On the Island - Tracey Garvis Graves

Two people stranded on an island struggle to survive—and slowly fall in love—in the runaway New York Times bestseller, now available with a reading group guide and a letter from the authorAnna Emerson is a thirty-year-old English teacher desperately in need of adventure. Worn down by the cold Chicago winters and a relationship that’s going nowhere, she jumps at the chance to spend the summer on a tropical island tutoring sixteen-year-old T.J.

T.J. Callahan has no desire to go anywhere. His cancer is in remission and he wants to get back to his normal life. But his parents are insisting he spend the summer in the Maldives catching up on all the school he missed last year.

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

At first, their only thought is survival. 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.

If you've seen The Blue Lagoon, or were too young and have seen Return to the Blue Lagoon, you've already got an idea of what this story was about.  The added twist to this story is the age difference between Anna and T.J. 

The age difference was what kept this story interesting to me since I've seen both of the above movies countless times.  I was interested to see if they could make it off the island, what kind of relationship they would be able to have. 

I had originally thought I probably wouldn't re-read this story, but after some time has passed...I might actually consider giving it a re-read.  This is a good beach story, or if you're looking for a story that isn't too angsty but with just enough drama to keep you interested.