On The Island Event: guest post, giveaways and Scavenger Hunt

Thank you for participating in the ON THE ISLAND Event! This week in addition to reviews and posts, select blogs are hosting a word from the author's favorite quotes in the book as a Scavenger Hunt! There is one quote from Anna and one from T.J. Visit each stop this week to find the hidden words (they will be numbered for order) and after July 22nd, submit your answer to the quotes here! Random winners for books and swag will be chosen and notified by July 29th.

Also, next week July 23-27, there will be even more events and chances to win the book and swag!

• Monday, July 23 at 8:00 pm CST - Chat with the author Tracey Garvis Graves! We will be chatting with the author on Savor Chat: http://www.savorchat.com/chat/on-the-island-chat Come join us! (You can sign in with twitter or facebook)
• Each day look at #ontheisland on twitter for random shout outs to win books and swag! @Tale_of_Reviews
• ON THE ISLAND released in bookstores Tuesday, July 10th! If you see the book in stores or 'inthe wild' take a picture. Please tweet it and use hashtag #ontheisland. Or you can post it to facebook! Please submit twitter and facebook links of your post/tweet here! All entries need to be submitted by July 29th.

Book blurb: When thirty-year-old English teacher Anna Emerson is offered a job tutoring T.J. Callahan at his family's summer rental in the Maldives, she accepts without hesitation; a working vacation on a tropical island trumps the library any day.

T.J. Callahan has no desire to leave town, not that anyone asked him. He's almost seventeen and if having cancer wasn't bad enough, now he has to spend his first summer in remission with his family - and a stack of overdue assignments - instead of his friends.

Anna and T.J. are en route to join T.J.'s family in the Maldives when the pilot of their seaplane suffers a fatal heart attack and crash-lands in the Indian Ocean. Adrift in shark-infested waters, their life jackets keep them afloat until they make it to the shore of an uninhabited island. Now Anna and T.J. just want to survive and they must work together to obtain water, food, fire, and shelter. Their basic needs might be met but as the days turn to weeks, and then months, the castaways encounter plenty of other obstacles, including violent tropical storms, the many dangers lurking in the sea, and the possibility that T.J.'s cancer could return. As T.J. celebrates yet another birthday on the island, Anna begins to wonder if the biggest challenge of all might be living with a boy who is gradually becoming a man.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | 

About the author: Tracey Garvis-Graves is the author of On the Island and Covet. She lives in a suburb of Des Moines, Iowa with her husband, two children, and hyper dog Chloe. She blogs at www.traceygarvisgraves.com using colorful language and a snarky sense of humor to write about pop culture, silly television shows, and her suburban neighborhood. You can e-mail her at traceygarvisgraves@yahoo.com. She’d love to hear from you.

Author links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads


Guest post by Tracey Garvis Graves
My writing cave

Like many authors, I have several places where I’m most comfortable – and productive – when I’m writing. All of them are in my home. I’m definitely not one of those people who can go to a coffee shop and expect to get any work done. The Internet is distracting enough; the last thing I need is the added temptation of people watching!


This is my all-time favorite place to write, and 90% of On the Island was written here (mostly between the hours of 5:30-7:00 a.m., before I went to my day job). It’s in the family room and I especially love turning on the gas fireplace when it’s cold out. This used to be a perfectly nice chair/ottoman combo from Crate and Barrel, but I’ve managed to practically destroy it. See that brown blanket draped over the arm? That’s covering the big rip caused by constant friction from the edge of my laptop tray. I’ve also spilled a ton of diet Coke and coffee on this chair. Since I also sit here in the evening when I’m on Facebook or Twitter, there’s been a fair amount of wine dumped on it, too. I’ve been joking with my husband about replacing the chair with something different, but I don’t think I actually will. A new slipcover, maybe, but “Mom’s chair” has sentimental value and every time I look at it, I smile. 

If I want to get any writing done when my husband and kids are home/awake, I sometimes retreat to the loveseat in the master bedroom. It’s comfortable and there’s the added bonus of a lock on the door. Unfortunately, both kids can pick it in under 7 seconds. Sigh. 

This is my last resort. It’s my least favorite place to write for two reasons: one, it’s in the basement so it’s quite cold in the winter. I have been known to wear the pink Snuggie I received as a gag gift and my husband often has to set up a space heater so I don’t turn blue and die of hypothermia. And two, since our basement is a walk-out, you never know how many neighbor kids are going to come charging through the sliding glass door at any given moment. Shouting, “Go away, I’m trying to write!” does not portray me in the most favorable light. Apparently.

While I definitely prefer my comfy chair in the family room, all of these “writing cave” locations will work just fine (as long as it’s quiet).

For the full list of scheduled events, go here

SCAVENGER HUNT WORD: anymore ~ This is Anna's quote, word #7

Check each stop each day to see who else is a Scavenger Hunt host! Good luck! 

Giveaway:
There is a tour wide giveaway of Ten (10) signed print copies of On The Island which will be given away by Plume Books. Enter below.a Rafflecopter giveaway