I love all of C L Taylors books and I have to admit the title and the cover totally sold this to me. It screams out read me or in my case listen to me. I certainly wasn't disappointed. The Island kept me thoroughly entertaining while taking some very long walks.  

There I am out walking on a cold winter morning I soon find myself transported to a tropical Island. Where we meet six teenagersand what is meant to be a perfect sun filled holiday. Turns into their worst nightmare! 

Has the story unfolds and the plot thickens the characterization builds up and the fight for survival begins. 

The Island is an entertaining read for any age so don't let the YA category but you off. I love how more than one narrator so you get a whole different feel for the story with alternate narrators for the characters. Who have done an awesome job of bringing this story to life.
 

Not forgetting all the twists and turns. It would make a brilliant movie I highly recommend it

A quick and easy read that I found myself picking up after a long day to unwind. The characters are beautifully written and I came to love them within the first few pages and was rooting for them all the way to the end. At times I wanted to stop reading because I just wanted the experience to go on for longer. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I've come to know and love a well thought out and expertly crafted novel  from C.L.Taylor and this was no exception. 
A stranded island tale, with nods towards Lord of the flies as the inhabitants become increasingly unhappy and unhinged as time goes on. 
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK Audio for providing me with this audio copy of the Island by C L Taylor

Description
Lost meets The Hunger Games in the thrilling new young adult novel from C.L. Taylor, the Sunday Times and million-copy bestselling author.

***
Welcome to The Island.
Where your worst fears are about to come true…
It was supposed to be the perfect holiday: a week-long trip for six teenage friends on a remote tropical island.
But when their guide dies of a stroke leaving them stranded, the trip of a lifetime turns into a nightmare.
Because someone on the island knows each of the group’s worst fears. And one by one, they’re becoming a reality.

Seven days in paradise. A deadly secret.

Who will make it off the island alive?

Review

The premise of this is 6 teenagers who have been childhood friends since their parents met at a NCT group, they have been attending annual vacations together and now at 17 they are in Thailand spending 7 days on a remote island testing their survival skills. Some knows their fears and is going to use them against them.

I found the story kept a good pace, a lot of suspense and kept me guessing, It kept me in the dark and I enjoyed being wrong!
The book cover lots of teenage issues with sexuality, bullying, self esteem, relationships and especially childhood trauma in I felt a very sensitive way.
I also found the audio very good switching between Jessie and Danny, the actors did a good job in portraying the emotion and building the tension in the story.

A solid YA Thriller and I will be recommending to others

A tense and terrifying tale. can you imagine being trapped on an island with six of your “friends“? No way to get off the island, no way to communicate with the outside world, and someone is up to no good. Who is making these teens phobias come true? Is there a stranger on the island, and if so how do they know the friends deepest fears? this is what happens when paradise becomes a nightmare.

   What a book! I was so caught up in this addictive story I listened to the audio well past my bedtime. The story is told from the alternating perspectives of two of the teens, Jesse and Dani. C. L. Taylor did a great job of apprising the reader of each of these characters backstories. It was nice with such a large cast of characters to never be confused as to who was who. I was suspicious of each character at one time or another. My focus seriously shifted from chapter to chapter as more and more was revealed. The audiobook was narrated by Olivia Dowd and Sam Newton I think they both did a wonderful job of giving Dani and Jesse a voice. I also always appreciate when a story told from multiple perspectives is also narrated by multiple narrators. this was a well done young adult thriller that will appeal to readers/listeners of all ages!

this book in emojis  🏕 🏝 🐍 🕷 🛥 🥥

*** Big thank you to Harper Audio UK for my gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own. ***

This YA (Young Adult), focuses on 6 teenage friends who are stranded on an island in Thailand...whilst their parents sun up by the pool! A lot of strange things are happening on the island and people’s worst fears are coming a reality...can they escape? 

I loved the ease of this book it was really easy to listen to and had me wanting more throughout. The two narrators of the book were fab and I thought really helped capture the nature of the characters. It was nice listening to a book with alternative character chapters and I think that helped with the easy listening of the book. 

I gave the book 4 stars as I enjoyed the storyline and enjoyed guessing what was going on. Whilst I did predict what was happening it was still great going along for the ride. It had a nice element of suspense and can only imagine young adults really enjoying this aspect of the book. I can honestly say I was gripped from start to finish and very addicted to the audio book! I wanted more very much a page turner. 

