Thank you Netgalley and Gallery books for an ARC of the newest Christina Lauren rom com. I only discovered this author a few years ago when I read “ The Unhoneymooners”on a girls trip in Florida, and I have made it a priority to read every single one of her books since then. their newest novel is hands-down, my favorite one yet. The story focuses on a completely opposite couple who gets married out of convenience to both of them. However. when a family wedding comes into play and the family doesn’t know about the arrangement, hilarity ensues. I loved everything about this novel from the characters to the fact that I could actually envision myself in the tropical location how completely opposite these two characters are together. I will never NOT read a Christina Lauren novel.

I loved this book so much I didn’t want it to end! It wasn’t as predictable as other books, which was a nice change. A lot of humor along with family drama- definitely a favorite for me!

5/5. Love, love, love Christina Lauren. This premise was off to a bonkers start, more so than usual, but what an excellent payoff. I can always trust that a CLo book will be heartwarming, super funny, a summertime dream, and you can't help but fall for the main characters. I was super impressed to see the character growth, the realistic reactions from the rest of the Weston "kids" to the situation, and loved seeing a rom-com version of Succession that was somehow still stressful. An utter delight and I lapped it up in two short days. I will, of course, be recommending it to anyone who will listen to me talking about books. Perfect, perfect!

3.25 stars!

It was fun! It was romantic! It was spicy! But it wasn’t Christina Lauren’s best. The writing was GREAT at times and felt silly at others. While it was enjoyable to read, I also found myself frustrated with some characterization. Overall I thought it was fun but probably best as a beach read!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

I inhaled this book omg. CL with a spicy contemporary romance?? We love to see it. This was like a white version of "crazy rich asians" but with a sprinkle of fake dating. I love fake dating when it’s done well and this was PERFECT. And yes I was picturing Liam’s dad to just look like Logan from succession the entire time. Loved the witty banter, def in my top romances for the year and I will be re-reading this immediately. “West” Weston and Anna forever. 🫶🏾

If you're a romance reader and looking for an easy beach read, I don't think you'll be disappointed by this! The premise is a bit wacky- but if you can lean in to the "movie magic" I think you'll have just as much fun as I did.

Pub date: May 14th

West and Anna enter into a marriage of convenience in order to qualify for cheap married housing, but when West shows up years later Anna learns it was more than that! West needs her to act as his wife for his sister's insane wedding on a private island. We all know where this is going. Sparks fly!!!

Definitely some laugh out loud moments!

I received this novel as an advanced reader copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I loved this book and think that it will do very well as a bee read the spring and summer. it may be the best Christina Lauren’s novel yet. The exotic setting in the fake wedding day trope really work and it is lots of fun. The two main characters had so much chemistry! Highly recommend.

A hit from Christina Lauren! This one reminded me of their books when I first started reading. Both the plot and the romance gave me the nostalgia of reading a new genre you love for the first time. I think it was a stellar book and I can’t wait to get my copy in the mail when it releases!

As a Christina Lauren fan, I adored this story! Although I will say I found myself frustrated with West/Liam the majority of the time. I did love the quirkiness of Anna. Definitely a fun story and I recommend to anyone who’s a fan of Christina Lauren’s books!

I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was a good story that had a slow burn but once they got going it got going. I did not like the first couple chapters. I felt that it was oddly written. There was a part where it said ‘lol of course he wasn’t going to kiss me’; I don’t like the lol there. It kind of threw me when reading the book and think that it takes the reader out and made me feel like I was reading a text.

I really enjoyed Liam and Anna’s story as a whole. Liam is heir to a huge grocery chain, Weston’s, and Anna is an unemployed stoner who married Liam to get cheap housing at UCLA. They got divorced when he finished his PHD and she graduated (same time frame) or so they thought. Turns out they never got divorced and Liam actually needs Anna’s help with dealing with his family in Indonesia for his sister’s wedding. What happens in Indonesia is full of family drama, snide comments from MIL, kooky and inappropriate SIL and slow burn at some spice. This book has all the tropes: (fake) marriage of convenience, slow burn, one bed in the hotel room, and opposites attract.

Thank you NetGalley for a advanced copy of this ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Small Business BookTok ARC Reviews: “ The Paradise Problem” by Christina Lauren

Note: This ARC was given to me for free by the author and I am reviewing this book voluntarily.

Anne Green is an independent artist who’s doing all she can to raise funds for her father’s medical bills. She marries Liam Weston, her former college friend now Stanford Professor, so that both could gain his wealthy family’s money. While they are legally married now, they still have to face the obstacle of convincing Liam’s controlling father at his sister’s upcoming wedding in order to gain the rest of the funds. Will they be able to portray a picture of a couple in paradise, or will their marriage of convenience end with trouble in paradise?

From the creative minds that brought you the BookTok classic “Love and Other Words” and the summer hit “The True Love Experiment” the iconic duo, (yes, duo), that is Christina Lauren deliver once again with their latest Summer Romance “The Paradise Problem”! This is the second book I’ve read by Christina Lauren, and as a fairly new reader of their works, I understand the appeal in their storytelling! Anne and Liam were interesting characters to follow. They're not written as people marrying each other for the sake of being rich for themselves, but as characters with selfless, justifiable reasons and motivations for why they agree to marry each other in a marriage-of-convenience.

