Paradise

Her brother needs a miracle, and a distant island is in need of a heroine. Will Ceri’s love be enough?As the eldest of six, eighteen-year-old Ceri Everard has long been the responsible one, the daughter who works long hours in the cane fields with her father and cousins, and the one who helps care for her disabled little brother every night.Despite tender care from Ceri and all members of the family, Caden is slipping away from them, his frail body that has more wrong than right about it, slowly giving up the fight. When an unexpected opportunity to help Caden arises, Ceri is faced with a terrible choice. In exchange for her brother’s chance at life, she must travel to another island where the reclusive man she will be married to by proxy awaits.His life and hers, as well as all of those living on Paradise, hang in the balance as Ceri races against time to break a century-old curse which may, in turn, break her heart.Review from Julie Carpenter:Wow! This book took me on quite the ride! I was completely hooked from the beginning and invested in Ceri, and the other female characters’, journey. I was perplexed and trying to understand the proxy part at the beginning of the story and couldn’t wait for her to arrive at the island of Paradise. I was completely hooked and turning the pages even faster during the time aboard the ship! Holy moly!!!! The revelations given then by a key figure and Ceri finding out more about what awaited her. Wowsers!!! And watching it all unravel one moment at a time...I couldn’t guess fast enough what was going to come next. So many twists and turns and surprises! Loved it all!This is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast (my favorite fairy tale) and we don’t fully meet our 'Beast' until quite a ways into the story. But I loved all of the mystery and speculation about him until we do meet him. And even then it’s a mystery. I loved their sweet love story! Ceri and Aieran are the sweetest. I especially loved Ceri’s character. She is a kind a loving young lady who has endured a lot. And yet, she continued to be kind and compassionate in helping her family and others she encountered. Her compassionate heart served her well and even more so with what she encountered when she reached Paradise and the estate of her husband.I don’t want to spoil anything so I’m going to leave my thoughts at that. Lovely. Mysterious. Emotional. Incredible. I just loved it all!!! And I have been thinking about these characters a lot after I finished reading it several days ago. That’s definitely the mark of a great book in my opinion, still thinking about it long after the story has ended and the book has been closed. I hope you enjoy it if you pick it up! 6