【 SWEPT AWAY 】

Genre: Contemporary romance
Audience: Adult
Author: Beth O’Leary
Published: April 2025
Publisher: Quercus
Pages: 430 (paperback)

This was my first Beth O’Leary, and it was very much so as pacy and page-turning as I had anticipated. I read this while on a little holiday and I have to say, she makes for excellent vacation reading.

At the beginning, I thought I was in for a bog-standard romance. There’s a girl, there’s a guy, there’s a one-night stand where things inevitably go wrong or become complicated. But I tell you, the twist in this one suddenly ramps up the plot and takes everything in a new direction that you weren’t expecting.

I certainly have mild anxiety and flashbacks whenever I hold a knife in the kitchen now, that’s all I’m saying.

I’m unsure how I feel about the ultimate twist/reveal at the end of the book – which is what knocked a star for me. I won’t spoil anything; I just found that my enthusiasm for the book dampened slightly at the end as things became … complicated. And mildly ick vibes?

But the adventures that the two characters get up to while stranded on a drifting houseboat were entertaining for sure. And Eugene is a highlight, naturally. I thought that O’Leary did an interesting examination of gender stereotypes too – and perhaps laid things on slightly thick with how intensely Zeke was painted a super nice and innocent guy.

But ultimately I enjoyed the banter between the two and the little journeys of self-healing both characters go on. The high-stakes romance was a rollercoaster and I can’t imagine any of us will read anything quite like this again, what with the epic and scary settings for dates and all things nice.

It’s left me keen to read more of O’Leary’s books, though I do get the sense I’m not left as hyped and obsessed with her as other contemporary romance readers are. I shall be lining up one of her other books for a future holiday, for sure.

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Title: Swept Away
Author: Beth O’Leary
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Lexi is looking for no-strings-attached fun with a stranger. She deserves one night for herself, doesn’t she?

Zeke is looking for love. But for one night with a woman like Lexi, he’ll break his rules . . .

Sparks fly at the pub, one passionate kiss leads to another and they end up stumbling home to the marina together.

The next morning, hungover and shaken by an amazing night together, Lexi is more than ready for Zeke to leave. There’s just one small problem . . . the houseboat they stayed on has been swept out to sea.

As their supplies start to run dangerously low, and the waves pick up, Zeke and Lexi soon realise there’s much more on the line than their new relationship.

How long can they really survive on a drifting houseboat in the North Sea? Will search and rescue find them? And who will they be if they both make it back to dry land?