On the Island - by Tracey Garvis Graves - review

Two people stranded on an island struggle to survive—and slowly fall in love—in the runaway New York Times bestseller, now available with a reading group guide and a letter from the author.

 

 

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.

Tracey Garvis Graves lives in a suburb of Des Moines, Iowa, with her husband and two children, and hyper dog Chloe. On the Island is her first novel. She loves to hear from her fans and can be found on Twitter @tgarvisgraves and at facebook.com/tgarvisgraves.

 

 

Thoughts from OHM:

I just want to say "WOW...AMAZING" and stop there because really I have no idea what to write. This book was absolutely brilliant. I found it to be both light and humourous, and then a tearjerker on the next page. I never knew what to expect. I HAD TO KEEP READING. It was a really quick read for me because everything about it was just perfect in my opinion...I loved the characters and their chemistry(sooo much!), I loved the storyline, I love the writing style of Tracey's. A lot of books I read and just pass along not really worrying if I get it back, this one will be sticking around on my shelf! I have a feeling it will get read again! :)

Now to go find out what else she's written!!!