#30: On the Island

On the Island by Tracey Garvis Graves has been recommended to me by several people.  My SIL loved it and recommended it a while back because the author lives in Des Moines, a co-worker loves any books with romance, and a friend in my book club read it as her "tropical" themed book.  I finally decided to grab it from the library to read as a back up to my other summer read.

This is the story of a teacher named Anna who is supposed to be tutoring a boy named TJ during the summer.  TJ missed a lot of school due to having cancer and needs to catch up during the summer holiday by having a tutor come on summer break with his family to the Maldive Islands.  Instead of TJ traveling with his family.  He waits and travels with Anna who wasn't done with work yet.  On the way to their final destination, the sea plane they are on crashes and they end up stranded on an uninhabited island.

We can all guess what will happen, even though Anna is way older, they are the only 2 there so they fall in love.  This story is not a new idea.  Some of the things that happened on the island were unique.  I really liked the stories of how they learned to survive on the island, but for me the "love story" felt forced.  I can see when TJ loved Anna, but for me Anna's love for TJ was a little lacking.

This was a really fast read and a good guilty pleasure read.  While I liked it, I don't feel it was one of the greatest books I've read recently.  I do think I will read the sequel to this just to learn a little more about the island they were on.

Up Next:  The Dinner