I don’t think i wasted my time, per say, on this book but I do wish I hadn’t picked it up in the first place. Maybe I was just expecting it to be more romance centric than it ended up being but thats on me.

I fell in love with Georgia Clark's writing style reading 'It Had to Be You'. This latest book did not disappoint me in the least!

This book is again told in an almost 'Love, Actually' kind of way, where all of the characters have a common thread (in this book, all the characters are stranded on the same island). If you are going into this book calling it a rom-com, you will be doing yourself a disservice. While there is an element of romance in this book, there is so much more as well! Each character is at a different point in their lives: a separated couple who hasn't told their adult daughters yet, a queer married couple who are in the midst of life altering changes, a single woman wondering how committed her partner is to their relationship. Each character has their own point of view, and their own story, and your understanding of each person grows as the novel goes on.

What is so masterful about her writing is that Georgia manages to blend each character's story into a deeper understanding of the group and how they function together as a whole. I never felt confused by all the different points of view, instead marveling at just how each person in the story affects the others.

I loved this book for so many reasons! I love how Georgia Clark's books normalize LGBTQ relationships. I love that she treats older characters as real people with real concerns rather than giving them the standard 'parent' role as simply the cheerleader for their children. I love that in this book we learn about the indiginous people of Queensland. I just loved it, period.

Thank you so much to Atria Books for providing me an ARC of this book.

I enjoyed this book. I would give it somewhere between 3.5 to 4 stars. I loved the lesbian romance aspects of this book (there are two), but felt like the other relationships fell flat for me. Even the married lesbian relationship was a bit boring. I wouldn't read this book if you are looking for a light and fun summer romance. This is a little more involved and has family drama. Overall I liked this book but the cover is a bit deceiving. It's not a light book.

Definitely less focused on romance and more of a family drama. Slow getting into it, lots of details to remember, but the more I read, the more it flowed. Loved the setting & adventures (tsunamis, whales, birds, crocs, turtles, oh my!) the inclusion of indigenous history, and the birdwatching dads. All the characters had pretty big glow ups, but I felt like there were too many perspectives to keep track of. Liss, Jarrah and Glen were the most interesting to me. Amelia and Jules drove me nuts. Matty and Parker were forgettable.

Thanks Netgalley for providing me an arc!

DNF @ 50% - I really tried to like this one! the LGBTQ+ aspects of it were amazing and I absolutely loved the family tension and realistic prospects of a relationship. however, the writing was too juvenile and drawn out for me. I felt like the plot was going absolutely no where. definitely works for those desiring a hallmark movie!!

I just finished up Island Time and it felt like I was on vacation the entire time!! I can't wait to read more by this author!!

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria books for this advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Kelly and Lee family are meeting in a small island off the coast of Australia for a week vacation away. After a nearby volcano erupts, the family becomes stuck on the island for 6 weeks. This is when the family really learns who they are together and individually. The families are full of secrets and these secrets could make or break relationships within the family.

What I liked:
* LGBTQ representation in this book was notable.
* The setting seemed like a dream land even through a tropical storm, volcano eruption, and typhoon.

What I didn't love:
* It was hard to keep up with the number of characters in the book, especially since some of them had nicknames associated with them.
* Because there were so many characters, I felt that there was so much going on. I felt like Clark could have focused on 2 story lines and had the other people be sub-characters. Everyone didn't need their own drama.
*I had a difficult time understanding that these people had internet well enough for multiple people to be on zoom calls at the same time, but there were so many natural disasters that prevented them from getting off the island.

While this wasn't my favorite, I will definitely read another book by Georgia Clark. I wanted to like this book. I have enjoyed Clark's other books and I was hoping that this would be one I liked as well. There was just a lot that I questioned as I was reading.

Definitely a book where I let the cover make me think it would be lighter and different than it was. I definitely picked the wrong time and place for this book. It’s not a beach read (for me), so I feel because of that, I was disappointed.

I loved Georgia Clark’s 𝐈𝐭 𝐇𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐁𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮 last year, so I was excited when @atriabooks offered me the ebook of 𝐈𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞.

This story takes you to a gorgeous tropical island (fictional but fashioned after an island off the coast of Australia). Here the Kelly family and the Lees from America (in-laws) are vacationing together. What could possibly go wrong in this tropical paradise?

