stranded | Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Swept Away
Author: Beth O’Leary
Narrator: Connor Swindells, Rebekah Hinds
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: April 1, 2025
Print length: 384 pages
Audio length: 9 hours 53 minutes
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Audible (eARC via NetGalley)
Rating:

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.

Beth O’Leary’s books have become must-reads for me. I love the way she blends engaging, unusual love stories with unexpected real-life situations and complications.

Swept Away offers all this… and in terms of unexpected situations, this one is off the charts. (Sorry, my feeble attempt at nautical humor…)

Lexi works at the local pub in Gilmouth, a small town on the northeast coast of England. She lives with her best friend/practically sister Penny and Penny’s four-year-old Mae, whom Lexi has helped raised since she was born. After a big fight with Penny, Lexi finds herself moping over a drink at the pub when her eye is caught by a gorgeous stranger. Zeke is charming and attentive, and he’s just in Gilmouth for one night. Sparks immediately fly. After a few more drinks, they head back to Zeke’s houseboat, both very clear that all they’re looking for is one great night. Which they have.

Things take a decidedly uncomfortable turn the next morning due to confusion about whose boat it actually is and which of them should leave… which all becomes moot when they head out on deck and see nothing but water in every direction. Due to a misunderstanding (plus fog plus drinks), each thought the other had made sure the boat was tied up properly, and neither actually did.

So what do you do when you can’t escape your one-night stand? The boat has no power, and because Zeke only bought it the day before, it has limited provisions. They expect to be rescued right away, but have no way to signal for help, and no ability to steer or navigate. All they can do is float, repair the things that break, and try to survive on what they have.

The longer they’re at sea, the more they open up. With nothing to do but wait, they talk and get to know one another in a way they hadn’t on their night together — and they agree early on to take sex out of the equation, so talking and sharing is really all they have. At first, they’re hesitant, but especially after a dangerous injury (no spoilers!), they’re forced into an intimacy they hadn’t expected. If they’re going to survive, they need each other, and with each passing day, their connection deepens and strengthens.

I won’t go too deeply into spoilers or divulge the major events of their ordeal or how it ends… although I think you can safely assume, even without me saying so, that given the cover and the marketing blurbs, this is not going to be a tragedy.

There’s a lot to love about Swept Away. It’s such an odd, offbeat setup. Lexi and Zeke’s struggle to stay alive and hold on to hope seems doomed at times, especially once the boat starts to break down bit by bit. And yet, their honesty with one another, their explorations of their pasts and their family tangles and secrets add a poignancy to each day, despite the stress of their dwindling supplies and options. As they come to care for one another more deeply, they each become committed to taking care of the other, and there are some sweet, more light-hearted moments as they find ways to bring joy into their otherwise bleak situation.

On the other hand, there are times when Swept Away feels tonally odd. There are plenty of typical romance beats along the way, and mixing these with a survival story can feel jarring. The more days they spend at sea, the more the dangers pile up — and the more out of place some of these cute romantic exchanges can feel.

Still, my occasional skepticism was overridden by the mounting tension as the stakes got higher and higher. I absolutely had to know what would happen! There’s even a Titanic-esque moment (even though this boat is so much tinier!) where I felt all sorts of dramatic feelings… but as I said, it was a safe bet all along that they’d get rescued, so mostly, it was a question of when and how, and in what condition Lexi and Zeke would be when they finally do get saved.

Now, is it realistic that a houseboat that hadn’t left a dock in years, and was designed for gentle river or canal floats, could actually survive the North Sea? Who knows! I doubt it, but it’s something we just have to go with in order to enjoy the story.

I did have a couple of quibbles with loose ends at the end of the book. We never do find out exactly where they were when they were rescued or how far they’d traveled… and I want to know! Also, there is one particularly scary injury that happens during their journey — we know they’re both fine in the end, but I wanted to know more about this in the immediate aftermath, and didn’t feel like I got closure on this particular element.

