One of my favorite places to be is on a boat. Sailboat. Cruise ship. Pontoon boat. Whatever the type of boat, I just love being on the water. What’s my favorite thing to do on a boat? Read while listening to the waves crash against the boat. There’s nothing more calming and peaceful.
Below, I’ve curated a list of books that I enjoyed which all take place on some sort of boat. These books range from romance to nonfiction, adult fiction to children’s fiction. The very brief synopsis that is posted for each book comes from Goodreads. And each link will take you to the Goodreads page for that book. I’ll post more books soon with other themes, all of which will be travel related.
This will likely be my longest collection of books, as it’s one of my favorites. I will also add new books I read in the future, so this post will be updated as much as possible. These books are in no particular order and I would recommend every single one of them!
Song for a Whale
by Lynne Kelly
Genre: Children’s Fiction
The story of a deaf girl’s connection to a whale whose song can’t be heard by his species, and the journey she takes to help him.
Love, Lists, & Fancy Ships
by Sarah Grunder Ruiz
Genre: Women’s Fiction
For the last year, yacht stewardess Jo Walker has blogged her attempt to complete a bucket list of 30 things before her 30th birthday. She has almost everything she’s ever wanted: a condo on the beach , an exciting job, and a loyal best friend. But after Jo’s nephew is killed in a tragic accident, her list and blog fall to the wayside as she struggles to keep her grief in check.
The Unsinkable Greta James
by Jennifer E. Smith
Genre: Women’s Fiction
An indie musician reeling from tragedy reconnects with her estranged father on a week-long cruise in this tale of grief, fame, and love.
Float Plan
by Trish Dollar
Genre: Romance
Since the loss of her fiancé, Anna has been shipwrecked by grief—until a reminder goes off about a trip they were supposed to take together. Impulsively, Anna goes to sea in their sailboat, intending to complete the voyage alone. But after a treacherous night’s sail, she realizes she can’t do it by herself and hires Keane, a professional sailor, to help. Much like Anna, Keane is struggling with a very different future than the one he had planned. As romance rises with the tide, they discover that it’s never too late to chart a new course.
The Woman in Cabin 10
by Ruth Ware
Genre: Thriller
In this tightly wound, enthralling story reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s works, Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. At first, Lo’s stay is nothing but pleasant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for—and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo’s desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong…
Consider the Octopus
by Nora Raleigh Baskin & Gave Polisher
Genre: Children’s Fiction
When chance, or fate, throws two twelve-year-olds together on board a scientific research ship at the edge of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, it’s not all smooth sailing!
Starboard Secrets, Book 1 in a Series
by Hope Callaghan
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Millie Sanders’ husband of 35 years suddenly leaves her for her “friend” and hairdresser. After months of mourning and moping, Millie is surprisingly hired on a cruise ship as assistant director, where she investigates how a dead body ended up near the atrium bar. The deceased had more enemies than friends. Will Millie delve too deeply and risk losing her job – and possibly her life?
Tightwads on the Loose
by Wendy Hinman
Genre: Nonfiction
Imagine spending 24 hours a day with your spouse in 31 not-so-square feet . . . for years; crossing the Pacific Ocean on two gallons of fuel; and tossing spaghetti marinara around your living room, then cleaning it up while bouncing like ice in a martini shaker. Tightwads on the Loose tells the story of Wendy and Garth, lured to sea by the promise of adventure. They buy a 31-foot boat that fits their budget better than it fits Garth’s large frame and set sail for an open-ended voyage, never imagining they’d be gone seven years, or cover 34,000 miles at the pace of a fast walk.
Beware the Mermaids
by Carrie Talick
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Hermosa Beach housewife Nancy Hadley is no pushover. So when her philandering husband, Roger, is caught in flagrante with an opportunistic widow on their racing sailboat, Nancy sticks it to him. She tells him she wants a divorce–with the sailboat, Bucephalus, part of the deal, too. Nancy is not skittish about taking a few risks, so in a bold gambit, she makes a bet with Roger: a showdown in the thrilling Border Dash Race from Newport Harbor down to Ensenada, Mexico. The winner of the race will get everything they want.
One Summer in Santorini
by Sandy Barker
Genre: Romance
Sarah has had enough of men. It’s time to rekindle her first true love – travel – so she books a sailing trip around the Greek islands with a group of strangers. The very last thing Sarah wants is to meet someone new. Will Sarah dive into a holiday fling, embark on a relationship, or stick to her plan – steer clear of men, continue her love affair with feta, and find her own way after all?
