Amelia is so excited to introduce her boyfriend to her family, and her sisters in laws.. She books a trip to a remote tropical island in Australia.When a nearby volcano erupts, her entire family is stranded on this island for the next six weeks.Both sets of parents are vastly different, and having to make do on the island, proves to be very interesting. Everyone is forced to question what - or who they really want.

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So, I will admit I went into this book blindly and definitely judged this book based on this cute cover. I assumed this book was going to be a fun rom com set on an island - fruity cocktails and all. Well, I was mistaken. This wasn't a romance novel AT ALL. At best, it was about family drama, with a liiiitle bit of romance thrown in.

There were honestly too many characters...NINE to be exact, and there was too much going on to truly enjoy this book. The chapters were beyond excessive, and some of the situations could have been omitted to make this read more streamlined. The pov jumping made it really hard to follow along and all the characters were meh to me. The only person I could really relate to was Parker's mom. She's Russian, and her backstory (and the use of Russian words) was something I could connect with.

While I enjoyed the lgbtqia+ representation and the Taylor Swift references, this book was unfortunately not for me.

Simone Says Read This if you enjoy:

*tropical islands
*family drama
*forced proximity tropes
*Australian wildlife
*lgbtqia+ rep

Thank you to @netgalley and @atriabooks for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review

Rating: Solid Book, 3 stars

Island Time tells the story of the extended Kelly-Lee clan. Matty and Parker are the couple who bring these two families together in marriage, and the women in are in the process of a move to Matty's home country of Australia when the two families take a vacation on Mun'dai, a fictional island off the coast of Queensland. The intent was to bond for several days and then the newlyweds would begin their life in Australia and become parents; however, all that changes when a nearby volcano erupts, stranding them on the island with two other people for 6 weeks until they are able to be retrieved.

This book is pitched as a romance, and I totally understand why. There are lots of relationships forming, breaking, and strengthening in this book, several of them queer. However, I don't know that I would necessarily consider this a romance novel. It felt more like Women's Fiction with a strong romantic element, which is not always my favorite. However, the setting on this was magical and transportive. I thought it was really well depicted. According to the Author's Note, this was the author's labor of love during 2020 when they went back home in their writing and research when the pandemic kept them away from their family back home, and I feel like you can really see that shine through.

We follow each of the 9 characters who are stranded on the island and follow their story and struggle. I think the central focus is on the two Kelly sisters: Matty and Amelia. I felt like the characters that we see the least from were personally the most interesting to me, so that took away from some of my enjoyment. Matty and Amelia were both frustrating characters because they felt like they were in their early twenties, and then some line would remind me that they were in their mid to late thirties. Their mother Jules was also a POV that we got quite often, and it was one that I wouldn't have minded a bit less of because I didn't like her at all.

My favorites were: Parker (Matty's wife), Liss (the island caretaker and Amelia's love interest), Glen (Matty and Amelia's dad), and Ludmila (Parker's mom). I feel like the only one whose perspective we really got a lot of was Liss as the story focused quite a bit on her and Amelia's romance. These were the characters that I felt like had to deal with a lot of the ridiculousness of the other characters and who I wanted to spend more time with.

That was really my main complaint was that some of the characters were just really frustrating and not particularly enjoyable to spend time with. My other big complaint was that this book was way too long. It could have been about 100 pages shorter, and I probably would have enjoyed it more. I just feel like it was trying to take too much on to make it particularly enjoyable. There was a lot happening with a marriage breaking up, a new marriage dealing with some of their first big conflict, and a new relationship trying to get off the ground. I honestly don't understand why some of these characters are putting up with their romantic interests, but that's just me.

Overall, there were things that I enjoyed about this book but the things that I didn't like were big enough that it didn't quite fit in my Enjoyed It category.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. Island Time releases June 14, 2022.

🌴Review - ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5🌴

🗓Pub Date: June 14, 2022 (today!)

Amelia Kelly books an island vacation in Australia for her family and her sister’s in laws. Thinking this will be a great vacation for her family and her new boyfriend, Amelia has tried to make everything perfect. That is, until a volcano erupts on the island, leaving everyone stranded for at least six weeks. With the travel ban in place, Amelia’s boyfriend is unable to attend their vacation and both families are now stuck together in close proximity, along with two workers on the island (Liss and Jarrah). With two very different families and a multitude of personalities, will this isolation bring them all closer together or will it put some relationships to the test? And what new relationships will form?

