On the Island

By: Tracey Garvis Graves

Narrated by: Heidi Baker

Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

When 30-year-old English teacher Anna Emerson is offered a job tutoring T.J. Callahan at his family's summer rental in the Maldives, she accepts without hesitation; a working vacation on a tropical island trumps the library any day.

T.J. Callahan has no desire to leave town, not that anyone asked him. He's almost 17 and if having cancer wasn't bad enough, now he has to spend his first summer in remission with his family - and a stack of overdue assignments - instead of his friends.

Anna and T.J. are en route to join T.J.'s family in the Maldives when the pilot of their seaplane suffers a fatal heart attack and crash-lands in the Indian Ocean. Adrift in shark-infested waters, their life jackets keep them afloat until they make it to the shore of an uninhabited island. Now Anna and T.J. just want to survive and they must work together to obtain water, food, fire, and shelter.

Their basic needs might be met 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.

©2011 Tracey Garvis-Graves (P)2012 Tracey Garvis-Graves

Loved this book!

I absolutely loved this book and the narrator. I listened to this book in 1 day, I was completely drawn in by the story. You will fall in love with the characters and find yourself rooting for them. The narrator was great, I listen to a lot of audio books and the narrator can really make or break a book. This narrator was perfect!

Good Story. Bad Narration.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I would change the Narrator. She didn't differentiate the characters enough that you know who is talking and she spoke way too fast.

What would have made this romance irresistible?

She didn't pause at appropriate times and it was hard to tell which character was speaking. She needed to do a pitch or voice change for each character. She also read too fast.

Reader ruined a great story

I have read this book in kindle form and I loved it, could not put it down! I could not even listen to the entire book this time. The reader was difficult to understand - as in I had no idea who was talking, who was thinking, etc. Sorry for the bad review but I just wanted to warn people. Do yourself a favour and buy the kindle/paperback, amazon still have it in stock I'm sure!

✫✫ 5 Star Story, 3 Star Narration ✫✫

I read this book about 6 years ago but that was before I wrote reviews. I got a friend to listen to this book and when she started it just made me want to read it again so I decided to listen to the audiobook too! I remembered really loving this book when I read it but it's been so long it was like the first time all of again and I loved it this time too. This is one of those books that you can't stop until you know how it ends!

TJ was a lot more mature than I expected from the very first page , he never acted 16 which I think made this book better for me. Anna was a sweet and strong women and I loved her character! I also loved the friendship that TJ and Anna form while on the island. This book ended exactly how I needed it to end too!

The narrator was not the correct choice for this book in my opinion. She is a good narrator but she was a little to upbeat and chipper even during the worst parts. She also didn't do a great job at differentiating between the male & female characters. I would have liked dual narrators or at least a narrator with a good male voice.

LOVED this book

Would you listen to On the Island again? Why?

no but I would read it again, great story!!

What did you like best about this story?

I fell in love with this story when I read it, so much so that I decided to listen to it when an audio book became available. There is something about having a story read to you that can make the it become more alive. I must say that I enjoyed reading it better than listening to it because of the narration. This is an awesome book but the narration needed work...

What didn’t you like about Heidi Baker’s performance?

My biggest complaint is the narrator spoke TOOO FAST!!!!!!! I tried to slow it down, but the 0.5 speed made it too slow. She had a pleasant voice, but I enjoyed reading this book much better than I enjoyed listening to it.

This is a teen book. Not for adults.

I know I'm one of few who don't like this book. But the story is absurd, shallow and incredibly unbelievable. It had potential to be edgy and sexy, but then it would be a little too much like The Blue Lagoon, I suppose.
I was so disappointed with this book. Especially the climax/ending. It is written for a young adult and shouldn't be in the romance section.

When her string bikinis, makeup, hair products, birth control and stylish aviator sunglasses happen to wash onto the shore, I could have stopped listening. It was absolutely ridiculous.

There was a fun shark sequence, and I did listen to the majority of the book, that is why it gets two stars vs one...

Don't miss this one. .

