Romance
The Paradise Problem
Repeat author
Christina Lauren is back at Book of the Month – other BOTMs include In a Holidaze and The True Love Experiment.
by Christina Lauren
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Quick take
Money makes people do strange things. For example, get married for a mega inheritance, then actually fall in love.
Good to know
Multiple viewpoints
Salacious
Glamorous
Fake Dating
Synopsis
Anna Green thought she was marrying Liam “West” Weston for access to subsidized family housing while at UCLA. She also thought she’d signed divorce papers when the graduation caps were tossed, and they both went on their merry ways.
Three years later, Anna is a starving artist living paycheck to paycheck while West is a Stanford professor. He may be one of four heirs to the Weston Foods conglomerate, but he has little interest in working for the heartless corporation his family built from the ground up. He is interested, however, in his one-hundred-million-dollar inheritance. There’s just one catch.
Due to an antiquated clause in his grandfather’s will, Liam won’t see a penny until he’s been happily married for five years. Just when Liam thinks he’s in the home stretch, pressure mounts from his family to see this mysterious spouse, and he has no choice but to turn to the one person he’s afraid to introduce to his one-percenter parents—his unpolished, not-so-ex-wife.
But in the presence of his family, Liam’s fears quickly shift from whether the feisty, foul-mouthed, paint-splattered Anna can play the part to whether the toxic world of wealth will corrupt someone as pure of heart as his surprisingly grounded and loyal wife. Liam will have to ask himself if the price tag on his flimsy cover story is worth losing true love that sprouted from a lie.
Free sample
Get an early look from the first pages of The Paradise Problem.
Why I love it
Regina Montoya
BOTM Editorial Team
Anna and Liam got married in college. Kind of. They also got divorced in college. Kind of.
When Liam proposed to Anna—to get subsidized family housing at UCLA—she said yes. Liam was her best friend’s older brother, would probably (hopefully) be an okay roommate, and she’d be able to afford rent. So! She married him, they lived as roommates while remaining virtual strangers, then signed divorce papers on Liam’s graduation.... Except, they didn’t.
Three years after Liam’s departure, Anna is struggling to make ends meet as an artist. She has just been fired from her part-time job, needs to get her car fixed, and is drowning in hospital bills. So when Liam shows up at her door and tells her they’re still legally married and needs her to pretend to be his wife on a family trip, it’s the least of her issues.
To receive his one-hundred-million-dollar inheritance, Liam needs to prove he has been successfully married for the last five years. The problem is that one, he hasn’t, and two, his father suspects as much. His only shot at securing his inheritance is to bring Anna to his sister’s island wedding and convince his family they are happily married and in love.
A dreamy resort, a dysfunctional family, and a delightful, blossoming romance, The Paradise Problem has everything a perfect summer read should.