The Island follows a group of teens on holiday with their parents in Thailand. They go on an organised back to nature survival style trip to a small island for a week with a local guide. But this is far from the idyllic, relaxing island getaway that they're imagining. The second day on the island their guide dies and with no way to contact anyone on the mainland the teens are left to fend for themselves until someone realises they are missing and rescues them. And if that wasn't bad enough, bizarre things start to happen that brings each teen's worst fears to life and threatens their safety.
What I expected from this book - an easy to read, not overly complex YA low level thriller.
What I got - EXACTLY that!
I flew through this book and really enjoyed it. The characters were likeable, believable and had enough back stories and personality to round them out. I did sort of predict the twist which was a little disappointing as I like to be shocked in thrillers. For a YA book it does a great job of tackling mental health and grief issues from a teenager's perspective and how those things can affect our behaviour and relationships.
This was the first book by C.L Taylor that I've read but it definitely made me want to read more.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a copy of this book in return for an honest opinion.

Content Warnings: depression, death, suicidal ideation, violence, abuse, controlling behaviour, manipulation, grief, PTSD

I received an eARC of this for review, it has not affected my honest opinion.

I'm a big fan of YA thrillers, but this just didn't work for me. I finished reading it rather than DNFing because I was hoping it might pick up nearer the end but ultimately it just left me frustrated and a bit irritated. Okay, a lot irritated. The whole way through the stakes felt extremely low, and despite it being marketed as someone using their phobias against them, they were all able to get away from it really easily. There was just no real threat level the whole way through. I didn't feel any sense of dread or any real anticipation. The only time it felt like there was real danger was when the brothers were on the island - an entire section that made basically no sense. Their motivations for being there were so flimsy and didn't click with me at all. As for the emotional abuse, I can understand where the book was trying to lead me but I felt like I was expected to pity an abuser because they went through trauma? I'm sorry, it just didn't work for me. I need to see a lot more development and a lot more awareness and apology from a character to feel pity - and definitely not after the actions taken during this book. Ultimately I just found the ending underwhelming.

An enjoyable romp which I really enjoyed. I did feels little let down at the ending though. But if you want an easy read this is for you.

I love to read island stories with a group of young people, this book was fantastic and didn't disappoint.

The Island follows a group of 6 young adults on holiday, and they take part in a survival game as part of one of their bdays and things aren't what they seem... I loved all the characters and was rooting for them all throughout. I had a hard time putting it down, and it had me gripped from the beginning to the end.

This is the first novel I have read from this author and I definitely will be not the last book I will read from C L Taylor. It was fast paced, intense and a roller coaster in parts.
If you havent read this one yet then I would urge you to pick it up right away.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and enjoyed all the twists and turns along the way! I was desperate to find out how it was all going to end! !
I liked the way we gradually got to learn more about the characters as the story went on - really good back stories for a few of them.
A fast paced book which was exciting to read!

I’d give this two stars out of five. Having read books by this author before I was expecting something more than teenage famous five meets The Beach with some CSE post traumatic stress disorder thrown in.

Some friends whose parents met at NCT classes apparently go on annual holidays and this one is to a remote island in Thailand where they swiftly get stranded. Told from the perspective of two of the six (I think) they get lost, they meet up, they have a few flashbacks, the characters are thin so are easily confused. All a bit formulaic I’m afraid.

Thanks to NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for a fair review

Six friends, an island, what could go wrong?

Jefferson, Danny, Jessie, Honor, Milo and Meg, the twins. Have been friends since birth – their parents all met at an NCT group (National Childbirth Trust – I know this, because we too joined a group too, and no we don’t holiday but we do still meet up, at Christmas and perhaps once in the summer, even now the babies are teens) but I know others that have done this from their groups.

This year they are off to Thailand, and as part of the holiday the teens are going on a survival week, whilst the parents stay by their hotel pool. The six teens, all now 17 are going to the island as its Jefferson’s Birthday, and he’s Bear Gryll’s mad – his Dads paid to hire the whole island and a guide, Anuman who takes the six of them to the island on his boat.

Now as idyllic as it sounds – a desert island, sun, sea, sand…. lovely – but for them – it also means no wi-fi, no phones, no pool and having to resource their own food, water and shelter. All things they are capable of, but can they deal with it?

Of course, as you’d expect when you get six kids together, there are issues, arguments and trauma and thats just in the first 48 hours. They are all very different characters, and whilst Jeffer’s has the benefit of his dad’s income, they don’t all have that luxury. Danny and Honor are ‘a couple’ so this just adds to the tension as Danny is protective. Meg feels left out as Honor is her best friend. Jessie has become a bit of loner, although she would very much like to get together with Milo. And so, you can see that all these lives ‘stuck’ together on an island could create tension. And it does, boy is there tension and yes suspense.

