Eight strangers get dropped to a remote island for a survival television show. Eighteen months later a woman turns up on the mainland disheveled. What exactly happened on that island?
The writing had me hooked from the very first pages, intriguing and exciting, I finished this in just a day. even though you know the lead character Maddy survives, you are still totally taken into the story and gripped wanting to find out exactly what happened to the other contestants and how Maddy escaped.
Written from Maddy's point of view you really get to know her and get a real feel for her character. and I became really fond of her, both because of her background and her sheer determination to survive.
The story was really well researched and felt so real! This added to the atmosphere and and tension and you really felt like you were on a deserted island and made it all totally believable.
The pace was perfect, slowly building the background to begin , with changing timelines to hint at the action to come, making this a real page turner.
One of my favorite reads of the year so far, atmospheric and exciting, the setting was perfect and the characters so well written that they made this feel like such a menacing situation. I loved the hint at the supernatural this just brought an extra magic, mythical and creepy edge. It truly was a thrilling read.
Thank you to Netgalley, Sarah Goodwin and Avon for the copy, I look forward to exploring more by this author.

What an amazing story of survival. Touting the harrowing tale of an ostracized and misunderstand woman and the groups herd mentality that ultimately fell them. The concept was interesting and the setting was easy to imagine as it was rich in detail. The emotion was palatable coming off the pages. Couldn’t get enough. Well done!

Thank you NetGalley for this arc

Compelling Suspense…
What happened on the beautiful, remotely situated Buidseach Island? From the very first page the reader is drawn into this chilling, atmospheric and completely compelling suspense and will absolutely need to know. Well constructed read with a solid sense of place and well drawn characters, tense and intriguing.

I wish to extend my sincere gratitude to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for this advanced copy of Stranded, an unbearably tense story of a descent into cruelty and madness. It is a breathtaking, dark, haunting, and claustrophobic story.

As a fan of intense survival shows on TV in hostile environments, such as Alone and Naked and Afraid XL showing danger, hunger, sickness, injury, and group tensions, I thought I would find Stranded a book to keep me riveted to its pages, and I was not disappointed. This book carries the premise of these TV shows to its extreme limit.

Eight participants are dropped off at a remote, uninhabited island off the coast of Scotland to participate in a year-long reality show. They must build a shelter, hunt, fish, and forage for food. There are also 2 cameramen situated at a distance to be approached only in an emergency. Each contestant has a solar-powered camera, and cameras are placed at strategic positions in trees for the 'entertainment' of the viewing public. The four men and four women participants start by dividing up the tasks. This begins to fail due to a self-appointed group leader, selfishness, greed, laziness, and conflicts over how to proceed. They experience violence, shocks, and human behaviour reduced to its darkest element. Rumours and lies abound. It shows how a bully group evolves and chooses its target. Their need to survive causes a breakdown in morality and turns them into savages. When the return boat fails to return at the end of the year, they are stranded. The human drama becomes sinister and terrifying.

Eighteen months later, a dishevelled, haggard woman shows up on a mainland settlement with a gun and asks a homeowner to call the police. The story switches back and forth in time from events on the island to Maddie in the present. She is being interviewed for her TV account of what happened. Is she a reliable narrator? We are told early that of the ten on the island, only three survived, and there is going to be a trial. Who died, and by what means?

Maddie is the story's predominant character. She is introverted, socially awkward, and was home-schooled by her overly protective parents, who discouraged her socializing. She has no friends, and her parents recently died. She is depressed by her lack of personal development and hopes the year's experiences will lead to self-improvement and friends. When she challenges some of the leader's plans, she is considered disruptive, and when not speaking up, she is regarded as timid and weak. Maddie becomes the target of the group's scorn, is bullied, and eventually unjustly exiled. There is a desire of the others to conform to the leader's lies and hostile intent. Maddie is the object of blame for wrongs for which she had no part. Her expertise in identifying edible and poisonous plants is a loss for the group.

