ADORED!!!! Georgia really knows how to write a large cast of characters. Despite there being so many, you feel like you get to know each one, deeply. The setting was amazing. Pure escapism, I just loved it!

Island Time was such a fun read! It was a slow start but once I got to know the characters, I fell in love with each of their stories. This book has a great mix of love, friendship, heartbreak, and family dynamic. It was written in multiple point of views and easy to follow along. Don’t be deceived by the cover; this is much more than a romance novel! Each storyline was well developed and authentic. All around, a good read.

This is a perfect summer or vacation read.

This is a transformative story where everything and everyone discovers new thing about themselves. From the beginning there is a lot of assumption of what's going on in the other persons life, but a Tsunami that strands the group of people on a tropical island, they are confronted with what they truly want. The straight forward family loosen up and learn to enjoy some leisure activities that make them more open to other feeling. The family that seems to be more open have a lot of secrets that they have to confront and deal with and it seems they fight what they need to do a lot. My favorite character is Jarrah who is not only the caretaker of the island but also is a teacher to those around him and makes those around him appreciate the beauty and elements of the island without taking anything with them but memories.

I found the story more an adventure then a comedy since it has to do more with feelings of the heart then it has to do with funny moments. This is truly a story about owning up to who you are and what you want out of life and not hiding from it. I found some parts of the story should definitely be view with an open minded and kind hearts.

I want to thank Atria Books, Atria/Emily Bestler Books and NetGalley for the advance copy of this novel.

Another DNF. This book started off strong for me, but I lost interest in the book quickly. There were a lot of characters and it was too much to keep track of. I feel like when there are a lot of character's I don't get as much of the character development as I would like. Beyond that, I did not like the writing style. Maybe this author has other books I might enjoy more.

This book was a breath of fresh air if I’ve ever needed one! I really enjoyed the story, and fell in love with the characters! Highly recommend!

Georgia Clark writes some of the best ensemble romances and this was no exception. She explores the complicated relationships across each family gay and straight but this is her first queer forward romance. Two families of a married couple go on holiday to a remote Australian island and become trapped for many weeks after a volcano eruption. Romance brews and complication ensues. This one is definitely sexier than her past romances! Island Time is also Clarks love letter to her homeland of Australia allowing you to escape on holiday alongside the Lee & Kelly families.

Solid 4.5 stars
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for ARC

46% in and I keep thinking I’m reading a novel deep in a series that I haven’t read because I’m mostly lost here.

* It took weeks, but I finally finished it. There is a lot here, the content doesn’t match the breezy, fun cover, the main character is intensely unlikable, and there are a lot of side characters.The natural disaster and aftermath was so very unrealistic.

This one just didn’t work well for me.

First off, thank you for letting me read this beautiful book as an advanced reader copy! It was such a pleasure and omg I need more Georgia Clark books in my life!

I loved that she gave some background and then BAM! Volcano and Tsunami! It got me hooked right from the beginning! Sometimes books can drag on to give you the details, which can be important, but damn get me hooked right away and Georgia Clark definitely did that! I also loved that these 2 families figured out their differences and all ended up becoming close, inevitable while being stuck on an island for 6 weeks together, but it was so nice to see it happen! It gave us all real life issues: divorce, LGBTQ, jobs, parenting, and more! And yes, it can get sexual sometimes, but it was good because it didn’t take over the whole book but again helped moved the story along!

I also loved how she brought it around again with one final Tropical Storm to really bring out the final family issues and bring an ending to a story!

But also, this beautiful island is painted so well in this story telling and it makes me want to travel to this island in Australia to see the extinct Boobook!

This is a definite must read and won’t leave you disappointed!

I feel like Georgia Clark reinvents herself with every book! Like It Had to be You, Island Time also featured an ensemble cast, but the setting was Australia instead of New York City and took place during and after a tsunami, forcing an extended family into forced proximity over a six-week period. Lots of drama, sex, and character development ensues. Great Bi representation, and I also appreciated a romance featuring a woman in her late fifties/early sixties. Life (and sex) doesn't end at 39!

