Overview
Sandy Gingras’s Paradise Girls features a broken engagement. A ruined vacation in paradise. One adorable little girl. The perfect recipe for the chance of a lifetime…
It’s Christmas time, and Mary Valley is in a funk. She’s a writer for home magazines, but she’s lost touch with what home means. Her life seems meaningless. The last house she wrote about was a gazillion-dollar mansion with a moat! Plus, she’s estranged from her daughter, CC, and granddaughter, Larkin, and mired in a dead-end relationship with her boss.
Daniel is a man adrift since his son Timmy was killed in Afghanistan. He’s living on a houseboat in Florida with Timmy’s three-legged dog, Tripod, and taking tourists out on fishing charters. But his life is on the edge. He’s painting his houseboat black, and he can’t stop thinking about “getting lost at sea.”
When Mary’s boss tells her he’s spending Christmas with his ex, she books a trip with her family to The Low Key Inn, a hotel on the edge of the Everglades. But things go wrong from the get-go. CC bails out of the vacation, and Mary is stuck with an unhappy Larkin. The hotel is dated and down on its luck, and perhaps its owner is a witch. Then Mary meets Daniel, casts a hook into his head and wrecks his boat.
This is the story of how wounded people can help each other heal, how lost people can help each other find their way home. How life can become a love story….
Review
Mary has just broken up with her boyfriend and has decided to run away to a well deserved vacation. She ends up taking her young granddaughter with her after her daughter backs out at the last minute. Things just go down hill from there. She wrecks a boat, she loses her wallet…just to name a few.
Mary is a character I wanted to slap most of the time. She is very wishy washy and will not stand up for herself. She just takes and takes and takes, especially from her daughter and her boyfriend. Enter Daniel! Daniel is a fabulous character with a 3 legged dog named Tripod (not original at all 🤦🏻♀️). Daniel is struggling with his own issues but he can’t help but feel a connection with Mary.
Quite a few eye roll moments in this read. Now, I did finish it. I might not have if I had been reading it physically. But, I have more patience with a book if I am listening to it. No idea why!
I am definitely in the minority on my review of this read. And usually I love these types of books. But, this one just didn’t sit well with me. I almost gave it 2 stars. However, I did like several of the characters and the setting is perfect. An old, outdated hotel by the Everglades…I can just picture some of the decor!
Now, don’t let my review stop you from trying this book, especially if it is your genre. This novel definitely has a few perks.
Need a book with a great setting and an adorable dog…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!
I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.
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