Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - The Paradise Problem

Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren

39 reviews

itschelseaw's review against another edition

emotional funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

The use of "Goddamn" instead of "penis", "dick" or "cock" really took me out of the story. There was one make out scene where the anatomy of what was happening was just physically impossible unless Liam had the world's longest legs and shortest torso. Anna is tall but unaware of it (somehow? as a 5'10" gal I'm reminded of my height in so many ways all the time) in a way that makes me think she was written by a short woman.
The ending felt rushed, and I got emotional whiplash. But good on Anna for cracking the code to on their sibling allegiance: money. Sometimes it takes an outsider to see the obvious truths.
Ray was such an ass, almost comical in the heights of horrible that he achieved. BUT it felt like an accurate portrayal of the uber rich (I assume, this is all based on movies and TV shows that I have seen).
The third act breakup felt super contrived, but I also understood Anna's frustrations with Liam. Miscommunication/lack of communication is one of my least favorite tropes, but it also felt appropriate here given they only knew each other for like a week.
The loophole felt... absurd. Purely included to amp up the tension and create a resolution for what happens in the third act. Just... whew.
Also, another review pointed out that there was minimal cultural influence from Singapore/the location of the island... it could've been any island.

I absolutely hated that in the end Liam did agree to become CEO without his dad; he fought against it so hard and repeatedly said he didn't want it, and never indicated the work interested him!! It felt like it went against everything that had been established before to so easily agree to step into that role. Maybe I missed something but that felt so out of character!!

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ceruleanseas's review

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adventurous emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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soobooksalot's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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atamano's review against another edition

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emotional 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? It's complicated

3.25

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bringmybooks's review

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emotional funny hopeful fast-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

4.25

✨Bring✨ | ~~Borrow~~ | ~~Bypass~~

Thank you to Edelweiss, Gallery Books, & Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read and review this book before it's publication date! This in no way affected my review, opinions are my own.

Review: Another winner from Christina Lauren! (Which is good because the last one I read from them was Something Wilder and that was ... not it)

There was a bit of suspending disbelief to make this one work, but in a way that felt fun and escapist instead of ridiculous. I genuinely loved the relationship between the two MCs, and the fake dating trope worked really well here.

There's honestly not a whole lot to say other than I've read 13 of Christina Lauren's books (starting after the Beautiful Bastard series, so I can't speak for those) and I would solidly recommend this one!

Overall Rating: ★★★★ / 4.25

Rating each element of the book out of 5★

Characters ★★★★

Atmosphere ★★★

Writing ★★★★

Plot ★★★★

Intrigue ★★★★

Logic ★★★

Enjoyment ★★★★

Pacing ★★★★

Dialogue ★★★★

★ did not like / ★★ it was okay / ★★★ liked it / ★★★★ really liked it / ★★★★★ loved it

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jamie_rich's review

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.0

I pre-ordered this book hoping I would enjoy it like Twice in a Blue Moon, however I was nervous with starting this book as I didn’t enjoy Love and Other Words and I was right to be nervous. I think this is the end of me reading Christina Lauren.

This book has two points of view. Anna Green thought she was marrying Liam Weston for access to subsidized family housing while at UCLA. She also thought she’d signed divorce papers when the graduation caps were tossed, and they both went on their merry ways. Three years later, Anna is a starving artist living paycheck to paycheck and West is a Stanford professor. He may be one of four heirs to the Weston Foods conglomerate, but he has no interest in working for the heartless corporation his family built from the ground up. He is interested in his one-hundred-million-dollar inheritance. But there is a catch, due to an antiquated clause in his grandfather’s will, Liam won’t see a penny until he’s been happily married for five years. Just when Liam thinks he’s in the home stretch, pressure mounts from his family to see this mysterious spouse, and he has no choice but to turn to the one person he’s afraid to introduce to his one-percenter parents – his unpolished, not-so-ex-wife. But in the presence of his family, Liam’s fears quickly shift from whether the feisty, foul-mouthed, paint-splattered Anna can play the part to whether the toxic world of wealth will corrupt someone as pure of heart as his surprisingly grounded and loyal life. Liam will have to ask himself if the price tag on his flimsy cover story is worth losing truth love that sprouted from a lie.

I enjoyed Viv and Anna’s dad in this book and the fact that both were calling Anna out and basically being like what is your issue with Liam? Reagan was really sweet, and I liked her innocent and how she was just done with everything, just like me. I haven’t read much of the marriage of convenience trope, but this one just wasn’t it.

The main issue I had with this book is that Weston’s family was just unbearable, and I wanted to smack the shit out of all of them. Anna and Liam had absolutely no passion and then jumped straight into passion all because of the one bed trope, neither of them tried to “fight” it. I'm glad that there was no third-act breakup, however within this book it would have worked if there was a third act breakup. The main issue was the family secrets, which I just didn’t want. The family secrets were just exhausting, and I just didn’t see the point of carrying on the family secrets and keeping whispers. There was a lot of repeated information, and it could have been cut down by about 100 pages with all the daddy issues from Liam and what is PIZA, like Christ we get it.

I think this is going to be the last book I read by Christina Lauren for a while because I struggled with this book and if it wasn’t for the case of me reading multiple books at a time this probably would have put me in a reading slump.

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beebowbabe's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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han_pear's review

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I absolutely loved this book from the very beginning, I’ve never related to a main character more in a book. If you’ve ever been in a relationship/ friendship and they are CLEARLY in a much higher tax bracket than you, you’ll relate to Anna Green. Her dialogue had me in stitches the entire book. I wanted so badly to be in paradise with them and watch all this juicy family drama unfold. Absolutely perfect read for the summer, especially on a porch with a rocking chair, highly recommend!!! <3

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kelseyfontaine's review

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emotional 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

4.75

I really loved this book! A perfect summer read that I was able to fly through. I’m a sucker for a tropical island setting, and while I’m not normally into a marriage for convenience trope, this book had me hooked! I loved the chemistry and build up between Anna and Liam, and it was interesting to read not only a heartwarming romance, but to also see a bit of money/power dynamics within rich families. With a heart-throb male lead, a beautiful setting, and a story different than what I’ve read in the past, this was my perfect beach read! My only complaint would be some of the cringy language used, like “Goddamn” in the place of ~something else~ and “lol” used normally in a sentence. Other than that, a great read for my few days on the beach!

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