Synopsis
When twenty-three-year-old dot-com millionaire Owen Sparks walked away from his charmed life, he had one goal in mind: get as far away as possible from the people who resented his success, or had their hand out for a piece of it. A remote uncharted island halfway around the world seemed like a perfectly logical place to get away from it all.
Calia Reed wasn’t part of Owen’s plans. The beautiful British girl – on holiday in the Maldives with her brother, James – made Owen wonder if getting away from it all might be a lot more enjoyable with a carefree girl who didn’t know anything about the life he left behind.
But Owen had no idea how much his carefully detailed plans would go awry. Nor did he realize that a decision he made would have such a catastrophic effect on two passengers who boarded a plane in Chicago.
And when Owen shows up at Anna and T.J.’s door with an incredible story to tell, everyone involved will learn just how much their lives are intertwined.
4 / 5 stars
My review of On The Island can be found HERE
(My reviewing has gotten better since this review haha)
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My Review
When I read On The Island back last year, I told you all that I was captivated. Captivated by what the book was about – being stranded on a desert island and overcoming the trials and tribulations Anna and TJ overcame together, as the years went on. It was about surviving and making that island ‘home , hoping in time, they would get off the island and back home.
Well, this story is about Owen Sparks…you remember him being mentioned right? The guy who Anna and TJ thought was Bones? Yeah, turns out he’s not. So who is Bones?
When I found out that there was going to be a novella, I actually wanted more Anna and TJ, but actually I loved what Tracey Garvis Graves did. With a small snippet of Owen in the first book, it actually made sense to have a small story based on HIS time on the island. But I did love that Anna and TJ were involved within the story too. Loved that we got to see more of them as a couple and their home now – now they are off the island and married and have a family together.
I woke up one morning to my order of this on my kindle and hot damn, was I excited. I raced through it, only putting it down for the 8 hours of work (damn work getting in the way) and picked it back up as soon as I finished. I was entranced by Owen’s story, of how he became, how he just wanted to escape his home life and go somewhere, anywhere where he didn’t have to keep up appearances and be surrounded by people – his family – who just wanted money off of him. Even his work didn’t appeal to him anymore and so he packed his bag and decided to live on a desolate island. For how long? He didn’t know, nor did he care.
Owen’s story compared to Anna and TJ’s is extremely different. Owen could get off the island anytime he wanted. He was brought supplies every few weeks and he also flew off the island every few weeks just to have some comfort in human communication. With Owen’s story, you can appreciate the island, the beauty of it, and the peace of it. That Owen could get off it any time he wanted to and he did. Whereas with Anna and TJ they were stranded. No one came to get them off, they had to learn to survive and so they didn’t embrace the beauty of it. That was heartbreaking. It would be heartbreaking to hear someone tell you that they could leave, whereas you couldn’t.
I could understand Owens reasoning for wanting to just pack up and leave (I feel the same at times). He just didn’t enjoy his work anymore, he was a dotcom millionaire but the money didn’t exactly mean anything to him. His family always wanted something from him, expected money off him, like he owed it to them. Cutting them off before he went was the right thing to do.
His story really is captivating and when he meets Calia and James and they want to spend time with him on the island, I was so glad of him to have company. The brother and sister were an amazing edition to this book, and Owen’s life, despite the tragic part of the book that occurs. I’m not going to tell you what happens, let’s just say we know who Bones is now.
Uncharted really does fill in that one question we all had from On The Island and I thank you, Tracey for that!
Despite not being a book about Anna and TJ, they still have a few POV’s throughout the novella, just so we can see their reaction to Owen’s story and what they are thinking and feeling about his story and the memories of their time on the island. How different their time was to his. How alone they were, how they had to survive and figure out everything together. But at least they had each other. It was still amazing to see the love they had for each other and there are a few surprises in this book – one was a big one to me but in a way I was proud that it happened because now they can move forward and know they had a choice. You will understand when you read it.
It really is a novella that ties up all the things we wanted to know. It’s a book that ties Owen, TJ and Anna together and shows the different side of the island they all experienced. It leaves Anna and TJ in their perfect family dynamic, loved all, just how they should be and it shows Owen’s life, and how he is happy and in love. Uncharted brings closure to Owen, Tj and Anna’s time on the island and I thank Tracey for writing these, I loved being transported into each other their lives and knowing that despite everything, they all did get that happy ending.
Z. Elizabeth 