I was SO excited for this book and had such high hopes, but it fell really short for me. I felt like the characters were all over the place and it was hard for me to connect with any of them. I felt like Amelia was pretty immature for her age and I found her mom, Jules, to be extremely selfish and needy.

The chapters were also told from multiple POV (I think 9?) and sometimes it was hard to figure out which character was narrating the chapter. I did find that some chapters really seemed to drag on, while others were really short and left some unanswered questions.

I did enjoy the setting of a remote tropical island and reading about different landscape and wildlife. I feel like the author did a great job of describing the island and making you feel like you were there.

Along with A LOT of family drama, there was also a sense of discovering your purpose and finding yourself, which I enjoyed watching transpire.

Overall, I did enjoy certain parts of this book while there were others that I did not. This was the perfect book to start off with in June, as there were multiple queer romance storylines with a little bit of steam. Happy #pridemonth!

Thank you NetGalley and Atria for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much NetGalley for providing me with an advanced digital copy of this book. A family drama that takes place on a beautiful island when natural disaster strikes, what could go wrong?!

I loved that it was so lgbtq+ positive and inclusive. Perfect for pride month! I enjoyed the characters, but I felt that there were too many points of view to follow at times. Once I pinned down who everyone was, it was easier to follow.

Overall this was a charming story & quick to read! I would love to read more by this author. 3.5 stars!

🌴 Book Review 🌴

Island Time by Georgia Clark
1.75/5 ⭐️

I was really excited for this book, but I ended up DNFing 20% in because there were just a few things I couldn’t get past. This definitely may be a case where it’s just me. I was so excited because my guilty pleasure are disaster movies, and this book is about how two families cope with being stuck on an island after a volcano/tsunami but it wasn’t enough to get me past the ick 🥲

What Worked for Me:
- LGBTQIA+ representation
- exposes the concept of checking your privilege

What Didn’t Work For Me (MINOR SPOILERS ‼️‼️):
- Multiple POVs and 3rd Person. There were so many characters and it would switch POVs randomly and I couldn’t even tell who’s POV it was??? It was so confusing 😩
- JULES (one of the moms) gave me the ick from what she says. This includes “I had an indigenous BF once” right after an indigenous man rescues her after the tsunami. Is this necessary?? Also after she gets rescued by said man she says something along the lines of “he didn’t look at my daughter in her skimpy nightgown so he was either a gentleman or gay.” WHAT???
- Ludmila (the other mother) was just so unlikeable and privileged that it got my blood boiling in a way where I wanted to stop reading
- Back to Jules. There’s a scene where she talks about how great a mother she is cause she was so supportive of her daughter coming out. Uhm. You’re supposed to be supportive? You don’t get a gold star for accepting your child. You’re supposed to love and accept them regardless.

I was really excited to read a rom com with lgbtqia+ representation for pride month, but this one just did not hit the mark for me. From the parts I read, I didn’t find much humor or romance and found some dialogue completely unnecessary. That being said I have heard good things about other Georgia Clark books so I definitely want to give her other works a try.

Thank you to @netgalley and @atriabooks for giving me this arc in an exchange for an honest review! Island Time comes out tomorrow, 6/14 🌴

This was a fun read about families stuck on an island. The plot was enjoyable and it was just the right book I needed for my mood!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy to honestly review.

I was lucky enough to get a free eARC of this book from Net Galley. I was excited to try this one. I’ve read It Had To Be You by this author and enjoyed it so I was excited. Unfortunately it missed the mark for me. I always love reading lgbtqia+ friendly books , especially during pride month, and enjoyed the Australian setting, loved the descriptions of the wildlife and learning about the Aboriginal people.

Unfortunately, the bad outweighed the good. Too many points of view, I think there were 9 in total. This was my primary complaint in this authors other book. I felt the disaster was a bit unrealistic and the attempted humor made me cringe.

