Jaime’s Thoughts
Uncharted by Tracey Garvis-Graves
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Perfect wrap up for these characters!!
Uncharted is the Novella follow up to On The Island – you all know my love for that book right?
While this story gives us a little bit of information on T.J. and Anna and where they are in life, it isn’t their story.
Instead we get to find out about Owen Sparks. Owen is a 23 year old millionaire who made his money in the dot.com world. Frustrated with where his life has ended up he decides to walk away from everything.
He has a plan though. Stocking up on supplies and preparing for life on an uninhabited island halfway around the world is just what he needs and his thirty day adventure turns into more. And when his thirty days are up, he’s not quite ready to give up on the peace and solitude the retreat affords him.
“I guess I’ll stay here until I have a good enough reason to go someplace else.”
A chance return to the mainland is where he encounters Calia Reed and she is a bright and beautiful reminder of the things he is missing out on while hiding away. But even well laid plans aren’t always perfect. So… that’s all I’m telling you.
This story, as I said above, is Owen’s story – we learn about his life before the island and the forces that pushed him there. We even learn a little bit more about the island itself. And I know, you’re probably wondering why the heck T.J. and Anna would even care, but the small details are what pull these two stories together. This novella shows how the choices that Owen made and the things he did on (and off) the island impacted the lives of both T.J. and Anna. Plus, it answers some questions you may still have had at the end of On The Island… I know it answered a big one for me!
I really enjoyed the brief journal entries from Owen – they seemed to add a bit of lightness to the whole situation – this wasn’t someone who was stranded there waiting for help, he could leave at any time. The things he learned along the way, the chickens, the spiders, the dolphins and the sharks… were seen in a different light for me while reading because the situation was so different to that of Anna and T.J.
Now, I know that I said this isn’t T.J. and Anna’s story at all, and it isn’t, but it was still nice to get the wonderful glimpses of their lives now. To be able to see the love they have for each other again was more than enough to close out their story for me.
Thank you Tracey… as always it was amazing!
View all Jaime’s reviews
A big thank you to Tracey Garvis Graves for giving us more of this story. Uncharted gives us a view of the island before Anna and TJ ended up on it along with Owen’s story. The novella actually opens with Owen walking up to Anna and TJ’s house which allows us a glimpse into their life and we are introduced to Owen and how his story merges with theirs.
Owen is getting away from it all. After having a lot of success in the dot com boom of the 90’s, he has made the decision that he doesn’t want to deal with all of the things that come with that success. He doesn’t trust his business partners to make the right decisions any longer, his family is feeling very entitled to his money and he has had it.
After researching and planning, Owen purposely goes to the most remote island and he was able to leave any time he wanted. I loved how his story was written from that perspective as it gave me a completely different view of the island than I had with Anna and TJ. It was great to read his journal entries and see how he managed on the island all by himself. His story also answers some questions around who lived there and what happened on the island prior to Anna and TJ ending up there.
The way the stories are tied together is what makes this book so well done. Not only do we see what happened to Owen while he was on the island but as he is telling his story, we realize just how different things could have been had certain events happened. The fact that Owen has almost blamed himself for their fate (a bit) said a lot about who he is but also the fact that Anna and TJ have moved beyond the “what if” stuff and decided to embrace life as it is was pivotal.
While the story was not really about Anna and TJ I have to say I loved how there were chapters from their points of view – it definitely added to the story to be able to get their reactions to what Owen was telling them from them directly.
If you enjoyed On the Island, you will definitely want to read this novella and not just because Anna and TJ are included. Owen was a great addition to this story and his perspective brings a different view that one might not expect regarding the island based on reading On the Island. If you haven’t done so already, trust me when I say you should run out and get this one and dive right it – you can thank me later.
Recent Comments