Love With a Chance of Drowning: A Memoir

Written by Torre DeRoche

Narrated by Candice Moll

New love. Exotic destinations. A once-in-a-lifetime adventure. What could go wrong?

City girl Torre DeRoche isn’t looking for love, but a chance encounter in a San Francisco bar sparks an instant connection with a soulful Argentinean man who unexpectedly sweeps her off her feet. The problem? He’s just about to cast the dock lines and voyage around the world on his small sailboat, and Torre is terrified of deep water. However, lovesick Torre determines that to keep the man of her dreams, she must embark on the voyage of her nightmares, so she waves good-bye to dry land and braces for a life-changing journey that’s as exhilarating as it is terrifying.

This sometimes hilarious, often harrowing, and always poignant memoir is set against a backdrop of the world’s most beautiful and remote destinations. Equal parts love story and travel memoir, Love with a Chance of Drowning is witty, charming, and proof positive that there are some risks worth taking.

“A funny, irresistibly offbeat tale about the risks and rewards of living, and loving, with an open heart.” —Kirkus Reviews

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: May 14, 2013
• ISBN: 9781469266503

Torre DeRoche

Torre DeRoche is an Australian native and self-proclaimed fearful adventurer. When she’s not at home in Melbourne, Australia, DeRoche is at large in the world, exploring, writing, painting pictures, and snapping photos as she faces her fears one terrified step at a time. Stories of her adventures may be found at www.fearfuladventurer.com.

Reviews for Love With a Chance of Drowning

[Eileen Chiang · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I found the author of this book to be quite insufferable to be honest. The horrible fake accents of the narrator didn't help. Being avid sailors ourselves who lived in NYC for over two decades, we found Torre's prideful "city girl" designation (sorry lady, SF is not a real city) and the constant complaints of being sea sick, not having wifi, not having a social life while cruising some of the most bewilderingly beautiful south pacific islands maddening. I think the biggest mistake her boyfriend made was to bring an unwilling and undeserving participant on a serious life-changing trip.

[Vicki Cosson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved this! Laughed a lot, appreciated the absolute honesty, vulnerability and inspiration to take on such daring adventure in spite of such paralyzing fear. Loved hearing the transformation of someone who knew her stuff, by way of experience, sounding like and making good value like a captain, yet recognising and knowing when to listen to her heart, when it needed to be heard.

[howifeelaboutbooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this book cover to cover (err, pixel to pixel?) on a flight from London to Boston, with hours to spare. Once you start, you won't be able to put it down. DeRoche's writing feels like you're talking to her directly - a conversational tone with beautiful language. She writes honestly about falling in love with a man who was initially a one night stand, and how she faced her fear of the ocean to be with him while he sailed around the world. This book made me desperate to learn how to sail and set off on an adventure of my own.

[Siva Shankar · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I absolutely and completely loved it. The story is really tender and gripping , some of the scenery described in this is just absolutely mind-blowing . After reading this you will be filled with endless wanderlust.

[caimanjosh · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Charming account of a woman who meets a handsome stranger in a bar and, just a few months later, embarks on trans-Pacific ocean voyage with him in a small boat. Despite all the things that could go wrong (several of which, in fact, do), things seem to work out more or less in the end. The author (the woman) has a knack for seeing the humor in life, and I laughed out loud a number of times while reading this. While most of us will never do this, it lends itself to providing insight into our own lives at times. I've read several of these "man and woman go on long boat voyage on small boat" books, and I'd say this is the best one I've found.

[kaitanya64 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a fun light read. Torre DeRoche travels to the US from her home in Australia, promising her parents and sisters that she won't fall in love with an American and she will come home in one year. But what is she to do when a handsome Argentinian man sweeps her of her feet and asks her to come with him on his sail across the Pacific from California to Australia. After all, it "is" on her way home. What follows is a funny and heartwarming tale of romance on the seas. Never mind that she is afraid of water and prone to seasickness, Torre knows she has to give her all for love. Of course, two people on a tiny boat are bound to run into a variety of problems, from bickering to storms, as well as meeting their share of odd and interesting characters in various tropical ports of call. If you like travel and can enjoy a travel book that is a bit heavy on the romance and light on the geography, history, culture etc. then this book is a great way to get away for a while.

[liciasings · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow! Absolutely loved this book!

[shelleyraec · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

“Some people die of old age without ever having lived their dreams. Some people die without ever having loved. That’s tragic. We’ll both die someday, that’s a guarantee. If something happens on the ocean, we’ll die as two people in love who are living a remarkable adventure…”Torre DeRoche planned to spend a year in the US working and then return home to Australia. Instead she fell in love with an Argentinian and despite a fear of the sea, agreed to sail with him across the Pacific. Love With a Chance of Drowning tells of Torre's adventures aboard the Amazing Grace during her journey to conquer the ocean, and her fears.Torre wasn't looking for a relationship when she met Ivan in a San Francisco bar but charmed by his Latin good looks and kind, considerate nature she fell head over in heels in love. Yet their separation seemed inevitable, Torre had promised to return to Australia at the end of the year and Ivan planned to throw in his IT job and sail solo across the ocean. As the end began to draw near, Ivan suggested Torre join him and she was faced with a difficult choice, sail away with her lover or say goodbye. Despite her fear of deep water, disaster and "“anything that would fall out if you turned the ocean upside down and shook it” Torre's decides to surrender her comfortable city lifestyle for a love on a 32ft wooden boat in the middle of nowhere.Though I have little interest in sailing (and my own fearful respect for the sea), I really enjoyed this entertaining memoir of (mis)adventure. The humour is engaging, Torre has no problem poking fun at her own obsession with safety equipment, her horrendous bouts of sea sickness and Ivan's innate clumsiness. She is boldly honest about the journey's practical and emotional hardships - broken equipment, rough weather, the lack of fresh food and inescapable intimacy. Yet as Torre describes the joy of watching dolphins frolic in the boat's wake, the stunning white sands and blue water of tropical waters and the convivial welcome of islanders, you can't help but wish you could join her.Love with a Chance of Drowning is wonderfully written. Part travelogue, part romance, it is a tale of an amazing journey that will sweep you away.