Read this if you like: LGBTQ representation, multiple POVs, tropical locations, summer reads

I feel like this may be an unpopular opinion but I thought I would love this book. There's an lesbian couple, who I did love. They were the only ones I liked. They along with their families go on vacation together. The Kellys are messy, loud, loving Australians. The Lees are sophisticated, aloof, buttoned-up Americans. They have nothing in common. A volcano erupts, literally, and the families are stranded there on the island. There was way too much unneeded drama in this book. That's saying a lot because I love some drama. There were way too many POVs, 9. Many of them did not need a POV. It could have just been the two women. This is marketed as a RomCom but I wasn't getting those vibes. The cover looks cute and sweet. I was disappointed in this book. The description isn't capturing how the story actually unfolds. I enjoyed the setting, the two women, and a couple more things. I would try other books by this author but this one wasn't it.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Atria Books for the gifted copy. ❤️

Island Time

Unfortunately this book did not work for me. While I didn’t have issues keeping all the various characters and their storylines straight, it suffered from a lack of serious editing. How a book where so much happens, can be so boring is perplexing.

I did enjoy the setting. I loved learning about aboriginal culture and way of life. The LGBTQ representation was great and I loved that it felt authentic.

However, overall… these characters were mostly unlikeable. All critiques aside, I would be willing to read whatever this author writes next.

Georgia Clark has the unique ability to write great ensemble dramas. Her books remind me of movies like Valentine’s Day and New Year’s Eve with multiple interconnected story lines revolving around.

🌊 ISLAND TIME starts out with a major event that totally hooked me! Then, I have to say, all momentum came to a halt….. the end picked back up nicely. Despite the slow pace, I had to know what what was going to happen to each member of the family!

🏝 The tropical island setting was pretty cool and also a little intimidating - lots of weather and living things (spiders, birds, crocs…😬)

💖There are a couple of romances happening that kept me satisfied. Mild steamy details and great LGBTQ+ rep! I loved how each character grew and changed during their time on the island.

This book was cute overall, but there were some things that bothered me. First, it had too many points of view telling the story, it was confusing keeping the characters straight. I enjoyed the cultural aspect, but didn’t find it was really a “romance” it was more of a family (drama?) not really that either. I also found that many themes or ideas were introduced but then just dropped and not explored. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book!

Clark is a master at telling multiple people's emotional journeys and this story of a family who get stranded on a remote Australian island is no exception. Bonus points for LGBTQ and non-binary rep but it took me about 50% of the book to get invested in the characters. I really enjoyed the second half but the first was slow. 3.5 stars

Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for the copy to review.

𝟹.𝟻 ⭐️ // 𝙸𝚜𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚃𝚒𝚖𝚎 (ARC ebook)

𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐟 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:
After nearby volcano erupts and creates a powerful tropical storm, the three-day family vacation for the Kelly’s and the Lee’s turns into 6-weeks of being stranded on an island. During their forced proximity with only two other island employees, they discover each other’s quirks and secrets, and some romantic feelings start shaking the dynamic.

𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰:
The cover and book title first caught my attention, and I love a good “forced proximity” love story. I enjoyed the fast pace of the chapters, and I liked hearing the perspectives of the different characters. However, I was a little disappointed about the ending. It felt like it stopped abruptly. Otherwise, it was very entertaining, and it had both romance and women’s lit themes.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝 —
👀 Multiple POVs
💕 Romance
🖤 Diverse Characters
🏳️‍🌈 LGBTQ+ Rep
🥾 Adventurous
😂 Plenty of LOL Moments
🔒Forced Proximity
🏃‍♀️ Fast Paced

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐟 —
♟ You enjoy board games
🏝 You wouldn’t mind being stuck on an island
🎤 You fall hard for singers/musicians
🍹 You’d need a strong drink during forced family time
🎣 You enjoy picking up new hobbies, like fishing

𝐓𝐖: infidelity, divorce, near-death experience, drowning

Thank you, NetGalley and Atria/Emily Bestler Books, for providing me an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Georgia Clark’s ‘Island Time’ is at times entertaining and at times a little long-winded. Set on a fictional island off the coast of Australia, this novel depicts what happens when a natural disaster strands two families on said island, forcing them to confront relationship dynamics and other truths in super authentic (and oft times uncomfortable ways).

The star of this novel is definitely the setting. It feels lush and decadent, and the author does a nice job of incorporating Indigenous history and stories into the story. There is also a wonderful sapphic romance that serves as one of the (many) storylines in the book. This is a multiple POV (nine total, I think) narration, so if you like an ensemble element, you will get that in spades in this book.

For me, it took me a while to get into the flow of the book, and it I felt like the pacing could have been better given the book’s long length.

Through no fault of the author, I feel like the cover and genre categorization of this book miss the mark. This is more general fiction than women’s fiction. And it is definitely not a genre romance. I think that might have been why I had a tough time reading the book; I was expecting a different kind of story.

