Reviews

Island Time by Georgia Clark

bookishlifeofabbyh's review against another edition

2.0

DNF…. There was so much going on and I never wanted to pick it up and read. It wasn’t my vibe. I’m glad more authors are writing LGBTQ romances, but there was wayyyy too many different plots and I didn’t really care about most of them? I don’t think it’s a bad book, I would recommend for someone who loves a slow burn and multiple POVs.

Thanks to netgalley for the ARC!

loosetoothfool's review against another edition

funny hopeful medium-paced

3.5

this was a sweet fun story, perfect for my holiday reading :) I enjoyed this more as it went on! the drama of secrets being exposed at the end was so tense and real, the characters were all very flawed people struggling with hiding things and what they wanted, at times it was so stressful to read but I think it was fun and ended in a way where I was very pleased and happy to see where every character ended up. I really enjoyed seeing unlikely relationships forming and I think all the characters were really well done. must say I really did not enjoy the mum character Jules, but it was such an accurate depiction of the kind of woman she was, who thought of herself as a perfect mum but actually didn't fully accept her kids queerness and put her own pressures onto them. she really made me quite annoyed. another thing is the indigenous aspect of this book, set on a fictional island off Queensland's coast, and talks a lot about indigenous land, culture, knowledge etc, in a way that at times seemed like the white author, and her white characters, was trying to connect more with it more than they really have the right to, idk that's just my opinion, i know in the acknowledgements she talks about the aboriginal people she closely worked with and consulted when writing the book, but some parts still felt a bit inappropriate, in the way that she as a white author doesn't have the authority to be sharing certain things about culture, and also the aboriginal character in the book was always willing to openly share his culture with the white visitors to the island at times in a way that didn't feel too realistic and a bit tokenistic/not the realest of characters. i just hope that there was very close consultation, respect etc given to aboriginal people. overall I did enjoy this book! didn't care as much about Jules storyline just because I didn't like her heaps as a character and her love story. I did get frustrated at times with how stupid these characters were acting, but it made me want to keep reading! there wasn't too much time spent in certain characters stories that I was getting bored, good pacing. overall a perfect holiday book!

honeywaffles's review against another edition

medium-paced

3.75

Interesting use of natural disaster and environmental challenges as foils, depictions of the Australian/Indigenous history, and how marriage evolves. Not a huge fan of the insta-love vibe, though.

clairrus's review against another edition

2.0

This book just did not do it for me. Also, when picturing Glen in my head, I couldn't stop thinking of Jerry from Rick and Morty

mindfullibrarian's review against another edition

3.0

(Free review copy) I’m not sure if it was just me and my life at the time, or the book itself but it seemed to go on FOREVER. There were good themes and I loved the setting though. Perhaps just needed tight editing and when the final copy comes out it will be shorter and more powerful? Also, a bit of a spoiler below:
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I just couldn’t buy into a natural disaster situation where it was so scary and so damaging to some things but they never lost electricity or internet? Highly unrealistic IMO. I read the authors note and I understand and appreciate the intention but struggled with the end result.

savncheese's review against another edition

3.0

Wow. I feel like I wasn't expecting how off the rails this story was going to go.

Obviously, I knew it would be a 'stranded' situation from skimming the synopsis, but holy shit. Every single relationship imploded from very deep issues that pre-date the story. But somehow it miraculously gets worked out in a couple of chapters?? mmkay.

I started out thinking that Lis was going to be my fave -- the bisexual manic pixie dream girl of the island. I was excited for her story, but ended up being disappointed how she was more or less pigeonholed in that character trope. The character I didn't expect to love as much as I did was Glenn -- the other half of an ending marriage and an avid birder. He was just so easy to love idk. He gave the best advice and worked to change his situation in the face of such a rude ex that was keeping him chained to her without listening to him.

I listened to the audiobook of this one and I have to say I kind of wish every chapter had noted who was speaking, with all the different narrators it was hard to keep track of who was who and I think that would've helped the experience.

madeincanada82591's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

zarahzoe's review against another edition

2.0

Are people really out there being absolutely devastated over their parents impendigt divorce when they're in their mid-thirties? I don't believe it. Overall this book is about motherhood, impending motherhood, and queerness.
Honestly most of the people in this book are some kind of awful, and they could really benefit from just talking to each other. Especially Julia, who thinks of herself as such a great person and is just... Not? Also there are like six POVs and imo that's just to much and takes away from every one of them.
In conclusion this book was kinda nice but also kinda bad, very predictable, and all over the place. Meh.

canra's review against another edition

emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

usernamegenerator's review against another edition

The book has about 9 POVs. Too many stories, and none of them done particularly well. It’s a shame, I really loved the concept.

I would like to know if the book had any sensitivity readers. I got a bit uncomfortable with some of the scenes with an Aboriginal character written by a white author, and there were some other bits in the first half that veered into ED territory.