BOOK REVIEW | ON THE ISLAND BY TRACEY GARVIS-GRAVES

Title: On the Island
Author: Tracey Garvis-Graves
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Penguin
Format: Paperback
Source: Bought
Genre: New Adult Survival/Contemporary
Goodreads

BLURB:

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.

THIS REVIEW IS SPOILER FREEEE :)

Characters: ★★★★★

Throughout most of the book, we only hear from the two main characters as they’re stranded on an island, but this in no way made this boring. These characters were so well fleshed out I felt like they were real people. The other characters that we see in the other parts of the book all felt so real as well and they all had their own characteristics that made them them, if that makes sense. They’re all so wonderfully written, that’s all I can say!

Plot: ★★★★★

I LOVE survival stories and this is definitely my favourite as of this point in my life. It follows Anna, a 30 year old teacher and T.J., a 16 year old boy in remission. As a summer job, T.J.’s parents have offered Anna a heck of a lot of money and a place to stay at their holiday house in the Maldives if she tutors T.J. throughout the holidays so he can catch up on all that he’s missed while he was sick. Problem is, they’re on a very small plane when the pilot has a sudden heart attack and they end up on a deserted island. I LOVE THIS PLOT LINE. IT’S PERFECTION AND THE WAY IT WAS EXECUTED WAS JUST PERFECT.

Writing: ★★★★★

Absolutely brilliant. I could not put it down! It was written so beautifully and in a way that had me so attached to the characters. Perfect.

Romance/Feels: ★★★★★
SO GOOD. Obviously it’s a bit of a forbidden romance as there’s a HUGE age gap, but something’s bound to happen if they’re by themselves on an island for a long amount of time (this isn’t a spoiler, it’s in the blurb). I cried when I first read this book. I had SO MANY FEELS.

Ending: ★★★★★
So perfect. I couldn’t ask for a better fleshed out ending. I won’t say anymore because spoilers, ya know?

Overall Enjoyment: ★★★★★
One of my favourite books of all time that I still think about months after I’ve read it. I enjoyed every single sentence of this book!

Rereadability: I intend to reread this book SO MUCH throughout my life! I’ve already read it twice now!

Final Rating: 5000000 stars!