I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this book. From the quirky family, to the beautiful imagery, to the fascinating Australian Aboriginal history, I could not put this book down.

Each character seemed to be dealing with their own individual life crises, and Georgia Clark did such a good job of allowing the readers to see into each individual mind. Normally, when plots jump from one characters point of view to another, and are constantly back and forth, I get extremely confused and deterred from completing the story. But Georgia Clark organized each chapter beautifully, with a new perspective and amazing detail of the Australian Island.

I thoroughly enjoyed the drama, the heartbreak, and the comedy. I think Georgia Clark did a fantastic job with the queer romance. It was very refreshing to have actual queer characters and a real queer romance.

I fell in love with every single character, felt a connection to each character, and I felt hurt when they felt hurt. This book is absolutely a major page-turner. I couldn’t put this down and just wanted to know what happened next. Bravo, Georgia Clark.

*Thank you NetGalley for early access to this ARC in exchange for my honest review.*

Island Time by Georgia Clark is a sapphic, sexy, salty, and soapy read 🏝

The Kellys and Lees travel to a beautiful Australian island for a family vacation. 🏝What they don’t count on is being stranded on the island with the two employees for 6 weeks after a volcano erupts. Questions of love and life start to surface and causes our cast of characters to dive deep into answering those questions 🏝

I loved Georgia Clark’s It Had to Be You, and Island Time didn’t disappoint. While the two were uniquely different, what remained constant was Clark’s keen ability to write multiple POVs with subplots and still connect them seamlessly is so well done. 🙌🏼

A huge thank you to @atriabooks and @netgalley for the digital ARC!

I read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I believe that here, it's a case of, 'It's me, not you.' I really wanted to like this book, with it's ideal location and love for the ecosystem. It even dealt with same sex relationships and having kids.
I just couldn't get into it. I found it difficult to work out whose perspective I was reading again. Maybe it was bad timing and I needed something lighter.
2.5 stars (Won't be posting this review online).

I’m so sorry, I need to read the summary better for books, the topics in this book is unfortunately not something I feel comfortable reading. The review will be solely based on the cover, the cover is what grabbed my attention. It’s so cold in Chicago, and the setting looks so dreamy.

A fun beach read that makes one wish for the summer season to start! I enjoyed Island Time and hope other readers find it as good as I did.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC copy.

Loved!! This book brought me straight to the beach and into their lives. This was my first book by this author and I am definitely a fan. A must-have on your summer reading list!

Who isn’t ready for some ‘Island Time’ about now! Especially those of us in the Midwest! This was perfect timing for a little get away for me. This is my second book by our author and I really loved it. It was a really good fit for me at the perfect time. While the books are totally different I actually found it interesting that a lot of my thoughts overall are similar. I actually want to buy a physical copy of the book to highlight portions of it. Many people are familiar with an island we have here in Michigan called Mackinac Island (so fortunately right near our home) and I felt very connected in that our island is very small (8 miles in circumference) and no cars are allowed so we take a ferry to it and some land is also historic and protected so it was very easy to put myself in the setting of this book and feel the “vibe” so to speak.

‘Island Time’ is a wonderful story of two families vacationing on an island together. They are seemingly very different but share one obvious thing in common, their daughters are married to each other. A storm hits the island and they have no other choice than to try to make things work, together, for an extended period of time. At times the book was funny and witty and at others it had a very serious tone. It also has some pretty spicy scenes too. I couldn’t help wondering if the book contained reflections of our author and her own family as I read it. Once again Georgia Clark does an amazing job of representing “queer romance”. I am a huge ally and equality is incredibly important to my own family so it is also very important to me that more and more books published normalize all relationships and identities.

So let’s talk about the things I liked about the book. Once again we are presented with a lot of characters. Magically our author weaves them together to not make it feel overwhelming or feel like too many. Somehow you can still keep track of them and get to know them really well. We are effortlessly taken on a ride to the past and then so delicately put back into the present part of the story. You don’t even necessarily realize you are getting backstory on the character until you are resuming the present situation. I don’t think this is always done seamlessly in books but our author has it down pat. The other thing I really enjoyed was again how realistically flawed the characters are. How they are presented with realistic situations and have normal realistic reactions, they sometimes need to apologize and they sometimes need to look deep within themselves. I think her characters are very relatable. The descriptions were wonderful and it was the kind of book that feels more like watching a movie than reading.

Many thanks to our author Georgia Clark and Katelyn of Emily Bestler | Atria Books | Simon & Schuster for providing me with an eARC on net galley in exchange for an honest review. 'Island Time' will be available on June 14th, 2022 and I hope if you pick it up you enjoy it as much as I did.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I loved this book. I can’t say enough good things about it. It’s a little less romance like than her other books it’s absolutely perfect. Everyone should add it to there summer reading list.

Love, love, love. Love so much. A fun, loving read. Georgia Clark has a way of pulling so many emotions out while maintaining a fun read. Love the Kelly’s so much, all of their backgrounds and thoughts and feelings. Amelia + Liss are beautiful and I love them and this book.

Pretty fun beach read with a great setting and entertaining family dynamics.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59365737

I’ve read two other Georgia Clark books and enjoyed them, however Island Time was disappointing unfortunately. The premise is that two very different families go on a vacation together and end up stranded. The book tackles queer romance, family relationships, and choosing between a career or a family.

What I liked: The representation in this book was decent. As well, I liked how the author included some Australian Indigenous culture in the book.

