What a breezy novel, indeed perfect for a summer read with all the private island, stunning beaches and crystal clear water, but here we are in February. I actually was panicky and I needed a change of pace, so I just opened thsi one. It was on my TBR for quite some time, but I did not plan to read it, but when I picked it up I simply couldn't put it down (it helped to get away from anxiety), the reading was so fast and I just finished it in a day, which is rare (then returned Tomb of the Sun King by Jaquelyn Benson, second book in the Raiders of Arcana series and forgot to post about the book).
I actually would recommend starting reading it without knowing much, for example, I did not read the summary (it explains a lot, I was happy to be oblivious to some of that), though I will include it as always.
Anna Green thought she was marrying Liam “West” 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 while West is a Stanford professor. He may be one of four heirs to the Weston Foods conglomerate, but he has little interest in working for the heartless corporation his family built from the ground up. He is interested, however, in his one-hundred-million-dollar inheritance. There’s just one 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 wife. Liam will have to ask himself if the price tag on his flimsy cover story is worth losing true love that sprouted from a lie.
Anna Green is such a random name lol and she is also a painter which is a bit of a biting cliche, so I have no idea if it was intentional, but she is so unhinged. I did not read many of the romance novels obviously and so far I did not meet an FMC who is so unhinged. Although she has a story about herself, which is always a thing I suppose, but she is quite a character. More breezy. Very vocal. More open. Which was actually a nice change.
I don't know what it is, from all the romance books I've picked so far, including few popular authors, I can summarize one thing about all FMCs - they have issues. But these issues feel pressing. It doesn't mean that Anna does not have those, she also has her deal of things, she also can cry and be hurt, but she is a fighter too.
Maybe this is what I liked about her quite a lot. No speech filter, more open and straightforward.
William's character is a bit stereotypical too, all that height, handsomeness and muscles. he is actually a nice guy. Although it makes him sound a bit much the way he is eager to get the rest of the trust fund money, but he has a "nice guy" reason behind it. Tbh it is interesting to watch the balance between them, because you can see his vulnerability despite his looks, while Anna comes off quite supportive and not at all in a lesser position between the two.
This trip has the tropes of forced proximity, like sharing the only bed (heard it's a used cliche a lot), which leaves the two of them living in this bungalow with a lot of open space where they can't hide from each other and because they basically see each other as if they saw each other for the first time, they are also attracted visually. After all they are now more mature and have time to look after each other unlike the time they lived together and were preoccupied with their own thing.
Although they have to play a married couple and it all starts from faking it, but it soon grows into yearning. This trip is short, so in retrospective they went to the last base pretty fast. But what is notable is that they're pretty opened about it and were not burdened to start it. Which some will mark as a typical mistake of characters in such novels, the reader will scream at you - but you will soon realize that you fell in love you dummy!
Yet that physical closeness also allowed them to find more about each other, which made them care more.
Some may argue that such proximity and atmosphere created the atmosphere for a fast vacational romance, which does not eaqual strong emotional bond good for a future life together and physical attraction / lust don't mean some strong love, you may be right, they may not have enough time to be that deeply attached, this is why I think it is great that a bit of extra was added to explain the aftermath of that vacation.
What makes this book easy to read is that even if it picks up some life problems, it does not dwell too much on it to make a bigger statement. After all the book was obviously intended not to be about those things. The writing style is also quite easy.
RATE: 5/5. Feels I've been giving away 5 star ratings pretty often lately, but actually most of my ratings are viby. I don't take out some common rating systems to rate books. I just give them stars for what they are. This is a quick read with some nice humor, easy on the eyes and does not pretend to be anything bigger and it delivered what it promised.
Heard one of their books is planned to be filmed. I wonder if I should read that book too. may just add it to the TBR list, I have an extensive document with all TBR I collected (not entirely all, but a lot of it), so I can sit on it for some time and later decide if I really want to pick up stuff from it or just leave it.
But with Paradise Problem it became apparent that it's better nto to plan to what read and when. Like I started Cruel is the Light, I didn't like the writing style, I will continue eventually, but it looks like pretty cover and premise but who knows (the rating of this book also continuously dropped during this period). I also picked up Emily Wilde book 3, but honestly I'm not completely excited about it, since it ends up as a cozy read mostly. Then Rebel Witch came out and I loved Heartess Hunter, but I dread to start that book if I'm being honest. You know the feeling when you liked something, but kinda afraid if continuation will be good or not.