When a volcano erupts, its sets off a tsunami, which wreaks havoc on this small island. With only two employees on this remote getaway, the families now find themselves stranded for weeks until a rescue can be made. Now trapped together, people’s desires and lies begin to be revealed, just the sand beneath the ebbing tide.


I think the cover has been throwing a lot of readers off. They go in thinking this is a light, breezy rom-com. But instead, it deals with two families bound by their daughters in marriage. It talks about survival, not just from a violent storm but also from the changes in life. I enjoyed how the environment was very much a character, begging for respect, just as each family member did as they forged their own path.

Thank you again to @atriabooks and @netgalley for the gifted ebook.

I cannot seem to get into this book. I'm DNF'ing and sad to do so. The cover is beautiful and the lgbtqia+ positive storyline really made me want to like it, but honestly its just not catching me. There is a lot of characters, and it's never clear who's point of view it's from. I almost wish each chapter was titled as a character and it stuck to one person. I also just can't seem to find any happy vibes and I'm over a 1/4 of the way in. For something that seemed a romcom it's very depressing.

While I don’t mind multiple POVs, I didn’t like it in this case. They switched so often and it was never clear whose POV it switched to.

I didn’t like any of the characters and the constant POV switching made the whole story feel choppy.

Sadly this one wasn’t for me.

I adored this book. It might be my favorite 2022 read so far. It’s multi POV, 7 in all I think, and it works brilliantly. It’s the perfect Covid/but not Covid book. 9 people stuck on island with each other and Wifi. Each with their own history, misconceptions and desires. Everyone just figuring out this thing called life. And underneath it all, romance, in all its messy and glorious forms. There were a couple lines that raised my eyebrows, a couple places that were slower than others, and it sometimes felt like she was explaining things for an American audience, but on the whole I found Clark’s writing to be poignant and the fictional island layered with a rich history and creative brushstrokes. I loved this book. It’s a spotlight on the human condition in the shape of a (serious) rom-com.

Short summary: Two families travel to a remote island for a weekend getaway their married daughters have arranged. What they get instead is 6 weeks of forced paradise and soul searching.

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited to get this ARC (just look at this cover!) but I have to admit that it ended up being a mixed bag for me. I think a huge part of that the book is being promoted as a rom com. I was getting those vibes from this cover as well and as a mood reader I think I was a bit let down that this was more of a romantic/family drama rather than a rom com.

Two families, Australian Kellys and American Lees are joined by the marriage of their daughters Matty and Parker and vacationing together on a tropical island in Australia. When circumstances leave them unexpectedly stranded on the island for 6 weeks with only each other and 2 island staff, dynamics within each family and between families start to shift in ways none of them could have anticipated.

Lets start with things I really enjoyed:
- beautiful exotic setting (though was disappointed to read that the island is not real)
- diverse, interesting group of characters
- thoughtful and insightful exploration of sexual and gender identities
- Indigenous history and culture (it really resonated with me how much it seems to mirror the way settlers treated Indigenous peoples of Canada)
- random, fascinating tidbits about Australia

Things I think could've used a bit more work:
- shifts between various points of view were not always smooth, I almost wish that the chapters were named after character they were focused on because it was not always clear
- I'm a reader who easily suspends belief for the pure joy of reading but some of the events seemed so unnecessarily dramatic and over the top. Made me think of Shonda Rhimes shows
- I'm also aware that I was reading an advanced copy so am hoping that a bit more editing helped tighten things a bit more

The scales definitely tip in favor of things I enjoyed over the few I didn't. If you are interested in family dramas set on tropical islands, LGBTQ2S+ romance & Indigenous issues, you might want to give Island Time a try!

Grateful to NetGalley and Atria Books for my copy of Island Time!

What a fabulous summer read! I loved the setting of it along with the fun cast of characters. I enjoyed all the different POV we get in this. I enjoyed getting different perspectives on all the situations occurring on the island. I also liked all the relationships in this and of course the wonderful LGBT representation too.