This is classed as Young Adult fiction, but I really enjoyed it, its a great story and has some great guidance within the story and I can see many others reading and benefiting from the mental health issues created by Cally.

I am a long time fan of C.L. Taylors – her writing style, the way she creates and writes her characters dialogue, the plot and story line always ends with a bang, just amazing. You know it’s coming, but it’s always a surprise.

When I first started this book I felt like it was very much on the YA radar, however as the story progressed I got more and more involved in the story and characters.

The story kept me guessing all along the way through, The 2 main characters whose chapters are from their point of views, although very separate and different from another as part of the same group.

There is so much that happens I dont want to give it away but perfect read for a weekend on a cold wet day, it takes you away to an exotic island that you wish you were on, until it starts to go wrong.......

This book was quite good. I didn’t find it kept my interest as much as this authors other books. Started off slow but picked up from the middle onwards

Such a great book! I had lots of fun with this one. If you enjoy whodunnit stories set in on deserted islands off the coast of Thailand, this is definitely one for you. I wasn't a huge fan of the ending but the bulk of the book was good enough, that the ending didn't really matter to me.
This is definitely a 'read in one sitting' type of book! :D

The Island by @cltaylorautor
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Six teenagers are on a trip of a lifetime to Thailand with their parents. As part of a birthday present for one of the boys, the children were sent to a private island for a week to enjoy isolated island living along with their guide Anuman. When Anuman suffers a fatal stroke, the children are left alone to fend for themselves. But are they alone?
This cleverly written young adult book is an enjoyable, easy read. It sensitively tackles a number of pertinent issues including mental health particularly mental breakdowns; loss and grief of family members; and phobias coming true. I enjoyed seeing the teens tackle the obstacles that isolated island life threw at them. My only reservation is that the ending was rather abrupt and I felt more could have been done here. Overall though a fantastic young adult read and a good read for adults as well.
Thank you to NetGalley and HQ YA for this ARC.

I enjoyed this book immensely. The story ratchets up with just the right amount of tension while retaining complete credibility. I understand this book is aimed at the YA market but honestly don’t think it should be pigeonholed as it easily fits into adult mystery genre. The characters were very well described and believable and the various twists have the reader on edge wondering what will happen next. A very good 5 star read.

'The Island' is a fast-paced young adult thriller following a group of best friends who get stranded on a private island.

This book was a lot of fun to read and did keep me on edge the whole time that I was reading it. I found myself wanting to read quicker in order to find out why the unusual things were happening to this group of teenagers.

When I first started this book, I was fine with it being written in dual perspective but I was a bit confused as to why Jesse's perspective is written in first person and why Danny's perspective was written in third person, but it kind of makes sense once you have read the whole book. I found the writing to be one of my favourite parts of this book as it was so fast-paced and kept me hooked from the first page.

'The Island' was a pretty good young adult thriller that definitely gave me Lost vibes but the ending didn't really shock me. I couldn't put this book down though, and so I do recommend it if you want a book that will keep you hooked and wanting to read more. This is definitely the kind of book that will get you out of a reading slump as you'll find yourself reading it all in one day.

Thank you to HQ for providing me with an advance copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fast-paced, thoroughly enjoyable wild ride of a book. It took some unexpected twists and turns, invoking the essence of Lord of the Flies while exploring the lasting effects of grief.

I really liked how Taylor explored the theme of fear and how each character handled their deepest fear. The entire concept of the book reminded me of And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, with its mysterious and isolated setting and an almost omniscient seeming antagonist. Our cast of characters has such a fascinating interconnection of relationships and emotions bubbling under the surface, along with some deeply buried secrets. This of course leads to growing tension and friction as their isolation begins to affect them. You’re constantly tense while reading, as the pages are packed full of danger and adventure. When this group have been thrown together since they were children, there’s going to be some deep-seated frustration and resentment that slowly ekes its way out.

Also, I really appreciated how Taylor tackled the long-term effects of grief through several storylines and the effect of trauma as well. There’s a lot of time given to the psychological effects these events have caused on each character, as well as previous events and how their repercussions still ripple years later. This is an addictive and high-octane read and I found myself suspecting every character, even as we got a peek inside their heads. I was impressed that despite the number of characters and perspectives, it always felt very easy to follow and each voice was distinctive.

The Island is a quick, captivating and entertaining read that invokes aspects of classic stories, while ensuring that it offers a fresh narrative.

I had seen a lot of chat about this book on social media so looked forward to reading it. It’s a young adult novel which isn’t a genre I read very often as I’m far too old for it!

