Anne of a Different Island
Author: Virginia Kantra
Reviewer: Ang
Rating: C+
What I’m Talking About:
Let me start by saying I really wanted to love this book. The concept had the potential to tickle all the right parts of my classic loving brain, but it just fell flat in a few too many areas for me.
Anne is likable and quirky and impulsive in all the right ways. The book starts with the death of her father who is clearly the Matthew-esque character in the book for her, but rather than giving us flashbacks or clear memories with him, Anne talks about him and it left me wanting more.
Actually, that was my overall feeling with the book; I wanted more from the characters. Each felt flat, like we were so busy in Anne’s mind that we really never get to know the characters that shaped who she is.
Joe is clear supposed to be the Gilbert character but felt much more Luke Danes to me. He’s the calm to Anne’s storms but we never get to know him. His issues are touched on but never handled. It’s lovely that he sees Anne and loves who she is for who she is, but outside of him always being there, why does she love him? And I wonder how can they build a life if his issues are never addressed. I understand that Joe is supposed to be the opposite of Chris, who Anne changes herself for, and who forces Anne’s world to revolve around, but there needs to be some give and take and I feel like we never see that in Joe. He’s flat and I wanted more.
Overall, Anne of a Different Island was fine, but it wasn’t the reimagined escape I had been hoping for.
My Rating: C+ Liked It — But I had issues
Ang
About the Book:
She believed life could follow a plotline—until the story she was living unraveled.
Anne Gallagher has always lived by the book. Anne of Green Gables, that is. Growing up on Mackinac Island, she saw herself as her namesake: the same impulsive charm, the same wild imagination, even the same red hair (dyed, but still). She followed in Anne Shirley’s fictional footsteps, chasing dreams of teaching and writing, and falling for her very own storybook hero.
But when a string of real-life plot twists—a failing romance, a fight with the administration, and the sudden death of her beloved father—pulls her back to the island she once couldn’t wait to leave, Anne is forced to face a truth no story ever prepared her for. Sometimes, life doesn’t follow a script.
Back in the house she grew up in, Anne must confront her past and the people she left behind, including Joe Miller, the boy who once called her “The Pest.” It’s time to figure out what she wants and rewrite her story to create her own happy ending. Not the book version. The real one.
Release Date: January 20, 2026
Publisher: Berkley
Series: Standalone
Genre: Contemporary Women’s Fiction
Format(s): paperback (368 pages), e-book, audiobook
Book Source: Publisher/ NetGalley