As expected, Christina Lauren once again delivers a fun heartfelt read that I couldn't put down. I easily fell in love with both Anna and Liam. This twist on the fake married/fake dating trope is fresh, hilarious, and sexy. I couldn't help but identify with Anna's antics and Liam's grumpy falling for her sunshine.

The Paradise Problem is not only a love story, but a story of life, depicting the struggle of family, money, and how we live our lives from day to day. Lauren does a fantastic job of showcasing the gap between "the rich" and the "average adult" and how those two worlds can learn to understand each other and come together. Liam and Anna come from very different worlds, and watching their love develop within and overcome those barriers was a joy to read. I also loved the depiction of family in this book and how those relationships can become twisted--or how they can be reborn with time and effort.

If you're a contemporary romance fan, you don't want to miss The Paradise Problem.

Christina Lauren do it again. I wasn't a fan of the Unhoneymooners and this cover gave me the same vibe, but the story and writing blew the Unhoneymooners out of the water (in my opinion).

Tropes:
-Marriage of convenience
-Fake marriage
-Inheritance
-Artsy FMC & professor MMC
-Judgy family
-Only one bed
-Destination wedding

The premise immediately had me hooked: They married in college for family housing and she thought they were divorced but finds out the divorce isn't final years later when he needs her help fooling his family into thinking they have a real marriage so he can inherit 100 million dollars--absolutely bonkers and fun.

Their chemistry was everythinggg and this is definitely the best spice I have read in a Christina Lauren book! I could see a couple of the characters having spin offs, so I'll be interested to see if that happens.

Not only was the romance fantastic, but Christina and Lauren made me really care about the characters and ANGRY about the injustices towards them! There was also an interesting undertone with "eat the rich" vibes that I appreciated.

This book has for sure cracked my top 3 CL books!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of the e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

"The way I see it, I have three options:
1. Fake my own death.
2. Finally admit to my parents that I've lied to them for five years.
3. Fly to Los Angeles and bargain with my wife."

This book took me for a ride with all my emotions. I loved the first half of the book with Anna and Liam having to pretend that they are still married for Liam‘s family’s upcoming wedding. It was really interesting reading how Anna and Liam got to know one and other in a deeper way. They also were each other’s support group as Liam‘s family is crazy as hell. I loved all the forced proximity in this romance from the one bed to the open shower ha ha! I also really liked how the characters communicated and try to work through the struggles together, or at least admit that they were struggling. What I didn’t like about this book was Liam‘s family. I have a hard time reading about people who are mean, bullying, or super snobby wealthy people who just throw their money around. At times I would get frustrated with Liam and how he would just let his family behave the horrible ways they are. I wished he could just make a clean break with them. But I did love the ending and liked that some of Liam‘s family got to redeem themselves!

Read if you like:
Dual POVs
Marriage of convenience
Forced proximity
Only one bed
Benefits to more
Crazy rich family
Opposites attract
Open door romance
Slow burn romance

I’m such a big fan of Christina Lauren so it’s pretty much a no-brainer that I will read whatever new release they come out with next which is why this book made my list of most anticipated new romance book releases of 2024.

While this book showcases their amazing writing chops, it didn’t get a higher rating from me only because I felt like it could have been more. Maybe I shouldn’t dock stars for that reason but let me explain.

It’s always fun to read a summer romance that whisks you away to an exotic location and that is exactly what this one does. I’ve never been to Singapore but I wouldn’t mind spending a week at a private island in a bungalow by the beach. Sounds amazing and a place to be for the rich and famous. But at the same time it could have been any private island on any beach as they didn’t pull in much culture at all but that’s no big deal but a missed opportunity perhaps?

I also love that Christina Lauren’s books are always so unique. Whenever I pick up their books I know I’m in for a unique storyline with new, interesting characters to meet. This book explores the toxicity of money and power and how it can corrupt a family. It’s also about a narcissistic which Liam’s father clearly is and who is portrayed as such.

I thought this was the best part of the book honestly – how money corrupts family. And yet, there wasn’t much depth to this plotline from what you learn at the beginning. You know they have to put on a front that they are married to get his inheritance and that’s pretty much it until the last chapter or two.

