If you're a fan of any Christina Lauren book, but especially "The Unhoneymooners," then this book is most definitely for you. Trust me. "The Paradise Problem" has two POVs, compelling language, a quippy and witty writing style and so many indulgent tropes that had me desperate to keep reading and find out what would happen next. Tropes include fake dating, marriage of convenience, opposites attract, second chance romance, forced proximity and the classic only-one-bed. It's so fun and frothy that I could just savor page by page. And that epilogue, woo, I swear I felt my heart grew, like, two sizes from that HEA. And that ending felt earned and not rushed through, which I think is partly the reason for said swoony feelings.

CW: Parental estrangement

This was so good! It’s another hit for sure! I laughed out loud, gasped out loud, and at one point wanted to cry. Liam oh Liam - insert swoon. This has all the makings of a perfect summer romance so I definitely recommend adding it to any of your summer lists. It has the remote getaway, bungalows, fake dating (marriage), forced proximity, kinda second chance, and a low key billionaire with a heart of gold. You also have complex family dynamics! The one thing I love the most about a Christina Lauren read is that I know I’m going to get characters that feel real and that go through growth and at the end of my story I get a warm good feeling. This is that! A warm hug of a summer read and a new romance book I’ll be recommending!

“When you can afford anything, nothing is interesting anymore, and there’s something really depressing about that.”

I devoured this book! This is an annoyance when people talk to you while reading book. A stay up past your bedtime book. A spend the day on the beach and block out the world book. An addictive book. The best kind of book.

Filled with laugh out loud funny banter, hot sex, and a whole lot of family drama, this book is damn near perfection. Read it! Trust me.

Thank you to Netgalley, Gallery Books, and the authors for the ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Bestselling writing duo Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings turn their attentions to a modern marriage of convenience in The Paradise Problem. Artist Anna agreed to marry West to secure subsidized student housing, and somehow neither realized realize they never got divorced. Now, if they make it to the five year mark, West stands to inherit $100,000 million from his family’s supermarket chain–but before they make it four more months to the deadline, they have to not only survive his sister’s tropical island wedding at an exclusive private resort in Singapore with–wait for it–just one bed–they have to convince the family they are HAPPILY married.

West doesn’t necessarily want to take charge of the family business, and in fact he has a lot of ideas about corporate greed and making an honest living with an honest product. Opposites attract, and Anna’s scruffy demeanor, careful budgeting and off the cuff unfiltered world view conflicted nicely with both quieter West and his rich , dysfunctional, Silicon Valley relatives.

CLo excel at slow burn, bantery banter, and humor around complex family dynamics, beautiful settings, and sexy scenes. This was by no means a disappointment, but I’m having trouble putting my finger on and articulating why it didn’t warrant five stars for the reigning queens of romance, except maybe too much reliance on tropes and stereotypes.

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #TheParadiseProblem via #NetGalley, courtesy of Gallery.

The Paradise Problem was the perfect start of summer read! The tension between the two main characters was DELICIOUS, and I could not put the book down! Definitely will be rereading this one in the future.

Anna Green 🤩

I love Christina Lauren’s books because their female main characters are strong, smart, funny and powerful. She is pure magic.

The books was the epitome of a rom com. Happy ending. No cheating. No weird tension or betrayal between the main character.

It is just a happy and easy summer read 💚

Christina and Lauren have done it again! The Paradise Problem is such a fun and quirky fake dating romance that had me turning every page excited to see what happens next. This book had me wishing I was poolside with a hunky rich professor. Though the main setting of the book takes place at a wedding in Singapore, the rich family Anna Green unknowingly wed into was in Silicon Valley, where I grew up and currently live in! Christina and Lauren perfectly encapsulated the culture of rich folk from Palo Alto and it was so fun seeing the foil between their upper class and Anna's lower class economic cultures. Liam is such a lovable character, and I can only dream of one day fake (or real) marrying someone like him. A+ writing and such a fun read!

Good riddance to my reading slump! The Paradise Problem is a sweet, laugh-out-loud, wholly addictive delight that kept me up all night.

What started out as a short term marriage of convenience between two strangers back in college turns complicated when Liam reaches out to Anna three years later. She is shocked to discover that they are still married, and he needs her help. Anna is now a starving artist, and Liam is a professor/heir to a grocery empire. With his inheritance on the line, Liam asks her to pretend to be “really” married for his family’s sake during his sister’s wedding festivities on a tropical island. After that, they can divorce and resume their separate lives.

Anna is an unfiltered riot. I relished the chapters from her point of view because her internal thoughts had me bursting into laughter. I also appreciated how genuine and kind she is. Liam is a sweetheart, the only member of his family not driven to excess.

I enjoyed every moment spent in paradise almost as if I was really there. The glamor, the peek into the lives of the super wealthy, and Liam’s funny family members drew me in, and his toxic father kept things interesting. There are plenty of tender moments as well. Liam and Anna’s progression from strangers to friends to lovers is perfectly paced. Their chemistry is ridiculously hot.

If The Paradise Problem isn’t on your beach read or vacation book list then you need to rectify that ASAP.

Recommended for fans of:
Beach reads
All-inclusive resorts
Tropical islands
Lifestyles of the wealthy

So much fun and perfect for vacation! 🌺 I’m a BIG fan of a slow burn romance with SPICE and this did not disappoint. I was invested in their fling, a huge fan of West, and adored the way she came to his rescue and reminded him to choose himself. Definitely gave off Succession vibes, not all of which I totally understood, but it was a great read. The epilogue was crazy long, which was a nice way of providing snip it’s of their follow up story, just threw me for a loop. I received an advance review copy for free via Netgalley (THANK YOU) and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The Paradise Problem is a super cute contemporary rom com that was heartfelt and yet kept me giggling. The story revolves around Anna Green, a free-spirited artist, and Liam “West” Weston, a reserved and polished heir of a grocery chain, who enter into a marriage of convenience in college. A few years down the road, Anna finds out that – surprise! - they’re still married and now they must convince everyone at Liam’s little sister’s tropical destination wedding that their marriage isn’t a sham in order to secure Liam’s very large inheritance. This proves to be a difficult (and rather hilarious) task considering they haven’t seen each other since college.

