What readers think of Castle of Water, plus links to write your own review.

From the beginning of this book, I was blown away by the beautiful writing. It was a joy to read. The characters were well developed. I felt like I was on the island with them and went through their challenges with them. Their adventure was surprisingly better than I had anticipated from a castaway story. Quite a tribute to our will to survive. Without writing a spoiler, I would have liked more details about the later part of the story. I will look for the next book by this author.

Books are special to me when I feel like I'm in the story. The protaginists in this story are complex and well developed. I was angry, laughed out loud, and said awww.. several times while reading this book. I started it yesterday afternoon and forced myself to save the last chapters for this morning. I felt like I was on the island with Sophie and Barry. Hats off to Dana Huckelbridge for a very fine novel!

This one was more a delight than I would have suspected. I felt I was right there on the island with the couple. The descriptions were great and I was intrigued the entire time. A pleasure from beginning to end.

In reviewing this book, I will start out by saying that when I first received it, i couldn't get into it immediately, so I put it down.This does happen to me sometimes.

So, i decided to try it again a few days ago, and I literally couldn't put it down.Which does make me wonder why that was not how I thought it would go!

I loved this book, the story & the way it's written was beautifully done. I felt like I was on the same journey as the main characters from the moment of "the incident" to the end of the book.

The author was descriptive, but not overly so.The book kept me involved even though there were times that it seemed like not much was happening. This I think is the part I give great marks to the author for, as I have a short attention span.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone ho wants beautiful descriptions, and wants to feel like they have gone on a very different kind of vacation. I believe like me, to use a movie phrase-this book is a sleeper surprise!

Two perfect strangers, American Barry Bleecher and French Sophie Ducel, live through a plane crash near a tiny island between Tahiti and the Marquesas. In a captivating modern day Robinson Crusoe talk, each contributes his/her experience to survive in most inhospitable conditions. On the surface, they have nothing in common -- sex, background, career, nationality, language, and for the first year they don't even like each other. However, they face the dilemma of how to survive with nothing but a first aid kid and a few green bananas. What choice do they have? They face despair, loneliness, and ultimately they choose life over death to find companionship and, yes, love. A beautiful story that I can't wait to share with my fellow readers.

I surprised myself by really liking this hard to describe novel. The author has a unique style and I had to get into his rhythm before I embraced it. Barry was a passenger in a small plane that crashed in the South Pacific. He survived and swam to a tiny abandoned island. Sophie was also on the plane, honeymooning with her husband. The death of Sophie's husband before her eyes was beyond traumatic. She subsequently drifted to the same island in a small lifeboat. When Barry found her she was traumatized and incoherent. What follows is three years they spent on the island, depending on each other for survival. Neither one liked the other at the beginning but they quickly learned tolerance and appreciation for the talents they each had. As the months passed, their relationship deepened as did their conversations. This novel evoked a range of emotions in me, not the least of which was humor. From the first page of the book to the end the author's wry sense of humor often made me laugh out loud. One would not think humor and castaway life would blend but they did. Kudos to Dane Huckelbridge.

From the minute I read the first few pages I was in love with the writing style and luxuriated in reading through each page. Oh and yes, the storyline was good but the writing, now that was to die for. The story plot is not something I would have normally picked -"Two very different individuals ending up on the same remote island because of a common dream" the author writes. And the main female character, Sophie, is not someone I enjoy, but I am delighted I read this book as the author is so very talented. I ended up enjoying it immensely and will definitely read anything else by this author.

Ever since Kon-Tiki enthralled me as a grade school student, I have been in awe of the people who have ventured out into the unknown with only their determination and a few guidelines to explore the South Pacific.

Dane Huckelbridge has written a captivating book, Castle of Water, about two people stranded on a miniscule island after a plane crash, who slowly go from being antagonists whose sole thoughts are survival, to caring helpmates who establish a "home" under the most primitive conditions possible.

Although it is a novel, the book has many well researched areas that will keep the reader turning the pages and in the end wishing for more.