Tag Archives: Tracey Garvis-Graves

Covet by Tracey Garvis-Graves – a Review

Posted on by
11

Covet by Tracey Garvis-Graves – a Review

CovetLinks to order Covet: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / The Book Depository

Description:
What if the life you wanted, and the woman you fell in love with, belonged to someone else?

Chris and Claire Canton’s marriage is on life support. Downsized during the recession and out of work for a year, Chris copes by retreating to a dark place where no one can reach him, not even Claire. When he’s offered a position that will keep him away from home four nights a week, he dismisses Claire’s concern that time apart could be the one thing their fragile union can’t weather. Their suburban life may look idyllic on the outside, but Claire has never felt so disconnected from Chris, or so lonely.

Local police officer Daniel Rush used to have it all, but now he goes home to an empty house every night. He pulls Claire over during a routine traffic stop, and they run into each other again at the 4th of July parade. When Claire is hired to do some graphic design work for the police department, her friendship with Daniel grows, and soon they’re spending hours together.

Claire loves the way Daniel makes her feel, and the way his face lights up when she walks into the room. Daniel knows that Claire’s marital status means their relationship will never be anything other than platonic. But it doesn’t take long before Claire and Daniel are in way over their heads, and skating close to the line that Claire has sworn she’ll never cross.

 

Review

Covet by Tracey Garvis-Graves is another fabulous book about love, life, situations and subjects that push our emotions, and question our beliefs.  Covet is a wonderful story of a marriage that starts to slowly fall apart, caused by normal life situations, and how we handle them.    

When we meet Claire Canton, she is with her group of friends from the neighborhood, which reminded me of Desperate Housewives.  Almost all of the wives have their own issues, but this story belongs to Claire, and her marriage to Chris.  They have been married for over 12 years, each being the love of their lives, with two children, Jordan and Josh. Chris was a very successful business man, making good money to give his family a good life, but things have changed.  He has been unemployed for over a year, now going into their savings to make ends meet.  Chris loses his confidence, and begins to take anti depressant pills, which slowly causes him to pull away from Claire.  Claire has been understanding trying to help Chris; but he continues to become more distant, shutting her out.  Claire becomes lonely, somewhat angry, and she herself begins to not care anymore, devoting herself to her children.  Finally Chris gets a job, not quite what he wants, but he needs to work, and this job requires traveling 5 days a week, which will be more loneliness for Claire.   

One day while driving, Claire is stopped by a cop for a broken tailgate. She meets Officer Daniel Rush, who immediately catches her eye, as he is a hunk.  Circumstances accidentally have Daniel and Claire run into each other a couple of times, and slowly a real friendship develops.  Daniel himself is recently coming off of a divorce, and he too is lonely, keeping himself busy working long hours on the police force.

Daniel and Claire spend more time together as friends, both of whom are lonely, texting each other often, having  weekly lunch meetings, riding on his bike, shopping and even going to the movies.  Claire began to look forward to meeting with Daniel, but she was always careful to keep this as a friendship.   As Chris’s visits become less and less, and his distance drives Claire to look forward more and more to her meetings with Daniel. 

Claire confides to her friend, who warned her to be careful. The question comes up “Do you think men and women can be just friends?”

Slowly their friendship becomes something more emotionally, as they both begin to care about each other. A romance does build, though there is never any sexual relationship.  Daniel knew it was wrong to care abut Claire, as he did not want to be the reason for breaking up her family, but he couldn’t deny his growing feelings for her.  It was a struggle for Daniel not to push Claire further.  Claire also knows where this could be heading, and that it was wrong, as she still loved her husband, even if he has been distant.  But she also knows she is falling hard for Daniel.  Can she love two men?

Chris recognizes he is away too much from the family he loves, and is pushing himself beyond to work hard to redeem himself, and build his confidence. When Claire and the children get sick, Chris ignores his abusive boss, and goes home for week to take care of his family.  Claire ends up in the hospital deathly ill, and Chris and Claire must come to terms with their lives and what needs to be done. Will Claire stay with Chris?  What happens with Daniel?

This story is written in three different pov’s; Claire, Chris and Daniel, and it was great to be able to see each of their thoughts in these trying times.  This is a wonderful insightful story about love, marriage, relationships. No one does this better then Tracey Garvis-Graves.  She can push our buttons emotionally, making us question our own feelings.

