit the story at all. I am actually very sad it has the cover it does. The cover, to me, implies a light read. Maybe a summer read. But that is not what I got. What I got was so much more. It was heartbreaking and cathartic and just beautiful. And the cover sells it short. Which is one of the few complaints I have.

Float Plan follows the heroine Anna who decides to take a sailing trip she had planned with her fiancé before he committed suicide. We don't get to know too much about Ben, her fiancé, but he is a side character in the book as he is always present in Anna. There is also a side story that deals with his parents that I don't think was necessary but wasn't overly distracting either.

Along the way Anna learns it is not the best idea to set off on a sailing trip when you don't really know that much about sailing and she picks up Keane who is working through some issues of his own. I love the friendship that built between these two and that the author took the time to build on that. I love the descriptions of the places they visited, but also the people they met along the way. Anyone who has ever traveled knows that a visit to a new place is not only about seeing that place- but the people you meet along the way. And not to be too cliche but Anna was getting to know herself along the way. Keane is also showing growth dealing with his own demons, although I wasn't a fan with how he dealt with one at the end- I generally loved his journey.

While the topic isn't light, loss and grief never are, there was enough light and humor that made this a very enjoyable read. I felt lucky to be along on Anna's journey and although I have not read this author before, I just happened to grab it on NetGalley, I will definitely keep an eye out for other books of hers in the future.

Doller's Float Plan was a refreshing romantic read filled with humor, determination and personal triumph over loss and sorrow. I enjoyed the sailing accounts and found myself wanting more of the story at the end! Well done!

Trigger Warnings: Suicide

I really really really wish the description I read of the book would have been more explicit about the fact that the Anna’s fiancé died by suicide. I honestly don’t know that I would have requested the book had I known. It was very jarring to me to have the book literally start with a suicide note as a sort of prologue. I opened the book when I first got it from NetGalley in July, read the note on the first page, and had to step away from the book for four months. The book itself handles the topic well and was very realistic in the depiction of grief and loss. I think the author was smart to write the book in first person present. Usually first person present books are difficult for me to get into but it really worked for this book because it kept me as a reader in the head of Anna at that exact moment.

The reason I wanted to read this book that is a romance that takes place while the pair is sailing around the Caribbean and I may or may not have pictured them as Bill and Donna from Mamma Mia Here We Go Again the entire time I was reading the book. I love sailboats. It is my dream to live on one though that will likely never happen as I live in the middle of the Rocky Mountains. Having been to the Caribbean it was very fun to read about and reminisce on my island experiences being the tourist who arrived on a cruise ship.

Anna grew on me throughout the book and I liked Keane from the start. That being said, I don’t know that I see them as a forever couple. The book was quite the slow burn and I honestly would have been fine with their HEA being them deciding they would be better as friends and business partners. Of course if that was the ending then it wouldn’t be a true romance and I would be writing to complain about it not having themed up together. The book definitely fudges the line between romance and women’s fiction as it was more about Anna’s journey of healing than focused on their relationship. This was my first book by Trish Doller and I would happily read her work again.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for my review. I believe that this is a first novel for Trish Doller, and if it is I can't wait to read what she writes next! This novel was awesome! If I had to compare it to another book it would be Wild, except instead of a soul-searching hike, this is about a soul-searching sail!
Anna has lost the love of her life. To put it mildly, she's not handling it very well! When she gets a reminder of a sailing trip they had planned, she impulsively decides to take the trip-by herself. Along the way she realizes that she can't finish the trip by herself, so she enlists the help of a real sailor, Keane to help her finish the journey. Little does she know, Keane is on a journey of his own. This story is beautifully sad-in the very best way. One of my favorite reads this year!

Okay - I'm obviously in the minority for this book. I expected more based on the promo hype and previous reviews I had read. I thought it would be funny with good banter back and forth. This book fell flat in that regard for me as I don't remember laughing even once.

I also found the book a little depressing. The book starts off with the suicide note left to Anna by her fiancee, Ben. She finds Ben's body, but it's too late - he has already passed away due to an overdose. All of this happens in the first two pages of this book. Then we find out that Anna barely survived the next 10 months wallowing in her pain, but on a certain date, she decides to take the sailboat she and Ben were restoring and "sail the world". It had always been Ben & Anna's plan to sail on that date because they knew the boat would be finished. One of my first issues with this book is since Ben died and Anna didn't work on the boat in the 10 months after his death, how is the boat ready for sailing on the originally scheduled date?

Anna wants to honor Ben by following his well planned itinerary that he developed when he assumed it was his trip. He highlighted places that he wanted to attend and not necessarily places where Anna wanted to attend. Anna really hadn't been involved in the planning so she really didn't know any better.

After she sails solo from Ft Lauderdale to the Bahamas (and she nearly died after being hit by a cargo ship), she decides she needs to hire an experienced deck hand. She finds a guy 5 years older than her named Keane. He is perfect for the job.

They go on the trip and experience great memories, but Anna seems to interject Ben's name every 5 seconds. It really got old to me - I get it - she lost her fiancee through tragic methods, but I felt like she was too whiny for me.

I was provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. The opinions stated above are mine without biases.