On the Island by Tracey Garvis-Graves

Title: On the Island
Author: Tracey Garvis-Graves
Blurb:
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.

Links:
On the Island on Goodreads

On the Island on Amazon

Tracey Garvis-Graves' Website 

 Kala's Review:

I won this book through the Goodreads First Reads system and I was kind of excited to win it. I thought the concept sounded interesting, although the idea of a 16 year old boy and a 30 year old woman made me a little squidgy.

The book was a very fast and easy read. I blew through the entire thing in a matter of two hours, max (this is a good thing!). I found myself engrossed in it and read it cover to cover in one sitting. The characters are interesting, though I found them a little generic.

I appreciated how the author handled the age difference, though I do have a hard time believing they would wait until he was legal to begin a physical relationship when they're marooned on an island together. It seemed like a bit of a cop-out, but either way I still enjoyed the book.

This book makes a great beach/plane read and I would recommend it. :)

4 of 5 stars.


Link to Kala's review on Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/368320871