Review of Float Plan by Trish Doller

I’m part of the Float Plan Blog Tour, and I’m excited to tell you what I thought about this tale about grief, empowerment and a second chance at love … at sea. Check out my review of Float Plan!

What’s Float Plan About: Plot Summary of Float Plan

Float Plan by Trish Doller

Published on March 2, 2021 by St. Martin’s Griffin. Thanks to the publisher for including me on the blog tour and providing an advance review copy.

Synopsis: Since the loss of her fiancé, Anna has been shipwrecked by grief—until a reminder goes off about a trip they were supposed to take together. Impulsively, Anna goes to sea in their sailboat, intending to complete the voyage alone. But after a treacherous night’s sail, she realizes she can’t do it by herself and hires Keane, a professional sailor, to help. Much like Anna, Keane is struggling with a very different future than the one he had planned. As romance rises with the tide, they discover that it’s never too late to chart a new course.

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Review of Float Plan

I don’t know a tiller from a rudder. When we first started dating, my (now) husband tried to teach me how to sail and apparently I did something that could have capsized us and he yelled and me and that was the end of that.

But I loved Float Plan.

I’m a big fan of Trish Doller’s YA books, which are always rich with emotion and feature complicated female characters.

Just a quick warning: this book does discuss the death by suicide of a character who had been battling depression. If you have more questions on this I’d be happy to answer them!

So, why did I love Float Plan?

First off, at the moment I’d rather be anywhere than inside the four walls of my apartment. And when I go outside, I’m just trudging through dirty snow. The idea of sailing around the sunny Caribbean was extremely appealing.

I also love books that feature characters on emotional journeys. After a year-long pandemic, a book about someone triumphing over a tough life experience sounded like exactly what I wanted to read.

Float Plan reminded me a bit like Wild by Cheryl Strayed. Like Wild, Float Plan is a book about a woman who, burdened with grief, attempts an ambitious and probably unwise outdoor challenge and learns a lot about herself while doing it. Both books do a great job of showing both the dangerous and healing elements of nature.

I was a tiny bit unsure about the book’s romance element, but I thought it was incorporated beautifully. Keane, the love interest, isn’t just a manic pixie dream boy, but a fully fleshed-out character with his own challenges and demons. He’s an experienced sailor who signs on as Anna’s co-captain and sailing teacher for reasons of his own.

The two of them sail around the Caribbean, Anna learns to sail, works through her grief, meets a bunch of fellow sailors, stands up for herself, and decides what her life going forward might look like.

I found this map on Trish Doller’s website that details Anna’s journey through the Caribbean Sea. I had so much fun following it as I read.

Will You Like Float Plan?

If you love slow burn romances and love after loss stories, definitely check this out. I’d rate the heat at a PG-13 level – there are a couple sex scenes, but they aren’t super-explicit.

Despite that bright and cheery cover, Float Plan isn’t a fluffy book. It does tackle some tough topics, but I thought it did that with a lot of sensitivity and thought. I have, in the past, griped about cute covers with serious stories inside but I can’t be mad at this book. For me, it was a good balance of serious and swoony.

If you loved Float Plan, check out the follow-up book, The Suite Spot.

You can also check out my list of YA Books About Survival in the Wilderness!