On The Island by Tracey Garvis Graves

Goodreads Description:

When thirty-year-old English teacher Anna Emerson is offered a job tutoring T.J. Callahan at his family’s summer rental in the Maldives, she accepts without hesitation; a working vacation on a tropical island trumps the library any day. T.J. Callahan has no desire to leave town, not that anyone asked him. He’s almost seventeen and if having cancer wasn’t bad enough, now he has to spend his first summer in remission with his family – and a stack of overdue assignments – instead of his friends. Anna and T.J. are en route to join T.J.’s family in the Maldives when the pilot of their seaplane suffers a fatal heart attack and crash-lands in the Indian Ocean. Adrift in shark-infested waters, their life jackets keep them afloat until they make it to the shore of an uninhabited island. Now Anna and T.J. just want to survive and they must work together to obtain water, food, fire, and shelter. Their basic needs might be met 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.

Why did I pick this?

All three of my really good friends made me do it!! Haha just kidding. They didn’t make me but they hinted and hinted. Those good friends are the lovely Andrea, Autumn, and April. My book soul mates…..no…..my POD MATES. (had to do a shoutout )

All three of them had read the book and highly recommended it to me. So when it was on sale at Amazon for 99 cents, I snatched it right up.

What did I think?

I wasn’t sure how I would respond to this book. There is a lot of hype and a lot of excitement backing up this book. I was nervous about picking it up honestly.

I was not disappointed. This book was very special and very real to me. The most important and greatest thing about this book to me is how honest and true it was. Seriously.

This book was remarkable. Very much so. I’ll start with the characters.

First there was Anna. I really liked her. Sadly, I didn’t feel that connected to her. She seemed a little distant…and not generally warm. It took a while to warm up to her character. She was very sweet and had a lot of strength in her that I think she didn’t really realize.

Then you have T.J. *swoons*. I have to say that if it wasn’t for getting the chance to read T.J.’s POV, this book probably wouldn’t have been as good. I connected with T.J. in a way that I’ve never really connected to a character. It was an instant spark. Instant connect and it grew more and more with every page I got to read. I just absolutely LOVED T.J. His strength, understanding, compassion, endurance, and passion. I wanted more of him.

I also really loved the relationship between T.J. and Anna was so sweet and sincere. It was awesome and so touching. They both grew together in a way. Even though Anna was older, she still had things to learn. They grew. It was so freaking wonderful to see that.

I thought that this book would be boring because….well….I’ve seen Castaway. It gets boring on a deserted island. LOL Even when you have someone else there. This book was not boring. At All.

There were some parts in the book that had me thinking “ummmm….really?” But only a couple lol. The dolphin part was a little bit much but still cool in it’s own way.

This story was very captivating and kept me entertained throughout the entire thing. While I was reading this story, I was in their world. On their island. It was all-consuming in the way that I could. not. stop. reading.

Graves’ writing was really fluid and truly beautiful. From the very first chapter, she commands your attention and keeps you captivated.

Favorite Quote:

What I didn’t admit, though, was that she could have brought me to my knees with one tough of her hand, if she put it in the right place. I wondered if she knew that.-34% Kindle Edition