As always continue to enjoy reading what C.L.Taylor has to offer and look forward to reading more from her.

I've enjoyed both her YA and adult books in the past, so I simply couldn't resist requesting an audio ARC of her newest YA story The Island as soon as I first heard about it... And the tropical setting on a Thai island sounded like the perfect backdrop too. I definitely ended up having a great time with this audiobook! Part psychological thriller and part survival story, The Island turned out to be an excellent listen.

I know that I'm basically still an audiobook newbie, but The Island has once again proven to me that I can really enjoy an audiobook when the timing is right... During an ongoing heatwave for example as I've discovered. This book has three different POVs and is therefore narrated by three different persons: Olivia Dowd, Sam Newton and Sarah Ovens. Having three different narrators made it really easy to keep the different characters and POVs apart, and I think that all three did a great job giving the characters a voice. Their voices were easy to listen to and I liked the flow of the story; some of the emotions were a bit over the top/acted to my taste, but that might just have been me. As a whole this audiobook is a great option if you want to get the full The Island experience!

The Island is one of her YA thrillers, but don't let that younger target group put you off if you enjoy a well written psychological thriller with a survivor twist. The Thailand setting makes for the perfect tropical backdrop and the island definitely gives you those summer vibes as well as an ominous feel... Imagine being alone on a Thai island with a small group of friends and a guide; whether that is heaven or hell for you personally, you can't deny it's a very promising backdrop for a story! It's also one of the reasons I enjoyed The Island this much. Why? Well, the whole remote island setting is key in getting the survival part of the story in the spotlight, and it's this survival element that took the story to the next level for me. This isn't just another psychological thriller where strange things happen to the cast of characters, as they also need to fight against nature to try and survive too... Talk about plot twist potential!

As for the characters... I can't say I actually liked them, as all of them seemed to have at least one annoying character trait, but thankfully the story switches quite a lot between three of the friends so it's not too hard to ignore those feelings. I feel some characters could have been developed more, although I do understand why we are being left in the dark about certain facts/behavior as it would spoil the final reveals... I have to be honest here and say I did feel a bit underwhelmed by those final twists though. After everything that was happening, it felt a bit too much like the easy way out? As a whole, I still think this was a solid read though.

In short, both the tropical setting, the engaging writing, the solid narrating and the survival element, I ended up having a great time with this audiobook despite a few setbacks. The Island is a great choice if you are looking for your next YA thriller with a little something extra!

The Island - C.L. Taylor

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review thanks to Harper Collins Audio and Netgalley. 

Welcome to The Island.
Where your worst fears are about to come true…

It was supposed to be the perfect holiday: a week-long trip for six teenage friends on a remote tropical island.

This book addresses quite a few different topics, such as; mental health issues, dealing with grief, loss and phobias in a clever way. The setting of the island adds to the fear and suspense created by the story, and adds to the strains on the friendships that the friends are already feeling at the start of the holiday. 

Whilst the storyline was good, I felt the ending was rushed slightly. With the five teens and flashbacks being used to introduce their friendships, I found myself getting a little lost with the characters at the beginning. 

Rating: 3/5

CL Taylor, that name is synonymous with a fabulous read with twists and turns. Fans of CL Taylor should not be put off with this foray into the YA genre. The description of Lost mixed with The Hunger Games, is apt.  The story follows a group of 17 year olds who have been gifted a survival style trip to an isolated island.  Inevitably things start to unravel when their guide dies suddenly. The narration from two perspectives keeps interest.  
Many thanks to #netgalley for gifting me a copy of #theisland in exchange for an honest review.

The Island by CL Taylor 
I don't often read or listen to YA books, but as a fan of this author I decided to give it a go. I enjoyed the book and found it easy to listen to. 
The book is perfect for a YA audience.

I really enjoyed this audiobook. The plot was extremely interesting and kept you hooked the whole way through. The narration was brilliant too. Lots of mystery, lots of suspense and some brilliant plot twists and surprises!

I feel I gave this book a generous 4 stars. I enjoyed the storyline of this book and the characters but I did feel the middle was kind of slow and then it picked up again towards the end. An overall good read though and will be picking up more of CL Taylor’s books in the future.

