Review: The Raft by S.A. Bodeen

The Raft
Author: S.A. Bodeen
Release Date: August 21, 2012
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Source: ARCycling
Links: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Goodreads / IndieBound

My rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Robie is an experienced traveler. She's taken the flight from Honolulu to the Midway Atoll, a group of Pacific islands where her parents live, many times. When she has to get to Midway in a hurry after a visit with her aunt in Hawaii, she gets on the next cargo flight at the last minute. She knows the pilot, but on this flight, there's a new co-pilot named Max. All systems are go until a storm hits during the flight. The only passenger, Robie doesn't panic until the engine suddenly cuts out and Max shouts at her to put on a life jacket. They are over miles of Pacific Ocean. She sees Max struggle with a raft.
And then...she's in the water. Fighting for her life. Max pulls her onto the raft, and that's when the real terror begins. They have no water. Their only food is bag of Skittle. There are sharks. There is an island. But there's no sign of help on the way.

           Can I just start off that I read this book in the most horrible/awkward of times? I was on my way to NYC for the holidays and I decided to take a book with me; a book that if I needed to stop reading for whatever reason, I wouldn't die because of a cliffhanger. However, I forgot about the part where there is a plane crash and Robie (the MC) is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on a raft. AND I read the plane crash of the book while *on* a plane. Talk about horrible timing.

There's not much to say about this story except that Robie is a survivor. She could have gone crazy and given up but whenever she felt like doing just that, she tapped into some deep and primal part of her that didn't allow her. She kept fighting for herself even when she wanted to give up. There a little surprise twist to the story that I enjoyed. I had picked up on some clues but I tried to keep faith right along with Robie.

Overall, it was a quick and enjoyable read but nothing too memorable. I won't be picking up this book again. And I also want to thank the girls over at ARCycling for a copy of this ARC.