Georgia Clark’s writing is just fun! I loved It Had to be You so was so thankful for the ARC from NetGalley. This book had it all- quirky family, finding love at the most unexpected times in the most unexpected places and at a time when we all need it the most hope. Thank you Georgia!

3.5⭐️ This book is a fun island escape with lots of entertainment, heartwarming moments and Liane Moriarty vibes. I will say there were a few parts that I had a harder time buying into, but I know many people will love this story.

What I enjoyed:
-This book was the perfect mix of romance, drama and domestic fiction
-How Clark gives us glimpses of relationships in all different stages and sheds light on the problems that may occur. It all felt very realistic.
-I love when books are told through POVs of 5+ characters
-The Australian island setting. I loved the vivid descriptions and learning about the island’s inhabitants.
-The queer representation was great. There was alot of openness and acceptance in the story.

What wasn’t for me:
-The natural disaster plot was hard to buy into. I was confused how after such a severe storm they had wifi and electricity right away on the island
-The story felt a little too long. The beginning started off strong but in the middle it dragged a bit I
-I sadly found one main character, Amelia, unlikeable and hard to connect with.

Thanks NetGalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review! Pub date: 6/14/22

The Kellys and the Lees find themselves on an extended vacation when a volcano erupts on their remote island, leaving them stranded for weeks. They try to make the most of their circumstances as Amelia finds herself entangled with the island's caretaker Liss after her boyfriend is unable to make it to the island. Amelia's sister Matty and her wife grapple with balancing their careers, family, and a cross-continent move. The island takes center stage with storms and exotic wildlife. I really loved the quirky parents and their unexpected relationships.

This novel is like Gilligan's Island meets Full House, but with gay romance. Two families get temporarily stranded on a lush tropical island off the coast of Queensland, Australia and each person learns important truths about themselves and the people they love. The descriptions of the fictional Mun'dai island (based on the real island of K'Gari) are beautiful and thorough. As is the history of the indigenous people of the area and their fight to reclaim their heritage and independence from white colonists.

Where the author lost me was with the characters. The books rotates between points of view of many of the 9 main characters and the result is none of them are given enough space to develop appropriately. Back stories and explanations for behavior are glossed over and I never felt that I really understood any of them.

Overall it was a decent book, a good beach or pool read, but I didn't love it.

This is really more of an LGBTQ-friendly ensemble story than a romance according to the generally accepted rule, that is, one main couple whose romance is in the foreground, while side characters take a backseat.

We have Amelia, who is expecting the man she considers the love of her life to join her family and also her sister's family on an island off Australia. But then nature decides differently.

That whack by nature was so well evoked I could not stop reading. And I loved the two families, even if some aspects of them seemed a tad off-putting at first, their good intentions, their complexity and humanness are so well done that I wanted to see their arcs, too.

Yet it took me three weeks to read this book, much as I enjoyed specific scenes. I finally figured out what was dragging for me: the side characters are not just introduced once with the too-easy "character sits alone in a room and thinks their history" approach, it happens several times to each one, often repeating the same emotional note, even if new facts are introduced. For example, we get that Ludmilla is very tightly buttoned up, we don't need that introduced repeatedly; I began skimming some of those when it felt as if four novels were squished into one by including massive data dumps of tell about everyone's background.

But once we got to scenes, the story took off again. I loved the central romance, I adored Parker and Matty's arc, and I loved the parents' arcs as well. Love and friendship both get their innings in a warm, deliciously described way, with a ton of humor and gracefully done sensory detail. So many turns of phrase I marked as wonderful.

Overall I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I'd just warn readers who like a brisker pace to soldier through the many background data dumps. I thought the story worth it.

I really wanted to love this book, but unfortunately, I did not. It went on and on seemed like the book would never end. Too many descriptions of anything and everything. Thank you NetGalley for the privilege to read this and am very sorry I did not enjoy it.

<i>Island time</i> is very different from Georgia Clark's other books and is a bit mismarketed. The cover and breezy description make it seem like a fun rom-com, when really it's a story of a bunch of awful people trapped on an island together for six week (think HBO's White Lotus).