The Summer Sail
by Wendy Francis
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Three college roommates are celebrating a twentieth wedding anniversary by taking a cruise to Bermuda. As the balmy pink shores of Bermuda come into view, tensions simmer, and old jealousies flare, sending the temperature from soothing to scorching in this engrossing tale of three best friends on a vacation they won’t soon forget—but not for the reasons they expect.
The Cruise Ship Lost My Daughter
by Morgan Mayer
Genre: Cozy Mystery
After weeks of no answers from the authorities, Sheila and Shane McShane, a spry and tenacious octogenarian couple from New Hampshire, board the magnificent Celestial of the Seas to look for their daughter on the same British Isles cruise she went missing from six weeks before. Guided by Sheila’s intuition and Shane’s logic, they uncover clues about Shanna’s disappearance, but the closer they come to the truth, the greater the danger, including from a mysterious stranger.
My Last Continent
by Midge Raymond
Genre: Romance
It is only among the glacial mountains, cleaving icebergs, and frigid waters of Antarctica that Deb Gardener and Keller Sullivan feel at home. For a few blissful weeks each year they study the habits of Emperor and Adelie penguins and find solace in their work and in one another. But Antarctica, like their fleeting romance, is a fragile place, imperiled by the world to the north.
Sailing at Sunset
by Cindi Madsen
Genre: Romance
She can handle anything in her job.
Even a week on a boat
with a handsome but annoying sailor.
Much Ado About Nauticaling
by Gabby Allan
Genre: Cozy Mystery
After far too many years in the Los Angeles corporate world, Whitney Dagner has come home to Santa Catalina Island off the California coast to help her brother Nick run Nautically Yours, the family tourism business. Between gift shop shifts selling all manner of T-shirts and tchotchkes and keeping her feline Whiskers in fine fettle, she pilots the Sea Bounder, a glass bottom boat showing tourists the underwater sights of aquatic plants, marine life–and a murder victim?
For Vacation Only
by Mile Nicks
Genre: Romance
When wealthy Blake Mulligan gets jilted at the altar, he breaks free of his ‘predictable’ reputation by going on the honeymoon cruise anyway—without his snobby, socialite fiancée. For the next fourteen days he hopes to escape reality and pretend he hasn’t suffered the humiliation of a lifetime. The last thing he expects is to meet beautiful songstress Jubilee Collazo with her honey-sweet voice.
Sea Wife
by Amity Gaige
Genre: Literary Fiction
A smart, sophisticated page literary page-turner about a young family who escape suburbia for a yearlong sailing trip that upends all of their lives. Sea Wife is a transporting novel about marriage, family and love in a time of unprecedented turmoil.
Sailing to Capri
by Elizabeth Adler
Genre: Romantic Suspense
When English tycoon Sir Robert Waldo Hardwick dies mysteriously in a car accident, he leaves behind a note naming six people he suspects might have wanted him dead. Daisy Kean, and P.I. Harry Montana team up to take the suspects–and also six ‘red herrings’–on a fabulous Mediterranean cruise, all expenses paid by the late Sir Robert. As they call at Monte Carlo, St. Tropez and Sorrento, the mystery deepens. And the unexpected twists are just the beginning. Finally, they arrive at the beautiful Villa Belkiss on Capri, where Sir Robert’s will is to be read…and the killer unmasked.
Shipped
by Angie Hockman
Genre: Romance
A workaholic marketing manager who is forced to go on a cruise with her arch-nemesis when they’re up for the same promotion.
Title Wave
by Lorna Barrett
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Tricia and Angelica leave Booktown behind for a pleasure cruise, but they’re going to need their life jackets because a murderer has also booked passage.
The Sailor in Polynesia
by Liz Alden
Genre: Romance
After fighting to keep her sailboat in a bitter divorce, Mia embraces her dream to sail the South Pacific alone. Until handsome stranger Jonas drops anchor beside her.
Seven at Sea
by Erik Orton & Emily Orton
Genre: Nonfiction
Working the night shift as a temp in a high-rise cubicle, Erik Orton knew something had to change. He felt the responsibility of providing for his wife and their five children—the youngest with Down syndrome—but craved a life that offered more than just surviving. A portrait of a captivating and resilient family and a celebration of the courage it takes to head for something over the horizon, this is a deeply compelling story—told alternately by Erik and Emily—for all those who dream of leaving routine in their wake.
I hope you found a book or two that are of interest to you. Do you have any favorite books set on a boat?
