On The Island

Rated 5 Stars
Kindle

I'm giving this book my highest rating because the author kept it real for me all the way through.

At the very beginning I was a little squicked by the ages of the characters because you absolutely knew where the relationship was headed but then I suddenly remembered some very good friends who have the same age difference where she is 13 years older than he is and they have a wonderful marriage and grandchildren even so who cares how old other people are. In the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter a fig.

I was a little surprised at how long it took for the characters to develop the relationship but I guess the author did that to keep the relationship above board. Personally I think that in the real world it would have happened a lot sooner for comfort as well as passion.

But I really liked the story. Their struggle for survival, how much they both had to pull together and draw on inner strength neither knew they were capable of made an exciting story for me. And then the difficulties they had adjusting to going back to civilization after so long rang really true for me.

So yeah, I recommend this book.

Publisher's Description:

Two people stranded on an island struggle to survive—and slowly fall in love—in the runaway New York Times bestseller from the author of the forthcoming novel COVET.

Anna 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.

November 9

Rated 3 Stars
Audiobook


But then all of Colleen Hoover's stories are good. They are just so angsty that I end up depressed even while I'm enjoying it. I know that doesn't make much sense but that's exactly what happens to me in most of her books. This book desperately needed some lighter moments to allow the reader to catch their breath and recover a little from time to time.

The story was pretty much saved from only being two stars by Zachary Webber's narration. He really is good. Angela Goethal's narration just plays on all that angst and makes the whole thing worse. Don't get me wrong, a little angst is a good thing, more than a little can even be exciting as it keeps you on the edge of your chair, but too much leaves me feeling like I've been drowned in a wave of heartbreak.

But for readers with a higher tolerance for gloom and doom it's a very good story.

The Martian

Rated 4 stars
Kindle Format

I am very much a so-so reader when it comes to the SI/FI genre.  I usually fall  into  love with them or are bored to tears by them.  This booked fell into the I Liked It category

There were a lot of technical details in it and not being a science geek most of them flew right over my head.  But the story was interesting so I just took the science stuff on trust and skimmed over what was to me the boring bits. Also having the image of Matt Damon in my head as Mark Whately helped as I have really liked him ever since I watched all the Bourne movies.

Amazon Description:

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. 

Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there.

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. 

Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first. 

But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills—and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit—he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?