Oh my god!! What a book!! Utterly gripping, couldn’t put it down and eerily thrilling. Some major Agatha Christie vibes with the isolated island. Packed with suspense and twists. Loved this one

I can hardly catch my breath! What a heart-pounding, claustrophobic, relentlessly chilling book this is. I loved it!

Maddy is a botanist that is selected to be one of eight contestants to live on an uninhabited island off the coast of Scotland for one year. From here they will need to forage for food, build shelters, ultimately building their own community now that the supposed world itself has come to an end.

It all starts off well and people are chipping in doing anything they can to help but as the months progress, food starts to dwindle, and winter weather begins to set in the tempers start to flare. Maddie finds herself ostracized from the group. Everything she does and says fuels the fire of their group hatred.

Things really go bananas though when their boat doesn't arrive to pick them up at the one year mark like they were told. Days turn to weeks and then turns to months. Where is everyone? Why has no one come to rescue them? Maddie realizes just how dire her situation is when she is sure that any one of the other contestants would not hesitate to kill her.

"The things that started happening to us after Christmas ... I thought it was all just random tragedy; accidents, mistakes. If I 'd known then that there was some reason for it, some intent, I don't know if I could have held on like I did.

You might have given up hope?

I almost smile. 'I'd lost hope by then. No, I might have given up holding on to my delusion that somehow we were all still civilized people at heart. I might have tried to get them before they came for me."

I really don't want to say anything more about the plot. 🤐 I have been a fan of the show Survivor since it began over 20 years ago but nothing prepared me for this book. This makes Survivor look like child's play. It was as if the author new exactly what I would want from this kind of story. Do I have any survival instinct? HA! I'd be in the fetal position weeping like a baby so maybe that's why I find these stories so fascinating. They are just so beyond me and my abilities. Maddy was a character that I really came to care for and the misery they put her through had me ripping my hair out in utter frustration. I'm not a violent person but I would have loved to punch a few characters in the face on behalf of Maddie and I was wishing Maddie would do just that. My only small niggle may be that all the foraging of wild weeds and mushrooms went a little over my head - also the reason I will probably die if left in the wild. As for the ending, I loved it, and I closed the book with a satisfied smile on my face.

Super fun and highly entertaining, what more can I ask for? 4.5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for my complimentary copy.

This one was a bit of a mixed bag for me.

Here’s what worked: a timely and clever premise; the before/during/after timelines, which heightened the suspense; the role of botany in the storyline; the sense of place - I felt as though I was on that barren, windy Scottish Island.

What didn’t: I had trouble connecting with any of the characters, or understanding their motives. I understood that the main character was an intentionally unreliable narrator, but she was both passive and combative, always at the worst possible moment, I also struggled with the pacing. The first two thirds of the book seemed slow (which was not an altogether bad thing - I felt truly marooned on that island), with the last third all in a rush.

I am so appreciative of the chance to read this ARC. Thank you so much!

An incredible, terrifying, tense and gripping thriller. I could not put it down. This is a must read!

HOLY CATS WHAT A RIDE THIS WAS!!!!!!!!! You always hear about the books you "can't put down" and "psychological thriller" and the book you think about when you do have to put it down and when can you pick it up again to find out what happens?! This is that book.

Maddie has spent her whole life rather sheltered from the world, with no friends to speak of other than her overprotective parents. Suddenly, they are gone from her life in a split second and she is beside herself. When the opportunity presents itself to apply for a TV show that mocks the world has ended and left 8 "survivors" on an island for a year, Maddie decides this is just what she needs to get away. Except it is much more than she bargained for when the group turns on her.

This book reminded me of every group project I have ever had to participate in where I do all the work and other people take the credit and/or the lazy one attempts to take charge just to turn the group against you. I fully understood Maddie's character for exactly this reason. This book infuriated me, literally. These jerks she is put on the island with are really pieces of work in themselves.

This is the third book this year I have read about a group on an isolated island where things turn terrible. This is the first one that scared me good and that I've given five stars. Sometimes what you can see, feel, hear and touch is much scarier than what you can't. Highly effective writing, I would look for other works by this author. WOW.

