Swept Away had so much promise. I was interested in the premise and for a large part of the book I was on board. Then the last quarter happened. A reveal and twist that made me recoil and honestly was just a poor cop out. I just was so dejected by how the plot hole was filled.

Houseboats are so interesting to me and the survival aspect of the book was well executed. Being lost at sea and the anxiety, fear, and the sheer hope needed to sustain the two characters carried the narrative and made it soar. But there were times in the story that were cringeworthy for example: there’s understandably a fear that women live with everyday that men don’t even think twice about. It makes us cautious about our environment and with people. But how it was handled within the context of the story was done poorly.

However my favourites have to be Eugene the seagull, and dancing to A Whole New World. I love a good Disney soundtrack moment. Thank you so much NetGalley and Berkley for providing an ARC! Giving this 3 stars. The starting was strong, the middle was a bit shaky, and the end was flat.

I knew this was going to be amazing because it's by Beth O'Leary and involves being lost at sea, so HOW COULD IT NOT! But this had dimension I was NOT expecting, and went straight into my heart. I flew through and cried at the end, and was hooked on both the romance, action, and internal development of the characters the whole time.

Beth O'Leary is one of those authors who I will always read, but I definitely have favorites of hers. This is now my top pick. So, so much more than just a romcom! I laughed, I cried, I was stressed for these two people just trying to survive. (Also, lost at sea is a trope now? Not sure how we got there, but this is how it's done.) Letting two people get to know each other under insane and stressful circumstances is one way to test a new relationship, for sure.

I wanted just a little more from the "After," I won't lie. Everyone in their lives seemed so cavalier about this horrible trauma and life altering experience! No one suggested therapy? No one mentioned a survivor group? People were just like "It's great you're home. Anyway, here's my problems." But, that's just me being picky and not-English.

This book is wonderful. Read it.

This book is absolutely one of my favorite reads of the year! Beth O’Leary is one of my must read authors and this may be my favorite yet. She creates the most likable characters and unique and thoughtful storylines.

This story follows two main characters who after a one night stand on a houseboat end up untethered and at sea for nearly two weeks. The writing was so good I felt like I was on that boat with them!

This was a story that I read a little slower than I’d like as I didn’t want it to end. This is definitely one to add to your list and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next. Thank you to Berkley for my complimentary review copy.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4+ stars

Once again Beth O'Leary delivers. Zeke and Lexi have an enjoyable one night stand on a houseboat. However, the boat ends up going out to sea and they have to deal with their survival and get to know each other better. Great character development and sweet romcom.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing this book, with my honest review below.

Swept Away plays with the stranded at sea concept I enjoy in some rom coms (or stranded on island) and the idea of a one night stand extending far longer because a pair is stranded on a houseboat at sea was too good to pass up. Lexi and Zeke certainly had enough chemistry to justify their one night stand extending far longer, and I enjoyed reading about the two getting closer and figuring out how to best make it through their situation.

Both bring their own set of baggage, and their time on the houseboat is spent doing more than just surviving as they fall in love and reveal those pieces of themselves that would certainly have not come up in a one night stand. I thought the ‘action’ was highly enjoyable, with fun little twists to their survival. I enjoyed a bit less the age gap given where it would put them emotionally typically let alone in life experience felt a bit icky (so I chose to pretend this wasn't the case, which was relatively easy), and the ending twist was a little out there for me. Outside of that I thought this was sweet with a dash of personal growth which kept it from being a cookie cutter romance.

Thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for this eARC!

I finally read a book! Thank goodness!

Beth O'Leary can really land a tricky concept! She did such a great job with the <i>No-Show's</i> time shenanigans AND this lost-at-sea tale. How does she do it?!

Anyway I loved this, it was very swoony and sweet, but also had some real harrowing moments. Plus, very effective seagull propaganda. I'm just so glad that a book broke through and grabbed me. It had been too long!

This story is full of adventure! Two strangers wake up after a night of fun on a houseboat to find they’ve been swept out to sea! It started off a little slow, but it wasn't long before things got exciting and I didn't want to put it down.

Lexi first sees Zeke in the pub where she works. He’s sitting by a window, reading a book and when her boss notices her watching him, she encourages Lexi to talk to him. Lexi hasn’t been on a date in four years! Her best friend, Penny, just asked her to move out so Penny's boyfriend could move in with her and her four-year-old daughter, Mei, and Lexi is really missing Mei. Lexi practically helped raise her and now that they don’t need her, she’s trying to figure out what to do with herself.

