Name: Troubles in Paradise
Rating: 3.525 (40 reviews)
ISBN: 9780316435581

Elin Hilderbrand

What happened in Paradise? At last all will be revealed about the secrets and lies that led Irene and her sons to St. John -- and to new lives that transformed them all.

Troubles in Paradise

Escape to the bright Caribbean sunshine one last time in this satisfying and page-turning conclusion to the bestselling Paradise trilogy. After uprooting her life, Irene Steele has just settled in at the villa on St. John where her husband Russ had been living a double life. But a visit from the FBI shakes her foundations, and Irene once again learns just how little she knew about the man she loved. Meanwhile, as Irene and her sons try to get on with setting up their new lives, evidence mounts that the helicopter crash that killed Russ may not have been an accident. As a storm gathers strength in the Atlantic, all will be revealed about the secrets and lies that brought Irene and her sons to St. John at last. Praise for the Paradise Series: 'What do you do once you've become Queen of the Summer Novel and mastered the art of the Christmas novel? You start a new series, of course! This Fall, the incomparable Elin Hilderbrand brings us to St. John for the first novel in her new The Paradise series... Another compulsively readable hit by Hilderbrand.' - PopSugar 'A new series from Nantucket author Elin Hilderbrant-that's set in St. John!' - Modern Mrs. Darcy 'With great verve, [Hilderbrand] has done it again with her latest novel, WINTER IN PARADISE, the first book in a planned trilogy. She is witty and engaging, and keeps her readers intrigued with a memorable set of characters... As always, she delivers a story with much detail, weaving her characters and storylines expertly... Be prepared to read a fast-paced and entertaining novel for several hours, which will keep you longing for the second book in the series.' - Bookreporter 'The perfect vacation read.' - Hasty Book List 'As she does in her books set on Nantucket, Hilderbrand excels at establishing a setting (the food! the luxury! the sea turtles!) that will inspire wanderlust...Hilderbrand is the queen of the summer blockbuster; her fans will be thrilled that she's looking to take on winter.' - Booklist 'This fast-paced novel offers the voices of several different characters, as well as a hefty load of intrigue.' - New York journal of Books

Book 3 in NYT-bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand's fabulous Paradise series

The first book in this series is truly top tier, and it’s unfortunate that Elin kinda loses the plot in the subsequent two books. Thoughts below, organized by character.

 spoiled rotten, but at least she finally gets the point in the end

Genuinely not sure what this man’s personality is? And you can uproot Floyd from Houston to move to USVI, but not to Cleveland?? Also wasn’t Floyd supposed to be with Anna during summers? Then what was he doing in St. John that summer?

the only thing that would have made sense here was for Ayers to end up with cash. It’s literally set up in the fact that baker slept with cash’s high school girlfriend. That needs to be rectified! Cash is also one of the only characters in this entire series who never annoyed me, he deserved way more than… tilda?? Like, THATS his finale? Back with tilda? Okay.

 messy, toxic, no thank you to truly everything she does. (But she’s amazing bc…. Elin says so???) She only would’ve been redeemed for me by ending up with cash. (Engaged to one man, impregnated by another, and choosing a third… Elin could pull that off EASY, and I would have no choice but to stan the drama.) I also don’t care a lick about your traveling parents, sorry

 you have done nothing wrong, ever, in your life.

not at all believably written. Her MOM died. She DOES NOT REACT. For three books.

 pointless, which is a shame bc I liked the middle school angst in that one chapter

 satisfying reentry! But then I skimmed bc she entirely monologues.

 I honestly wish you had played a bigger role and had your own POV, a la Ed Kapenash

 glad she was in here, but wish it had more to do with the actual plot than just.. Ayers giving birth? And cash and Tilda reuniting? Which again, I fucking can’t with that

 I guess this is a fun Easter egg for people who read that trilogy but it doesn’t add anything else

Margo Koss

The first book in this series is truly top tier, and it’s unfortunate that Elin kinda loses the plot in the subsequent two books. Thoughts below, organized by character.

Irene: spoiled rotten, but at least she finally gets the point in the end

Baker: Genuinely not sure what this man’s personality is? And you can uproot Floyd from Houston to move to USVI, but not to Cleveland?? Also wasn’t Floyd supposed to be with Anna during summers? Then what was he doing in St. John that summer?

Cash: the only thing that would have made sense here was for Ayers to end up with cash. It’s literally set up in the fact that baker slept with cash’s high school girlfriend. That needs to be rectified! Cash is also one of the only characters in this entire series who never annoyed me, he deserved way more than… tilda?? Like, THATS his finale? Back with tilda? Okay.

Ayers: messy, toxic, no thank you to truly everything she does. (But she’s amazing bc…. Elin says so???) She only would’ve been redeemed for me by ending up with cash. (Engaged to one man, impregnated by another, and choosing a third… Elin could pull that off EASY, and I would have no choice but to stan the drama.) I also don’t care a lick about your traveling parents, sorry

Huck: you have done nothing wrong, ever, in your life.

Maia: not at all believably written. Her MOM died. She DOES NOT REACT. For three books.

Rosie: no one journals like that.