Her situation, while exiled by herself, is mainly in a gross, suffocating hiding place. She remains the target of theft and violence by the group. Her suffering and determination to survive are disturbing but mesmerizing.
Recommended to anyone who likes gripping and disturbing survival stories. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

This book follows our main character Maddy as she sets off to a remote island for a reality TV show. The show is described as what would happen if the world ended and people were forced to survive on their own instincts, forming alliances and working together for their own benefit. At first, things are going fine, soon the group starts to divide and outsiders are quickly separated. What was a reality TV show starts to turn into a fight for survival.

Our main character Maddy is a 29 year old pharmacological botanist, and is surprisingly unlikable for a main character. She’s a social outcast trying to fit in while also dealing with the horrors of her personal life outside of the show. However, as she fights to survive her resilience and drive is admirable. While I can’t say I ever liked Maddy as a person, she’s an interesting main character, a refreshing take from the many perfect heroines often seen in novels. She had flaws, and that’s what makes her so interesting to read about.

This novel kept me on the edge of my seat. While it was a bit slow to start, things started picking up about a quarter of the way through the book and I couldn’t put it down. It switches from the past, where Maddy is on the island, to the present, where she is undergoing an interview about what went on there. I think this was a really smart way of maintaining the reader’s interest. I wanted to know both what Maddy was going to say in the interview and how she survived on the island. It was like two mysteries unfolding at once. Another mark of a good thriller, I never saw what was coming next in the book, whenever more information was reveled I was shocked. In books like this I often can guess what is going to happen next and the motives of the characters, but every time I thoughts I knew what was coming around the corner in this book I was wrong.

The other characters in this book were interesting, though their personalities could be a bit shallow. Other than one character aside from Maddy, don’t go into this book expecting major character development or complex backstories. The author’s style of writing was enjoyable. It was detailed and descriptive without going overboard. This made for an enjoyable read without any unnecessary flowery language.

Overall, this was a thrilling read with an unpredictable plot. I couldn’t put it down.

I would recommend this to: Anyone looking for a good survivalist thriller.

This book was Survivor, Castaway and Lord of the Flies all wrapped in one book. Maddy is looking for an escape after a tragic loss makes her feel there is nothing left for her. Luckily, she will be one of eight contestants to live and make a new community on a remote island while being filmed for a reality television show. While everyone is happy and excited at the beginning, tensions and divisions soon appear and Maddy is exiled from the group. While scared, Maddy knows she can survive on her own since she knows the boat will be by soon to pick them up. As the pick up day comes and goes tensions are at an all time high and paranoia is rampant especially after two dead bodies are found. As supplies dwindle hope for rescue gets smaller and smaller. Who will survive?

This is like an upmarket aggressive Love Island. Without the love but with fear and a fight with tooth and nail. I really enjoyed it and the story raced along. I did read it into the night and talked about it to friends and I recommend it as a good read!

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for my advance review copy of this book.

A gripping fight for survival ★★★★☆

When Maddy signs up to be stranded on a Scottish island for a year as part of a “social experiment” TV show little does she know that it will become a brutal game of survival of the fittest.

When the group realises that they really are stranded, festering divisions and desperation spill over into theft, violence, and even murder.

With the group against her and dwindling supplies can Maddy survive? Will a rescue ever come? Or will the others get her first?

A disturbing and gripping read which asks what we would do to survive and how dangerous desperation and isolation really are. Will anybody make it off the island alive?

For fans of Lord of the Flies by William Golding and The Castaways by Lucy Clarke.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story about a reality show set on an island. I got very invested in the character Maddy who I was backing all the way. The way her fellow islanders turned against her made me feel angry, upset and awkward that adults can turn back and dominate others with their childish and unfair ways. A great ready, thank you for sharing with me.

