Off the Map is a quick read with a palpable romance and a father-daughter relationship that tugged at me. Carla arrives in Ireland for her best friend’s wedding and meets with the groom’s best man and brother, Eamon. Their immediate attraction and the ease they feel with each other lead to multiple unplanned destinations while on the way to the wedding. Their off the map adventure is complemented with Carla’s memories of traveling with her dad, which are accompanied with introspection that explain Carla's aversion to long-term relationships and being in touch with her feelings.

After discovering one of the tropes was instalove, I admit I was somewhat wary of Carla and Eamon’s romance. Even if the characters have chemistry and I am invested in the outcome, there is always a niggling reminder that this is too soon to be “real.” However, just as Carla and Eamon reveal how it feels like they have always known each other, I also felt as though they were more than just acquaintances and it had been more than just a few days. I was too busy falling for the book to remember it was instalove.

Pick this up if you're a fan of
✨️ traveling and adventure
✨️ instalove that doesn't feel like instalove
✨️ vacation flings that turn out to be more
✨️ heartfelt father-daughter relationships

⚠️Spoilers⚠️

I’m going to start my review with the content warnings, they will be spoilers. However the author did not list them in the beginning of the book and one of these is a huge trigger for me and I would have preferred to know about it before I started this book.

CW: parent with Alzheimer’s, death of a parent on page, parental abandonment

Review: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

I was surprised about how steamy this book was compared to the other books in this series, it was a nice surprise. However, I’m not a huge fan of the MC’s hooking up so early on in a book. It just felt super sudden and I would have preferred more build up.

There were parts of this book I really loved and other parts that annoyed me because they didn’t make any sense to my analytical mind.

This book dealt with some really heavy subjects and I was basically sobbing for the last 4 chapters.

I did a hybrid read and switched between listening to the audiobook and reading the ebook and the narrator of the audiobook was fantastic!

Thank you to the publisher for the eARC and the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

I started this book a while ago and just could not get into it.
The beginning felt like a complete smut overload with very little plot line, but that did completely turn around about
35-40% in. After that, I really liked it! It was a true story of family, friendship, and love. Carla is avoiding anything having to do with feelings including her newfound FWB Eamon and her dementia ridden father Biggie. If I just read The last 60% of the book, it would probably be a 4 or 4.25 rated book. The beginning threw me a bit but overall, it was a good, entertaining and heartfelt read.
3.5 stars rounded up.
Thanks for NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this ARC.

Travel loving Carla is just supposed to be in Ireland for her best friend Anna’s wedding when she meets the groom's brother Eamon. There is instant chemistry between them which takes them both by surprise. What should have been a short trip to Dublin, turns into a cross country trip. As each day passes the pair fall in love with more than just the beautiful surroundings.

Off the Map is an open door, contemporary romance. It can be read as a stand alone but does feature some of the characters from the author’s book Float Plan.

This book is both beautiful and devastating. I appreciate the realistic and delicate way in which the author covers the topic of dementia. Biggie is written in such a raw and honest way that it broke my heart. Out of the three “Becks Sisters” books, Off the Map is by far my favorite. They're all enjoyable but the heart of this one really got to me.

Off the Map will make readers want to have a good cry and call their dads. I can’t wait to read whatever Trish Doller has for her readers next.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press (St. Martin’s Griffin)!

This was a well-written, entertaining book. It was fun, cute, steamy and I didn't want to put it down. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others.

I didn’t know what to expect when I started this book, but I am glad I read it. Great story that tugs on the heartstrings of friendship, family, and love. It made me blush a bit with the spice but it also made me smile and laugh and brought tears to my eyes.

3 stars!

📚Book Review📚
Off the Map
Trish Doller
▶️Swipe for Description
⭐️⭐️⭐️3/5
Spice 🌶️🌶️🌶️
🛻 Off Road Adventure
🇮🇪 Set in Ireland
❤️ Insta Love
‼️TW: Parent with Dementia
RELEASES: March 7, 2023

I usually don’t include 3 star reviews in my feed, but I felt this one deserved a spotlight.

Carla Black has been traveling the world in her Jeep. She now has to attend her best friends wedding in Ireland and arrangements are made for her to meet up with the best man, the grooms brother, so they can travel to the wedding destination together. The two decide to take an off road adventure along the way.

