There are books and reading material everywhere at my house. My library has floor to ceiling bookshelves stocked with hundreds of great books of all descriptions. I have a Kindle with 300 or so books on it and there are several more on my iPhone. I read every chance I get. Most of what I read is enjoyable or enlightening, but once in awhile a book comes along that touches me in a way most never come close to. On the Island, by Tracey Garvis-Graves, is one of those books. Her hero and heroine are so compellingly real and when they are faced with hardship and difficult decisions their courage and concern for each other grabs your heart. They not only grow as characters in a story, but they grew on me, the reader, until I couldn't help but cry with them, celebrate with them and feel a deep down connection. I started reading the book on my iPhone while I was waiting for an appointment. I picked it up again in between things, but last night, I took it to bed with me and couldn't put it down. I have not been so touched by a hero in a book in years. T.J. Callahan is an endearing young man who grows both in stature and character, mature beyond his years in so many ways, yet engagingly innocent and young. It was a pleasure to spend time with him and Anna. If you are looking for a great read, I urge you to find this book, available in ebook as well as paperback.

Description (From Smashwords)
"When thirty-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 seventeen 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."