Connor Duffield is a gruff, grumpy rancher from the Midwest. He is a country boy who has a no-nonsense approach to life, more scars than he’d like to admit, and he hates city girls.
So it’s just a misfortune they have to sit next to each other for a six hour plane ride. Even more so when their flight is caught in the perfect storm and Joanna wakes up stranded on a desert island with Connor, the very man she hoped she would never have to see again.
Why are they alone on this forsaken island? What happened to Joanna’s husband?
When her dream honeymoon turns into a hilarious tropical nightmare, Joanna’s first thought is survival. However, she and Connor will quickly discover just how boring paradise can be. As the days turn to weeks, and then months, this mismatched pair will have to learn how to coexist and how to resist the sparkles of an attraction they weren’t prepared to feel.
When they are finally rescued will Joanna’s marriage be saved as well, or will the life she knew and loved be in ruins?
Comment: I first saw this book in one giveaway, in which I participated. I didn't get the book, but I remained curious about it, so when the opportunity came to get it, I managed to do so. I had high hopes about a castaway sort of noel with romance...
This is the story of Joanna Price, she's a book editor at a publishing house and is flying to her honeymoon when the book begins. Her new husband isn't sitting with her because of some random mix up, so she's dividing space with some rude guy. The problem happens when the plane goes through some turbulence and some freaky accident makes her and rude guy's seat be threw out of the plane during the accident that follows.
Being alone in a desert island, not knowing what happened to the plane and those on board and still thinking about her husband makes for quite the scenario she must share with rude guy, Connor.
But when rescue comes and Joanna gets back to rel world, is reality as good as fantasy on desert island?
Well, plane crashes and accidents aren't that far out to make this a unbelievable storyline but the idea that only two people survived it initially and they weren't left with broken bones after falling from the sky is a little bit too much but well, one has to suspend reality for a while.
Overall, I liked the book, but the fact the story is told from Joanna's perspective is a bit too limitative. I understand this need to connect with the protagonist but I think this is a type of story that would benefit from 3rd person narrator.
This is labeled romantic comedy but I didn't find this that funny. I see how it can be, how some situations are downplayed and made easy to deal with but that's a pity because there was a lot of potential for a romantic story here with some more drama layers. There is a slight heavy situation later on, some disappointment Joanna has to deal with but despite her saying it, I felt there was no real feel or sorry behind it. Joanna fights her attraction to Connor during the desert island stay because she is a married woman and that allows for some interesting sexual tension scenes but I think this wasn't as well used as it could. It's just lacking we don't get Connor's perspective on the whole thing and Joanna's voice isn't always focused on what I'd like to be interested in.
Connor and Joanna are eventually rescued and they live their lives apart once more. I think it was interesting to see how Joanna's life got shaped after the crash, how she had to redo so many things, how she had to process not only her own experience but that of others close to her. But no Connor...in fact, he only shows up again close to end and then we have a sudden HEA which let me down, I fully expected some more time with them bonding again, more inner struggle based on what they lived through together but things were just easily dealt. I guess I didn't see this as a romantic comedy but expected some more romance, more powerful emotions displayed...
All in all, I enjoyed reading this novel, it's not very big, it does highlight the important bits but only at an almost superficial level and I kind of wanted things to be better explored, especially in terms of romance/relationship between Connor and Joanna and a better HEA too.
Grade: 7/10
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