Witty dialogue, original concept, and a plot you cannot stop thinking about. What more could you ask for from a Beth O’Leary novel? Loved it.

Swept Away
By Beth O’Leary
Published by Quercus Publishing

Beth O’Leary does it again - a wonderfully romantic escape into someone else’s world when a one night stand goes wrong.
Sound familiar?
But not like this!
From the bestselling author of The Flatshare and The Wake-Up Call this is a story of life and death, to trust or not to trust, to believe in survival.

After a few drinks, a few more chat up lines and a walk home, this one-night stand ends up being swept out to sea on a houseboat.
But how?

Lexi and Zeke are both looking for a no-strings-attached fun night out with a stranger. But Zeke has promised himself this must stop! But for one night with a woman like Lexi, will he break his own rules?

After a night of passion, the morning dawns and so does reality.
The houseboat has been swept out to sea.
How did this happen?
How long can they survive on a drifting houseboat?
How will they survive each other’s company?
Who will be brave?
Who will relent?
And will they make it back to dry land and home?

This starts as a calming read just like the gentle waves, but life and storms are not all that they seem!
A must read for romantics, risk takers, holiday makers and those who want to know if the one night stand is worth the risk!!

Joanne Bardgett - teacher of littlies, lover of Children’s literature.
#Netgalley

4.5 Stars

Thankyou to Netgalley, Quercus, and Hachette for providing me with a digital arc.

Beth O'Leary has done it again. She never fails to surprise me with how incredible her books are and how different each idea is!

Swept Away is a fantastic story of a one night stand that through traumatic events becomes so much more. Such an interesting premise that I wasn't sure how it would come about, but Beth O'Leary managed to do it in a genius way that had me on the edge of my seat and feeling all the emotions! For a high stakes rom com I couldn't recommend anything better!

Beth O’Leary did it again, she just wrote a beautiful book which will sweep you straight into the story. The characters and plot are actually very interesting with complex personalities and drama. There is also a big twist that will have you screaming at the end as you will not see it coming.

I find it so original how the romance in this story starts developing when Lexi and Zeke are forced to spend time together after they got stuck on the houseboat together.

Lexi and Zeke were such amazing, likeable characters and I loved the plot- imagine being stranded at sea with a one night stand! Beth O’Leary is absolutely hilarious- I love all of her books and this has just taken the top spot ❤️

This was such a fun, unique story. Lexie and Zeke have a one night stand on an houseboat and wake to find themselves lost at sea. Their relationship developed so well on the ship and I loved how they grew to rely on each other.

This was a fantastic read!
It had such a unique premise that I was very curious to see how Beth O’Leary would pull off. And she nailed it!

I have never read a contemporary romance novel with such high stakes and it worked so well. The stressful situation the characters were in made you root for them straight away. The book was a great balance of emotional, hopeful and sweet.

Imagine you were stranded at sea with your one-night stand. Well that’s exactly the situation Zeke and Lexi find themselves in when they wake up on a houseboat that’s floated out to sea while they were sleeping.
Two very different people, one looking for love the other no interest in settling down at all. It definitely makes for an interesting enemies to lovers type romance novel.
Beth O Leary writes the most beautiful, funny, alternative love story’s and I’m yet to find one
I’m not obsessed with! Her latest one is just so cute and heartwarming with lots of adventure and some hairy, scary moments too! I absolutely loved and would highly recommend.

Who'd have thought that I'd be crying my eyes out at 2am over people lost at sea after a one night stand? Well I was! I got so invested in Zeke and Lexi's story that I ignored my 6am alarm and kept reading until the early hours of the morning!

I love a trope and this book has all the tropes I want. SO MUCH forced proximity, a bit of enemies to lovers, a nice age gap. What more could you want?

Thanks NetGalley for the advanced copy!

Thank you for sharing Swept Away with me. I've thoroughly enjoyed reading all of Beth O'Leary's books and this one was no different. It was such a nice read and I loved learning about Zeke and Lexi's story.

Lexi and Zeke venture onto a house oaf for a one night stand. From there it all goes wrong (or right) as they get swept out to sea. From drunk strangers they have to get to know each other fast . Being alone leaves them exposed - strengths, weaknesses, fears, problems they all get discussed when there's nothing else to do. Can they survive and get home?

At first this is classic rom-com fodder (which is fine) but it develops as Lexi and Zeke are willing to open up to each other. Their survival really does feel in danger at times with careless accidents and devastating storms. It's an interesting combination of two contrasting characters confined in a small space.

Beth O'Leary has once again crafted a captivating romance that defies expectations. While I'm not typically drawn to the "stranded-together" subgenre, I was completely swept away by this story of Zeke and Lexi, a couple who unexpectedly find themselves adrift after a one-night stand.

Despite an eight-year age gap, their relationship feels authentic and grounded, with both characters offering unique strengths and challenging each other to grow. Zeke, with his infectious passion and charisma, beautifully complements Lexi's steadfast loyalty and cautious nature.

Highly recommend this entertaining and heartwarming read.