“I have learned that there is no justice…there is only survival and the victor tells the story…if it was to be survival of the fittest, I would play to win…”

If the world was ending, how would you survive? How do you picture the end? How do you resolve conflict? These are questions posed to contestants vying for a spot on a reality show where 8 strangers are left on Buidsearch Island for a year. The contestants are allowed to bring items they feel could be useful, and are provided a few cache boxes of supplies. There are no hosts or camera crews following them around filming their exploits. They each wear a solar powered camera, and the only other occupants on the island are 2 employees of the show to be contacted only for life-or-death emergency situations. So, what happens when food rations run low and tempers run high? Do you have what it takes to survive when the most dangerous element on the island is your fellow man?

WOW! This story is absolutely impossible to put down once you start! Dark and disturbing as we are told the story of a woman forced to match wits against the other occupants on the island in an ultimate game of survival. By the last page, you’ll be left wondering if you could live to tell the tale of being Stranded…

One of my fav reads of the year! Loved and highly recommend!




**I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book that I received via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. **

I’ve been so lucky getting to read really good books lately and Stranded by Sarah Goodwin is one of those books I absolutely enjoyed reading. It has a very simple premise: A reality show/ social experiment type of thing with eight contestants that are to live on a secluded island and try to survive for a year, pretending that the world is ending and they are the only remaining survivors. I mean, what a very interesting scenario!

I’m absolutely hooked from the very beginning. Maddy is the protagonist of the story. She had a unique upbringing and lost her parents prior to joining the show. I loved her voice and characterization because she’s very relatable and she’s not your usual Katniss, Bella or Hazel Grace; and she’s basically just a socially awkward adult who grew up without any friends at all. I know it may sound weird for me to say that I loved that she is all that prior to meeting the other seven contestants but it’s just fun to see how she’d overcome all of those things and see her in group dynamics. There were times in the book that I got frustrated and annoyed by her; but looking back, her whole demeanor kinda worked with the whole set-up of the ‘game.’

It has a “Lord of the Flies” feel, with the whole power grabbing and we see here how wicked people are with the things they’re willing to do in order to survive. See, after their initial rations runs out, it became clear that this whole thing was very serious – and it really did turn graphic, I’m telling you. It’s very fascinating in a sickening way and I think this is what makes this book worth reading. I got really into it midway and I just couldn’t put it down. It’s very engaging, compelling, exciting, frightening and just a whole lot entertaining.

I’d definitely recommend this book if you’re looking for an exciting and a delicious thriller. Absolutely worth your time and dime!

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Wow wow wow! The suspense!!

OK so I really really enjoyed this book. I loved the writing style, the suspense. It was absolutely fantastic. I feel like everything was neatly tied up at the end and all unanswered questions were answered. Loved seeing how it all panned out.
The only thing that let this book down for me was that I felt like it really didn't get exciting until about 40% in. I found the second part of the book fantastic but the first half let it down a little for me. That said I still really enjoyed the book!!

Stranded by Sarah Goodwin was not what I expected. It was much better in fact..

The novel is told from the point of view of Maddy, a twentysomething who has recently lost her parents in an accident. Maddy signs up for a Survivor-type adventure on a remote Scottish island where the chosen participants will have to survive for a year with minimal assistance from the show's production team. As we learn, Maddy has been excessively sheltered by her parents over the years - she hasn't gone to grade school or learned how to socialize and make friends or live independently in the world. This has resulted in her being socially awkward and struggling to read people and social cues the rest of us would pick up on easily.

The chosen participant group is a motley, assorted group of individuals who appear to have been selected to produce "dramatic television" through dissent and controversy. Unfortunately, working relationships deteriorate quickly and what appeared as a challenging adventure soon descends into a Lord of the Flies competition for survival.

I enjoyed this novel - especially the way Maddy uses her botanical knowledge to survive a threadbare existence on the island. Some of the characters are drawn a little one-dimensional and I would have enjoyed seeing a little more nuance in their personalities. However it was a great read and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a dash of outdoor adventure in their suspense reading. Thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books for providing me a copy to review.

Eight strangers accept the challenge to survive on an island for a year. Cameras constantly film them for reality TV. A social experiment to establish infrastructure, govern themselves and build a future from flotsam and the natural resources available to them.
After a while, friends become enemies and only the fittest survive. One of them becomes the prey, almost non-human for the others. When cornered, we are animals.

