Reviews
Can’t believe I finished this trilogy. Boring
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.
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.
A solid end to the series! I really loved these characters and was really happy with the ending of the three books! Idk why she needs to add in random characters from her other books sometimes and it was fine I was just like why are we doing this right now?
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!
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.
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.