What could be better: I was expecting this book to be similar to her other novels - emotional but still light-hearted and fun - and I just did not get that vibe from this book at all. The writing reminded me of Liane Moriarty, in that there were multiple character perspectives throughout the book and it was hard to keep track of who was who, especially in the beginning. It also read like Liane Moriarty because there was a lot of Australian influence in the story.

I really wanted to like this book but unfortunately, this is a two-star read for me. If I hadn’t been reviewing it, I probably would have DNF’d because I was not enjoying myself.

*Please note that the ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

The Kellys and Lees have nothing in common but end up stranded on an island together for six weeks after a volcano eruption. Family dynamics change, heartbreak occurs, and of course, there’s a love story that develops.

Based on the synopsis, I thought this book was going to be a cute beach read, but unfortunately, it fell short. Georgia Clark does a wonderful job describing Mun’dai, the setting of the novel. Because Mun’dai is an island off the coast of Queensland, Clark provides a lot of insight into the culture of the island and the history of Aboriginal Australian people. To me, this was the most interesting part of the entire book, which is saying something because it is about 400 pages long.

One of the issues I had with Island Time is all the characters. This story is told from alternating perspectives, but there were just too many perspectives being shared. The characters are all at different stages in life, and I felt like the storyline was somewhat unfocused. The youngest main character was struggling to find herself after a surprise heartbreak, one couple was going through a divorce after 30+ years of marriage, and another couple was back-and-forth on whether parenthood was right for them or not. It seemed like all the characters were focused on self-discovery, which I appreciated, but it was just a lot. While I did like Glen Kelly and Ludmila and Randall Lee (probably the three most insignificant characters), I didn’t particularly care for any of the other characters.

I’ll applaud Clark for the detail she put into the setting and the diverse representation shown through the many characters, but this book just didn’t do it for me.

My ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Georgia Clark’s latest book, Island Time, is equal parts love story, family drama and Aboriginal study. I enjoyed each part, and surprisingly found the history of the Aboriginal Australian people fascinating and engaging. Set on a resplendent island in Australia, main character Amelia and her family travel to this glorious destination for vacation and time together. Unfortunately, their plans change drastically when disaster strikes, leaving everyone dazed and confused. Thankfully their disorientation is temporary and eventually leads to a trip no one will ever forget, nor regret. Instead of despair and heartache from said disaster, Clark leads each character towards growth and family healing, and in turn, leads the reader on a journey of their own... a wonderful journey with heart and soul at the center.

I went into this book thinking it was a messy, yet lighthearted romance - it was not that. Maybe if I knew the broad range of the book, I would have liked it more. Unfortunately, I thought most of the characters were selfish and annoying, so it was hard to connect with any of them.

Island time is a book set in a tropical paradise — where family comes together to share big news, but end up with more than they have bargained for.

Pros:
- absolutely loved that the books is told from everyone’s perspective. It gave a lot of depth to characters that seemed stand off-ish.
- loved the setting… it was fun and I loved reading about the characters exploring the island.
- queer representation
- love stories for all ages
- a bit of a look into the Indigenous Australian peoples

Cons:
- hated all of the characters (except Glen and Randall).
- the book would have been so much shorter if anyone (at all) knew how to communicate.

Overall, I give it a 3-3.5 ⭐️ There was a lot that I didn’t love, but it was a good read.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4624471721

I enjoyed this book but do note that it is a longer read. So full disclosure, I am absolutely horrendous with names IRL and often in stories, I can never remember the names of any of the characters. Romance books are often easy because there are like two characters, and it's easy enough to get by. This book, however, has so many characters - I was sort of confused for the first bit of the book. I didn't find the transitions to figure out who was speaking to be very seamless at all, but that could be just a personal issue. This book was pretty fun and did make me want to take a tropical vacation! Oh, and this is a queer story that I'm not sure is apparent from the cover, so if you're looking for a discreet LGBTQ+ novel, this could be the one for you.

The Kelly and Lee family have nothing in common. The Kelly’s are loud, Australians and the Lee’s are uptight American. Except that their daughter are married. They are on a supposedly ideal vacation on a remote island off the coast of Queensland when a volcano on a nearby island erupts. The families find themselves stranded on the island for six weeks along with the two staff members. Everyone must reevaluate their lives andwhat they want in their lives. Topics explored are parenthood, family secrets, ambition, and romance.

Overall I liked what I read. There were a lot of characters and names to try to keep track of and follow right off the bat and sadly the transitions between them didn’t run smoothly for me. A lot of times I had to go back to see who was the one speaking at that moment. The characters were all dealing with their own internal battles which gave them a ton of depth and made them overall relatable, even if I couldn’t relate to most as a whole. I really liked Georgia’s writing style, she was great at telling the story and the whole storm scene early on had me on the edge of my seat. And that cover is just *heart eyes* I love all the bright colors. This book (despite the storm/damage/clean up) made me really want to take a tropical vacation!

3 stars for me! <3

eARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
4.5 stars
The family dynamics in this book are so fun to read. The writing is beautiful and really sucked me into the scenery. Even when the plot was at slow points I kept reading because of how fun the characters and their interactions were. Overall I really enjoyed it.

Such a fun read! Clark juggled all of her characters storylines so masterfully, and each and every one of them felt like a fully fleshed out person. The prose was beautiful and made me want to visit this imaginary island!