The Good
▪️Carla’s relationship with her Dad. This is what kept me reading. There were several touching moments at the end that made it worth finishing.
▪️The beautiful descriptions of Ireland
▪️The story was well written and never dragged.

The Ugly:
▪️The lack of chemistry between Carla and Eamon in the beginning. I was never able to fully connect with these two until the very end.
▪️Carla’s questionable decision making. Not seeing her father for years who was suffering from Dementia just because he said to stay away didn’t seem like the right choice. By the time she decided to see him, too much precious time had been wasted.
▪️Eamon’s irresponsible behavior and unwarranted anger toward his brother. His total disregard of his responsibilities for his brothers wedding did not sit well with me. To go on a challenging off road adventure on a whim when he had an important role to play in the wedding seemed selfish. Eamon was inexperienced at off roading and Carla was in unfamiliar territory. The blind leading the blind 😂 As if that wasn’t bad enough they extended it to include a second adventure and even a third detour at the end. Wedding who? Carla going along with it all wasn’t any better. The seemed so disjointed where it was forcing two separate stories together as one.

I do feel it’s worth a read if you are invested in the series as these are just my thought. The story line of Carla’s Dad was worth reading about, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to make me give it a better rating. Thank you @netgalley for the opportunity to review this #arc

⁉️Are you a traveler or do you tend to stay close to home?
I’m a close to home type, but couldn’t tell you if it’s because I’m a natural homebody or bc 💰 or kids lol

BOOK REVIEW
Off the Map by @trishdoller
Pub day: TODAY!✨March 7, 2023
272 pages
Thanks @stmartinspress @netgalley for the gifted e-book

I read and loved Float Plan by the same author (first in this pseudo trilogy, they read perfectly well as stand-alones). So, I was delighted to get to this one.

For those of you that love spice in your romance, this one starts 🌶️ and stays pretty spicy throughout. The tension between Carla and Eamon is what gets the story moving, not to be confused with, “instalove,” IMO. Carla is sort of escaping her life by traveling far from home (and her sick dad) as often as possible. Eamon is sort of tethered to the rigidity of his own life in Ireland. Together, can they sort of balance things out?

My favorite bits of this were about Biggie, Carla’s dad, who is suffering with dementia and who has inspired her love for adventure. There were definitely some parts that tugged at my little emo heart 😆

Overall, I didn’t love this as much as Float Plan. I really love Keane and Anna so much 😭. We do get to visit them, though, as what brings Carla and Eamon together is Anna and Keane’s wedding. That said, this was still a really solid romance and a super quick read at under 300 pages to boot 👌

⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

#trishdoller #floatplan #offthemap #thesuitespot #trilogy #booktrilogy #romancereads #romancereadersofinstagram #instaromance #ibstalove #spicybooks #spicybookstagram #spicyromance #netgalleyreader #netgalley #stmartinspress #bookblogger #booksblog #booksbooksbooks #bookselfie #pubday #publicationday #newbooks #newbookstagram #bookreview #bookrecommendations #bookreader #kindlebooks #kindlepaperwhite #bookish

I was immediately drawn in by the cover, but stayed for the love story with a healthy dose of wanderlust!

When I started this story, I was instantly drawn to the FMC, Carla. She seemed to have it all figured out as she traveled the world in her Jeep Wrangler seeing sights that someone like myself always dreams of. Things moved quickly when she met Eamon and I took pause for a second, but as the story unraveled I couldn’t help but fall in love with it.

I’ve read some heavy hitting emotionally charged books lately and this was definitely one of those stories. The attraction between Carla and Eamon was instantaneous and I think that they truly brought out the best in one another. Carla’s relationship with her father, Biggie, was the star of the show here though. I couldn’t help but feel for both of them as they navigated the hand that they’d been dealt. I love the tidbits of their relationship that Doller leaves as she tells what’s happening for Carla present day.

Overall, this was a quick read book full of love and life lessons!

I have to start by saying I absolutely loved Float Plan, really liked Suite Spot, and was so excited to get a copy of Off The Map. The third book in the Beck Sister series finds Carla in Ireland for Anna’s wedding. There she meets Eamon, Keane’s brother, and the two have instant chemistry.

