On the Island by Tracey Garvis Graves

On the Island by Tracey Garvis Graves is a survival story. Anna and TJ are stranded on an island in the Maldives after a plane crash. When nobody comes to the rescue, will they survive? It takes quite a while for the couple (a teenager and his tutor) to realize that nobody is going to save them. Meanwhile, they start out sleeping on the beach, then building a lean-to, and gradually learning to survive with the little food available on the island.

I bought On the Island after reading The Girl He Used to Know and reading reviews of the author's other books. On the Island was a favorite of readers that got a lot of positive reviews and I saved it to read during a time when I was feeling a little slumpish (which has been happening a lot, this past year).

Recommended but not a favorite - I liked the story, in general, because I love survival stories. But, I had problems with a few picky details and happy coincidences. For example, the heroine's suitcase and the hero's backpack conveniently wash up on the beach. That was actually plausible if you consider the fact that they allowed the current to bring them to shore. The same current could have brought their luggage.

However, Anna shoves aside wet clothing to find a treasure trove of products she packed knowing there was no drugstore at their destination. Some of that stuff would have melted away, realistically, if water got into the suitcase. And, when TJ uses her earrings as fish hooks? Well . . . maybe other folks have earrings strong enough to catch a fish but I sure don't.

Not sure I bought into the romance, as well, especially the book's ending. I liked On the Island enough to finish it, although I felt kind of "meh" about it. Maybe it was just the wrong time for me to read it. It's definitely notable that the book has a 4.12/5 rating at Goodreads and the one person who commented when I posted about On the Island at Instagram remembered it as "unputdownable".  She agreed that it had a sagging middle. I would not tell anyone to avoid this book, lest you find my review too negative. I thought it was fun, but some of its plot points just felt a little too convenient.

Other reviews:

The Girl He Used to Know by Tracey Garvis Graves


©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Girl He Used to Know by Tracey Garvis Graves

The Girl He Used to Know by Tracey Garvis Graves is about a couple who have reunited after 10 years apart. College sweethearts, Annika and Jonathan are surprised to find each other a decade after they parted. She has some unusual quirks but he's patient and kind. She loves her job as a librarian and he hates his investment banking job but is determined to succeed. Can they work through the complications that caused their breakup, along with the problems of the present and make it last, this time around?

OK, so about those quirks . . . it's pretty obvious from the beginning of the novel that Annika is on the autism spectrum, so her unique mannerisms, mode of speech, and difficulty with social interaction are not minor. In the past timeline, she and Jonathan meet at a chess club where only one person is willing to play with her. Like many high-functioning people on the spectrum, Annika is one sharp cookie. Their romance in both the present and the past unfold at around the same pace. So, while they're getting to know each other all over again and testing the waters, both a little afraid that it won't work out a second time, you're also getting to know them as a couple in college and eagerly waiting to find out how they ended up apart (because, honestly, they seem so perfect for each other).

I finished The Girl He Used to Know a couple weeks ago. I read maybe a chapter on the first night that I opened it and the next day construction on our patio was halted by rain. But, then we had a pleasant, sunny afternoon, so I dragged a towel outside and plopped it over the unfinished steps, sat in the sun, and read, hence the photo on the incomplete steps. I moved from steps to porch chair to couch to bed with that book and could. not. put. it. down. I had to warn my husband that I wasn't going to come up for air until I finished. It's very unusual for a book about a relationship to grip me so intensely but seriously . . . I adored the two main characters and was absolutely riveted. I had to know how their story would turn out.

In the last 30 pages or so, something major happens and I don't think I breathed for the entire last portion of the novel. Yes, it's true, I'm dead. And, oddly, I didn't love the ending. But, it didn't matter one bit. I enjoyed the book so much till that point that an imperfect (abrupt) ending wasn't enough to convince me to take off even half a point. I gave The Girl He Used to Know a 5-star rating at Goodreads and then couldn't stop thinking about it.

Highly recommended - The Girl He Used to Know is proof that a book with two immensely likable characters can be compelling to the point of being impossible to put down. Wonderful characters, flawed but kind, and a moving, entrancing tale of rekindled romance for an unusual couple. The last 30 or 40 pages had my heart in my throat.

I loved The Girl He Used to Know so much that I ordered another book by Tracey Garvis Graves, The Island. If I could stop everything and read it right now, I would. But, I have quite a toppling stack of ARCs to conquer in the next couple of months. We'll see what happens. I might not be able to keep my hands off of it.

I received a copy of The Girl He Used to Know from St. Martin's Press via Shelf Awareness and wow, do I feel like a lucky girl for getting to read this book. The release date was April 2.


©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.