Review & Giveaway : On the Island By Tracey Garvis Graves

Paperback, 329 pages

Published October 11th 2011

GoodReads † Amazon

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.

          My Review 


     Have you ever picked up a book that by time you finish it, it leaves you like "Wow"? I know a book is good when I finish reading it and I'm still thinking about it days after. That's what On the island did to me. This book consumed me! So much that I read it in less than one day. Now that's a record for me. I just could not stop reading until I was done. And when I was done, I wish I could continue reading the story. I didn't want it to end.

     When Damaris first gave me this book to review, I was extremely hesitant. But only because T.J. had cancer. Reading books with characters going through cancer is something that hits to close to home. So I hardly ever pick one up. But when I did pick it up, I couldn't put the book down at all. I read it everywhere I went. That's how good this story is. You become an eyewitness to the obstacles Anna and T.J. go through in this story. And you can see how their relationship blossomed. There was nothing ugly or malicious about their relationship. They both grew stronger as individuals and as a couple in the island. On the Island is beautiful love story that took my breath away.

     If you're someone that can put aside the difference of age between the two characters, You will love this book. It is like "Survivor" but with only two contestants and a sweet romance twist to it. I give this book a huge 5 stars. A definite Good (Great) Choice for Reading. This is definitely one of my favorite books of this year.

                                        Giveaway:

Ms. Tracey would love to do a giveaway here. There will be two winners. The first place winner will get an autograph paperback of On the island and the second place winner will get an ebook.
                                         
                              Here are the rules:

1. Leave a meaningful comment below along with your email address on this post.
2. Feel free to ask Ms. Tracey a question, she'll love to hear from you.