This was really good! 
Fast paced and exciting as always from this author, I didn't click what was going on until near the end! I listened in about 4 sessions, I'd totally recommend it for audio.

Well narrated too.

Thanks very much to HarperCollins UK Audio via Netgalley for the copy.

This is a review of the audiobook, not the actual story, I've reviewed the ebook separately.

The narration on this was really good. I think the voices fit the story really well. It sounded young and fresh and really appropriate for the story. 

It was clear and correctly paced and I enjoyed listening to it.

I'd listen to another audiobook by CL Taylor and also another narrated by the same narrator.

I’ve read several books by C.L. Taylor but this is the first time that I’ve read one of her youth adult books. 
The Island tells the highly charged tale of six teenagers on holidays with their respective families, when they embark a week long ‘survival trek’ to a near by island with an experienced guide. The six friends have known each other all of their lives as their parents met at an NCT baby group and have been holidaying together ever since. We soon learn of the divisions within  the group,  but these appear to be the natural disharmonies that occur overtime, especially as the group are growing up and developing their own interests. 
For any modern teenager, it would quite possibly seem challenging to spend a week without their various forms of technology and access to social media – this is certainly a fear for any of the group except for Jefferson, (the birthday boy) a survivalist guru excited for the experience. And so, the story is set for some trouble ahead.
Taylor does not waste any time in plunging the reader straight into the mindset of her characters and catching our attention immediately with a character discussion their wish to be a psychopath in order to avoid dealing with their own emotions. 
We are quickly introduced to the protagonists and the story is told from the point of view of Jessie (first person), Danny (third person) and Honor (first person). This is one of the strengths of the novel as we are given the opportunity to  hear the voice of the teenager and their individual response to the challenges that they face. Despite being only 16, they must react as adult and have both their physical and mental health tested. This is a particular challenge for Jessie because we soon health of the death of ‘Tom’ – though it is only though slow revelations that we discover the truth about Tom and Jessie’s role in his death. Several characters have to deal with a great depth of mental anguish and I think that that author has addressed numerous problems facing teenagers today such as  depression, grief, gender awareness, self-harm and bullying. 
The claustrophobic atmosphere created by the jungle is used to build up the senses of fear and tension – along with providing a place of mystery for the group. They cannot determine if the jungle is a place of safety or should be avoided. Yet, they rely on the jungle for water and food. 
I rad this story in one go and I would hugely recommend – yes, there are trigger warnings for difficult topics but this book also opens up the opportunity to discuss these topics aswell. It is fast-paced, exciting and provides and intriguing insight into the thought process of being a teenager in 2020.

Thank you to NetGalley and HQ Young Adult for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

First of all, the cover of this book was a LOT different when I requested an advance reader copy on NetGalley, it looked quite adult and when the final cover was revealed I wasn't a huge fan. But I definitely have to say, from having this on my GoodReads and NetGalley shelves this new cover has definitely grown on me. I think it's a lot more fitting to the story than the previous cover and gives off much stronger young adult vibes.

This is my first C.L. Taylor book, and as someone who doesn't read a lot of thrillers, I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I didn't predict the ending of this book until everything started to unravel which I really liked, I feel like so many thrillers are obvious and generic now and this one was really unique for me. 

My favourite character in this book was Jefferson, who is definitely more of a side character but I found it so chaotically random that he's a rich, private school attendee turned survivalist, and his character was the only one for me that I didn't find annoying at any time. Being annoying to me as a character isn't always a bad thing, characters intentionally have their flaws because nobody's perfect, but sometimes they do grate on me a little bit. 

In general, the characters were really well fleshed out and each had a depth to them which made them feel like real people. I was apprehensive about this to begin with, as most of the characters come from rich families so I was sort of set up to expect spoiled brats, but luckily that wasn't the case. Each character was dealing with their own problems from back home and traumas, which were brought to light as each characters phobia came true for them on the island.

This book definitely managed to keep me guessing throughout, I really had no idea who to suspect until very near the end, which I think is so, so good for a thriller, especially with a young adult audience it can hard to be fresh and unpredictable but I really enjoyed the ending of this book and how the narrative panned out. 

I think that the author did a fantastic job creating this eerie, isolated, atmospheric survivalist landscape on the island. I felt really immersed in the surroundings and setting of this book thanks to the concise but incredibly well-written descriptions. I was also incredibly gripped on this story and I wanted to know what was going to happen to each character, and who was behind it so I read the majority of this book in one sitting. I was just so desperate to find out!

