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galleytrot's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
READ: Jun 2023
FORMAT: Audio
BRIEF SUMMARY:
In this contemporary romance, Troy intends to use a dramatic exit from his role in their pop band to convince his brother to get his act together and turn away from a life of vice. Chartering a private flight home, nobody expects a freak weather system to down their jet in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. A precarious crash landing on a deserted island leaves Troy and first officer Brian marooned together with scant (but critical) supplies, the drive to survive, and the hope that Troy’s high-profile disappearance might mean rescue sooner than later.
ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: 4 / 5⭐
As one would expect from the premise and synopsis, the beginning of this book goes pretty hard. Including a catastrophic disaster in the plot of any romance is a bold move, although obviously necessary for this particular plot to happen. Once our guys settle in to their stranding, the book levels out and catches its stride.
Troy left Australia for his home in Los Angeles on the back of an argument with the members of the boy band, on top of a breakup with his girlfriend. With so much left unsaid and uncertain, all he can turn to is hope and prayer that his rescue would be swift and he could return to the arms of his family, who surely would be searching for him with every resource available to them. An uninhabited, unnamed, tiny spit of land well-beyond the range of any service area or tracking system out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean doesn’t exactly make them easy to find, however.
In the meantime, he has Brian, who is mature and level headed and steadfast and realistic, ready to delegate the tasks that would assure their survival so far as they can control it. Some key supplies rescued from the wreckage before getting washed away help to establish a base camp, but there is no denying their situation is precarious without access to medicine or healthcare, and at the whims of the weather, flora, and fauna. Isolation is another threat, but the two are lucky to have each other to depend on, and they quickly bond over shared and past traumas, a bond which pushes past what they thought they knew about themselves and their unchallenged sexualities.
TECHNICAL / PRODUCTION: 4 / 5⭐
I honestly can’t get enough of Andrews' stories that involve a historical setting and situation not often explored in romance novels. While this one is more contemporary than what I’m used to from her, it’s certainly a premise that I haven’t encountered yet, and for the novelty alone I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since finishing.
I absolutely did not care about the boy band stuff, or any details that weren’t specific to Troy’s mother and brother. I’m not sure the fame and fortune informed the story as strongly as it was meant to. It didn’t really come into play in the rescue or the aftermath. I think the story probably wouldn’t change at all if Troy’s father had been some overly-successful business man instead of the exploitative theatre dad that he is. It was simply the unrealistic bread and butter to an already barely-realistic story.
FINAL THOUGHTS - OVERALL: 4 / 5⭐
It’s a good read if you don’t try to pick it apart too much. Nothing felt like it was rushing towards our characters inevitably getting together, which I’m grateful for. There is a lot to say in a survival story without getting bogged down by an unexpected romance, but the lust and attraction and fulfillment of basic needs is a natural progression and it felt natural within this book. I’m not quite as sold on the mutual bisexual awakenings, but I’ll let them have it.
This book has representation for bisexuals and lesbians. One of the main characters is a part of a Filipino-American mix-raced family.
The following elaborates on my content warnings. These may be interpreted as spoilers, but I do not go into deep detail.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Sexual content
Moderate: Blood, Drug use, Vomit, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, Cursing, Drug abuse, Gore, Medical trauma, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Addiction, Alcohol, and Grief
Minor: Homophobia, Biphobia, and Fire/Fire injury
lizacorn's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Gore and Death
Minor: Homophobia
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