Emily Rogers thought nothing could be worse than her family moving across the ocean. When the unthinkable happens and the ship goes down, she learns just how wrong she is. Now she’s stranded on a deserted island with her two young cousins and Christopher Williams, the boy who refused to leave until all the women and children were safe.

But the island hides many secrets and holds many dangers. And as they fight to survive and hold onto hope, one unsettling question rises above the others. Is the island really deserted?

Book 1 of the Castaways series.

To be sixteen is to have troubles, but Emily has more than her share: distracted parents, PTSD flashbacks, sudden uprootings to new states and new countries. But when a series of calamities maroons her on an uncharted island, she will learn what trouble can be. In Castaways, Jes Drew combines contemporary young-adult fiction with the old fancy of a desert island harboring mysteries. Through the first-person narration of its young heroine, the book achieves a memorable and entertaining tone. A current of Christian belief runs through the story, and an innocent romance dominates many of the pages. Adults may wonder if uncharted islands are still possible, and if any seventeen-year-old boy could be so impressive, even to a sixteen-year-old girl. But younger readers will take delight in this light, sweet tale.

Best for: Teenagers, especially girls; romance and YA readers.

Discern: Mild violence; peril to children and teenagers; a young girl suffers PTSD after an attempted robbery.