On the Island

Title: On the Island                  

Author: Tracey Garvis Graves   

Publisher: Penguin                  

Price: $15.00                           

Release: 7/10/2012                  

Source: Publisher                    

      

Ashley Say's: Must buy 

Audience: Adult            

Synopsis:

    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.

My thoughts:

    This was by far THE BEST adult book I have read in ages. Everything from the characters, to the story, to the writing was superb. If you are about to skip over this review because it is an adult book, not YA, I strongly suggest that you do not. This is a book you will not want to miss.

    The story was told in Anna and T.J.'s alternating  points of view. Both were incredibly engaging and well developed. As I was reading this story I was lost in it. I had to remind myself a couple times that this was a book, not real life. This is a rare thing to gain from a book. Anna was the girl you wanted to be friends with. T.J. was the kind of man you would want to marry.

    Though the story was at times predictable it remained delicious. It was the kind of book you should plan your day around. Once you start reading there is no putting it down. I stayed up until 3 am to finish it. There were enough twists to keep it going, enough drama to keep you interested.

    I have seen a few comments around from people worried about the relationship that may or may not develop between Anna and T.J. They are worried that it is a book about a woman who takes advantage of a kid. Please know that this is not the case at all. Everything in this book is tactful.

    I recommend this to all my readers 14+. Yes, it is an adult book but it was just so good. Though some aspects may be unrelatable I still believe my high school readers will enjoy it.