First published 2011
Anna Emerson takes a tutoring job in the Maldives. The thirty-year-old English teacher will help seventeen-year-old T.J. Callahan catch up on schoolwork during his family vacation. T.J. recently finished cancer treatment and would rather spend summer with friends than relatives and homework. Their seaplane crashes when the pilot dies of a heart attack mid-flight. Anna and T.J. wash ashore on an empty island surrounded by shark-filled waters. They build shelter, find food, and make fire. Weeks become months. Tropical storms batter their camp. Sea creatures threaten their safety. T.J.'s cancer might return without medical care. Another birthday passes on the island. Anna watches the teenage boy grow into a young man. She realizes their greatest danger may not be the elements or his illness, but the feelings developing between them as rescue seems increasingly unlikely.
Genres: fiction, romance, adventure, contemporary-romance
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Maldives
329 pages · Paperback · CreateSpace
Content warnings: terminal-illness