The only flaw that has really stuck with me from my reading experience, is absolutely no fault of the author and didn't affect my overall rating of the book. But was that the narrator of Jessie's point of view mispronounced a couple of the 'nature' elements in the audiobook version of this book, which completely dragged me out of the read and back to reality in those moments. 

Overall, I'm so glad I decided to take the leap to request this book on NetGalley and potentially discover a new favourite young adult thriller book, I really do hope to see more young adult works from C.L. Taylor in the future.

I requested the audio as a back up incase I was declined for the kindle arc. I was able to get the kindle are and LOVED IT! Full review on my blog. 

The audio is just as good. A great YA/Thriller.

I had no idea that C.L. Taylor had written anything outside of thriller books, so I was surprised to see this book, but was happy to give it a go. Thank you to @HarperCollinsUK and @callytaylor for this advanced audio copy of The Island in return for an honest review. The Island is due to be published on 21st January, 2021 and you can get a copy here.

Description 🔖

Five families have a tradition of going on holiday together every year and the tradition has ran long enough for the kids to remain friends well into their teens. This year’s holiday is to Thailand; sounds perfect right?

Wrong. The six teenagers spend a week on The Island which is a remote tropical island where they’re supposed to learn how to survive and enjoy the stunning surroundings. However when their guide dies of a stroke very early on in the trip, the group are left to fend for themselves. That becomes difficult to do because somebody on the island knows each of their worst fears and unfortunately, they’re all coming true.

General Thoughts 🤔

I’m not usually a YA reader but I do dip into the odd book every now and again. As this book was from an author that has written non-YA books that I have enjoyed, I thought why on earth not?! I have to say, it was an enjoyable book and I got on with it more than I thought I would. I got quite caught up in the relationships in the group and the teen angst and drama. Took me back! There are some dramatic moments in the book that kept me reading, waiting for the next fear to be realised.

There were a couple of things that I couldn’t get along with in the book. The first was that I didn’t feel like I was there; which sounds odd, I get that. But the setting of the book is this beautiful remote island, but I never really got a feeling for what it looked or felt like so I couldn’t envisage it in my mind. The other was despite the mystery and the dramatic moments, they felt a little fleeting so I failed to get a sense of exactly how it affected the group.

Characters 👭👬👫

I struggled to keep up with who was who, who fancied who, who disliked who to begin with, but it all came together for me pretty quickly. As I mentioned, I really enjoyed the teen drama of the relationships within the group. I think it brought back teen memories for me and made me smile.

Don’t be fooled though, they may be teens, but some of them are struggling with some pretty heavy stuff. I liked reading about the backstory of some of the characters and it helped explain some their behaviours within the group on the island.

Writing Style ✍️

The majority of the book is written from the point of view of two of the six teens on the island. I do love a multiple POV book, however I would have liked to hear more about some of the other characters. One of the characters in particular, I wasn’t sure why their POV was selected over others.

Conclusion & Scoring 🏅

I don’t want this review to come across as really negative. Although there were things about this book that I didn’t get along with too well, I did enjoy listening to it and found it easy going. I’d agree with the official description of Lost meets Hunger Games and I think those that are super into YA books would get on with this book well. When it’s released I’d definitely recommend it to the teens in my life and would be intrigued to hear how they find it.

This is my second C.L. Taylor book and my first of her young adult books. I love Taylor's writing and find it so captivating and addictive. 

This book was a solid read and I loved the premise of it. Told mainly in dual perspectives, the audio for this was brilliant with a individual narrators for these perspectives. It was clear and  easy to figure out whose chapter we were on by the narration. 

However this story did miss the mark for me but I'm glad I powered through with listening to it as it was an interesting book. I do wish the ending was a bit different but that's just me!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this cover! Isn’t it awesome? The narrators were spot on and I thought their voices fit well for the story. 
This was a YA book so keep that in mind when watching this play out. I always have to consider the genre when I’m going into a story. 
Teenagers are stranded on this island and they’re not handling things well and no one is prepared. 
I thought it was ok. I wanted a little more development with the characters and the plot. I couldn’t predict the end, so at least there’s that. I recommend it if you love YA drama. 

Thank you Harper Collins Uk Audio via Netgalley for this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.