Title: Island Time
Author: Georgia Clark
Publisher: Atria Books
Publication date: June 14th, 2022
402 pages
3/5 stars
Goodreads Synopsis
Love is in the salty sea air in this smart and steamy ensemble romantic comedy set in a tropical paradise, from the author of It Had to Be You. This is one island you won’t want to be rescued from.
The Kellys are messy, loud, loving Australians. The Lees are sophisticated, aloof, buttoned-up Americans. They have nothing in common…except for the fact that their daughters are married. When a nearby volcano erupts during their short vacation to a remote tropical island off the coast of Queensland, the two families find themselves stranded together for six weeks.
With only two island employees making up the rest of their party, everyone is forced to question what—or who—they really want. Island Time is a sumptuous summer read that dives deep into queer romance, family secrets, ambition, parenthood, and a bird-chasing bromance. This sexy, sun-soaked paradise of white sandy beaches, crystal-clear waters, and lush rainforest will show you it’s never too late to change your destiny.
Review
I wanted to love this because I really enjoyed the author’s past work but… I ended it thinking I should have DNF-ed the book and went on with my life. First off, there are a million characters to keep track of and they all have some personality quirk that is absolutely frustrating. There is a love story for every person involved, which just adds to all the information that as a reader you have to keep track of. And by the end I just… didn’t care about them.
If I take a step back I can see that this book is much closer to Women’s Fiction than Romance, in my opinion. Each coupling goes through some sort of growth or huge life decision or fight to get to their end point (which isn’t necessarily a HEA completely). And I know that those types of books are not my jam. I much prefer my very clear HEAs in the Romance genre and I generally try to steer clear of books like this – SO my point is maybe take this review with a grain of salt if you are someone who loves the Women’s Fiction genre. It could just be your next 5 star read and you’d miss out just because you’re listening to me.
Basically, it was extraordinarily average for me. There is LGBTQ representation which is always appreciated. There is also very random bird watching content which didn’t add anything to my personal reading experience, but hey I don’t judge what people like.
Thank you to Atria and Netgalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.
Happy reading, folks!
Baltimore Bibliophile 