The Kelly family are on vacation with their American in-laws. The Kelly's are loud and real, and boisterous, while the Lees are the complete opposite, and frankly can't wait for this 'vacation' to end. Almost as soon as they all arrive on the remote island of Mun'dai off the coast of Australia there is a volcanic eruption on one of the islands that make up New Caledonia. This causes a tsunami to hit the coast of Australia, leaving a devastation of both ecological and man-made resources in its wake. The Kellys and Lees are stranded, along with the other occupants of the island.

All this forced time together, and also alone with their thoughts, makes them all examine what they really want, and causes secrets to bubble up to the surface.

By the third chapter I was completely homesick and longing for the smell of wattle and the distinct chatter of Australian birds. I'm not sure if Georgia Clark actually has the ability to write with an Australian accent, but that's certainly how I was reading this book in my head...which was bittersweet because we haven't been able to get home for a visit since 2018. If I'm not mistaken I think Mun'dai might have been loosely based on Lord Howe Island.

Her description of family and sisterhood was so relatable, and there is so much to this story that I struggle to fit it neatly into one genre. There is mystery, drama, family relationships, natural disasters, and of course love. Not to compare Aussie authors, but there was something about this book that also gave me Liane Moriarty vibes.

I didn't always love all of the characters, but they felt real and nuanced and I appreciated how they were all written. I enjoyed them all for different reasons, but I think the outgoing island caretaker Liss, might have been my favorite.

Amelia Kelly and her sister Matty have booked a holiday on an island off the coast of Australia. On the first night, a volcano causes a tidal wave that leaves them stranded on the island for six weeks. During that time, secrets are unraveled and truth is revealed, leaving everyone off-kilter. Amelia, fresh off heartbreak from learning her boyfriend is already married, she finds herself falling for the temporary service staffperson Lizz, who's returning to Canada as soon as she can get off the island again. Lizz doesn't believe it's anything more than a rebound, despite the fact that she's already emotionally invested herself. Will everything end up ruined or will speaking the truth bring freedom and healing?

A twisty, crazy story.

This is the second book I've read by Georgia Clark, and what I've loved most about both books is the full ensemble cast approach to a rom-com, although this one leaned a bit more in the family drama aspect for me. For much of the story, I found most of the characters (except for Liss) to be pretty unlikable. I spent most of the book feeling like not much was happening until all of a sudden *everything* was happening, so for me the pacing was a bit off.

I enjoyed the setting and this is a great drama-filled summer beach read for those looking for that.

Thanks to the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5/5 stars

ISLAND TIME review

⭐️⭐️.5/5

🌴I went into this one expecting a summery rom com, but was surprised to find this book is mostly about a natural disaster. I was intrigued by the plot, but it quickly fell apart for me. There were 9 different POVs and they were hard to keep straight. I wish the chapters had been labeled with whose POV it was instead of just chapter numbers. I also felt like none of the POVs really meshed. They all followed their own side plots that had basically nothing in common except for what island they were stuck on.

🌴Here’s a summary of the plot:👇
The Kelleys and the Lees decide to take a vacation to a remote island in Australia. The two families have seemingly nothing in common, but are there together to celebrate the marriage of their daughters. Their trip to paradise goes south quickly when a natural disaster strikes, and they find out they’re trapped on the island for at least 6 weeks.

🌴I did like that this book had good LGBTQ+ representation. I think the book could have been shortened significantly and only focused on two or three POVs. I think it was just too clunky and loooooong for me to really enjoy it.

DNF
I skimmed this but wasn’t interested in the first 10%. I loved the authors last book, It Had To Be You, but this was such a letdown. Too much going on, too many POVs but mostly just boring, unlikeable characters and storylines. How is there a major disaster but they still have internet and everything? Also, this was so slow and long, way too long. I was uninterested in everything and the characters nicknames were so cringey. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free preview in exchange for an honest review.

After devouring It Had To Be You last year, I could not wait to pick up this new one by Georgia Clark. Like It Had To Be You it features an ensemble of characters looking for love while stranded on a tropical island. In-laws, the Kelleys and the Lees get stuck while on their family vacation and have to learn how to get along. Some find new love while the others find new friendships or hobbies. This one fell a bit short of my high expectations but I did enjoy it overall. Thank you Netgalley and Atria - Emily Bestler Books for the egalley in exchange for my honest review.