On the Island by Tracey Garvis Graves

On the Island

by Tracey Garvis Graves

In this runaway New York Times bestseller, a harrowing near-death experience brings together an English teacher and her student as they struggle to survive on a desert island.

Sixteen-year-old T.J. Callahan has no desire to go anywhere. With his cancer in remission, all he wants is to get back to his normal life. But his parents insist that he spend the summer catching up on the school he missed while he was sick.

Anna Emerson is a thirty-year-old English teacher who has been worn down by the cold Chicago winters and a relationship that’s going nowhere. To break up the monotony of everyday life, she jumps at the chance to spend the summer on a tropical island tutoring T.J.

Anna and T.J. board a private plane headed to the Callahans’ summer home, but 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 they’re stranded on an uninhabited island.

At first, their only thought is survival. But as the days turn to weeks, and then months, and as birthdays pass, the castaways must brave violent tropical storms, the many dangers lurking in the sea, and the worst threat of all—the possibility that T.J.’s cancer could return. With only each other for love and support, these two lost souls must come to terms with their situation and find compaionship in one another in the moments they need it most.

Reviewed by Angie on

5 of 5 stars

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I am in love with On the Island! It was the perfect summer romance and unlike other contemporaries that I’ve read. Anna is hired to tutor sixteen year old T.J. over the summer after he missed most of his sophomore year due to cancer. His parents plan to fly them out to join them at their beach house, but when their pilot has a heart attack and the plane goes down, Anna and T.J. are stranded on one of about a thousand uninhabited islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The two do what they can to survive and hope to draw the attention of a passing plane, but once two go by without turning around, they have to learn to make the island their home.

On the Island blew me away! I’m terrified of flying so those first few chapters had me extremely nervous. But once T.J. and Anna are on the island, I didn’t want to put it down. The author describes all aspects of their new situation, including the unpleasant and the dangerous. It’s amazing to me what people can accomplish in life or death situations. I do think some of their life was made too easy. Some useful stuff is conveniently washed up on shore in perfect condition, and they find some stuff when they start exploring the island. However, I figured that if that’s the island they washed up on, it would make sense that some items from the crash would find their way there, too. And the mystery supplies that they find were an interesting twist. I’ll definitely need to pick up the companion novella, Uncharted, to find out more.

The romance was amazing! Don’t worry, nothing happens between a 30 year old woman and a 16 year old boy (although I don’t think I would have been bothered given the situation). Anna does set boundaries, such as making sure they bathe separately. But after two years alone together, something is bound to happen. Of course, T.J. did have a bit of a crush on his hot teacher when they arrived, but eventually that turned into real feelings. And soon enough, Anna realizes that T.J. is no longer a boy, but a man, and their connection is strong. I didn’t want them to leave the island!

About halfway through On the Island, Anna and T.J. do get rescued after nearly four years on the island. I was worried that it was going to lose some of the magic once they were back in the “real world” but I continued to love it just as much! They’re reunited with their families who thought they had been dead this entire time, but they also face the media. Reporters follow them everywhere and their relationship is obvious, and the reporters try to turn it into something ugly. Doubt wiggles its way between them, but I do think it was the best thing for them at the time, despite wanting them to be together so bad!

On the Island does have my least favorite type of romance ending, but I didn’t mind it. In fact, I really liked it and it made me tear up! Anna and T.J. deserve everything they got and more after the ordeal they went through. Although, I did miss the island and Chicken the chicken.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 4 July, 2014: Finished reading
  • 4 July, 2014: Reviewed