Hello! I’m here to talk about the conclusion of a romance companion series I’ve been following since the first book released in 2021. **And every day we are reminded that discrimination against marginalized communities is still a serious problem, so click here to find a compilation of resources where you can donate your time, money, or whatever you can to support these communities. I still encourage you to research these causes on your own to educate yourself and find the best way to lend your support.**
When I first picked up Float Plan, a romance book by Trish Doller, I had no idea I would become so connected to these characters and would get the chance to spend three books with them as a part of The Beck Sisters series. We follow Anna Beck in Float Plan as she embarks on a sailing journey after her husband’s death by suicide and finds herself again while gaining the assistance of professional sailor, Keane Sullivan. We follow Rachel Beck in The Suite Spot (which I reviewed here) as she takes her daughter across the country to help open a brewery hotel, which is owned by a moody man named Mason. And now here in the final book, Off the Map, we follow Anna’s best friend and maid of honor, Carla Black, as she makes her way to Ireland for Anna’s wedding, only to take a few necessary details with Keane’s older brother and best man, Eamon Sullivan. While some aspects are certainly different from the prior two installments, Off the Map still feels like a nice mix of banter and cute romance with hard life topics (and sometimes just the struggle of being an adult). I’m glad I get the chance to share my thoughts.
Carla Black has been travelling the world in her vintage Jeep Wrangler for nearly a decade – she sees the sites and doesn’t stay anywhere for too long, as her life motto (as learned from her father, Biggie, is “here for a good time, not for a long time”). It’s possible she keeps moving to distract herself from going home, back to where her she’s slowly becoming a forgotten memory in her father’s eyes. Eamon Sullivan works to create digital maps of places other people get the chance to travel to, while he stays at his computer, helping others find their way while feeling directionless in life himself. Unhappy at work and recently dumped, it feels like his dreams are a bit… stalled out. The two meet in person for the first time when Carla travels to Ireland as the maid of honor for her best friend’s wedding (a best friend that happens to be marrying Eamon’s brother) and Eamon is tasked with picking her up from the airport. Unexpected sparks fly the second the two lock eyes, and while Carla is only in Ireland a short time, and they should be making their way across the country, it doesn’t stop them from embarking on plenty of chemistry-laden detours, which may lead to unexpected feelings and a opportunity for love… if only they decide to take a chance.
*I would like to add a content warning as there is discussion of a parent with dementia and death of a parent*
I found Carla and Eamon’s story to be incredibly touching. It was an interesting book to get into, because I had been so used to the style of the first two novels, and Carla is very different from Beck sisters so reading from her perspective definitely took some getting used to at first. Both Carla and Eamon are at a place in their life where they are letting other people dictate their life trajectory – Carla’s father pushed her away from home at the beginning of his dementia diagnosis, and she feels it’s only right to use Biggie’s life motto to travel and see what the world has to offer, while Eamon feels stuck and unable to follow some of his dreams because he’s tethered to other people’s ideas of how he should life his life. It was really great seeing how they both help each other – Carla shows Eamon that’s it’s ok to stick up for yourself, take the time away from work and just live the life that he wants to, and be free from other people’s expectations, and Eamon shows Carla that sometimes it’s worth it to be vulnerable, to show your true feelings to the people you care about and allow them to extend a helping hand or comfort because you don’t need to go through difficult times alone. Honestly, I would’ve been fine with the detour section of the book being longer, and giving Carla and Eamon more time to sit with their feelings, but I understand that it definitely could have become repetitive if they had to keep calling Keane and Anna to explain why they needed just one more day before finally arriving for the weddings festivities. I appreciate how Eamon and Keane did have the time to discuss how hard it was for Eamon to bear the brunt of the blame from their mother when they were younger – I wish we could’ve seen that conversation on-page, but since we only get the book from Carla’s perspective we get Eamon’s explanation of it later, after it had happened. Something else I wish we could’ve seen was more details about the wedding – I know this is Carla and Eamon’s story, but the wedding, and the day or two leading up to it, is really the only time we get to see a lot of additional characters interacting with our main two, including Eamon’s sister, Cathleen, who ensures the kitten Carla saved from a hawk is alright, another sister, Ciara, who owns the pub and offers Carla a ride to the hotel, and his mother, who, after hearing from Carla just how much she needs to listen to her son instead of lecture him, has a much needed, albeit a little late, conversation with Eamon. I will say that the events towards the end of the book did make me cry, as did some of the conversations about the unpredictability of life and to make the most of every moment with the ones you love because you don’t know when they’ll be gone. Families aren’t perfect, but you can grow to appreciate every complexity and make the time your loved ones have left special.
One major difference between this book and the two prior installments of the series is that Float Plan and The Suite Spot were more of slow burn romances, where as Off the Map does have more on-page intimate scenes and the first encounter occurs pretty early on. I mean, when Eamon walks into the bar he designates as the meeting point, Carla jumps up and kisses him – it is sort of a ploy to get another patron to leave her alone, but still. It’s clear that the two share sexual attraction that the couples couples didn’t, at least towards the beginning of their interactions. And while I am not usually someone who prefers books with more on-page scenes (and did sometimes skim those passages), I appreciated how this different type of relationship was portrayed. Because sometimes couples do have sex the first time they meet. And, if they do develop a romantic relationship further on, that initial interaction doesn’t make their relationship any less valid. Sex can also mean different things to different people, and as long as boundaries are established consent is given from all parties involved, no one else should judge. In the book, Carla initially doesn’t let herself become more emotionally attached, because she knows that she’ll be leaving soon, but she knows she feels attraction to Eamon, and knows Eamon feels the same, so they do have sex to fulfill those urges. Later on, the two do form a more emotional connection, after sharing more personal parts of themselves with each other. All in all, I just think it’s important to highlight the difference in these relationships, as readers who have read the first two books in the series may be caught off guard by it when they pick up this installment.
In conclusion, I think this was an excellent send-off to The Beck Sisters series. It has been an absolute joy seeing Anna, Rachel, and Carla find their happily-ever-afters with partners who love and adore them just as much as they do. I can’t wait to see what other stories Trish Doller has in store for the future. Off the Map is set to be released on March 7th, 2023, which is the day this post goes live, so please join me in wishing it a happy book birthday, and consider picking up a copy for yourself if you’re interested. *Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, St. Martin’s Griffin, for the early copy, all thoughts and opinions are my own.*
Where to find Off the Map:
Bookshop
Amazon
Goodreads
Storygraph
Macmillan
Trish Doller’s site
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