A review by maggiestraveledbookshelf
The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren

funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

๐Ÿ“– The Paradise Problem
โœ๐Ÿผ Christina Lauren
โ˜‘๏ธ Contemporary Romance
Rating: โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
Spice: ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ

โ€œ๐˜ผ๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™จ, ๐™ง๐™ž๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ ๐™๐™š๐™ง๐™š, ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™š๐™ง๐™š ๐™„ ๐™™๐™ค๐™ฃโ€™๐™ฉ ๐™ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฌ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™™๐™ค. ๐™„ ๐™™๐™ค๐™ฃโ€™๐™ฉ ๐™ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฌ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™š๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ง ๐™„โ€™๐™ข ๐™จ๐™ช๐™ฅ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™จ๐™š๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ก๐™–๐™ช๐™œ๐™ ๐™–๐™ฉ ๐˜ผ๐™ฃ๐™ฃ๐™– ๐™‚๐™ง๐™š๐™š๐™ฃ, ๐™ง๐™–๐™ซ๐™–๐™œ๐™š ๐™๐™š๐™ง, ๐™ค๐™ง ๐™ข๐™–๐™ง๐™ง๐™ฎ ๐™๐™š๐™ง ๐™–๐™ก๐™ก ๐™ค๐™ซ๐™š๐™ง ๐™–๐™œ๐™–๐™ž๐™ฃโ€”๐™—๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ข๐™š ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง ๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™ก.โ€

Okay, I really enjoyed this. It was such a fun read!!!

Overview:
โ€ขBillionaire Romance 
โ€ขMarriage of Convenience 
โ€ขOnly One Bed
โ€ขTropical Island Setting
โ€ขDual POV
โ€ขThemes of Money, Privilege, and Family

๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ณ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—”๐—ป๐—ป๐—ฎ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—Ÿ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—บ ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐˜€๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด, ๐—Ÿ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—บ ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ท๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—บ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—น๐˜† ๐—”๐—ป๐—ป๐—ฎ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต. ๐—œ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜: ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—น๐˜† ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜†๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—บ, ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€, ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ (๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐˜€๐—ฒ) ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ.

This is truly a perfect summer read! There is a levity and sense of humor throughout the whole story that made this so fun. 

โ€œ๐™„๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ข๐™ฎ ๐˜พ๐™๐™ค๐™จ๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™Š๐™ฃ๐™š ๐™ข๐™ค๐™ข๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ?โ€ ๐™„ ๐™›๐™ก๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™– ๐™ฅ๐™–๐™ก๐™ข ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ข๐™ฎ ๐™˜๐™๐™š๐™จ๐™ฉ. โ€œ๐™„ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ค๐™ช๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ ๐™ž๐™ฉ ๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ก๐™™ ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ข๐™š ๐™จ๐™ค๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™ข๐™ฎ ๐™ฉ๐™ฌ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ฎ-๐™›๐™ž๐™›๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™ฎ๐™š๐™–๐™ง.โ€ ๐™‹๐™–๐™ช๐™จ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ, ๐™„ ๐™–๐™™๐™™, โ€œ๐™„ ๐™–๐™ก๐™จ๐™ค ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ค๐™ช๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ง๐™šโ€™๐™™ ๐™—๐™š ๐™– ๐™จ๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ง๐™™. ๐™ˆ๐™–๐™ฎ๐™—๐™š ๐™™๐™ง๐™–๐™œ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™จ.โ€

I absolutely love a good marriage of convenience story, and Anna and Liam were wonderful characters to carry this out. The combination of Annaโ€™s joie de vivre and Liamโ€™s integrity was so endearing. 

โ€œ๐™‚๐™–๐™ฏ๐™š ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ข๐™ฎ ๐™š๐™ฎ๐™š๐™จ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™„โ€™๐™ข ๐™จ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™–๐™ ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช, ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ ๐™š ๐™„โ€™๐™ข ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง๐™จ๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ง๐™ค๐™ค๐™ข. ๐™๐™ง๐™ฎ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ง๐™š๐™ข๐™š๐™ข๐™—๐™š๐™ง ๐™ฌ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ž๐™ฉ ๐™›๐™š๐™ก๐™ฉ ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ ๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™›๐™ž๐™ง๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ข๐™š ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™ฌ๐™š๐™ง๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™ช๐™ก๐™ฎ, ๐™ข๐™–๐™™๐™ก๐™ฎ, ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™–๐™—๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ก๐™ค๐™ซ๐™š. ๐™‡๐™ค๐™ค๐™  ๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ข๐™š ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ ๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ.โ€

The lavish, posh world of Liamโ€™s family was immersive and ridiculous (in a fun way). I absolutely loved how CLo included dialogue about financial disparity and everything to do with it. 

โ€œ๐˜ฝ๐™š๐™˜๐™–๐™ช๐™จ๐™š, ๐™ค๐™› ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง๐™จ๐™š, ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ฅ๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™ ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™š ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™„ ๐™๐™–๐™™ ๐™ข๐™ค๐™ง๐™š ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ž๐™ซ๐™ž๐™ก๐™š๐™œ๐™š๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฎ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ข. ๐™„ ๐™™๐™ž๐™™๐™ฃโ€™๐™ฉ ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™๐™–๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ข๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ฎโ€”๐™„ ๐™๐™–๐™™ ๐™ก๐™ค๐™ซ๐™š, ๐™„ ๐™๐™–๐™™ ๐™–๐™˜๐™˜๐™š๐™จ๐™จ, ๐™„ ๐™๐™–๐™™ ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™›๐™–๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™งโ€™๐™จ ๐™š๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™š๐™ข. ๐™„ ๐™๐™–๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™ก๐™š๐™™๐™œ๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™„ ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ช๐™ก๐™™ ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™ก๐™  ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฎ ๐™ง๐™ค๐™ค๐™ข ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ก๐™™ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™œ๐™š๐™ฉ ๐™š๐™ญ๐™–๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™„ ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™™.โ€

I wanted a little more depth of relationship development in those initial weeks, as it felt a little too close to InstaLust at times, but the final chapters did provide relationship maturity and growth! 

Favorite Moment: When Anna calls out Ray for everything.

Special shout out to Annaโ€™s dad David Green for being the bookโ€™s MVP!!

โ€œ๐™’๐™๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™ฌ๐™š ๐™˜๐™–๐™ง๐™š ๐™–๐™—๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™จ๐™ค๐™ข๐™š๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™š, ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ฎ ๐™™๐™š๐™จ๐™š๐™ง๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™—๐™š๐™ฃ๐™š๐™›๐™ž๐™ฉ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™™๐™ค๐™ช๐™—๐™ฉ. ๐™’๐™š ๐™๐™–๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ž๐™™๐™š๐™ง ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ฎ ๐™™๐™ž๐™™, ๐™—๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™–๐™ก๐™จ๐™ค ๐™ฌ๐™๐™ฎ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ฎ ๐™™๐™ž๐™™ ๐™ž๐™ฉ. ๐™„๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ ๐™ข๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง๐™จ.โ€

Overall, I recommend this book for anyone who wants a funny, swoony, and spicy romance! 

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