Thus, it’s through their humane motivations and understanding in one another that makes their beautiful chemistry grow and develop throughout the novel. The antagonist Patriarch, Ray Weston, is written as a perfect mirror opposite of Anne and Liam as he’s written as someone who is corrupted by money and uses his children as pawns for his own reputation and financial gain. One can argue that at its core, this book isn’t just a Romantic Comedy, but a book that tackles serious commentary on how the overconsumption of wealth can sometimes corrupt families to the point that they turn on each other and make them lose sight of their morals, values and loved ones when they abuse said power. And to that I say, well done! If you’re looking for a Contemporary Romance read that makes you reflect on the meaning of wealth vs life experiences, then don’t miss out on this book when it hits online and in-store shelves on May 14, 2024.

Rating: 5/5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice Meter: 5/5🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶

-Tropes to Expect: Marriage of Convenience, Slow Burn Romance, Artist x Professor, Island Getaway Narrative, Wedding Narrative, Witty Banter, Only One Bed, and Opposites Attract.

-Trigger Warnings: Angst, Discussions of Generational Trauma, Emotional Abuse and Manipulation by a Parent, Brief Implications of Classism, Discussions of Cancer, and Relationship Anxiety.

I'm a big Christina Lauren fan, and this one did not disappoint. They did such a wonderful job of writing a messy, funny, semi-crude character without making her obnoxious or idiotic. Instead, she was intelligent with quippy one-liners and incredibly impossible not to love.

The storyline of their fake marriage while in college, and everything that happens after to reunite them, is one of the funnier version of this trope I have ever read.

Fun, quick read that is sexy and sweet.

I had some mixed feelings about this, though it has a lot of the hallmarks of a Christina Lauren romance that I really enjoy - humor, good main character chemistry, interesting secondary characters. I think what I didn't love as much about this one is the financial element of the romance. Let me back up - this is a marriage of convenience romance which starts with the male main character (West/Liam) moving out of the married student housing apartment he shared with Anna. Anna agreed to marry West, her friend Jake's older brother, when she was 20 and couldn't afford a new place to live. She thought West was in the same boat, and they happily co-habitated for two years while remaining, essentially, strangers. Now it's three years later, and Anna (a struggling artist in LA) is fired from her convenience store job by her sleazy teenaged boss and she's panicking about how she's going to cover her father's medical bills. At the same time, West (actually Liam Weston) is living in San Jose and working as a professor of economics and cultural anthropology, and his mother is pressuring him to bring Anna, who she believes is a promising young medical student, to West's sister's wedding on a private island in Indonesia. It turns out that West is the heir apparent to a billion dollar grocery store chain, and in order to access his inheritance from his grandfather, he had to be married for five years. He's completely estranged from his family after some serious but mysterious drama went down, so it's been easy to keep his distance from his family until now. But he knows that he's close to the five year deadline on his marriage and there's a loophole in his grandfather's will that means he has to make sure no one thinks his marriage is fraudulent, so he flies to LA and convinces Anna to come to Indonesia with him and pretend to be his loving wife - for an enormous (to Anna) amount of money. This is a romance, so of course things get complicated, and I really liked Anna as a character. West was similar to some of Christina Lauren's other male leads, especially the male main character in The Unhoneymooners - a little tightly wound, a poor communicator, etc. The financial element of this just felt a little icky to me, though it did make sense in the context of the story. I still enjoyed this and got some good laughs from it. Content warning for some very seriously toxic family relationships.

I eagerly picked this up without even knowing the plot. Boy, was I pleasantly surprised with a marriage of convenience. This was laugh out loud funny. I loved the main character, Anna. Readers like me will crack up at her Twilight references. Liam was also perfect. The ending was a little drawn out but it did not take away from the story at all. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

I loved this book. I think West and Anna were really sweet. The fake dating aspect was incredible and their relationship in general was fun and lovely.

The way Christina Lauren just can't miss. Marriage of convenience to divorce of convenience to fake dating to lovers! Liam is perfect book boyfriend, and Anna is a relatable queen. Definitely recommend!

I always look forward to Christina Lauren book, and The Paradise Problem did not disappoint. Anna is a strong female character who helped out Liam while in graduate school. To make housing more affordable, they were married so they could live in married student helping. Then, they went their separate ways.
Five years later, when Anna is in a hard spot, she finds out Liam is the son of a grocery store magnate. He asks Anna to fulfill the role of happy wife at the marriage of his sister. Who could turn it down? It's a week long stay in a tropical paradise, Pulau Jingga. Anna finds out way more than she wants to what it is like to be part of a big family; not only that, but a big family with money.
Anna helps Liam see how messed up his family is, and what family will usually do for you. Liam has to make a big decision that could tear his family apart.
This was another hit out of the ball park It's an excellent summer read!

Loved it so much!!! This was such a wildly fun escape and the perfect kickoff to summer reading! I’ll definitely be recommending this one!

Christina Lauren is one of my favorite authors and she definitely does not disappoint with this one. Although, I had a hard time believing that the two main characters didn’t know more about each other from the early days of their “marriage,” they truly end up going opposite directions in the following years. When they make contact again, they couldn’t be living more different lives. Introducing her to his wealthy, well-to-do family leads to some funny, heartfelt, and entertaining moments to say the least. Liam and Anna find out that they do have a connection, and the descriptive setting in a beach paradise is the perfect opportunity for things to heat up in a big way. I loved this book and gave it ALL the stars!!

Ohmygosh!!! I devoured this book!!! Loved absolutely everything about it. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.