I’m also a fan of the marriage of convenience trope and here we are with another marriage of convenience for the sake of earning an inheritance. It’s been done before but I never tire of that storyline so I was all in for it.

And yet, I was kind of expecting at least some build up to their chemistry or tension from when they are first married (which I thought we’d get given the book summary) but it just glossed over this time period completely and they only spend 9 or 10 days in Singapore for them to fall madly in love.

So, while I liked the premise of this book and other qualities, I didn’t rate it higher because it was hard not to compare it to other new releases of this year that blew me away. Maybe it’s not fair to compare but I feel like it will make my point.

For example, I absolutely loved Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez. This was a book that totally had me invested in the characters who I fell hard for whereas I really couldn’t connect with Liam or Anna. We get some backstory but it’s just quick filler as you really don’t come to “know” these characters.

But in Just for the Summer, I felt like I could feel Emma’s heartache when it came to the neglect of her mother and the toxicity there. But with Liam, sure his dad was a complete a-hole but I didn’t get immersed in his predicament.

Then for Anna, I got that she was a struggling artist and that she worried about her ailing father but that was pretty much all we got. Not much depth to her character whereas I in it with Justin in Just for the Summer and how his entire family’s life was changing. I laughed and I cried with him and Emma but I just didn’t get emotionally invested with Anna and Liam because we didn’t get a lot of them beyond the basics.

All of this is to say, am I glad I read it? Yes. Do I recommend it? If you’re a Christina Lauren fan, yes, but I just expected more.

*I received an advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

Read if you like:
▪️Fake marriage
▪️Lifestyles of rich & famous
▪️Beach setting
▪️Destination wedding

This felt like a romantic comedy set in the world of Succession (on HBO). I loved the elite island vibes (perfect for summer), and fake dating/fake marriage is one of my favorite tropes. It’s definitely more on the romantic comedy side of things with tons of banter and CLo humor. Pick it up if you’re looking for a light escape.

📖 𝓗𝓪𝓹𝓹𝔂 𝓟𝓾𝓫 𝓓𝓪𝔂! 📖

📕𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐋𝐄: The Paradise Problem
📝 𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑: Christina Lauren
🗓️ 𝐏𝐔𝐁 𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄: May 14, 2024
💞 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐑𝐄: Romantic Comedy
📱𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐓: Advance Reader Copy (ebook)
🏆 𝐌𝐘 𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Love at first sight for this book and I… seriously— I fell in love with this book when I first saw the cover, which was last October. Yep, I looked back on my posts from last year! This was a highly anticipated book release for me, and it lived up to all of my sweet, flirty and fun, laugh out loud, rom-com expectations.

This book was truly a blast to read. I found myself addicted to the main characters and the storyline and I could not put it down. I breezed through it (yes, tropical island pun intended) because I just had to see everything unfold. I read it in about 24 hours, which is pretty rare for me. West and Anna were so perfectly imperfect and I loved their story. I think you will, too! I highly recommend reading this at the beach or in the pool with a cocktail in hand if you can. Beach read perfection!

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲:
🏝️ Tropical settings
👰🏼 Marriage of convenience
🎭 Fake dating
🛌 Only one bed
🧲 Opposites attract
💵 High stakes

𝗢𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗥𝗼𝗺-𝗖𝗼𝗺 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀:
* The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
* The Love Wager by Lynn Painter
* French Holiday by Sarah Ready
* Secretly Yours by Tessa Bailey
* Funny Story by Emily Henry

Thank you @netgalley and @gallerybooks for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was my first by Christina Lauren and it will not be my last! This was written so well. I had every emotion possible and loved reading this book.

I think it would be really hard for me to dislike a Christina Lauren novel. I can always count on some fun dialogue and our two main characters chemistry to be off the charts. The Paradise Problem definitely hit those notes, so why did I feel a little dissatisfied? It could be that I don’t typically buy into the Billionaire romance genre, and this novel has elements of that but just skirts the edges. West could’ve been seen as “saving” Anna with his money, but in fact she ends up saving him. So I don’t think that’s it. Their relationship felt pretty equal. Maybe it was that his family was truly unlikable? Even his brother who was the person to introduce them to each other back when they first got married was a bit of a turd. His father was certainly no prince charming and his mother seemed to be the stereotype of a wealthy mother. I don’t know for certain, but call me surprised, this novel is probably the one I’ve liked the least in this author duo’s repertoire in a good long while.