I have great difficulty reading due to vision loss. However, I read this book on my Kindle before I located it on Audible. It took me awhile, well worth the time as the story is so well written. The story has quite a hook from the beginnning. This author takes you into the experience so well. I can't imagine writing this story but I truly thank you Tracey for sharing this rich story with us. I was surprised it was just one download when it took me so long to read it. The narrator is very good. But her voice was not what I had imagined in my head. She did a great job with the story, my only critic is in differentiating the voices, there were times it was difficult for me to figure out who was talking. Please don't let anything stand between you and this lovely story. Lately so much seems to be geared toward a younger audience. This is a author for all of us. She knows how to write a story that is intelligent enough from teens to older adults can thoroughly enjoy. I did I am 59. Thank you so much. This is one of the memoriable ones. I hope we are able to read more from this author. Great Job! Thank you Audible.

Enjoyed the story and Loved the narrator!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, do buy this audiobook! Enjoyed the story, characters and a happy ending! Interesting survival tips, in case I ever get stranded on an island. I will definitely pack lots of earrings with hoops!

What does Heidi Baker bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I listen to 2 -3 audiobooks a month and a good narrator is a must. I have listened to books, based on the narrator alone, and this narrator, Heidi, would fit into this catagory. What a joy to listen to!

Any additional comments?

I first downloaded this book based on the author being an Iowan, and wasn't disappointed. Any new books in the works?

Perfect for the romance junkie

On the Island turned out to be a wonderful (and surprising) listen. This one has been sitting in my “wish list’ for years and I really have no idea what took me so long to finally make it part of my library. It was such an engaging and thought provoking listen. At times very realistic and heart breaking. It was more than a story of survival but of enduring friendship, love and acceptance. I am so glad I finally got around to this gem of a book. I highly recommend for any romance junkie.

Great story!

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed this book. Felt like I was right there on the island with them!

Just brilliant

I have read this book and when I seen it on audible I had to get it, it's just brilliant and you get so immersed in the story that it becomes part of you.

A castaway book that I couldn't put down.

I thought this was a fab little audio book, I found it was a great end of month gap filler for when you are in between or if you just want a shorter summer read.
It was lively and interesting all the way through and I found that I couldn't put it down.
It was a typical castaway book and the narrator did a good job and by bringing the characters to life.
I would have preferred the narrator to slow down a little bit as I found her speech too fast for me, but as I was able to set a slower reading speed on my i pod I then sat back and thoroughly enjoyed listening to this audio book at a more relaxing pace.

Very light romance

If I hadn’t been in the Maldives I’d have given up at chapter one. This is basically a simple romance (maybe designed as a teenage book?) revolving around lust, eating and washing. I kept hoping for more but the reality of being marooned for an extensive period and then returning to reality and characters was very light, undeveloped and largely implausible.
What didn’t help was the extremely girly sounding American narrator who seemed to try and make everything sound dreamlike versus the brutal reality and harsh emotions that would have been more real. It didn’t help that most sentences were finished with ‘he said’/ ‘Anna said’ etc which was partially obvious when the fast narration was slowed.
If you want a stronger island story try Castaways - not set in Maldives but a great page turner.

5 stars wonderful! 🌟

Amazing book! Stranded together after plane crash, age gap, and slow burn romance. I loved how we got to grow with the characters and experience their friendship forming into love. While I didn't like their time apart, I realize that it was necessary. Highly recommend. All the feels.

Pure escaspism

Good old American 'corn'. Story's a little different from the norm. Lovely imagery. Easy read/listen. Narrator is a little fast-paced.

It was ok

From other reviews I knew to reduce the speed of narration to x0.9, and that helped a lot with the enjoyment of this book. I started off a little disinterested, got more into it as the island stuff continued, then really started to get frustrated by it once they were in Chicago and the heroine became Saint Anna and it felt insincere. So a mixed bag, and 3 stars over all.

Compulsive listening

A friend advised me to buy this book just before I headed off to... The Maldives, but told me not to listen until I’d arrived at my destination. Good job too as it was by sea plane!
This book is outstanding. Hooked me from the get go and the story and island came alive in my mind. Wanted to get to the end to discover what happens and wasn’t disappointed. A great holiday book!

Oh I loved this!

This had everything. Adventure, romance, sadness, suspense. You name it! I loved the narrator’s voice and style too. I usually listen to mysteries and this was such a breath of fresh air. I really recommend it.

this was a phenomenon. I loved it so much, I cry.

this book was so good that I almost cried when there wasn't a part two.

A lovely story

this is a really lovely story, I have not been able to stop listening, if you like travel, adventure, survival and romance then this book is for you.