Float Plan

Starred review from November 30, 2020
A woman navigates her grief during a tumultuous sea voyage in YA author Doller’s moving adult debut (after Start Here). Ten months after 25-year-old Anna Beck’s fiancé, Ben Braithwaite, killed himself, Anna decides to embark on her own on the boat trip they had planned together, sailing around the world solo. But after a near collision at sea, she realizes she needs assistance and hires sailor Keane Sullivan to aid her on the voyage, at least as far as Puerto Rico. The close working and sleeping quarters create perfect conditions for romance as Keane and Anna’s professional relationship turns to friendship and a chance at something more. Doller expertly captures the tides of grief as Anna struggles with her sadness, guilt, and anger over Ben’s death and confusion about her mounting feelings for the charming Keane (“Is it too soon to want someone else? What happens to my love for Ben? Where does it go?”). But it’s not all gloom: the relationship between Anna and Keane is uplifting and convincing, and beautiful descriptions of their time at sea weave throughout. Doller’s expert balance of the sweet and the serious make this touching romance a sure success. Agent: Kate Schafer Testerman, KT Literary.

February 1, 2021
What is a woman to do after she finds her soul mate and plans a lifetime of adventures only to lose him when he takes his own life? Ten months after Anna finds her fianc� dead in their home, she takes off on the sailboat Ben left her to follow the Caribbean itinerary they had so precisely planned. Ben's parents threaten to have her charged with theft; her family is beyond worried, and everything on the boat rekindles memories of Ben. Sailing solo from Florida, Anna soon realizes that she has bitten off more than she can chew and finds herself almost falling drunkenly into bed with a stranger. A former competitive sailor, Keane, now an amputee, signs on to help, and the unflappable Irishman guides her on the trip of a lifetime. The happiest marriages begin with friendship and it is as friends that Keane and Anna first experience life on various islands. Doller's tale of grief slowly combines with a sparkling travelogue which gradually becomes a romance and, ultimately, a wholly satisfying story that may just make readers yearn for their own voyage.

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February 15, 2021
After the suicide of her fiance, Anna Beck sets sail to find herself in this Caribbean island-hopping romance. "Ten months and six days ago, Ben swallowed a bottle of prescription Paxil and chased it with the cheap tequila that lived under the sink, and I don't know why." After almost a year of depression and isolation, Anna takes the sailboat she and Ben were supposed to cruise around the Caribbean in and does a nautical version of Cheryl Strayed's Wild. But Anna is not on a lonely pilgrimage. In order to cross the open sea from the islands of Turks and Caicos to Puerto Rico, she needs a first mate, so she hires Keane Sullivan, a handsome, one-legged seaman from County Kerry looking for a free ride, a 30-year-old Long John Silver who's kind, sexy, ridiculously thoughtful, and goes to church on Sundays. Propinquity on a small vessel works its usual romantic magic, and aside from describing Keane's super looks, Doller tenderly and informatively shows how a young man deals with the everyday challenges of a prosthetic device. She shows how what may seem to be a disability is no big deal between lovers. Still, Anna spends much of her healing journey navigating the stages of grief for Ben, crying herself "hollow" and screaming her rage at the universe, while Keane teaches her how to properly drop an anchor and waits for her to bravely face her future with him. Doller clearly knows her Caribbean islands: After months of pandemic sheltering, her detailed travel log is fun and very, very tantalizing. With humor, love, and skill, Doller shows her heroine surviving a loved one's suicide, something rare in romantic fiction.

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