The Island (Us Book 1)

This book was absolutely amazing and I’m mad at myself that it took me so long to actually get to it. Briar Prescott is one of my top authors and when this book came out, I was disappointed I wasn’t able to grab it immediately. It might be 6 months later, but I finally picked up and then, I couldn’t put it down. The chemistry between these characters is amazing and the story pacing was perfect. I liked that the book is broken into 3 parts but the minor time jumps are solely during the childhood years. The plot and character developments are equally fantastic. I really can’t gush about this book enough. Adrien and Dylan start off as neighbors but around the age of 11 become best friends. Briar does a fantastic job of really building the importance of not only the friendship of the MMCs but the relationship of Adrien’s family to Dylan. Dylan is a lonely soul and Adrien’s introduction into his life, along with Adrien’s large family does a lot to fill so many emotional gaps for Dylan. However, by the age of 15, his feelings for Adrien are starting to change and for the next several years, he will spend his time silently pining for his best friend. When Adrien gets engaged, Dylan decides to give his friend a sort bachelor party. Just the two of them taking a trip to Fiji. This is where everything goes off the rails and the course of their lives and relationships will change forever. This book gave me one of the biggest hangovers I’ve had. I wanted so much more of these two…

This book was EVERYTHING. Hands down one of my top books of 2025. Dylan and Adrian are one of my favorite couple of all time. If you do anything this year or next it should be to make sure you read this book. When I tell you that this book is filled with yearning and aching I am not lying. This book gave me all the feels and I constantly was screaming at Briar about how could she do this. How could she keep these two apart for so long. Then the island happened and OH MY GOODNESS. Forced proximity happened and survival happened and then ALL THE FEELINGS. I am not great with words. I am good with vibes and feelings and this book has it all. Watching Dylan love Adrian for YEARS and watching Adrian have no idea…. LIKE YEARNING, ACHING, WANTING. Then these two are now forced together for a LONG time an we get to see them together. Well they are just trying to survive but they have each other. This book also felt like a thriller to me. Watching them try to survive had me on the edge of my seat. I don’t want to give too much away if you haven’t read it but their love is everything. At the end of the day they are meant for each other and watching them be so attached to each other was beautiful. YOU HAVE TO READ THE ISLAND. Then come yap to me about it.

4.5⭐ Wow! I loved this read. It make you feel all the emotions. The yearning, the angst, the longing, the pining, the unrequited love, the hurt, THE TRUE LOVE!!!! All of it. Dylan fell in love with his best friend Adrian at age 15. He loved him in secret for so many years. What was supposed to be a fun 2 weeks trip to Fiji, just the two of them before Adrian got married, soon turned into 3 long years of survival on a deserted island after their charter plane went down in the ocean. This is a slow burn and a long fight to a final HEA but so worth every 500+ pages. Never once did I find myself bored. The story starts off with them at 10 years old (and ends at 30). We get to experience their friendship over time and see how Dylan fell in love with Adrian. I actually liked how the author handled the time jumps in here too. Never once did I feel cheated out of a certain period of their history. I really enjoyed the island survival aspect of the story too. I haven’t read anything like that before so it was nice to experience something new. This is my first book by this author but I certainly want to read more

⭐️ 4.5/5 🌶️ 3/5 Main characters: Dylan & Adrian Side characters: Freya, Indy, Nina, & the Olsen clan Page count: 552 Dual POV. This one was intense. Almost everything about it. What happened to Dylan and Adrian was intense. Dylan’s yearning for Adrian was unbelievably intense. The amount of intentional miscommunication between the main characters was intense. Really just everything. The writing was exceptional. Briar did a great job of bringing us deep into all those feelings even if it was really hard to experience what they were going through (especially Dylan) to that level. I definitely struggled with Dylan’s unwillingness to tell Adrian the true depths of what he felt, and if it hadn’t been for the Island I really fear for what his life would have been like. I’d like to believe there would have eventually been another path for them, but with Dylan shoving all his feelings down so much, I don’t know what that would have looked like. Adrian obviously loved him deeply and prioritized him over everyone else even before things changed between them, so the foundation of what happened was there from the beginning. I’m so glad they eventually got their HEA though. This one was truly a journey.

wow… i’m so sad this book is over… i loved everything about it.. Adrian and Dylan’s POV. Dylan’s slow falling in love from very young age.. Adrian’s way to get to love Dylan… slow slow slooow burn.. level of emotions. amazing language.. seriously considering reading it all over again. ❤️