Oooooooooooo I loved this. All of it. Everything. It was so good!

The writing was so easy to read that I flew through this hardly putting it down long enough to pee. The characters, the setting, the conflict, the development, the romance, the cover - EVERYTHING was done so well. It's going straight on my favorites list.

“Castaways” is an incredible YA fantasy that takes place on “The Island.” Think “The Lord of the Flies” or “The Maze Runner,” although this book is a masterpiece in its own right. Olive Maxi Gagmuehler has always hated her name- she believes it is at the center of why she is bullied and represents everything terrible about her life. Olive is horribly bullied by a trio of girls at her school with real violence. One of the first scenes we witness is the trio holding her down on the bathroom floor while shoving a used tampon into her mouth until she vomits.

It is no wonder that Olive runs through the corn maze to escape the trio after they beat her and shave off some of her hair. What she doesn’t expect is that running through the corn maze will land her somewhere completely different from Texas- “The Island.” This is where the real story begins. Olive is found by a group of children, currently engaged in a war with another set of children. All the kids are from different places and times, although a few came through the same corn maze Olive did (albeit at very different times). On The Island, they don’t age- although death is very real.

The group of kids which found Olive consist of the leader, Will, whose bully Dean leads the other group of children, the adorable and young Bug, who always sneaks into Olive’s bed at night, the young Charlie who won’t speak, Tilly, whose care keeps them all well, and Jude and Lucas. Olive and Will instantly have a connection and a sweet young love forms. Will and Dean came through the same corn maze in the 70s, a bully and his victim. Everyone on The Island was running from something when they landed there, but none of them know how to get back. They’ve been engaged in a war for so long, complete with bombs and deaths- it’s pretty intense.

This is a strong, fascinating and fast-paced book that will keep you guessing. I could easily imagine this turning into an amazing series, but this book has a complete story with an ending that doesn’t leave much room for sequels (so if you like complete stand-alones, this one’s for you!). There is quite a bit of violence and some really extreme bullying in the book- it’s pretty intense. The romance was quick, but I liked it/it was believable enough! It’s definitely worth the read though- I was completely captivated by the story and could not put it down; I loved the characters, I loved The Island, and I loved the mystery of it all. This is a beautifully written book, and I really enjoyed it!

Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Wow! I can't even express how epic this book was. I couldn't put it down and read it from cover to cover in 24 hours. The Castaways pulls you in from the moment you open the cover when you realize that the main character, Olive is being bullied at school. Through the rest of the book, all I could think about was how Olive was going to get off the island alive and would William go with her. At the end, all I wanted to do was scream at William "Go with here!." But, alas, he couldn't. At the end, I just wanted to cry, but the author made everything better. I'm not going to give it away, but it has a happy ending. Five stars for Jessika Fleck!