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Two strangers find themselves stranded at sea together in this epic new love story by bestselling author Beth O’Leary.
What if you were lost at sea…with your one-night stand?
Zeke and Lexi thought it would just be a night of fun. They had no intentions of seeing each other again. Zeke is only in town for the weekend to buy back his late father’s houseboat. Lexi has no time for dating when she needs to help take care of her best friend’s daughter.
Going back home with a stranger seems like a perfect escape from their problems. But a miscommunication in the dark, foggy night means no one tied the houseboat to the dock. The next morning, Zeke and Lexi realize all they can see is miles and miles of water.
With just a few provisions on the idle boat, Zeke and Lexi must figure out how to get back home. But aside from their survival, they’re facing another challenge. Because when you’re stuck together for days on end, it gives you a lot of time to get to know someone—and to fall in love with them.
“Sometimes the biggest moments in your life are disguised as nothings.”
“If you’re the sidekick for long enough, you forget how to lead your own life.”
“Life is full of extremes right now. Either I’m doing absolutely fuck-all for hours on end, or I’m dashing around panicking.”
My Thoughts
This might be my least favorite of all the author’s books. I can’t go into detail without spoiling it, but there’s a lot of big traumatic stuff casually thrown around like it’s nothing. If you’ve read the book or don’t mind spoilers, you can click on the arrow below.
Spoiler
It’s not really lighthearted romance, it’s quite serious and traumatizing, tbh. Also, the MMC having sex at 16 with a 28yo for two months, and then numbing himself with sex with 65 partners for years afterwards. And Penny getting pregnant with his child 4 years ago and never telling him, with no remorse on her part and yet it was just…forgiven? This is a whole lot of fucked up shit.
I have no issues with serious topics being covered in a romance, if it’s done right, but in this case, it’s the fact that they are presented as normal. Also, I usually really enjoy the forced proximity trope, but the circumstances were just too scary in this book. I feel like this at this point, the story should’ve been categorized under survival fiction or drama, and the romance shouldn’t be a part of it at all. More care should’ve been given to the sensitive topics, imho.
My Rating
⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
When overachiever Leena Cotton is ordered to take a two-month sabbatical after blowing a big presentation at work, she escapes to her grandmother Eileen’s house for some overdue rest. Eileen is newly single and about to turn eighty. She’d like a second chance at love, but her tiny Yorkshire village doesn’t offer many eligible gentlemen.
Once Leena learns of Eileen’s romantic predicament, she proposes a solution: a two-month swap. Eileen can live in London and look for love. Meanwhile Leena will look after everything in rural Yorkshire. But with gossiping neighbours and difficult family dynamics to navigate up north, and trendy London flatmates and online dating to contend with in the city, stepping into one another’s shoes proves more difficult than either of them expected.
Leena learns that a long-distance relationship isn’t as romantic as she hoped it would be, and then there is the annoyingly perfect – and distractingly handsome – school teacher, who keeps showing up to outdo her efforts to impress the local villagers. Back in London, Eileen is a huge hit with her new neighbours, but is her perfect match nearer home than she first thought?
I’m a fan of Beth O’Leary’s other books, and this one had been on my TBR for a while.
The Quotes
“You were healing. You’re still healing. You’ll maybe always be healing. And that’s OK. It’ll just be part of what makes you you.”
“If you’re holding someone close enough, you can be the shoulder and the crier.”
“Is it really an adventure if you don’t make at least one ill-advised decision?”
“I think part of what had made me so angry with my mum was the fact that I felt she should have been looking after me, not the other way around. But Mum couldn’t be my shoulder to cry on, not when she was bent double with grief herself. That’s the messy thing about family tragedy, I guess. Your best support network goes under in an instant.”
My Thoughts
I enjoyed the story, and I loved watching Leena and Eileen navigate their new circumstances, even if it was only temporarily for each of them. It was fun to see Eileen using online dating platforms, and I loved that we saw romance and sexual adventure happen for her. I loved how welcoming Leena’s friends were to Eileen, but I don’t really feel the same about many of Eileen’s friends towards Leena. I liked the idea and the potential of this story, but unfortunately, I don’t like the actual story very much.
My biggest issue, I think, is that I really, really, dislike meddlers and busybodies. I feel like the story wants to be a found family story, which everyone knows I love, but it falls short in execution. I’m not opposed to loved ones being busybodies out of concern, but the way it happens in this book is so much overstepping. I also feel like found family are people that become family because they prove themselves to be there for you and vice versa. In this book, it was more like they were there because of proximity. There was nothing substantial about Leena’s and Eileen’s relationship to many of the people involved. Some of them, yes, like Arnold, and Letitia, but a lot of the Neighborhood Watch were people that were just there.
It’s still a good story in itself, just not something I’d love.
My Feels
Another issue for me is more personal, and maybe it’s not fair, but this is about my feels for the book, after all. I did not like that Leena’s mother wasn’t there for her. I did not like that Eileen cared about her daughter’s feelings more than she cared about her granddaughter’s feelings. I don’t think that Eileen should have prioritized Leena over Marian, but I don’t think she should’ve prioritized Marian over Leena either.
“I think part of what had made me so angry with my mum was the fact that I felt she should have been looking after me, not the other way around. But Mum couldn’t be my shoulder to cry on, not when she was bent double with grief herself. That’s the messy thing about family tragedy, I guess. Your best support network goes under in an instant.”
The above quote feels personal for me, and I feel like O’Leary is trying to talk about the fact that sometimes you don’t get the support you need because the other person is also going through grief, and I get that, but I don’t get how it excuses Marian in this case. If you can’t look after your daughter because of your own grief, fine, but why do you think you’re entitled to her support then? Why does she have to look after you if she’s going through her own grief?
And why is Eileen getting angry at Leena for trying to have an honest conversation with her mom? Why is it okay to let Leena suffer for Marian’s avoidance? It makes me so angry!
My Rating
3/5 stars. I enjoyed the book, just not as much as I would’ve liked.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
