Audiobook review
The dynamic duo of Christina Lauren has once again brought the fun with The Paradise Problem.
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.
I took in the audiobook version of this, narrated delightfully for us by Patti Murin and Jon Root. I have a love/hate relationship with romance audiobooks. Sometimes, the voices get a little too dramatic for me, which can detract from the actual story, but that was not the case here. This is the same duo who did Something Wilder, and Patti has also narrated The Soulmate Equation and Tangled Up in You. It’s easy to see why. The performance was perfect.
I loved the premise of this book. It takes the fake dating/fiance trope and turns up the tension to a 10. These two got married for real but are faking their relationship. The stakes are just so much higher. With Liam’s enormous inheritance on the line, the couple must convince his family they are for real. Perhaps the best part is they don’t hate each other, and there is no animosity or conflict in their relationship; they really don’t know each other at all. The whole thing was set up by Liam’s brother. They spent their college years as roommates but barely spoke. So three years later when Liam must bring his spouse to his sister’s wedding, they are virtually strangers. This is a fresh take on this trope, and I enjoyed it immeasurably.
Let’s talk about the characters. I LOVED Anna. Just everything about her is fabulous. She’s a bit of a mess in terms of paying her bills and organizing her life, but she knows who she is, and she isn’t afraid to show it. She lives with conviction and doesn’t apologize for it. Anna is hilarious. I laughed out loud more times than I can count at her quips and outbursts. She really just says whatever comes to mind. I loved how her character was such a great contrast to Liam’s. Anna doesn’t have two pennies to rub together, and Liam has never had to think about money. His family is one percenter rich. But where Anna bests him is in her family dynamic. Anna grew up with a kind and loving father, and that gives her confidence that Liam doesn’t have. His family is capital T toxic. And he has to drag Anna into the lion’s den. There are plenty of cringe-worthy moments you will love to hate. Luckily, Liam is able to see what wealth has done to his family and is surprisingly grounded.
The dynamic between Anna and Liam is just gold. I loved these two together. They go from strangers to people that respect each other to hot and heavy. Their chemistry is fantastic because it is underscored by genuine caring. I loved how supportive they were of each other.
The Paradise Problem on audiobook is a joy to listen to.
