PJV Quickie: On the Island was nothing at all like I expected; I can’t believe I almost passed on this book!!
Title: On the Island
Author: Tracey Garvis Graves
Type: Romance
Published June 7, 2012 by Plume (Penguin)
Personal Copy
Rating: 
Review
Anna Emmerson is a 30-year-old teacher who will be spending her summer break in the Maldives tutoring 16-year-old T.J. Callahan while he’s vacationing with his family. T.J. has been battling cancer (he’s in remission now) and has missed a lot of school; Anna’s job is to catch him up so he can go back to school with his classmates in the fall. When their charter plane goes down in the Indian Ocean, Anna and T.J. know they just have to survive until the rescue planes come. As they wait…and wait…and wait…they eventually realize help is not coming, and they’ve got to rely on their wits (and luck) to survive tropical storms, shark infested water, illness, and lack of basic supplies.
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Here’s where I confess that, based on the blurb I passed on this book a few times because I thought it was going to be some titillating story about a teacher/student relationship, which I was not at all interested in. A co-worker mentioned she loved it and suggested I read it… Oh, I’m so glad I did!!
This is one of those books where I’m not sure what would be considered spoilers, so I’m not going to go into detail, but be assured it’s not your typical “shipwreck” story. I was pulled right into the story from the beginning – the crash, the routine of their days on the island, the dangers, surprises, and dependency upon each other. Ms. Garvis Graves manages to make an unbelievable story believable. Fans of the survival reality shows that are currently popular on TV will enjoy the abundance of scenes in the book where the characters use ordinary items in interesting ways. (I don’t know if all the survival tricks are actually doable, but I was so into the story it didn’t matter, lol) The romance is not at all squicky – I promise it works and is actually beautiful (there is no underage sex in this book). I finished reading On the Island almost a week ago and I can’t stop thinking about it – it’s an extremely interesting story, well-written, with a good romance and conflict and a satisfying ending. Once you start reading this book you won’t want to put it down!
Recommendations:
Fans of Survivor, Lost, Castaway. Romance readers who enjoy a slow-building, strong-burning romance (not too explicit) will like this one too.
Other Novels you might like, similar to ‘On the Island’:
Wicked Games by Jill Myles
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I loved this book so much, and have been pushing it on people ever since I read it. I could not agree with you more!
It really was an awesome story! Glad to see you liked it
It’s a great story – I liked the ‘first part’ and the ‘second part’ equally. Just a great package as a whole.
I’m glad that you loved this. I wasn’t really sure about it when I read it either, but at the time I didn’t have many review obligations and I was offered to be on the blog tour. I was so glad I did too. I would not have picked it up on my own, but it is one of the best books I have read this year!!
I think this one is gaining steam by word of mouth and that’s awesome. Glad you liked it too!
You know, I felt the same about this book and passed on it for the very same reason but it keeps popping back up on my radar! I think you’ve convinced me to give it a shot as well. Thanks!
I hope you like it as much as I did – I love when a book surprises me like this one
The age thing would make me wary too, but I’ll take your word for it Patti.
Don’t let the age thing stop you – it’s handled well.
Great review. I was concerned too, but it was beautifully written. I love it as well. It was not creepy or weird at all. It’s a great read.
Thanks! Glad to meet another fan of the book – I could talk about it all day
Um… your review makes me want to get this book NOW. Lol. I don’t usually read anything but YA but this sounds like a really cool read! I just watched Blue Lagoon and now I really seem to love shipwreck stories/movies/etc.
I’ve been on a YA binge and actually thought this was YA – it’s not. But still soooo good
I never saw Blue Lagoon *gasp!* but now I want to watch it!!
Now, I want to read this books like yesterday
Great review 
Thanks! I hope you like it as much as I did
I was a little hesitant when I first saw this book on Amazon a few months ago but I chanced it anyways because of all the 5 star reviews and I was so glad that I did not pass it up. On the Island is one of the best books I’ve read this year. The teachser/student relationship was a little off putting at first but the how Tracey wrote it worked beautifully. The success of On the Island is solely based on word of mouth from the readers and this definitely one book that I have recommended to so many women at work and I’m glad this will be available on paperback from Plume so more people will have a chance to reading this beautiful story. Great review!
Thanks! I was afraid of the teacher/student thing but she really handled it well – nothing “squicky”
I’m glad to see so many good reviews; I think it’s awesome that word-of-mouth has helped to make this book so popular.
Oh my! I just posted about this on my blog. I wasn’t totally drawn into the synopsis either! Teacher and student stranded on an island?…Meh. But I kept getting recommendations so I thought, why not? I ended up giving it 5 stars and put it on my favorite shelf on GR. Lol. It is a FANTASTIC book. I was thinking about vlogging about it but … yeah I’ll stick to blogging about it lol. Loved that you loved it as well :0)
I think a lot of people are having the same experience – the blurb isn’t giving a true synopsis of the book. Word of mouth is pushing this awesome book