The main character (Amelia) is so profoundly unlikable. She finds herself on the island with her family waiting for her boyfriend who seems like he might propose at any minute to show up. When a natural disaster happens, the boyfriend cannot come and Amelia learns there's more to her perfect boyfriend than she ever imagined. In the wake of their break up she throws herself at the island's caretaker (Lisse), sure that they are meant to be together forever. Amelia's behavior is unhinged throughout the book. She's meant to be lovable and trusting but so many of her actions come across as creepy (proposing after a few days, begging to have babies, etc.).

The more alarming aspect to me was the treatment of the indigenous character. I think there should be an agreement among white writers and editors that they need people from indigenous culture to read the book before it hits the market. There's all this stereotypical description of the one indigenous character that verges on a fetish. Jarrah has "burnished skin", he smells "earthy", he's associated with mysticism and tells the other characters folk tales from his culture 'round the camp fire. Even his back story is the stereotypical backstory everyone has heard a million times. It's really disappointing to see writers still treating indigenous characters in such a flat way.

The real heroes of the book are Glen, Randall and Lisse. The rest of the characters were just so darn unlikable.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

Vacations never go exactly at planned and this is a great story! Two families end up stranded on a small island after a natural disaster. There's a little of everything in here to enjoy and it makes me want to visit a tropical island soon!

The first half of this book is long and some parts could be removed to condense the story. However, the second half of this book is everything I love in a story! Love, heartbreak, family drama, acceptance, forgiveness, etc. I love seeing so much openness and acceptance in the story. It’s more real life based where we have to accept things we cannot change/alter how we thought our lives would go! The natural disaster part of the story was a bit lost on me. After it is mentioned you kind of forget that they aren’t just on vacation. There really wasn’t much devastation for the family to overcome. There were some parts that were added to maybe remind the reader the family was stranded but truthfully it just felt like a family on vacation. I feel like if 50-75 pages were removed, this could have been the perfect book! I will always hold a place in my heart for Amelia, Matty, Liss, and Parker! <3

Who´s ready to escape to a salty tropical island off the coast of Australia? You certainly will be after reading Georgia Clark´s Island Time! What a beautifully written romantic comedy. Two families of opposite demeanor ´ s come together when their daughters end up married. In the midst of their families vacationing, a volcano erupts and now they are forced to spend the next six weeks together. The families could not be more different, however they come to realize what it is that matters most, and even what it is in life they really want.
This was a beautiful escape, and a book I will definitely pick up again during those long beach days of summer!

Thank you very much to NetGalley, Georgia Clark and Simon and Schuster for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Island time was very different from what I initially thought it would be about based on the cover. It looked like another sappy romance, but I found it to be so much deeper than that. It is about an extended family that goes on vacation on an island off of the coast of Australia, and gets stranded for 6 weeks due to a natural disaster. They must learn to adapt and live together, all the while deal with new, budding romances, and heartbreaking drama.

I am usually put off from multiple viewpoints and find them hard to follow, but each character seemed to have an in depth description of their lives and personal drama. They were very detailed and fleshed out and easy to follow, which I admired the author for being able to pull off. The queer romances were described perfectly. They were believable and natural with flaws and conflict and passion and love. It wasn’t cringey or too sappy, just real.

One issue I had with the book is that it seemed longer than necessary. I felt like it started off strong, then got weak in the middle, and ended strong. I felt maybe it could’ve been edited to make it a little less wordy, but somehow, even at the slow parts, it kept you reading.

I also had a hard time liking some of the characters. Some grew more than others in the end, and I grew to like them, but others not so much. While it isn’t always fun to read about an unlikable character, I feel it is necessary to keep things real, and I can appreciate the authors need to add them in.

Lastly, I had a hard time imagining the layout of the island. It was descriptive, but I felt like it could’ve been a little more detailed. A map would’ve been a fun addition for visualization.

The writing was beautiful, but although I liked it, I didn’t love it. I recommend it, but I wouldn’t reread. Some parts were just too slow and tv series-ish. I found myself wanting more of that exciting action packed beginning. But I did find myself sad when it was time for them to leave. I’m wondering what happened to them afterward, and I feel like that could make a great second book!

Thank you for this ARC that was generously provided by the publisher and author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.