What I liked: I love that Doller’s books are steamy romances that also deal with bigger issues. Carla has been taught from a young age to distract herself from problems and big feelings by traveling; she’s spent most of her childhood and adulthood on the road. Throughout the course of the book, she is grappling with an aging/sick parent and what she wants to do with her life.

The dialogue is just so good. I felt like I was there with the characters. By the end, I was choked up.

What didn’t work for me: If I have to pick, the side trips when they’re supposed to be elsewhere seemed a little excessive/selfish when you think about them being maid of honor and best man.

Who should read it: You’re a fan of instant attraction troupes and romances that are more than just steamy scenes.

Confession: I’ve had this review since last year. I kept tweaking it because I wanted to convey how much I love her stories and I just got behind on posting at the end of the year.

Carla is free spirited and works as a bartender to help pay for vacations and experiences all over the world. She believes in living in the moment, and telling it like it is. Eamon Sullivan is in some ways the opposite of Carla, he dreams of adventure but seems to go along with the status quo and hasn’t done much adventuring.

They meet in Ireland because her BFF is getting married to his brother. They meet in Dublin, because it has been arranged for Eamon to drive her to the town where the wedding is being held. It is lust at first sight, and they rapidly consummate their relationship. Carla then encourages Eamon to seize the moment and they have several side trips/adventures as they drive towards where to the wedding is being held. They talk along the way and their physical connection evolves into an emotional connection.

Carla also has some emotional development along the way. She realizes that she tends to keep herself from becoming attached, due to fear of abandonment. She also comes to the realization that she should go home and visit her father who is rapidly succumbing to dementia. By the end of the book she decides to go back to school to enable her to have a career.

The issues that I had with this book were 1) Carla and Eamon fell into bed within hours of meeting, I prefer an emotional connection before things become physical 2) I didn’t find Carla very likeable. She is immature, and selfish. When her father was diagnosed with dementia he told her to go off in his Jeep and have adventures. He tells her not to visit him, to keep her from experiencing his mental deterioration. However, she hasn’t seen him in more than 6 years ! That seems like avoidance to me. She also takes her “live in the moment” philosophy to extremes and is really harsh on anyone who lets their job or responsibilities keep them from having adventures. She has made her choice to work a bartending gig to pay for her adventures and has no savings or backup plan. She doesn’t seem to respect other peoples choice to have a career and responsibility.

I think that my dislike of Carla is what really prevented me from enjoying this book, even though it was well written.

Thank you to St. Martins Press and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC of this book to read and review.

I inhaled this trilogy! I loved each installment, but Off the Map is my personal favorite (plus the heat is turned WAY up)! Carla (honorary Beck sister) and Eamon (Keane from Float Plan’s brother) are both so special.
I found out through genealogy tests that I’m Irish… had NO clue… so I had my map out and was imagining I was exploring Ireland with them!

If you haven’t met the Beck Sisters, this works as a stand-alone but it helps with background knowledge to read them all. (Float Plan, The Suite Spot)
I LOVED them all on audio! The accents were divine.

Thanks to NetGalley, St Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for the early review copies

3.5 rounded up to 4 Stars - This story follows Carla who we met back in The Floatplan as Anna's best friend. Carla is traveling to Ireland to help Anna prepare for her wedding. Upon landing she is greeted by Anna's future brother-in-law Eamon and the two instantly have a connection. Along the journey to their destination Carla and Eamon keep stopping to have adventures and are barely on time for the wedding. Overall I enjoyed this one, Floatplan is still my favorite by this author as well as one of favorites in general but this one is second. I really enjoy the traveling aspect of these stories and the descriptions that we get about the landscape. My main complaint for this one is that I don't feel like the two main characters spend enough time together to make the decisions they do unlike in Floatplan when they spend so much time getting to know each other. This book was still an enjoyable read and I would recommend it if you are looking for a fun romance. Thank you St.Martin's Press for my gifted copy for review.

I absolutely loved this deep cut emotional romance! With a touch of irish charm and loads of insta love, this was a journey through family love, life and self-discovery. Much like Trish Doller's previous books, this is loaded with character development and emotional growth. Carla's relationship with her dad is particularly special in this book. And I was pleasantly surprised by all the steam, it was hot right from the start!