In general, though, I really enjoyed Swept Away. This isn’t a surprise — Beth O’Leary is a terrific writer who spins engaging tales about people we can’t help but care about. The survival tale provides captivating moments and a highly unusual story arc for a romance, and because Lexi and Zeke are both such layered, well-drawn characters, there’s not a moment where we don’t feel invested in both their well-being and their happiness.

The audiobook narration by Connor Swindells and Rebekah Hinds flows beautifully. The alternating chapters from Zeke and Lexi’s perspectives work very well as a whole, and the narrators bring out their characters’ personalities through their delivery. The funny bits really work, and the emotional moments are well done too.

Fans of Beth O’Leary will not be disappointed, and Swept Away is also a great introduction for those new to this author. Either way, if you’re looking for a book with high stakes, a love story to root for, and a plot to keep you hooked, don’t miss Swept Away!

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
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For more by Beth O’Leary:
The Road Trip
The Flatshare
The Switch
The No-Show
The Wake-Up Call

Book Review: Stranded by Jeff Probst and Chris Tebbetts

From Amazon:

A family vacation becomes a game of survival!
It was supposed to be a vacation–and a chance to get to know each other better. But when a massive storm sets in without warning, four kids are shipwrecked alone on a rocky jungle island in the middle of the South Pacific. No adults. No instructions. Nobody to rely on but themselves. Can they make it home alive?

A week ago, the biggest challenge Vanessa, Buzz, Carter, and Jane had was learning to live as a new blended family. Now the four siblings must find a way to work together if they’re going to make it off the island. But first they’ve got to learn to survive one another.

Proudly presenting Q&A with the kiddo, courtesy of my 10-year-old son, in which I ask my kiddo to describe a book he’s enjoyed recently and he gives his opinions, more or less unfiltered by mom.

Without further ado:

Q: What book do you want to talk about?

A: Stranded

Q: What was it about?

A: It’s about these kids who get stranded on an island. They were on a boat and there was a boat wreck. The adults were gone, so there were just four kids on an island surviving for themselves.

Q: Who was your favorite character?

A: Carter and Jane. They’re the most adventurous and outdoorsy and fun and not scared.

Q: What was the best part?

A: My favorite part is when they get sucked in [by strong currents in] the water. They’re in the water and they finally pop out and Carter catches Jane and they swim back to shore.

Q: Would you recommend this book?

A: Yes. I’d recommend it for adventurous kids and kids who like stories with cliffhangers.

Q: Do you want to read the rest of the series?

A: Yes! I want to read the next book when it comes out.

Q: Do you have anything else to say about this book?

A: It’s funny, it’s fun to read. You should read it or it’s your loss.

Mom’s two cents:

My kiddo and I are big fans of Survivor on TV, and so when I heard that Survivor host Jeff Probst was writing a book series for kids, I knew we had to get it! My son read Stranded on his own, and thought the reading level was perfect. He like the book so much that he pretty much insisted that I read it as soon as he finished. Stranded is really a lot of fun, with a good solid lesson in there as well (although without any preachiness or heavy-handedness). The four children in the book are step-siblings who are being treated to a sailing adventure while their parents are on their honeymoon. While my son mostly focused on the adventure aspects of the story, I liked the portrayal of two sets of brothers and sisters forced to figure out how to redefine their family and accept one another’s quirks, talents, and weaknesses. When the two adults on board are separated from the kids during a sudden storm at sea, they have to rely on themselves, their bonds, and their skills and knowledge to figure out how to survive — and hopefully, how to get themselves rescued.

The blended family aspect provides a nice layer of complication to the high-adrenaline disaster and adventure story. Stranded is the first in a trilogy, and ends — as my son mentions — with a big cliffhanger. We’ll both be back for the next installment!

Stranded is a good choice for middle grade readers, especially those just gaining comfort with reading chapter books on their own. It’s not very long, but it’s certainly engaging and exciting. Any time my kiddo asks for “5 more minutes!!” while he’s reading, I know we have a hit on our hands.

My only complaint? Nowhere in the book does anyone say, “The tribe has spoken.” Maybe in the next book? One can only hope.

Stranded 2: Trial By Fire will be released in June.