Review
This was so much more than a romance novel, and I feel that categorizing it as such really does this story a huge disservice. There's adventure, survival, and real drama.
TJ is a 16 year-old survivor of Hodgkins now in full remission, and Anna is the 30 year old tutor hired by TJ's parents to get him caught up in his studies so he can start his sophomore year in high school. TJ's family is spending the summer in the Maldives, but an accident occurs en route and the chartered plane TJ and Anna are riding in crashes into the ocean. TJ and Anna make it to a small deserted island where they wait to be rescued. Over 50% of the story takes place on the island, and you really get a feel for how difficult survival was for them. As the time wears on, we see how their reliance on each other causes their relationship to evolve. They faced dangers on land, in the sea, and from mother nature.
After their rescue, I expected a hurried, over the top, sappy/happy romantic ending, which would have been unrealistic and would have detracted from the authenticity the story had up to that point. Thankfully, this is absolutely not what happened. If anything, the drama picked up, and Anna and TJ faced very realistic challenges to their relationship, to the point where the expected happy ending began to seem more and more doubtful. Did it have the romance novel happy ending? Well, I did say it shouldn't be classified as a romance novel. Read it and find out.
TJ is a 16 year-old survivor of Hodgkins now in full remission, and Anna is the 30 year old tutor hired by TJ's parents to get him caught up in his studies so he can start his sophomore year in high school. TJ's family is spending the summer in the Maldives, but an accident occurs en route and the chartered plane TJ and Anna are riding in crashes into the ocean. TJ and Anna make it to a small deserted island where they wait to be rescued. Over 50% of the story takes place on the island, and you really get a feel for how difficult survival was for them. As the time wears on, we see how their reliance on each other causes their relationship to evolve. They faced dangers on land, in the sea, and from mother nature.
After their rescue, I expected a hurried, over the top, sappy/happy romantic ending, which would have been unrealistic and would have detracted from the authenticity the story had up to that point. Thankfully, this is absolutely not what happened. If anything, the drama picked up, and Anna and TJ faced very realistic challenges to their relationship, to the point where the expected happy ending began to seem more and more doubtful. Did it have the romance novel happy ending? Well, I did say it shouldn't be classified as a romance novel. Read it and find out.
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