Debut from this author and it’s on the whole good
8 strangers are plonked on a remote Scottish Island and have to ‘start a new life’ for 1 year for a reality TV show, Maddie ( 1 of the 8 ) is our main narrator with cut in’s from a TV interview and also interviews to ‘get on’ the show
Of course friction soon appears and for some inexplicable reason Maddie is castigated and made to be the villain of the island and what follows is her determination to survive what turns out to be far more than a TV show
Maddie is a very strong book character and I liked her, her narration, thoughts and realism, the other 7 were far more easy to dislike, intently!
Very tense, at times claustrophobic and also at times I felt unsure why the whole thing had happened but that didn’t deter from what was a good modern day survival story, dubious ending to raise an eyebrow that still didn’t take away from an enjoyable and well documented account of being Stranded with literally no way out

7/10
4 Stars

Stranded is a real rollercoaster of a story. It has twists, turns and shocks galore. It was a book I could not put down.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for my ARC.

Lord of the Flies meets Survivor and reality TV in Stranded, an impossible to put down first novel by Sarah Goodwin. Atmospheric, suspenseful, creative, it’s hard to forget.

This will be a TV show about strangers building a community. Eight people, four men and four women, are chosen to spend a year on remote, uninhabited Buidseach Island. Buidseach means witch and yes, there are legends. At first, all goes well. There are some supplies and everyone has brought personal necessary items. The first argument happens after five weeks. Maddy, a botanist and forager with some knowledge of herbal medicine, is the narrator. She is also a true loner who finds social contact and bonding exercises difficult. She’s not the only one. As food supplies dwindle, frustration and anger bubble to the surface. Difficult personalities are revealed and Maddy realizes she can only rely on herself to survive.

Stranded is an imaginative, terrifying 5 star read. Sarah Goodwin uses foreshadowing in the early chapters to make sure you know things will get worse. The slow buildup in the first half of the book leads to a rollercoaster ride of tension, cruelty, hallucinations and death. This is an amazing debut. I look forward to seeing what Goodwin does next!

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon Books UK and Sarah Goodwin for this ARC.

Stranded by Sarah Goodwin. Thanks to @avonbooks and @netgalley for the gifted e-Arc ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Maddy has lived a sheltered, isolated, but cared for life. When her parents die, she applied for a reality show to help bring her out of her shell. The contestants are dropped on an island for a year, to simulate and survive the end of the world.

Wow this was an exciting read. It was almost TOO exciting. Several times I had to put it down because my heart was racing. There were some unexpected turns that surprised me as well. Besides the anxiety, there was also character growth. A lot of the book was about survival and learning to live in the wilderness, which I especially enjoy reading. If you’re looking for a heart-pounding, page turner, this is it.

“We are all animals when cornered.”

“If it was to be survival of the fittest, I would okay to win.”

Stranded comes out 9/16.

It started off a little slow, but once the action actually started the novel was super thrilling. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for review.


4.5/5

Thanks to Sarah Goodwin, Avon Books and NetGalley for the ARC of Stranded.

What a gripping read. A cross between lord of the Flies, Castaway and TV Series Survivor, this book had my heart in my mouth and completely engrossed, compelling me to keep reading late into the night.

Maddie has just lost her parents and is in need of escape, so as crazy as it may seem, when the opportunity to go on a survival based reality TV show appears, she grabs it with both hands. Living for 1 year on a remote island off the coast of Scotland - 8 strangers from all walks of life need to work together to build a community and survive whatever the island throws at them.

Told from Maddie's perspective of time before the island, on the island and the aftermath, we learn about the 8 characters on Buidseach Island, and how relationships turned sour and became divided before taking a dark and sinister turn.

The scene setting by Sarah is so strong, that at times you can almost feel it- the tension, the claustrophobia, the fear. Maddie and Zoe in particular were really strong characters who I could picture really clearly.

I loved this book and completely devoured it in 24 hours - for me personally it managed to fill the gap that The Castaways didn't quite reach for me.

My only negative, and the reason for only 4 stars not 5, is that the ending did seem a teeny bit rushed and paced up pretty rapidly and as such it felt quite abrupt after such a build up.

Overall though, A fab read from Sarah Goodwin and definitely one to add to your list!

A great story with plenty of twists and turns that will keep you glued to the page. Reminded me a bit of "the Beach". It can sometimes get shocking and dark but isn't that what good storytelling is about. I'd definitely recommend this book.

Maddie lost everything when her parents died in a car crash. In her grief, she is unable to see a way forward. When an opportunity to leave civilization and live on a remote island suddenly crops up, she is determined to be chosen to participate.

Now she is one of a group of eight people chosen to live off the land on Buidseach Island as part of a reality show. They will be simulating the rebuilding society after an imaginary apocalypse. Each participant brings along a set of skills and a few tools, with the intent that they will work cooperatively to survive on the island for one year with no help from the outside. Each contestant is equipped with a body camera to record everything that happens and footage collected over the course of the year will be edited to create the show. Two members of the production company will be housed on the far end of the island with the understanding that the contestants will only make contact in the case of a grave emergency.

