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Haley's Reviews > Winter in Paradise
Winter in Paradise (Paradise #1)
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My feelings about this book have truly shocked me. I absolutely loved Elin’s last Winter books so to say I was excited about this new series is an understatement. Unfortunately, for me, this story was way over the top and at times a bit boring.
Irene Steele is celebrating New Years Eve at home alone and receives the worst news anyone can ever get— her husband, who is away on business, has died in a plane accident. When facts about the accident come to light, she realizes that her husband was leading a secret life in the Caribbean Island of St. John. Irene and her two grown sons travel to St. John to figure out what exactly happened and why they didn’t know about his secret life on this beautiful island.
Sounds super intriguing right? I thought so, too. But as I began reading I was overwhelmed with very little dialogue and a lot of telling instead of the author showing us the story. Instead of writing a huge review with everything that didn’t work for me, I’m just going to create a short list of a few of the major points.
1. This book contained not a love triangle, but a love square. Three men all “in love” with one woman. So over the top.
2. Insta-love— and not the realistic kind. More of a “I see her and know before she even opens her mouth that I’m in love with her.”. Extremely unrealistic and frustrating.
3. Character flaws. I really hated both brothers. They were petty and just spoiled men. I didn’t fully understand their animosity and dislike towards each other. I think the author tried to put SO many characters in one book that she didn’t fully make me empathize or like the characters.
4. Not enough dialogue. Like I said above there was just a lot of telling us things. We didn’t discover or learn about the characters through situations or the plot. The way we learned about the characters really muddied the plot for me so I could’t fully enjoy the mystery.
Like her other Winter series, this book ends on a cliffhanger and will span a couple more books as we learn about what the dad was hiding. Will I read the next book? At this point I’m not sure. Maybe next year I’ll feel differently and decide to pick it up. But at this point, this reader is so disappointed that she didn’t LOVE the book. . . so the answer is no.
Irene Steele is celebrating New Years Eve at home alone and receives the worst news anyone can ever get— her husband, who is away on business, has died in a plane accident. When facts about the accident come to light, she realizes that her husband was leading a secret life in the Caribbean Island of St. John. Irene and her two grown sons travel to St. John to figure out what exactly happened and why they didn’t know about his secret life on this beautiful island.
Sounds super intriguing right? I thought so, too. But as I began reading I was overwhelmed with very little dialogue and a lot of telling instead of the author showing us the story. Instead of writing a huge review with everything that didn’t work for me, I’m just going to create a short list of a few of the major points.
1. This book contained not a love triangle, but a love square. Three men all “in love” with one woman. So over the top.
2. Insta-love— and not the realistic kind. More of a “I see her and know before she even opens her mouth that I’m in love with her.”. Extremely unrealistic and frustrating.
3. Character flaws. I really hated both brothers. They were petty and just spoiled men. I didn’t fully understand their animosity and dislike towards each other. I think the author tried to put SO many characters in one book that she didn’t fully make me empathize or like the characters.
4. Not enough dialogue. Like I said above there was just a lot of telling us things. We didn’t discover or learn about the characters through situations or the plot. The way we learned about the characters really muddied the plot for me so I could’t fully enjoy the mystery.
Like her other Winter series, this book ends on a cliffhanger and will span a couple more books as we learn about what the dad was hiding. Will I read the next book? At this point I’m not sure. Maybe next year I’ll feel differently and decide to pick it up. But at this point, this reader is so disappointed that she didn’t LOVE the book. . . so the answer is no.
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Reading Progress
August 4, 2018
– Shelved
August 4, 2018
– Shelved as:
to-read
September 28, 2018
–
Started Reading
September 30, 2018
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-16 of 16 (16 new)
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Melissa
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rated it 4 stars
Oct 02, 2018 10:46AM
😫🤞
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Melissa wrote: "😫🤞"I hope you like it more than I did!!!
Agree with you. The product name dropping was immensely annoying and the characters along with plot was obvious. Nothing surprised me in the book. Wont bother with any other of her books.
Debbie I am only 29 pages in and the name /name dropping is annoying already.
Sindy wrote: "Debbie I am only 29 pages in and the name /name dropping is annoying already."Glad it wasn't just me!
I could be wrong, but I swear in one of her books (I feel like it's the last book in the Winter Street Trilogy) she has a character reading a book by "Elin Hilderbrand"
Stephanie wrote: "I could be wrong, but I swear in one of her books (I feel like it's the last book in the Winter Street Trilogy) she has a character reading a book by "Elin Hilderbrand""That would be the end all for product placement. laughing
I totally agree with Haley. I was bored silly and annoyed with the name/place dropping too. I began skipping long sections that wee meaningless to the story just hurry it along. The book ends the way it does maybe so Elin can "finish" the mystery??
Love Elin's writing...guess I should keep reading before I make a decision about this book, but not feeling excited with it yet.
I love Elin's writing and story lines, but again, this book was a total disappointment. So unlike her. I'd finish it just because there will be a sequel which might be better??Good luck.
I agree and also gave it a 2--the characters were tedious and the plot was slow. I got half way through and stopped reading--I have to care about what comes next and just didn't.
I'm happy to see I wasn't the only one feeling this way. I've read all of Elin's books and this one was a big miss for me.
I totally agree with Haley's review. I will only add that I personally do not like cliff hangers, too much like a Soap Opera. I want a complete book. I feel like this is a gimmick to sell more books. I will probably read the others in this series, but I won't ever read another of her books again.
This was my first Hilderbrand book. And I can't say I'll read others. You described my dislike with this book to the T. Thanks!
I agree the start was pretty strong. Now as I finish this book, I feel there is nothing worthwhile here at all. Why were the brothers like this, what was the husband doing, how did he die, why is Cash his mother's favorite(despite being a useless grownup kid), too many questions. No way am I undergoing this again for book 2