A group of teenagers have been friends all their lives as their parents met at antenatal classes. The families go on holiday together every year, but over the years the teenagers have drifted apart a bit.
To celebrate Jefferson’s 17th birthday, the teens go to a remote Thai island for a week long ‘survival experience’. Very quickly, it all starts to go wrong and the experience is much more nightmarish than they could have imagined.

This was an easy read and I liked the characters, their personalities were very different and no one annoyed me too much.

At times, the pacing felt a bit slow and it wasn’t as suspenseful as it could have been. However, there was always an underlying feeling that something wasn’t right on the island which was quite sinister.

The story deals with many topics, such as mental health issues, grief, friendships and relationships.
The plot is quite inventive and a good idea. It reminded me a bit of a modern day Lord of the Flies.

The ending of the story is quite satisfying and the author has given updates on some of the characters months down the line.

Overall, I enjoyed the book but it lacked some tension and suspense for me.

I would definitely read more from this author and might give her next YA book a go.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and HQ for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have been really enjoying YA fiction lately, and this one was an enjoyable introduction into the YA Thriller genre. I have read other books by CL Taylor and I have always enjoyed just how 'readable' her novels are. They clip along as a quick pace, the plots always hold together well, and I never quite work out the reveal before we get there. With this one I took a guess early on, which happened to be right - at least in part - but it took a good way into the novel before I worked out what was going on.

I enjoyed the premise here, and the setting worked perfectly. I also particularly liked how this addressed some weighty issues but without ever making it feel like that was the point of the novel. This is a good old-fashioned thriller, and it plays out as such.

Highly recommend for YA readers, but also for adults looking for a nice light thriller to while away a fun few hours. Topics addressed here include mental health, death, fear and grief.

4 solid stars and I'll keep my eyes peeled for Taylor's next YA offering!

This is a book written for the Young Adult market ... I have to confess that I am a few years past what I would call a young adult ... well, quite a few actually ... but nevertheless I really enjoyed this story and I know I would have loved it when I was a teenager.

This book is The Famous Five on steroids; although there are six of them and no dog! Full of action, thrills and tension but it also explores many of the issues that young people have to face growing up such as mental health, death, grief and relationships but it does so with ease and with sympathy and understanding.

The characters were really well developed and although not all of them I particularly liked, they all felt right somehow. The setting was perfect and so well described that my hair frizzed due to the humidity! The pace was good and the writing style was easy to read so much so that I raced through quite quickly.

This is a great thriller for people of any age even though it is primarily aimed at young adults and I want to thank HQ (an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers) and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest, unbiased and unedited review.

I really enjoyed The Island by C.L Taylor! It was released last week in the UK and is Taylor’s second Young Adult novel. I actually have the first on my shelf and haven’t read it yet (they’re not connected)!

Right from the opening chapter The Island immediately gives you a nibble on the mystery of these six teenagers, straight away I wanted to know what was going on. I really enjoyed the pace of the narrative - it moves fast and you need to keep up! As you can expect there are lots of twists and turns within the story, along with finger pointing among the characters. Taylor writes multiple POV accounts but not too many so it’s really easy to keep track!

I didn't particularly overthink the characters involvement while I was reading - I didn't engage with any of them more than another which I think would have pushed my rating to 5 stars if I had. All of the teens were only briefly introduced at first so you need to keep reading to unravel their characteristics and relationships. Taylor did this really well, it kept me reading far too late at night!

Ultimately this is a thriller novel so I can’t say a lot in case I ruin it! The Island was good though, it was an easy read for me and broke my fantasy streak - it gave me a much needed break! I’d recommend it for fans of Lost (of course!) and the Karen McManus books since it’s aimed at the same kind of audience.

This was fantastic!
I listened to the audiobook of this title and it was extremely well executed.
All the characters' personalities were distinct and memorable, and the plot was non-stop! Kept me engaged the entire time, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. C L Taylor is definitely a favourite author of mine and doesn't disappoint!
The narrators of the audiobook were brilliant, and captured the drama of the story perfectly.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my ARC.

This was a quick read, fast paced in the way that draws you in because you're hooked in trying to discover what's going on. THere are just enough different clues to send your thoughts and your suspicions in various directions but that is what keeps you hooked and reading on because you want to know and you're not quite sure if you're right or not. The two different point of views written in different person narration were interesting and in the end a clue but were done in such a way that this was not obvious from the beginning. There were some parts in which I would have liked more depth in relationships and such but for the high intrigue, interest and draw that came with the mystery I think that sometimes these things need to be sacrificed, we were after all seeing a small period in these characters' lives.