4.5⭐️ rounded up!

I absolutely ADORED this book! It was such a fun twist on the “marriage of convenience” trope. The two main characters, Anna and Liam, were perfect together and their chemistry was 🔥🔥 Anna especially was SO funny and had me laughing the whole time I was listening.

The narrators were amazing, highly recommend the audio!

What to expect:
💍 marriage of convenience
👀 dual POV
🏝️ tropical paradise setting
🎭 lots of family drama
🛏️ forced proximity/only one bed
💰 rich people behaving badly
🔥 slow burn but spicy!

Christina Lauren somehow made the fake-dating trope feel fresh in "The Paradise Problem". I loved the MCs- their chemistry was great. I found myself laughing throughout. Perfect summer read- definitely recommend. Thank you to the publisher for the ARC.

I loved this book!!

Anne Green. Liam West. Un-Finalized divorce. Fake (but actually not fake) marriage. Proper and not so proper. Trip with his family on a private island for his sister’s wedding? Can they convince everyone? Huge amount of money involved if they can pull it off?

Yes! Please.

And the burn is slooooow. But once it hits *🥵*

So good! Read if you like witty banter and like to laugh.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review.

I loved this book! It had great tension and chemistry between the two main characters which is exactly what you want in a rom-com. I enjoyed the backstories of the protagonists and how their family dynamics influenced the couple's relationship. 5/5!

Christina Lauren does it again. I don't know how they consistently crank out bangers, but here we are.

Anna and Liam got married in college, purely to secure affordable housing. In fact, the last time Anna saw Liam was the day he moved out of their shared apartment and he's not crossed her mind since. Until he shows up on her doorstep with a surprise and a proposition that could change her life.

I loved Anna. She's a mess - a complete mess. The line is toed a little bit with the stereotypically "flighty" artsy girl, but Anna has a heart and is grounded in what she believes. She loves her dad and will do whatever it takes to help him while he's ill, so I completely understand her going for Liam's proposition.

Lots of family drama (of course), a literal island paradise, some spice, and some hijinks to round it out? An absolute delight.

I could have done without the nickname Anna gave Liam's genitals (yikes), but that didn't take away from my enjoyment.

3.75 rounded up to 4!

I really like Christina Lauren books and have read a ton, so I do acknowledge that my bias for their other books is coming into play with this review.

Let's start with what I loved - - fake dating in paradise! I love the high drama of a fake-dating scenario. You know, as a reader, it is absolutely going to crash and burn as soon as the MCs catch real feelings. The impending doom (and ultimate resolution) make this trope so fun and I loved reading it by Christina Lauren. It absolutely delivered.

Okay, now let's talk about what wasn't my favorite... One - her nickname for his *insert eggplant emoji here*. Listen, I'm not here to kink shame, it just wasn't my thing. Two (and far more importantly) was the archetype of the quirky girl. I think it's easy for quirky girl to appear to be dumb girl and this book flirted with that a bit in my book. As a self-proclaimed-quirky-girl but also smart AF girl, I didn't love some of the moments Anna had. I get her not fitting in to 'high-society' but here were other moments that felt like really bad representations of this archetype and it irked me a tad. I'll admit I'm over sensitive to this (I also felt the same way about Hazel, tbh) but it made this reading experience less enjoyable for me than others.

With that said, the authors did keep Anna true to her values, and I appreciated that strength they gave her!

I really enjoyed this and would recommend it for anyone's beach bag this summer!

I devoured the latest CLo on a sweaty trip to Florida. It was not a beautiful private island but heck, it was a fun beach read. Unlike other CLo books, this one read a little too quick for me—the relationship established pretty early on and the stakes being a little too low after that point, but who’s not looking for a guy in finance, 6 5, with a trust fund these days?

5 stars | 2 spice

OH MY GOD. This book was PERFECTION.

I was straight up cackling while reading this book. Anna's character was SO funny and Liam's reactions were equally as funny. THE TENSION in this book is EVERYTHING. I could feel the chemistry sizzling off the pages. I love a good fake dating/marriage of convenience trope and this gives that in the absolute best of ways. The other characters were both funny and infuriating.

The spice in this book was SO GOOD. I was SOOO ready for them to finally get together. Plus, the character arcs were so good. Liam really grew into his character and I loved how quickly he got so protective over her.

I laughed, I cried and I genuinely adored this book! 5 stars HANDS DOWN!

This book definitely rivals The Unhoneymooners and fans of Christina Lauren will be immediately pulled into this tale. This is a MUST HAVE for the summer!