Despite my feelings, above, it was a brief escape from reality, so in that manner it did what it was supposed to do. I just didn’t feel as entertained as I normally would by one of their stories. However, their writing skills were still superb and there were a couple of characters that I truly liked, including Anna. So not totally a throw away and one that I think more people will like than dislike. Such a recommendation, right?

I LOVED this book! It checked all of my boxes and then some! Liam (aka West) & Anna were everything…just perfection.

So he’s an heir to a grocery chain & his family are bajillionaires. They’re totally stuffy & uppity & his dad is the literal devil. She’s got a one way ticket on the hot mess express…starving artist, lost her gas station job, sick dad she takes care of, etc.

I am such a sucker for the marriage of convenience & fake dating tropes and this was a perfect mix of both. The setting was incredible, the cast of characters kept me on my toes, and I was rooting West & Anna from the start. All the stars!

Thank you Gallery Books for the ARC!

This book started off very strong and kept me enjoying it to about the 50% mark. I was waiting for the plot to thicken, but it happened too late for me. I wanted more stakes throughout instead of just at the end. The romance was good, I just didn’t find anything particularly swoon worthy in Anna or Liam. I did love their friendship though.

This seemed to just hit the marks of a typical romance from Christina Lauren, which I’m sure a lot of readers love.

There were some lines I think the authors meant as jokes that rubbed me the wrong way. Kind of cringe at times.

Not my fav Christina Lauren, but a solid romance.

I love Christina Lauren’s heroines and this was no different. Anna was adorable and the right amount of quirky and Liam was HOT. Liam’s family dynamics were messed up but he was doing his best with what he had to deal with. The chemistry was great and I devoured it. More, please.

overall, 4/5! i went into the paradise problem without reading the synopsis too much, and it was such a fun read! christina lauren books have a typical romcom formula, but because it's so predictable, i can turn my brain off and just enjoy the ride. i came into this basically blind (i had read the synopsis when i requested it on netgalley months ago), and it didn't disappoint!

this is a typical fake dating book, but i eat it up every time. the forced proximity, tension, and slow burn were so so good, i finished it so quickly. i really like liam. he's humble and kind, despite his extremely wealthy background (in fact, he wants nothing to do with his family in that way), and a little cold towards anna at first, but that's because they live such different lifestyles. anna is charismatic, but also a very loud character and a little too much for me, but there were moments that were hysterically funny. liam and ann are really different individuals, but that's what makes for a good slow burn. i was pleasantly surprised to see commentary on the harm that the extremely wealthy have on others, and how horrifying people can be when they have too much money. i find that a lot of contemporary romance novels have either too many spicy scenes or scenes that too vulgar, but christina lauren always do a great job of writing them :)

if you like any of christina lauren's books, you will definitely enjoy this! if you also like carley fortune, emily henry, or ali hazelwood, i think this will be right up your alley.

tropes included:
- marriage of convenience
- forced proximity
- slow burn
- fake dating / marriage
- billionaire romance
- one bed

I devoured this book in one sitting! Liam and Anna come from completely different worlds but complement each other so well. I laughed, cried, got angry, and felt pure joy reading this book!

Pretty woman moment mixed with rich family scandal and secrets. The premise of the book had everything I love in novels! I was so excited to read this book and would have probably rated it higher if it wasn’t for word choice throughout the novel. If this wasn’t an ARC read I would have DNFd a couple chapters in. For some reason the authors decided to have our FMC call the MMC dick/cock his “Goddamn” I’m not sure if this is an inside joke with the with the authors but it took me fully out of the story every single time they used it. Which was all the way through to story. Also the FMC tended to talk in text language or how I describe breaking the fourth wall like she was trying to talk to us the audience. Disappointing that these word choices throughout the story made what could have been an enjoyable pretty woman book into what would have been a very early DNF.

The Paradise Problem tackles the complexities of love, loyalty, and the clash of dueling family members. Anna Green, an inspiring artist and newly unemployed, is reluctantly drawn back into the orbit of her ex-husband, Liam Weston when he needs her to pose as his happily married spouse to inherit his family fortune. The premise is one that I've always enjoyed: fake dating. Plus, throw in the billionaire vibe, and I'm sold. However, it was difficult for me to connect with the characters, especially Liam's family.