As the days progress into weeks, one of the other contestants, Duncan, takes on a leadership role in the group. As cliques begin to form, tension builds within the group until tempers flare, accusations are made and one member of the group is cast out.

Beginning eighteen months after the group arrives on the island, a haggard woman appears in an isolated fishing village asking for the police. From here, the book jumps back and forth between the groups experiences on the island and the aftermath.

Stranded had me hooked from the opening line and kept me engrossed until the end. The author did a great job of building tension and suspense. The characters are well-developed and the island is so well described that you can almost see it. Esme Sears was fantastic with the narration.

Too many psychological thrillers have naive female lead characters that behave in an unrealistic manner and move through the story doing one stupid thing after another. I love the fact that Sarah Goodwin gives us such a strong, smart female protagonist in Maddie.

An outlandish tale of reality TV/social experiment going to the extreme. 8 people have been selected to spend a year alone on an island for TV. Maddy has just lost both her parents and is looking for escape so signs up.

Little does she know how bad a decision this will turn out to be!

The story is far-fetched but kept my interest. The characters are believable and the dynamics between them are what keep you reading; trying to work out everyone’s motives.

A good read that kept the suspense. I think I would rate this 3.5 out of 5 but will round up to 4.

A tv reality show gone awry, I listened too this audio book and it made compulsive listening! Maddie is one of eight strangers who are dropped on a remote Scottish island for one year to see how they can live and work together cooperatively to survive. They begin to work together but Maddie feels alienated, others in the group gradually show their true colours, and their trust in each other becomes compromised. The atmosphere of remoteness and isolation is brilliantly portrayed, as is Maddie's fear. A chilling, tense and compulsive read. I thought the narration was brilliant. Thank you to Sarah Goodwin, Net Galley and Harper Collins Audio for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A debut thriller, a Lord Of The Flies for the reality TV age.

Told from the perspective of Maddy, one of eight participants selected to spend almost a year on a remote Scottish island. If you seen any of those TV shows you know it doesn't take long for tensions to rise, arguments, factions forming and for things to go wrong.

The characterisation, especially of the socially awkward Maddy, is really good. She struggles to try and fit in and work as a team with more selfish and dominant personalities.

I thought the book really excelled after the island society has fractured and the plot keeps moving is unexpected directions and the tension keep rising throughout the book.

A few aspects, particularly in regard to the TV company's handling of events didn't ring true, but overall this is a great book, accessible, immediate, twisting and full of tension, and it all wraps up in a very satisfying manner.

Highly recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley and Avon Books

Wow what a book what a story it's kind of reminded me of the TV show lost or the TV show Survivor which was a reality based TV show based on surviving in the middle of nowhere. And it also kind of reminded me of Lord of the flies except it wasn't children

I must have a sick and twisted mind because I actually enjoyed the characters decline as they spent more time on the island and like one of the flies and lost they formed clicks. I feel bad for these characters as all they wanted to do was go home.

This story was definitely a page Turner I was on the edge of my seat the whole time and this is one I completely recommend. I enjoy books like this. Call me twisted but I do

Thank you to Avon UK books and to net galley for allowing me to read this arc for an honest review.

All thoughts and opinions are completely mine and mine alone.

If you liked the show survivor, you will like this! It was quite a thriller and kept you wondering where it was going, but almost to a fault. It felt like sometimes there holes and then some of them would be answered as you read on. It was a good read and it was a dark read, which was heavy at times.

A compulsive, taut thriller which kept me reading into the small hours! The story of the eight people on the island, plus two camera crew, is all told from Maddy's point of view and I just had to know how she fared. There was such an underlying air of menace once the group fractured, I felt like I needed to know how she was coping with whatever came next. There was lots of detail about surviving in this kind of remote island environment which really gave depth to the story. Less depth with the characters, aside from our protagonist, who all became largely unlikeable as time went on. It was chilling and thrilling and very compelling, if you like a good thriller, this is highly recommended!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel. The plot involves what happens when a group of strangers are intentionally stranded on a deserted island for a year. The tensions that arise are reminiscent of Lord of the Flies but the characters have their own distinctive personalities and hang ups which drive the plot. The narrator's version of events puts us right into the centre of events and allows us to empathise with her situation and the decisions she is forced to make to survive. This novel is a real page turner which I would highly recommend as something a bit different.