The way the Christina Lauren duo wrote this was so good – it had witty banter combined with heartfelt moments and snappy dialogue. I loved the blaring difference between the life the Westons lived and how Anna was brought up – it made for some funny moments, but also some serious, eye-opening moments. Anna was such a funny, quick-witted character and I LOVED her with serious, quiet Liam. This was a very well-done opposites attract romance and the moment the fake dating turned into no-so-fake dating…yes please! SO good!

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭:
•beach setting
•marriage of convenience
•fake dating
•opposites attract
•slow burn

If you’re a fan of Christina Lauren books (especially The Unhoneymooners), get this book on your radar for this summer!

I didn't know what to expect while reading this book, but I couldn't get enough of Anna and West's sweet story.

I had never read a book from these two before but will read more after having finished this one! I needed a break from thrillers, so this was perfect. Fun and perfect romance. It reminded me of a romantic comedy movie. Feel good fun that will have me reading more from this author.

Such a great CLo read! This is like if Pretty Woman and Succession had a baby on a private island. I enjoyed every dang second of it! I was lucky enough to immersive read this (read and listen to the audio) and it was so enjoyable! The chemistry between Anna and Liam really grew and was explosive at the same time. Truly a joy to read. Such a fun one for summer!

Christina Lauren books never disappoint. It is always a great story along with humor, love, and a little spice. The Paradise Problem had a great tropical setting in Singapore. It made the reader want to travel to the fancy tropical setting. I love a good fake dating trope, but this was done to a high degree. West and Anna pretended to be married to get into married housing at UCLA. After college they went their own way, but now West has to go to his sister's wedding and bring the woman he has been claiming to be married to for almost five years. So, he has to convince Anna, who is definitely not the typical girl that West would be with to join him in paradise and act as his wife. I highly recommend this quick, engrossing, and dreamy novel!

The dynamic duo does it again! This is the perfect summer rom com for your TBR shelf! I immediately fell in love with our main characters and loved to watch them fall for each other as the story progressed. I love the wedding setting on the island in Indonesia. It just had the summer vacation feel with all the luxury. These authors never fail to make me laugh with all the banter and mishaps. Highly recommend picking this one up asap!

I love a complicated, “I’m so nervous” for the next part of a fake relationship book, don’t you??
Im not going to lie, Anna wasn’t likable to me in the very beginning of this story and I was really worried about overly put together Liam. But it was magical. The chemistry, the feelings and all the funny parts. The authors did a beautiful job making this romance work and I fell hard. If you’re a diehard fan of these authors then I don’t even need to convince you to read this. You know. I hope you love it as much as I did!
Thanks Gallery Books via NetGalley.

The dynamic duo does it again! This was such a good read that I blew through it in a few hours because I couldn’t (and wouldn’t) put it down. I loved both Anna and West. They had amazing chemistry and had such a ROD vibe that I had to root for them. The Weston clan was a perfectly written group with so many issues who I would never want to have dinner with. I think this is their best book yet!

Christina and Lauren did it again! I absolutely loved the romance between Liam and Anna. Their tension and witty, playful banter created plenty of laugh-out-loud moments between the two of them that felt like bliss while reading.

There were several mild but delicious spicy scenes, even a spicy kitchen counter scene, but they don't happen until the second half of the book, which made for a slow burn but was so worth it in the end. I didn't want this story to end. In all honesty, I was intrigued by Liam's dysfunctional family, and in a dream world, this would be a series where we get to see each sibling finding and falling in love with their partners.
 
Overall, this was a fantastic romance with plenty of tropes, including marriage of convenience, billionaire, fake dating, forced proximity with only one bed, and a dysfunctional but slightly (extremely) dysfunctional family, and I would definitely recommend giving it a go if you need an entertaining summer read.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳, 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘦-𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺.

Thank you to NetGalley, Gallery Books, and Christina Lauren for the opportunity to read an ARC of this title. An honest review was requested but not required.

This gave me strong Unhoneymooners vibes, except that West and Anna actually LIKED each other, and West was capital-L Loaded. I've seen a couple reviews that said "Crazy Rich Asians", which OK, why not. The entire vacation was a combination of fantasy and trainwreck, equal parts "it's so beautiful" and "how absolutely wasteful". As a solidly Not Rich person I really empathized with Anna's distaste for the egregious excess, as well as her desire not to sublimate herself to West's family's expectations. I have to say I drew the line at a couple of her other choices (surely I'm not the only person who does not cope with disappointment by getting high and eating my weight in cereal?).

It's a slower burn here than some of the authors' other books but it was worth the weight. The side characters, too, were terrific. I'm glad Ray got the satisfyingly neat and tidy end we all hoped for, even though I suspect that real-life ultra-rich people would be able to weasel out of justice somehow.

Highly recommended to Christina Lauren fans and those looking for a funny, sweet and a little spicy vacation/beach/poolside read.

This fast paced rom-com was a fun read!
I loved the banter between Liam and Anna and how each of the characters had individuality. The Paradise Problem really made me nostalgic for 2000’s rom-com movies!

High recommend. Perfect book to add to your summer TBR!