On the Island
On the Island, Book #1
By Tracey Garvis Graves
ISBN# 9781466363212
Author’s Website: http://www.traceygarvisgraves.com/
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi
*Beware of Spoilers*
This is a book that doesn’t fit into my usual genres, but when I kept seeing people discuss it, even in my paranormal groups, I knew that it was one that I HAD to check out. And, once I did read it, I knew that it deserved a full review.
Anna Emerson is in a dead-end relationship with a guy that won’t commit and deep down she knows she needs to end things, but is having trouble saying the words. So, when an opportunity to go away to a tropical island to tutor T.J. for the summer arrives, she pounces on it!
Anna and T.J. flew in together as T.J.’s family had flown in ahead of time, giving T.J. one last chance to hang out with his friends before he left. But Anna and T.J.’s flight plans don’t go as planned and they end up taking the last leg of their flight in a seaplane that crashes when the pilot has a heart-attack.
The duo ends up marooned on a uninhabited island relying on each other for survival. As the days, hours, months, and years tick by, Anna and T.J. are faced with the sad reality that nobody is going to save them. Anna sees T.J. turning into a man right before her eyes and leaning on each other for survival turns into so much more.
I’ll be honest that I was pretty skeptical of this book. I’ve never been one for the books about fighting the elements for survival and images of the movie Castaway flashed before my eyes, a movie I couldn’t watch more than 10 minutes of at any given time, with Tom Hanks and his volleyball.
I liked the author’s writing style from the very beginning of On the Island, although I did struggle with the constant changes in points of view between Anna and T.J., especially when T.J. was narrating, my brain just didn’t want to wrap around it and I kept having to remind myself who was talking. I would have liked to have seen the POV not change as often or just stayed with Anna throughout.
After, coming to the island, the day to day stuff was pretty mundane. You would only get a moment of one day and then it would be days or weeks later. But once T.J. grew up some and the attraction started growing between the couple I found the book much more interesting. By the time they were rescued I couldn’t put the book down and before I knew it I was finished and reflecting on the book as I am now.
I thought it was interesting to see how Anna and T.J. coped with how others viewed their relationship. I’m glad the author included so much of their life after they were rescued into the book. It was nice to see how much they changed over time, and how much T.J. matured by the end of the story. And, if you love happy sappy endings, you will love this one!
“I don’t fit in your world.”
“Neither do I,” he said, his expression tender yet resolute. “So let’s make our own. We’ve done it before.”
This novel isn’t your typical romance book though. If you’re looking for chapters of hot steamy sex, you won’t find it here. There is sex in the book, but no play-by-plays and what sex is there, is very minimal. But it’s a great story that I highly recommend to other women, especially those that enjoy a good love story.