Blame, stigmatisation, fear, delusion that somehow they are all still civilised people at heart, that they try to protect themselves when they hunt the others.

Gripping, intense, dark, fast paced and with well developed characters, while reading it feels as a reader is on an island himself.

Unputdownable!

I wish there was more backstory to the characters as they weren’t all the unique to me but it was definitely a heart throbbing suspense that I needed to know the ending to. A little harsher than my usual writing style preference but fitting for the story. Thank you to Netgalley & the publisher for this pre-release in exchange for my honest review!

I really enjoyed this. I love a book set on an deserted island and this one with its reality tv show twist was great fun. I liked how it dropped hints throughout about what was *really* going on. I was a bit disappointed with the (slightly strange!) ending but I really enjoyed it overall

I received a copy of this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What a thriller. I was intrigued by the premise of it and it did not disappoint. I liked the flip between present (the interview) and past. It gave little hints without giving anything away, which just made me want to keep reading.

The characters were very well written. The ones that were unlikeable were very unlikeable. The main character was easy to like, although she could be frustrating at times.

Overall, fantastic book. I’m a sucker for a good survival story. I will be looking for more of Sarah Goodwin’s books.

Maddy is having a tough time with the recent loss of her parents. She is offered a strange opportunity to be part of a social experiment where 8 strangers will have to survive together on a remote island for one year. The participants will be on their own for food, shelter and other necessities. Maddy quickly signs on, as she sees this as an opportunity to escape from her normal life and start a new chapter. Will the participants support each other or will this small society fall apart? Will Maddy make it off the island alive?

A brilliant five star read from author Sarah Goodwin. This is a gripping story about survival and it shows just how quickly that this small group’s moral behavior goes out the window. It definitely reminded me of the TV series Survivor but taken to the ultimate extreme. I loved it and would highly recommend STRANDED!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This review will be posted to my Instagram Blog (@coffee.break.book.reviews) in the near future.

Stranded by Sarah Goodwin is a very tense and twisty book. Sarah Goodwin does an excellent job writing complex characters and a storyline and plot that dives deep into the human psyche.

The story was tense and heart-pounding. Sometimes I would catch myself holding my breath when reading as the scenes were scary and some quite claustrophobic. Stranded is a very gripping story.

I admit that I was hooked as soon as I read the blurb of Stranded. I love a good survival thriller and the mystery around eight people arriving and only three surviving made me want to read this story instantly. I've been looking forward to read it, and I can now say that I definitely liked what I found. Stranded is a true survival thriller that also offers its very own little locked room mystery to boot. The story is strangely infuriating while also being highly entertaining, and it's definitely one that will have you in its claws until the very end.

The setting on the remote Scottish island Buidseach Isle is without doubt a perfect backdrop for the story. The eight contestants have to survive during a whole year on the island, relying mostly on what they can find on Buidseach to keep themselves alive. The many descriptions of the island, its fauna and everything related to the survival element in general where thorough and vivid, and I really felt like I was there right next to Maddy seeing everything unfold. The setting and the survival element of the story were both reasons I ended up enjoying this story considerably, and it made the story stand out for me too.

As for the characters... Some can be quite infuriating, and most are quite unlikeable, but somehow I wasn't too bothered by it as they make the story strangely entertaining. Maddy herself was an interesting character, and while I wanted to slap her at times for not standing up for herself, I can't say I'm surprised by her initial reactions due to her past and it was interesting to see her character evolve over time. The character development as the eight contestants spend more time on the island is intriguing in general, and especially when things start to escalate.

Like I mentioned before, this story also has that locked room mystery vibe, which is an element I always love. It was interesting to see this part of the story develop, and Stranded will definitely have more than one surprise for you in store before you reach the end. It turned out to be a highly engaging, addictive, frustrating and suspenseful read and I will definitely be looking out for any future Sarah Goodwin books.