This book had a lot of humorous moments but overall it seemed unrealistic. The book also seemed kind of rushed because there wasn't any romance between the characters until the very end which made the book leading up to that point a little bland.

If you are a fan of "Love is Blind" and the enemies to lovers trope, Portia MacIntosh has got something for you.

Lara and Sonny are two journalists with a complicated history that led them to become rivals, but now they are forced to work on an assignment together. Of all things, they need to pretend to be in a relationship to attend a very unusual couple's retreat to gather some information on a celebrity couple who is also there. While pretending to have problems in their relationship is certainly not a problem for them, learning to act in love is their biggest challenge ahead... until it becomes a little too easy, and there is nowhere they can run to evade it.

It is not unusual for enemies-to-lovers stories to rely on the forced proximity trope to bring their characters together. What made the story different from others is its very strange setting: a couple's retreat that is too far removed from society, with awful [healthy] food, annoying companions, bonding activities that seem pointless, and an air of secrecy that gets on the characters nerves more often than not. It is a place that could have easily spun the story into something that might fall into the horror genre (but didn't, it proved to be even more romantic after all!). Watching the characters develop in this environment worked as a very successful petri dish for tension, and it is what made the story go forward.

My one issue with this novel was the main character, Lara. I enjoy reading a female character that is headstrong, fiercely independent and protective of their hearts, I found myself getting annoyed at her outbursts when they seem to come out of nowhere. She appeared to get angry and annoyed in situations that did not merit such a reaction, making some of the action and tension between her and Sonny forced and pointless at times. What I will say is that I was very pleased with MacIntosh's way to make the characters grow closer together and get to know each other without it seeming too rushed.

I received a copy of this for my honest review.

First - I would like to note, that I think the name change from Enemies to Lovers to Trouble in Paradise, was a good move!

Our FMC & MMC both write celebrity stories for different magazines that are under the same publishing house. Since their time in University, and now with their competition of stories, they are constantly looking at each other as mortal enemies. This rivalry reaches a breaking point, and to save their jobs, each of their bosses send them undercover to an exclusive couples therapy resort in order to try and get the story on a certain couple that is rumored to be there. They go in with the thought that they will be in this luxurious resort with all the amenities, but are sadly mistaken once they arrive. They are pushed through different challenges to not only try and do their job, but work through therapy as a fake couple. Will they be able to find the story worth writing or will their secret get out?

I really wanted to like this as the rival journalists angle interested me but it ended up not being my cup of tea. I just found the romance portion uninteresting and it didn't feel like the MCs had much chemistry.

ok this was definitely called enemies to lovers when i was first approved for it. and i liked the idea of rival entertainment journalists. that's fun. but the characters just weren't interesting

This is the story of how Sonny and Lara who are journalists are nearly sacked so to save their jobs their bosses send them of to Eden an exclusive couples retreat, The catch is they have to pretend to be a couple and get the scoop on how Eden works! What could possibly go wrong?!
A good, fun quick read! Can't wait for the next Portia Macintosh book! You can’t go wrong picking up one of this authors books!

I think when I originally received this arc it was called enemies to lovers. Regardless, I’m glad for the title change because it makes more sense.

It took me a while to go through this book. Overall, it was an average read. By the title/cover alone I thought it was a rom-com. But I was surprised with the romantic suspense element. I would’ve loved if it was actually enemies to lovers in terms of the romance aspect.

I’ve read a couple of the authors books before. And I’ve liked them in the past. But unfortunately “Trouble in Paradise”, didn’t really work for me. 2.5/5

While I did enjoy this book, I was more invested in the thriller portion of the story rather than any romantic interests the main character had. I think the name change from Enemies to Lovers to Trouble in Paradise was a fantastic choice. I loved the setting of a "summer camp" for couples on a tropical island- it made me wish summer would come faster. This was a quick, light read with more mystery solving than romance.

I’d expected this to be a quick light read, and even though it was a quick read, I’m not so sure about the “light” part. In some moments it’s like the book couldn’t decide whether it wanted to be a romantic comedy or a thriller.

Lara and Sonny are rival journalists who are assigned a job together as a fake couple. They are to go undercover at a couples' retreat. I like Portia MacIntosh's books and this one was the same. Portia is great at writing characters who are likeable.