Do you consider a friendship between a man and woman to be adultery if there is no sexual relationship?  Were Daniel and Claire wrong to become friends and spend time together to alleviate their loneliness?  I myself felt torn between the developing relationship between Claire and Daniel.   She cared about him, but fought those feelings that were becoming stronger, as she remained loyal to her husband.  Daniel was a super wonderful guy, who would be perfect for any woman.  He was sweet, caring, and held his emotions in tact, as he did not want her to get hurt. I myself totally fell in love with Daniel. 

Despite that this relationship was wrong or was doomed, you found yourself at times rooting for them.  Personally, I was not on the Chris bandwagon early on, as his shutting out his family caused major repercussions, which he should have handled differently.

In the midst of this story about Claire, Chris, and Daniel, there was an ongoing story of the people around them.  Tracey Garvis-Graves creates some wonderful secondary characters as she shows us life among friends, isn’t always as it seems; with an array of a life changing topics, such as unemployment, finance, gambling, alcoholism, cheating, etc.

Covet is another wonderful and emotional story by Tracey Garvis-Graves.  If you want a simple thought provoking romance with life situations, but one that does have it’s own HEA, then Covet is a must read. 

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

Share

Uncharted by Tracey Garvis Graves – a Review

Posted on by
11

Uncharted by Tracey Garvis Graves – a Review

Uncharted

Links to order Uncharted: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Description:
Tracey Garvis Graves – and Anna and T.J. – return in this companion novella to the New York Times bestseller On the Island

When twenty-three-year-old dot-com millionaire Owen Sparks walked away from his charmed life, he had one goal in mind: get as far away as possible from the people who resented his success, or had their hand out for a piece of it. A remote uncharted island halfway around the world seemed like a perfectly logical place to get away from it all.

Calia Reed wasn’t part of Owen’s plans. The beautiful British girl – on holiday in the Maldives with her brother, James – made Owen wonder if getting away from it all might be a lot more enjoyable with a carefree girl who didn’t know anything about the life he left behind.

But Owen had no idea how much his carefully detailed plans would go awry. Nor did he realize that a decision he made would have such a catastrophic effect on two passengers who boarded a plane in Chicago.

And when Owen shows up at Anna and T.J.’s door with an incredible story to tell, everyone involved will learn just how much their lives are intertwined.

 

Review:

Uncharted by Tracey Garvis Graves is a novella, which takes us back to the Maldives and the island of Tracey’s first book, On The Island.  I really enjoyed On The Island, and thought Graves was a wonderful new author. I wasn’t wrong, as she does it again with this short story.  Uncharted gives us more information about our favorite couple from OTI…Anna and TJ.  But they are not the main characters in this book. 

Instead, Owen Sparks is the hero of this story.  When Anna and TJ were stranded for a few years on the island, they had discovered some things about someone who had been there before..Owen Sparks. 

Uncharted begins with Owen visiting Anna and TJ.  They are shocked when they meet him, a face to someone who was on the same island.  Owen proceeds to tell his story to Anna and TJ. 

Owen is a 23 year old millionaire, who made his fortune running a .com business with two friends.  He eventually becomes disillusioned with his friends, family and the business pressure, and sells his share of the company,  leaving everything & everyone behind.  Owen makes arrangements in Maldives, to live month by month on an inhabited island, with the help of Forester, who drives the plane to drop off Owen on the island. 

The difference between Owen and TJ/Anna’s scenario, is Owen brings all the supplies he needs, as he is there on his own sojourn, and despite being alone, he learns how to survive on the island.  He does go back to town each month to stock up on supplies.  During one of those trips, after many months, he meets Calia and her brother, James.  Both end up going to the island with Owen for a month to try their own survival skills. 

Without giving spoilers, after a bit, two things happen.  Owen falls hard for Calia, which changes his outlook, and he wants to return to civilization.   But before they leave, something does happen, which changes things.  

In between Owen telling his story to Anna and TJ, we get a chapter here and there with either Anna or TJ talking about their own feelings of their ordeal, as they listen to Owens’s tale.  I really did enjoy this book, as it was a fast and sweet read.  Tracey Garvis Graves is an excellent writer, and you can totally imagine the island in Owens eyes.  I loved when he played with the Dolphins, or when you felt like you were actually there with him when he built his cabin.  Graves has this uncanny ability to make you feel like your are living through their ordeal, without going into so many details. Very realistic.  The romance between Owen and Calia was sweet.

