Float Plan, Trish Doller

Our January book club pick and everyone loved it. I went into this expecting a cheesy romance, and I’m happy to say I was wrong. The pain and grief were real (and immediate- be prepared), and the transition from strangers to friends to lovers felt very natural.

After the loss of her fiancé Ben, Anna impulsively decides one morning to take the sailing trip they had planned together. Reaching her first destination, she realizes she cannot continue alone and hires Keane to help. Strong, sensitive, sexy Keane, grieving over his own losses… We follow them through the Caribbean and through their personal growth, searching for hope and healing.

"There," he said. "That little star at the bottom. That one is yours, Anna. Forever and always." I didn't remind him that sometimes the light we see is left over from dead stars. It couldn't be mine if it was already gone. Had I paid better attention to where he was pointing, I might be able to find that star tonight. But it doesn't matter. I already know how it feels to try holding on to the light of a dead star.

The Hole, Hye-Young Pyun

After a car accident that kills his wife, Oghi awakes from a coma paralyzed and unable to speak. His mother-in-law is grateful that they still have each other, until Oghi is able to return home from the hospital and she finds her daughter’s journals in the study. She reassures Oghi that everything will be okay, she is here to finish what her daughter started. Will Oghi be able to get help before she finishes the task?

This book is written from the viewpoint of Oghi, stuck in his bed. There is a lot of backstory; well-written and instrumental to the story, but I could see how it would easily annoy some readers. As far as horror, I think we all know where the story is going pretty quickly. The horror is not in the plot, but in putting ourselves in Oghi’s place as he reflects on his past and tries to get help from the few people around his before his mother-in-law succeeds in closing off the outside world. I wasn’t sure which way the ending would go, as I would gain and lose hope right along with Oghi. This is a love it or hate it book, but I think it’s worth trying!

For Oghi, who'd found little reassurance from his doctor's attempts at pep talk, his willpower was returning on it's own. Thanks to his left arm, he became aware of what he still had, what made life worth clinging to. There were so many things. He felt he could grasp all of those things with his left arm alone.