Third Vacation Read!⁣
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"But I think the better answer to your question is that the second part is true: when you can afford anything, nothing is interesting anymore, and there’s something really depressing about that.”⁣
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I'm 85% in and I'm really enjoying this one! I've seen mixed reviews but I am here for the fun that CLo brings. They bring the fun, the sass, the humor, and the steam -- loooove them. I also enjoy the fake dating trope, it's always just so silly and fun and headed for some drama 🙌 ⁣
⁣
The drama ended up having some depth -- the male main in extremely wealthy and the female lead is not and she is the one to teach him lessons on life (see quote at beginning of the post).⁣
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I have read a LOT of their books and this is my off the cuff rating:⁣
⁣
All got 4 stars from me⁣
☀️The Soulmate Equation ⁣
☀️The True Love Experiment ⁣
☀️The Unhoneymooners⁣
☀️Love and Other Words⁣
☀️Josh and Hazel ⁣
⁣
3 stars⁣
☀️Something Wilder⁣
☀️My Favorite Half-Night stand⁣
☀️In a Holidaze⁣
⁣
Did not like⁣
☀️The Honey Don't List⁣
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What's your CLo fave?? Is this one on your list?

I enjoyed this book so much! It reminded me of my favorite Christina Lauren book The Unhoneymooners. It was so funny and the banter between the two mains was incredible and witty! This was definitely the quintessential summer beach read of 2024!!!

I loved this book! It felt like a next level version of the unhoneymooners which is one of my favorite CLo books! I loved every aspect from the fake dating to the billionaire MMC and family drama.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this title! Christina Lauren has been one of my favorite writing sups for the longest time, and I will never not read something by them. I have been waiting so long to read this one, and finally just made the time to do so, and man I am so glad I did. This book was exceptional. The FMC was fun, awkward, and quirky. She didn't care what anyone thought or said about her, she just simply was. The two main characters had the best banter, and I was giggling all the way through this book. I adored this one, and i loved West so much. Him and Anna were the perfect dynamic. Ugh so cute!

This book is so silly and fun. The premise is hilarious and the banter really delivered here.

A wealthy family with some major drama (enter MC #1) mixes with a very poor and unkempt (in a lovable way) (MC #2). Better yet? They married in college (as strangers) to obtain family housing on campus, and guess what? They’re still married and she doesn’t know. She doesn’t find out until she’s needed for a trip to a private island with his family for a wedding…ope!

Hilarious. Steamy. Sweet. And just plain fun! Except for Liam’s family; most of them are the actual worst.

This was sexy, fun, sweet and romantic! I adore Liam and Anna, and I felt like I saw a lot of myself in Anna. I liked that they pushed each other to grow while not losing sight of who the other is.

This book was EXCELLENT. I love Christina Lauren but this one stands above their other titles. The main character had such personality. I laughed out loud multiple times. Highly recommend.

Barely 3 stars. That extra star is because I was entertained and did laugh a few times - the usual Christina Lauren funny banter we’ve all come to expect in this duo’s books. I also enjoyed the alternating POVs and the cool island setting.

What I didn’t love:
* The lead characters were very immature and not too bright. I’m proud and feel lucky to be part of Generation X so don’t always relate to immature characters - especially in romance novels. I don’t even think it was their ages - just the way they were portrayed.
* The nickname the female lead gave the male lead’s genitals? SO CRINGE!! And it’s repeated in almost every single chapter. Go read some of the 1-2 star reviews to see what it is. I’m not putting it in my review.

The fake dating thing is just overdone at this point. I’m not a huge romance reader, but The Unhoneymooners by this duo is 100x better.

I will alwaysss eat up a marriage of convenience PLUSits written be Christina Lauren??? Oh yeah count me in. In true Christina Lauren fashion, of course this book had me giggling, I'm all about the witty banter! This is the perfect summer read'

I’m a big fan of Christina Lauren in general, and this might be my favorite book of theirs so far! The Paradise Problem uses some of my favorite romcom tropes (fake dating/marriage, grumpy x sunshine, forced proximity) and the background was basically Succession mixed with The White Lotus. This is a perfect beach read, but that’s not to say it lacks depth. I thought the authors did a great job combining the romantic elements with deep family drama. I’m rounding up from 4.5 stars—the only thing I didn’t like was how quickly the big storyline at the end was wrapped up.

I think this is my favorite Christina Lauren to date! It was so well done and the story just made me smile so hard. I loved the character development in Anna, and West was just a dream. The spice was spot on too!

Loved loved loved!!! Christina Lauren has done it again! I loved these two characters, and they’re amazing banter.