This book is the third book in a series. It can be read with the prior books of The Suite Spot and Float Plan, OR it can also be read as a stand alone.

The story begins when Carla Black travels to Ireland to be Maid of Honor at her best friend's Anna's wedding to Keane. When Eamon (Anna's future brother in law) picks Anna up at Dublin airport to drive Carla to Tralee where the wedding will take place, let's just say, things get a bit interesting.

The drive to Tralee takes a few detours along the way where Carla and Eamon get to know each other in more ways than one! Their adventures bring them together romantically! Carla Black is not the type to love and is frightened that she has fallen in love with Eamond so fast.! More than that, Carla begins to reexamine her promise to her father, Biggie who has dementia.

I truly enjoyed this book because of Carla's relationship with her father, and also her approach to life in general. Her father's words of wisdom and love for Carla helped make what special person Carla is today..

This was a heartwarming story along with some impromptu romance! I highly recommend this easy read.

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

Carla grew up with just her father, Biggie, and they trekked across the country to explore any chance they got. That wanderlust was instilled in Carla who continues to explore several months of the year while waiting tables the other months. But when Biggie is diagnosed with early onset dementia, he encourages Carla to keep up her travels and not worry about coming back to visit. And Carla does. She doesn’t question it until she finds herself in Ireland for her friend’s wedding (Anna and Keane from Doller’s Float Plan). Carla meets Eamon, Keane’s brother, and they decide to road trip around Ireland to the places Eamon has always wanted to explore. On this trip, Eamon realizes he wants to live his life more like Carla’s and Carla decides she wants to return to Biggie and spend with him whatever time he has left. Along the journey they also fall in love.

Insta love/lust is one of my least favorite tropes and that’s what happens when Eamon and Carla meet. There is a lot of hooking up all over Ireland and it got old so I wasn’t expecting to like the last third of the book. Carla returns to Biggie and their struggles with his dementia are equally heartbreaking and beautiful. It’s almost like it’s 2 different books in one, but it does tie together nicely. You could even make an argument that the love story is as much between Biggie and Carla as it is between Carla and Eamon.

3.5 Stars

God Dammit! Trish Doller made me cry again! I am not a rom-com kinda girl but I have loved all 3 of the Beck Sister's books and she's made me cry with each one of them! I end up loving ALL the characters in the book and wanting to get to know more of them. Now I really want a story about Eamon's sister that is running the bar in Ireland. My hope is that we get books for the entire clan and one for Claire's mum as well! This is a great book and I am recommending to my peeps!

I will admit the insta love trope just isn't my cup of tea. So that part I struggled with a bit in this story. However, I adorrrrrrred Carla, Biggie, and Eamon!! The relationship with Carla and Biggie was super sweet and my favorite part of this book. I think Trish Doller did an amazing job of how it is when you have a parent with dementia and how much that affects both child and parent. She handled that relationship with such grace and love. I always love all the life lessons and messages Trish Doller adds to her stories. This one was a little spicier than her previous two, but I certainly didn't hate that. I also really enjoyed getting to see Anna and Keane from book 1. :) I would love for this series to be a mini series on TV!!!

In this 3rd book of the Beck Sisters series, we head off to Ireland for a wedding where Carla, the maid of honor, meets Eamon, the best man. Out of the three books in this series, I think Float Plan is still my favorite, but this was a close second!!

I had a little trouble feeling the chemistry between Eamon and Carla at first, maybe because I’m not a huge fan of insta-love, but I felt like that got better as the story went on. There were many laugh out loud moments that I really appreciated - I LOVE a romance with good banter.

Trish just has a way of writing a lighter romance story and blending in some deeper topics. I do think my favorite part of this book was Carla’s relationship with her dad, Biggie. Watching her navigate the progression of his dementia was admirable and heartbreaking at the same time.

Definitely check out if you enjoy the following:
• insta love
• adventure
• independent FMC
• sweet MMC
• laugh out loud banter

When a character has a motto as "here for a good time, not for a long time" - I know I'm going to like a book. This is an insta-love trope book, but done in a way that doesn't make me completely roll my eyes. I really, really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the other two in the series!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!