Swept Away by Beth O’Leary | Book Review

Swept Away by Beth O'Leary
Published by Berkley on April 1, 2025
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Romance
Pages: 384
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher (Netgalley)
Add to Goodreads
Buy on Amazon

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.

Ok look. This cover, combined with the fact that it’s a survival at sea romance had me salivating. This kind of story is my kryptonite, but goodness me this was soooooo messy. By the end of this review, you will be wondering why I didn’t DNF and my answer is simply that I couldn’t bring myself to look away because I had to know how it all worked out.

The entire book felt like a fever dream. You’ve got a one-night stand between Lexi and Zeke that occurs on a houseboat that drifts out to sea because communication? Who needs it? So they’re just bobbing out there in the North Sea on a boat that’s barely floating and can’t run that they both think is theirs. I was beginning to struggle at this point because I had a hard time believing this could realistically happen, but I hung in there. And then all the things start happening. If something could go wrong, it went wrong. And if something could conveniently happen to move the story along, it did. You’ve got an accidental gaping, festering wound and a concussion between these two people. This boat is covered in sweat and vomit due to the concussion… or maybe food poisoning… sea sickness? All of the above? Probably. They’re living off spoiled food that somehow Zeke is able to whip up into a hot meal even though there’s no running water or electricity on this boat and they’re rationing crackers with old sweaty cheese and cookies the rest of the time. They’re plugging holes with cotton t-shirts and tape and catching rain water in a tarp and bowls that sometimes slide right off the deck into the sea. There’s an outlandish oil rig situation and an injured seagull who they rescue from the water and feed their very meager rations to. Because if the seagull doesn’t survive this, we don’t want to either! And honestly, that would probably be me too so I can’t fault them for that, I guess!

There’s a lot of info dumping and repetition about their individual past struggles (some of which are disturbing… like Zeke’s first love who was well into adulthood while he was only 16 years old… ick). Both of them also have very intense family/found family situations and spend their time discussing them ad nauseam (either out loud or in their heads) when they’re not in the process of potentially succumbing to their individual injuries. And honestly, the dialogue had me cringing at times. Lexi is older than Zeke and will never let anyone forget it. She’s only 31, but you’d think this woman was 75 for how old she keeps telling Zeke she is. I got so tired of her making some self-deprecating comment about her age or her aged body (again, she is THIRTY ONE), just so he would come back and reassure her that age is just a number and she’s beautiful no matter what. He’s known her for less than two weeks and can’t stop thinking about what a beautiful puker she is. Meanwhile, his gaping wound is seeping pus from infection and they really just wish they were making out right now. I’m absolutely sure that no real humans would be lusting after and craving sex from one other under these dire circumstances. I struggled to believe the romance so much because they clearly only bonded over a shared traumatic experience. The chemistry between the two of them was lacking, and I had a hard time picturing them ever falling in love in the real world. They just don’t match, and my mind was never changed on that. These people needed medical attention and therapy, not romance. And then there’s a twist that made me throw the book across the room. Seriously?? What in the Days of Our Lives drama is this? Everyone in this book needs to take a very big step back and do some reassessing.

All in all, I was super intrigued when I read the synopsis. What a unique and interesting sounding story! But there was too much going on here. I enjoyed the parts of the story where survival instincts and ingenuity took over for a little while. It was interesting reading about what they did to try make life easier for themselves and find help, and if this had been just a survival story I think I would have liked it a lot more (especially if it were more believable). But there was a lot of drama layered on top of that surrounding them and their families as well as their individual pasts. I wish the romance aspect hadn’t been there at all and that this was a story about two strangers (or even friends) trying to make it out alive. The romance, family drama, and the comedy of errors throughout their journey to survival was too much for me and I had a hard time suspending the amount of disbelief necessary to fully immerse myself in this story.

Related Posts