That all being said, I think that fans of Clark’s other work will definitely enjoying reading ‘Island Time,’ if only for the fantastic setting and some of the romantic elements of the narrative.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

Georgia Clark is back with another quirky, sexy, messy ensemble that I couldn't put down. This time it's two families (in-laws united in marriage by their daughters) stuck on a remote island after a natural disaster cut them off from society. It doesn't take long for all the very real, very complex, feelings to come bubbling to the surface. A fun read.

This book has 9 povs. At first I was a tad bored with the book. So I stopped and read a few other books. I needed to cross this off my list. So I started again and was able to finish it. Hallelujah. It's basically a family drama. Lots of secrets. Bad communication amongst the family and they are all trapped on an island for six weeks. I didn't care about any of the characters except the Dad. He seemed sweet and stuck in a mean family.

If you like family drama, this book is for you. I liked it but it wasn't my favorite.

Georgia Clark's new ensemble-comedy romance is well worth the read--though it is more a general fiction dramedy than romance. The Kelleys and the Lees are as different as two families can be. The only thing they have in common? Their daughters are married. With this premise, we move through a story of drama, comedy and family. I really enjoyed the relationships in this book, between parents and their children, siblings and siblings, in-laws and in-laws. Clark writes complicated family relationships and dynamics really well. All of that worked very well for me. But it's been marketed specifically as a romance when it definitely is not. There are romantic aspects and relationships of course but overall this is a dramatic comedy, emphasis on the dramatic. At times it honestly felt too dramatic and too heavy in comparison to the summary. It's not exactly what I was expecting, which isn't a bad thing by any means as I did enjoy the book, but it wasn't really what was advertised in my opinion. Still, Georgia Clark has an enjoyable writing style and I'll be looking into her other work as well as future projects!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Two families who couldn't BE more different end up on an island together to celebrate the marriage of their daughters. The Kellys can navigate around the sophisticated (read: uptight) Lees for a few days, and the Lees can deal with the messy and loud Kellys in the name of playing nice. However, when a volcano erupts nearby, the two families are trapped on the remote Queensland island for six weeks and are forced to confront their issues — a failed marriage, a nefarious boyfriend, and hesitation on procreation — with no way to escape.

I just love every character that comes out of the mind palace of Georgia Clark. Just like her book from last year, It Had To Be You, the novel has an ensemble narrative, bouncing perspectives around the island. I just loved the self discovery happening all around, from the two dads bonding over birds to an unexpected yet STEAMY romance (and I do mean steamy). Also like major kudos to Georgia for writing such an inclusive, representative cast. Know this book isn't *only* a romance, but boy oh boy does it celebrate queer love in such a special way. And messy families. And major life decisions. All in such a fun setting!

What did I read? I was so close to DNFing, but my brain wouldn't let me! This was a rom com? Was there romance? Sure. Was there comedy? Meh, I guess? But overall this was a family drama about a family who gets stuck on an island in Australia after a tsunami hits and how they survive the 6 weeks together and with the islanders. If you go into it with that in mind, I think you will enjoy this, but as it is being marketed as a rom-com, I would say you won't get what you are looking for.

For me this book had way too many characters and points of view. I was constantly trying to remember who everyone was in relation to each other. It also didn't help that nicknames were involved as well. I also found a lot of it to be not believable. Off the bat a tsunami hits, and everything is somewhat fine. They still have wifi and all the luxuries of their villa. It just seemed unrealistic. And they keep talking about food shortages, but yet are always cooking and baking big fabulous meals for each other. Not to mention the romance in this book was so insta-love and not in the believable way. Also all the characters were somewhat cringey. Matty and Parker and their "boo-boo" was unbearable! Amelia asking Liss to marry her after what, a 10 day relationship, after she was convinced she was going to marry James before he dropped a bombshell on her. Ummmm what? The only relationship I found cute was Mr Kelly and Mr Lee and their quest to find the mysterious bird.

I really wish I had nicer things to say about this. Maybe re-market it as a LGBT+ Family Drama and it would be much more successful.

I was excited to read this book because the cover is so fun and the idea of being stuck on a tropical island paradise with family seemed like a really interesting concept. It didn't quite land for me though. There were too many points of view and I felt like while I wanted to get to know some of the secondary characters, it seemed like we were given just enough of their perspective to create rambling side stories but not enough to really care about.