DNF for me. Felt so obvious and I was not interested in either protagonist. I’ve loved Beth O’Leary’s work previously especially The Flatshare and The Switch but her last two, The Wake Up Call and this (Swept Away) have both been DNFs for me. Desperate to love her writing again

I adore a romcom, but Swept Away is so much more than that. It has Beth O’Leary’s signature wit and warmth, but what really stands out is the way she weaves in suspense and emotional depth without losing that essential spark. The trauma at the heart of the story is handled with such care, never overdone, always deeply human and the character development is some of her best yet.

I can’t even imagine how difficult it must be to write a book set mostly in one confined space, but O’Leary does it brilliantly. The claustrophobia adds to the tension in such a clever way, making every shift in emotion feel sharper, every revelation more powerful. It’s compelling, heartfelt, and still manages to be wonderfully romantic. Five stars, without a doubt.

I loved this! It was quite stressful given the whole life or death situation, which I wasn’t expecting, but I adored the romance. Would recommend!

Swept Away follows Lexi and Zeke who agree to a one-night-only relationship after meeting in a pub of a small town. However, after a night spent together on a houseboat in the nearby marina, they wake up to find themselves in the middle of the ocean with no land—let alone another person—in sight. They are forced to work together to deal with the situation at hand as well as face the issues that each of them has been blocking out in their real lives.

This was the most terrifying but beautiful adventure of my life. For me, the most amazing stories are the ones where my brain can slot itself right into it and feel everything as though I’m there too. Beth O’Leary did an amazing job at creating an atmosphere that kept me on edge the entire time with anxiety and dread at the thought of being lost at sea but also kept me lured in with excitement for how Lexi and Zeke’s relationship was going to progress in the most dire situation. This atmosphere was so well done because I truly believed the circumstances that were happening and didn’t find it to be a stretch of the imagination even though some of the plot would realistically not play out this way in real life.

This is one of the most nerve-wracking experiences to imagine yourself living through but I almost never wanted it to end purely because of how much I enjoyed witnessing these two characters push past everything that was holding them back in life while simultaneously falling in love with the other person for the exact traits they thought were the worst parts of themselves. There was a pit in my stomach the whole time that switched between nervousness for their survival and giddiness for their stolen touches, and this was the entire reason I could not put this book down.

I can absolutely see why Beth O’Leary kept bringing herself back to this story because it is one that is going to stick with me for a long time now. I am absolutely recommending this to everyone in life as soon as it is released <3

Thank you to Quercus Books for allowing me to read the e-arc on NetGalley!

Super grateful to Hachette for providing me with an advanced reading copy of this one, for those of you who are familiar with my reading patterns you'll know she's an auto-read for me

"It's giving - I lost my mind at sea"- (page idk I didn't write that down).. yeah same girl

I was ready for this book to be done around the 30% mark, while I didn't hate the characters and the lost at sea / forced proximity thing was fun, I just spent the whole time reading wanting them to just be rescued and get it over with (as I'm sure the characters also wanted).


I read somewhere that Beth said she wasn't sure if she could pull off the 'lost at sea' thing, and well girl you did, but it's also a topic that doesn't really have much going for it and maybe that's why people avoid it?? Just to put some words on the page every day they're lost or so there's a spanner thrown into the works and it was kinda boring? Crazy girl accuses dude of wanting to murder her because he has a set of chef knives.. because you guessed it.. he's a chef! injured teen seagull appears, crazy girl stabs dude with his kitchen knives, wound becomes infected, crazy girl reads hidden letters dude told her not to because they're personal?!?! Okay maybe I didn't love the characters? Zeke seemed a lil different than every other romcom love interest though and I did appreciate that. And I also enjoyed the lil plot twist at the end but it also felt like it was thrown in there as a plea.. "sorry this lost at sea thing was boring (because how much can really happen while stranded in the ocean?) here let's spice it up!"

Idk I didn't love this one and find myself forever chasing the high that the Flatshare and the Switch gave me.

Beth o’Leary is one of my auto buy authors so I was so excited to read swept away in advance, and it did not disappoint.

The idea of being swept out to see with someone you had a one night stand with sounds far fetched, but I could actually imagine it as the story went on.

I loved the alternating POVs of Zeke and Lexi as you really got to know both characters, and I really believed in their love story. Unlike a lot of romance stories there wasn’t the big miscommunication trope and the characters organically fell in love. Yes they had some obstacles to overcome when they got back to land but how they reacted felt so real.

I really needed to be swept away with a romance book and Beth O’Leary delivered with Swept Away.

In a nutshell, boy meets girl and hook-up on a houseboat, said houseboat drifts out to sea. Will their relationship sink or float.

The book centres on Zeke, a good looking young man, and the slightly older woman Lexi. The book unfolds from their different point of view, which was very enlightening and entertaining. I read it in a day and loved every second.

This is ripe for a Netflix adaptation.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Quercus, for making this e-ARC available to me in exchange for a fair and honest review.

My first book of this author and it didn’t disappoint. I enjoyed getting swept away with Zeke and Lexi’s romcom-adventure.

Thank you NetGalley and to the publisher Quercus Books for the ARC.