Liam and Anna's story is adventurous, but I would have liked a little more romance and angst. I enjoyed the humor and was smiling at some points. The setting of the Indonesian island was written very well, making it easy for me to imagine paradise. Overall, I do think it's an enjoyable romantic comedy that will leave readers giggling while they root for happy endings.

5 stars. Christina Lauren are one of those authors where the minute I saw the book pop up on netgalley, I requested it. That's right, I didn't even read the blurb. And to be fair, I also didn't read the blurb before I decided to dive in. So I truly had no idea what this one was about. But that is the magic of Christina Lauren, because I know that if they write it, I will love it. And I really loved The Paradise Problem.

I think The Paradise Problem is the perfect book for summer. It's filled with a marriage of convenience (between 2 people who don't even realize they are still married), amazing banter, laugh out loud moments (I will never stop thinking about Anna and her nails), an open door romance with a couple of steamy scenes, and a tropical island! Rom coms can be hit or miss for me, because sometimes the humor is just too obvious and too silly. But Christina Lauren's rom coms are like my crack. I cannot stop consuming them. Anna was such a relatable character and truly, the type of character I wish I could be friends with in real life. She's smart and loyal and ok, maybe not the most hard working, but she knows what's important in life, and I think that's really admirable. West is basically her opposite-- she's artsy with pink hair and he's an academic from a VERY prominent family (with tons of family drama). I think both characters showed a lot of growth, and although the plot was relatively predictable, I don't really care, because this isn't the type of story where I feel like I needed to be surprised. Truly, I read this entire book with a smile on my face, and if that's not the mark of a good read, then I don't know what is.

Thank you so much to Christina Lauren, Gallery, and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. I truly couldn't put this one down.

I have two favorite CLo books: 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗢𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗗𝗦 and 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗨𝗡𝗛𝗢𝗡𝗘𝗬𝗠𝗢𝗢𝗡𝗘𝗥𝗦. Well…𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗘 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗕𝗟𝗘𝗠 is now one of my top faves.
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I’m usually hit or miss with CLo so I’m glad this was PERFECT! I could not get enough of Anna and Liam. This was the perfect fake dating storyline! I could not get through these pages fast enough. The growing tension was up to par. I loved their chemistry so much!
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Dual POV
Destination wedding
Fake marriage
Close proximity
One bedroom scenes
‌
Highly recommend for all the romance readers! Will make the perfect summer book.

3.75/5 ⭐️

I went in totally blind and I think that is the way to go. This is a great beach read, and the wedding aspect made it fun - like a game!

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Anna Green is a struggling artist. Liam West is an heir to a family grocery chain called Weston Foods. Back in college Anna and Liam got married so that they could get into family housing within their college.

Fast forward three years later and Liam is back knocking on Anna’s door with a proposition since they are still technically married. They need to stay married for Liam to get a 1 million dollar inheritance. He just needs Anna to act like his wife at his sister's wedding. I loved watching this fake marriage develop into real feelings for one another.

I enjoyed both characters throughout the story and I enjoyed this second chance, fake marriage romance! Christina Lauren always knows how to add romance with a twist of comedy. Add this to your summer reading list.


Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Anna meets Liam in college and agrees to marry him in order to get free housing. Once graduation is over, the strangers separate and don’t speak for three years. After being fired from her horrible job at a convenience store, Liam coincidentally shows up on Anna’s doorstep with a proposition. He’ll pay her to attend a family wedding and stay married past the five year mark so he can gain a huge inheritance. All seems perfect when they get to paradise, but all families have skeletons in their closet, and Liam’s are about to coming tumbling out.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5
Spice: 🌶️🌶️

Tropes:
Arranged Marriage
Forced Proximity
Opposites Attract

Triggers:
Blackmail
Manipulation through money

My thoughts:
I loved this book. Liam and Anna have instant chemistry and I really enjoyed how they dealt with his families BS without compromising who they were as people. I hope we get more stories from this family!

Thank you to @netgalley @gallerybooks #partner and @christinalauren for a copy of this book!