Paradise City | Saucy Southern Readers

Paradise City

Paradise Series- Book 1

By C.J. Duggan

Synopsis

There’s bound to be trouble in Paradise . . .

When her parents decide a change will be good for her, seventeen-year-old Lexie Atkinson never expected they’d send her all the way to Paradise City. Coming from a predictable life of home schooling on a rural Australian property, she’s sure that Paradise will be amazing. But when she’s thrust into a public school without a friendly face in sight, and forced to share a room with her insipid, hateful cousin Amanda, Lexie’s not so sure.

Hanging out with the self-proclaimed beach bums of the city, sneaking out, late night parties and parking with boys are all things Lexie’s never experienced, but all that’s about to change. It’s new, terrifying . . . and exciting. But when she meets Luke Ballantine, exciting doesn’t even come close to describing her new life. Trouble with a capital T, Luke is impulsive, charming and answers to no one. The resident bad-boy leader of the group, he’s sexier than any boy Lexie has ever known.

Amidst the stolen moments of knowing looks and heated touches, Lexie can’t help but wonder if Luke is going to be good for her . . . or very, very bad?

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Tina’s Review

Judging a Book by it’s Cover:
Bright and bold color choices immediately catch the eye. The synopsis sounds like a typical coming-of-age, teen drama. Nothing too extra-ordinary or unique from the tons of others out there already: Naive, small-town girl moves and meets local bad boy. It’s all very cliche’ when you think about it. Hope it reads better!
Looking Deeper:
Written from Lexie’s first-person POV. How to explain this book…. Lexie’s fascination / obsession with school hottie / bad boy is akin to the Bella / Edward saga that I’m sure everyone is familiar with, except Ballantine does not sparkle (thank god for small favors). Then there’s Amanda, the estranged cousin that she idolized. My first thought on Amanda: “Mean Girls”. It’s not a loving reunion. Add in a few more characters and plenty of pop culture references and you have a rather full cast and substance.
The plot plods along steadily but sedately, chronicling the mundane life at school, mostly. Nearly a third of the way into the book, Ballantine had made one comment and asked two questions to Lexie. His friend, Boon, has interacted with her more! I think he’s fast becoming a favorite character. The dialogue and interaction is mostly realistic and natural feeling, although it really does perplex me how someone can be THAT naive and trusting of everyone. I found myself struggling with the pace and the mostly one-dimensional content. The main characters are okay, but they are awful young (Ballantine’s 18 and Lexie’s 17) and still have a LOT of growing up to do. I was a bit thrown that the boys are always referred to by their last names. There’s a lot of Australian terminology in this book, so be sure to have your translator ready if you are not familiar with words like ute, esky, doona, and bitumen.
There were many conflicts ranging in degree. Most were resolved, some were not. There were a few plot twists that were not predicted and I can only speculate on some of the other elements that are yet to reveal themselves. The conclusion is left open to continue in the next book, due out in September of 2015. I wish I had prior knowledge of a cliffhanger. I prefer not to invest my time in partial stories, but rather I wait until all parts are available to read as a whole. This story *IS* a High School drama-laden saga with a cliffhanger. You’ve been warned.

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C.J Duggan is an Internationally Number One Best Selling Author who lives with her husband in a rural border town of New South Wales, Australia. When she isn’t writing books about swoony boys and 90’s pop culture you will find her renovating her hundred-year-old Victorian homestead or annoying her local travel agent for a quote to escape the chaos. The Boys of Summer is Book One in her highly successful New Adult Romance Series.