The story did get jumbled a little bit and it was sometimes difficult to follow all the characters who were at the retreat along with their stories.


Thank you to NetGalley, Portia MacIntosh, and Boldwood Books for the e-ARC of this book. This review is my own opinion.

This has been such a good read, I have really enjoyed it. Great characters , great storyline. Look forward to reading more.

For fans of Emily Henry this is the book you must read! Humor, paradise, and fake dating all in one fun read. For romance lovers, this has the right amount of tensions and feels more real than fiction.

Firstly, I would like to say a big thank you to Boldwood books and NetGalley for the ARC.

3.5/5 (rounded up)

This is another easy, fun read (with a bit of twist) from this author, and it’s the perfect book to pop in your beach bag this summer.

I always prefer books to be written in first person so I’m glad that this book was written in this type of narrative. However, I think this book would have benefited from multiple perspectives. It was great to see everything from Lara’s perspective, but I think it would have intensified things for us as readers if we got to see things from Sonny’s perspective too.

Sonny and Lara had so much chemistry and tension. I think this was a good use of the enemies to lovers trope, however, I think it was definitely more enemies to lovers on Lara’s side, but it was more workplace rivals to lovers for Sonny. The forced proximity element really added to the tension.

I think this book definitely could have been a bit longer, with more moments extended. It did feel a bit rushed towards the end, and I would have liked to have seen an epilogue of them together in Australia as I think this would have rounded off the story nicely.

Overall, I did enjoy the story. The undercover journalists aspect of it was really good and kept the plot interesting, and Sonny and Lara had a lot of chemistry which kept me invested in their relationship.

Lara and Sonny are rival journalists and sworn enemies when they are assigned to pretend to be in couples therapy at the mysterious Eden.

I had high hopes for this (I love fake dating!) but it just fell flat 🫠 Lara and Sonny were definitely not enemies, more like work rivals at a push. It was easy to follow along but it was just a bit forgettable tbh! I did enjoy the friendship that formed between Lara, Sonny and the other couples at the Eden retreat but beyond that I wasn’t much of a fan. I do really love Portia as an author though so it won’t deter me from picking up more of her books!

This was a light hearted and funny read. Not sure what I was expecting but this wasn’t it, but it was certainly different from your normal romance stories. I think you need to take the situation Lara and Sonny end up in and just run with it! It makes for an amusing read! I do like how the author took an idea and developed it into something just a bit different from the norm!

Well this book was a bit of a disappointment. This is the second Portia Macintosh book I’ve read now and even though I quite enjoyed the first, this was bad in comparison.

I hate to leave bad reviews but I pride myself in giving truthful reviews and this book just didn’t cut it for me.

It felt rushed, which in turn made it a quick read, but it didn’t have gripped or wanting to read it. Maybe the author is churning out too many books, too quickly for them to be of considerable value?

The characters weren’t very likeable or interesting and I felt no emotion towards them.
And the ending was far too rushed as well, and the big, life changing decisions the main characters made after hating each other for the last 10 years was just unrealistic and not an overly enjoyable ending. Although I do like a happy ending so at least it got that.

The storyline was weird and a cross between a thriller/suspense and romcom with neither really being a talking point and I wasn’t a fan of the flip flopping between the two without a decent outcome.

It’s a very quick, light hearted, easy read which was perfect for what I was wanting after reading 4 fantasy books back to back, but I won’t be reading again and I’ll probably think twice about reading another book from this author unfortunately.

unfortunately, this was a dnf for me because of how slow it started. I got to about 35% and liked the writing a decent amount, but was really struggling to connect with the FMC

I was hoping for a cute rom com and was disappointed. The female main character was irritating and I couldn't get past it.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, Enemies to Lovers, is another great love story by Portia MacIntosh!!!

In picking up this book, readers are in for a fun, sexy treat. Sonny and Lara had the best chemistry whether they were arguing or getting along. Having to go undercover as a couple was the perfect catalyst for getting them together.

If you are a fan of the enemies to lovers trope, you MUST give this a read, preferably while at the beach or on summer holiday!!!

Special thanks to Netgalley, Boldwood Books, and Portia MacIntosh for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

I think my favorite part of this book was Lara’s connection with her friends. Reading about their issues apart from the relationships was So refreshing. The book was a quick read with some light and some heartfelt moments