Maia’s friends: pointless, which is a shame bc I liked the middle school angst in that one chapter

Tilda and her family: pointless

Dunk: pointless

Swan seeley: pointless

Russ: ew no thank you

Marilyn Monroe: satisfying reentry! But then I skimmed bc she entirely monologues.

Agent Vasco: I honestly wish you had played a bigger role and had your own POV, a la Ed Kapenash

Hurricane Inga: glad she was in here, but wish it had more to do with the actual plot than just.. Ayers giving birth? And cash and Tilda reuniting? Which again, I fucking can’t with that

Margaret Quinn: I guess this is a fun Easter egg for people who read that trilogy but it doesn’t add anything else

Not a great finale to this trilogy. I feel like the last 1/3 of the book was not necessary at all to the main story. It felt odd to throw the storm in after all of the main plot being resolved with the Todd Croft stuff. A lot of made up drama since so much occurred in the first two books.

Paige Paul

Can’t believe I finished this trilogy. Boring 

Madilyn Taylor

Patricia Nelson

I got hooked on this trilogy last fall, and was so excited for the final installment that I preordered it to be delivered to my kindle on release day. :) It did not disappoint. The characters all found their paths in a way that made sense to me, without being overly cheesy or implausible. The story of St. John and the community there made me reminisce about a small community I used to live in outside of Boston, and the challenges but also the benefits of such. The author also ties up the series with the devastation that the island endured from a hurricane, but also with hope from a community that is ever resilient. This trilogy is a quick read, and I highly recommend it. You will enjoy it more and get more from it by reading all three of the books in order. It provided a respite from all things political and Covid for a few days. It was also interesting to note that the author quarantined in St. John this spring during the Covid shut-downs.

Kristina B

I strongly disliked this. Why was it even a 3 book series? There was so little plot. I could summarize the main events in one page. There were so many extraneous (& boring) characters that did not matter to the plot yet we kept hearing the same storyline from their point of view, which added absolutely nothing. I am so glad it’s over.

Lauren Attaway

Before I began reading the Paradise Trilogy, it had been a few years since I read a book by Elin Hilderbrand. I feel like the last book I read of hers was The Rumor, which I enjoyed. This Trio of books really sucked me back in. I was a little sad when I realized this was the end of the story.

In Troubles in Paradise, after the loss of her husband, Irene and her sons Baker and Cash have set up roots in St. John, their husband/father Russell's second secret home. Where of course he lived with his now deceased mistress Rosie and secret daughter Maia. I enjoyed spending more time with the Steele family. Certain decisions the characters made in this book were frustrating because it felt like they were all just reacting to events instead of working through their problems. I had to remind myself that Irene, Baker, Cash, and most of the central people in this book were still very much grieving for Russell and/or Rosie in their own ways. This book wrapped up the their stories just enough not to feel too neat. I loved the use of St. Johns' locals in a POV which really brought to mind the community POV in Brit Bennett's book The Mothers.

Overall, The Paradise Trilogy made me really want a vacation, but I was happy for the brief escape!

Thanks to Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley for the ARC!

Annalee Harris

Troubles in Paradise contains just as much drama as its predecessors, but it lacks the concise storytelling of Winter in Paradise and the charm of What Happens in Paradise; truthfully, the story could have easily been wrapped up in two novels ... or maybe even one, though the indulgence of a three-part mystery/romance set in the tropics is too good to skip. Troubles in Paradise introduces characters that are boring, plot lines that are extremely tired and eyeroll-inducing, and leaves readers with so many questions that it seems likely there's going to be a "surprise" fourth novel to try and wrap everything up.

Speaking of, there were a lot of "bombshells" that were dropped in this novel that were then ignored. What will be done about (view spoiler)[Marilyn Monroe's testimony (hide spoiler)]? Agent Vasco's work was "done", but it seems like nothing actually happened. Instead of focusing on the interesting legal aspects of Russ's illegal doings, Hilderbrand spends three-hundred pages manufacturing unnecessary drama between Irene and Huck; Ayers, Mick, Brigid, and Baker; Cash, Dunk, and Tilda; and more between characters that had different names but are indistinguishable from each other. Learning about Todd Croft, Ascension, and what's going on with the case is worlds more interesting than another make-out and break-up session with some of the blandest characters ever written (Baker is hands down the most clingy, obnoxious, creepiest guy, and I hate how his obsessive pandering is pegged as cute).

A gripe about the Paradise trilogy that got more and more bothersome as the story progressed: taking place in the beautiful, diverse Virgin Islands, why did Hilderbrand make all the main characters white? There was such a disappointing lack of diversity, despite Hilderbrand going on and on about the native West Indians, who were probably more intriguing than the Steeles. Plus, the biggest annoyance is how Russ's fifty-eight thousand a year salary was portrayed as being dirt poor. While the cost of living may differ in Iowa City than it does where I live, but that's three times my family's income, so Hilderbrand's clueless attempts at pretending to know what being low-class is like rubbed me the wrong way.

Overall, Troubles in Paradise was a major letdown that felt incredibly too long, left too many unanswered questions, introduced an unnecessary barrage of new characters, did nothing of value with the old characters, and was just simply boring.

Lauren Lopez

Neatly wrapped up everyone’s storyline, and we finally get some insight we’ve been waiting for. Not as much action as the previous two, but it was enjoyable.

Troubles in Paradise

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