Zeke is in town to buy back his father’s houseboat--he sold it five years ago after his father died. He has been seeing a therapist since his roommate, Brady, noticed he’s been sad since his dad passed away. He's been sleeping around and feels somewhat lost. He's been thinking a lot about his family and how he doesn’t seem to fit in, no matter how hard he tries. He is a chef and more of a creative and artistic soul than his brother and sister, and he has begun to wonder if he might have a different father. Their father used to write in journals that he kept hidden in the houseboat and Zeke thinks if he finds them, they might hold the secret to his real identity.

Zeke and Lexi end up flirting with each other in the pub and she tells him she wants ‘one night of stupid, reckless fun’. He tells her he can give her that, and he does! They head out to his houseboat and the fun begins. He thinks she’s beautiful and that this is the best night he’s ever had. And... the next morning when they look outside and realize the houseboat has floated out to sea! (It wasn’t tied up properly.)

The beginning part of the story was a little slow for me, but I hung in there, and am glad I did. Once Lexi and Zeke woke up from their steamy night together on the boat, and saw they had drifted out to sea, the story took off. The boat motor wouldn’t work, the battery was dead, their cell phones didn’t have signals and they couldn’t see land. To make things worse, there was an accident with one of Zeke’s sharp chef knives and he had a cut on his stomach. But Zeke was able to whip up delicious meals with the little food they had and there was witty banter even while they worried if they would be rescued. Lexi was also worried about being older than Zeke – she's thirty-one - eight years older than him). Zeke doesn’t feel young in the story to me and I enjoyed how unique he was – he wore velvet pants when they first met - plus he thinks Lexi is brave, strong and warm and he feels like he has been looking for her his whole life. She thinks he’s a beautiful, gentle and extraordinary man. Their love scenes are full of passion, especially when they think their boat is sinking!

My main quibble was the story got off to a slow start, but happily it got exciting as the story went on and I didn’t want to put it down. Plus, there’s an unexpected twist at the end I didn’t see coming. Gotta love that!

O’Leary has woven a romance full of adventure. She's created a story that had me laughing and crying and then she tied it all up with a satisfying and happy ending. While it wasn’t quite a DIK, I thought it was a sweet and romantic adventure.

📖 Book Review 📖 And the craziest one night stand award goes to Zeke and Lexi…she just wanted an escape for the night and he just wanted to buy back his father’s houseboat. There is no forced proximity quite like being swept out to sea together and there is nothing like the open sea and skies to really get to know someone. And while they are living out a worst nightmare, the level of trust and intimacy that has to be developed in a short amount of time in such a strange situation lends itself to an absolutely heartfelt and multifaceted story. Don’t be fooled by this beautiful cover (it is so amazing), this is an absolutely captivating, suspenseful, and emotional novel…a must read that resonates deep.

Why am I crying? 🥹

This was actually so f-ing beautiful, I genuinely have no idea how I'm supposed to exist after this. If this is how I'm going to feel after reading books from Beth O'Leary.. gimme 14 of em right now.

~Zeke and Lexi agree to one single night together.. Somehow it turns into more than that when they realize they've been swept out to sea. Now stuck together on a small boat with limited supplies, they're forced to work together in hopes of surviving until being rescued.~

I'm a bit speechless. I won't lie and say that plot twist at the end was my favorite but as time went on, the more I realized how necessary and utterly perfect it was. This is one book I'll be thinking about for a long while. ❤️

reverse age gap x forced proximity x one night stand

*I received an ARC of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review with my honest opinion.*

Beth O'Leary is a must-read for me and I love The Flatshare as much as the nest person and I feel like every new one of her books is a goal to reach that greatness. This book is fun and a lot of highwire adventures, though bordering on very ridiculous at times. But I love how very British these novels are, and the twists and turns of the plot are super fun. Even made me go back and get the one of her books I haven't read.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love Beth O'Leary and her feel-good stories and amazing characters. This is a lot different from her others because of the survival/action/adventure elements. I can't imagine the research she had to do to make this believable.

The plot is a one-night stand ending in being lost at sea. There were great character arcs, chemistry between the love interests, action, adventure, and a twist I did NOT see coming. You need have a pretty strong ability to suspend your disbelief, but it's a good time.

Read if you like:
•Forced Proximity (to the MAX)
•Sunny vs grumpy
•Age Gap
•Fish Out Of Water

This is O'Leary's steamiest book so far.🌶️🌶️🌶️ Open Door: At least one intimate scene with the reader present, euphemistic language for act and body parts.

This story is full of adventure! Two strangers wake up after a night of fun on a houseboat to find they’ve been swept out to sea!