Most of all, it was so great to see Anna and TJ again.   Seeing them a few years later, happy with their own family was almost like an epilogue to their story with a better then happy ending.  I liked Owen a lot, and Uncharted was an excellent story, as we also see in the end how Owen’s adventure and Anna/TJ’s ordeal, intermingled.  I would suggest you read On The Island before you read this novella. 

Reveiwed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

 

Share

On The Island by Tracey Garvis-Graves – a Review

Posted on by
12

On The Island by Tracey Garvis-Graves – a Review

On the Island is the debut novel of Tracey Garvis-Graves. It is the story of two people who are stranded on an island, forced to help each other survive.  But this is not your normal survival story. It is more about the two individuals, who must overcome insurmountable odds to survive, and along the way, learn to trust and care for one another.  When I first read the premise of this story, I hesitated, as I knew at some point, the two characters would eventually progress to a relationship that might not sit well with me. But based on the wonderful feedback I went on to read this, and I am glad I did.  I loved On the Island.

We meet Anne Emerson right from start.  Anna is a 30 year old teacher, who is currently in a long relationship that is going nowhere.  She wants commitment, a family, and her boyfriend just wants status quo.  Anna decides to take a job for the summer to join a family on a vacation to a tropical island and tutor their 16 year old son, who is currently recovering from Hodgkin’s disease, and he needs tutoring to catch up.

TJ Callahan wants to spend time with his friend Ben, and gets his family to agree to let him join them on the island a few days later, allowing him to fly with Anna.  Circumstances force them to take a private seaplane that will bring them to where TJ’s family is staying.  Since this is somewhat of a survival story, the pilot of the plane has a heart attack and dies, and the plane crashes.  In their life jackets, TJ manages to help Anna, who is unconscious, to find safety in the treacherous waters to an island….an island that is deserted. 

What follows is an amazing tale of survival.  How each worked together to survive each day, in frightening and at times horrendous situations.  What I loved was watching their realistic adventure; finding food, such has coconuts or breadfruit, eventually fish; each coming up with serious injuries or fevers, and helping one another to recover; meeting and playing with the dolphins; even find the chicken who became their pet, building a small house off the beach; and all the scary storms, shark, rats. 

But what I found so wonderful was how Tracey Garvis-Graves brought these two wonderful characters to life.  At the time of the crash, Anna was the responsible one, and you loved Anna from the start.  TJ was a typical teenager, who would gawk at the beautiful Anna.  He developed a teenage crush, but kept it to himself.   Anna would take it upon herself to avoid any possible situations, making sure TJ knew not to follow her when she would bath.  They started out as teacher and student, then became great friends, and eventually as the years went passed on the island, and TJ grew into a wonderful caring young man, they did become lovers.   But it was done so well, and Anna knew if they were ever to be found, she would have to face the consequences.  But on the island after 4 years of surviving each day, they both came to depend on each other, learn everything about each other,  take care of each other, enjoy the little fun they had together, and they fell in love.  

Just when they figured they would never be found, and each worried something would happen to the other, leaving one of them alone to survive, an occurrence happens that though very scary brings them what they never thought would happen….discovery.

You would think this story ends, but the story continues as they must face the media, their own families, and their love for each other.  This was done so realistically, and I am totally impressed with Tracey Garvis-Graves writing.  She made this story so believable, so beautiful, and even when they did become lovers, Garvis-Graves handled it so well. The possible stigma when they come home, even though TJ was now 20 and not a teenager anymore, Anna’s concern that TJ needed to discover what he may have missed, the meetings of both families.  This added on to the story and it was wonderful.  I recommend this to anyone to read, as I thoroughly enjoyed it.

As an added note, Tracey Garvis-Graves had her book rejected 17 times, before she decided to self publish this book.  340,000 ecopies sold later, and entrance on the NY Times bestseller list, Tracey was offered a book deal by Plume/Penquin.  If you read one book this year, you won’t go wrong by choosing On The Island. 

Amazon: Link to purchase
Barnes & Noble : Link
Kobo Link:

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

Share