Tuesday, July 17, 2012

On The Island by Tracey Garvis Graves

From Amazon - Anna Emerson is a thirty-year-old English teacher desperately in need of adventure. Worn down by the cold Chicago winters and a relationship that’s going nowhere, she jumps at the chance to spend the summer on a tropical island tutoring sixteen-year-old T.J.


T.J. Callahan has no desire to go anywhere. His cancer is in remission and he wants to get back to his normal life. But his parents are insisting he spend the summer in the Maldives catching up on all the school he missed last year.


Anna and T.J. board a private plane headed to the Callahan’s summer home, and as they fly over the Maldives’ twelve hundred islands, the unthinkable happens. Their plane crashes in shark-infested waters. They make it to shore, but soon discover that they’re stranded on an uninhabited island.


At first, their only thought is survival. But as the days turn to weeks, and then months, the castaways encounter plenty of other obstacles, including violent tropical storms, the many dangers lurking in the sea, and the possibility that T.J.’s cancer could return. As T.J. celebrates yet another birthday on the island, Anna begins to wonder if the biggest challenge of all might be living with a boy who is gradually becoming a man.



When I read the premise of this book, I was intrigued and a bit wide-eyed.  Sure, there are ten years between my husband and I, but now having a teenage son, to think of him with a woman that much older, I was like 'crazy'.

However, once I started reading On The Island, I was hooked - line and sinker.  I loved the TV series, LOST and On the Island reminded me a bit of that, but it was soo much more! From the time the seaplane crashes to the worry Anna has for TJ and vice versa, I couldn't put this book down.  In fact, I stayed up into the wee hours of the night to finish it.  They were determined to survive, no matter what.  From their struggles to their blossoming love, I found myself hoping that there was a happy ending for these two people.  Even as Anna worried TJ's cancer might come back and TJ worried Anna would want to reunite with her boyfriend, I rooted for them to survive, to love and have a future.  I really thought Anna's mom's relationship advice was sound, as well as TJ's mom's thoughts on her son's relationship. I just LOVE this book!!

If you read only one book this summer, read this one! One of the best books I've read this year!! 





*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

No comments:

Post a Comment

The old grey donkey, Eeyore stood by himself in a thistly corner of the Forest, his front feet well apart, his head on one side, and thought about things. Sometimes he thought sadly to himself, "Why?" and sometimes he thought, "Wherefore?" and sometimes he thought, "Inasmuch as which?" and sometimes he didn't quite know what he was thinking about.

Thank you for taking time out of your day to leave a comment. It's appreciated.