Lexi first sees Zeke in the pub where she works. He’s sitting by a window, reading a book and when her boss notices her watching him, she encourages Lexi to talk to him. Lexi hasn’t been on a date in four years! Her best friend, Penny, just asked her to move out so her boyfriend could move in with her and her four-year-old daughter, Mae and Lexi is really missing Mei. She practically helped raise her and now that they don’t need her, she’s trying to figure out what to do with her life.

Zeke is in town to buy back his father’s houseboat that he sold five years ago after his father died. He has been seeing a therapist since his roommate, Brady, noticed he’s been sad since his dad passed away and was spending each night with a different woman. Zeke has since been working through feelings about his family and how he doesn’t seem to fit in, no matter how hard he tries. He is a chef and more of a creative and artistic soul than his brother and sister and has begun to wonder if he might have a different father.

The beginning part of the story was a little slow for me, but I hung in there and am glad I did because once Lexi and Zeke woke up from their steamy night together on the boat, and saw they had drifted out to sea, the story took off. The motor wouldn’t work, the battery was dead, their cell phones didn’t have signals and they couldn’t see land. To make things worse, there was an accident with one of Zeke’s sharp chef knives and he had a cut on his stomach. But Zeke was able to whip up delicious meals with the little food they had and there was witty banter even while they worried if they would be rescued. (Lexi was also worried about being older than Zeke – she's thirty-one - eight years older than him). He doesn’t feel younger in the story to me and I enjoyed how unique he was – he wore velvet pants when they first met - plus he thinks Lexi is brave, strong and warm and he feels like he has been looking for her his whole life.

The story sped up and I didn’t want to put it down. I couldn’t wait to see how they would be rescued. Plus, there’s an unexpected twist at the end I didn’t see coming. This had a sweet and happy ending and was 4 and 1/2 stars for me. Thanks to the author, Berkeley and NetGalley for the ARC. My full review will be at All About Romance (AAR) closer to the review date.

I enjoyed that this was a stranded at sea story that worked overall in the romance genre. The characters had that realism that I wanted and thought the overall feel that I wanted. It had that world building that I was looking for and enjoyed how the characters worked with this. Beth O'Leary wrote this perfectly and can’t wait to read more from her.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. I’ve read other books by this author that were better. There were parts of this book that were cute, and I liked that the characters never did the I HATE YOU! I LOVE YOU! Thing. They were always kind to each other which I appreciated. But the secondary characters were not well formed and I couldn’t figure out their motivations at all. And the whole lost at sea thing seemed liked a gimmick with an obvious ending. 2.5 stars rounded up.

4.5 stars. Beth O'Leary has done it again! I don't know how she could make a story about two strangers trapped at sea on a house boat so entertaining, but she has done it. I wasn't expecting the twist at the end at all, but I didn't hate it. I will read anything that Beth O'Leary publishes.

Lost at sea?! This book swept me away!

I absolutely loved this book! The moment I read the premise, I knew I had to add it to the top of my TBR. The "lost at sea" angle was so intriguing, and it completely lived up to my expectations.

Lexi just wants a carefree night with no strings attached, and Zeke, normally searching for something deeper, decides to make an exception. Unfortunately, the houseboat drifts into the North Sea!

As their supplies start to run low and the ocean gets more dangerous, the stakes rise.

The chemistry between Lexi and Zeke felt authentic and kept me hooked throughout their journey!

One of my favorite parts was the oil rig! What a unique concept for a lost at sea book!

The story is filled with plenty of witty banter and humor, balancing the tension of their predicament perfectly.

Overall, this novel is a brilliant mix of romance, adventure, and charm. Highly recommend it for anyone looking for a fresh, engaging read!

Thank you Berkley Publishing for this free ARC!

A beautiful and romantic tale by the incomparable Beth O’Leary! If you are looking for a story that will literally sweep you off your feet, look no further!

This book is an absolute treasure! The premise of Zeke and Lexi being stranded at sea together after a one-night stand sets the stage for a beautifully crafted story about unexpected connections and personal growth. The way their initial spark transforms into something deeper is so well done, each revelation brings them closer, and I loved watching their chemistry develop against the stunning backdrop of the open sea. The pacing is spot-on, balancing the tension of their situation with tender, intimate moments that had me rooting for them from the start. O’Leary's writing is engaging and relatable, capturing the magic of falling in love in the most unexpected circumstances. Overall, this is a delightful, feel-good read that I simply couldn't put down!

I am honestly surprised at how much I enjoyed this. It was an easy to read romcom with some serious undertones that were written very clever, in a way that isn’t super intense but also still leaves you feeling