Review: Paradise Rules by Beth Kery.

Rowena’s review of Paradise Rules by Beth Kery.

Hero: Jason Koa
Heroine: Lana Rodriguez

To most people, Hawaii’s crystal blue shores are an inviting opportunity to escape reality. But for Lana Rodriguez, who grew up there, the picture-perfect vacation getaway disguises the bitter truths she escaped years ago, and not without some emotional scars. Now a successful blues singer, Lana’s returning to Waikiki to control her own destiny, with a bold defiance when it comes to men, romance, and sex. A local celebrity, businessman, and island god, Jason Koa is every woman’s dream-but for Lana, it’s not love at first sight. Though their start is rocky, they can’t deny the passions they arouse in each other. Jason decides it’s time to show Lana who makes the rules on this island-and in the bedroom. But will Jason’s attempt at breaking Lana’s shell reveal secrets that neither are prepared to face, or will they allow themselves to get swept away by a tidal wave of desire?

I’ve read one other book by Beth Kery and I really enjoyed it so I have no idea why I haven’t picked up another one of her books to enjoy…until this one. I’m one of those readers that is influenced by what my friends are reading and I have Ames to thank for bringing this book back onto my radar because man did I enjoy it.

This book follows Lana Rodriguez, a singer who goes to Hawaii on vacation with her good friend and assistant, Melanie. Melanie is going through a nasty divorce and needs a vacation from her life. She chooses the tropical breezes of Hawaii to get away from it all and in an effort to support her friend, Lana tags along. It’s hard for Lana to be in Hawaii because she’s got a past there that she hasn’t dealt with and being back there brings it all back to the front of her mind and you can see her struggle with it.

When she gets to Hawaii, Melanie wants to take surfing lessons and this is where the hero enters the story. Jason Koa is the local celebrity athlete around the shores of Hawaii. He is a multiple gold medalist in swimming, he’s a surfer and he owns a surfing lesson business as well as a restaurant/bar and he lives on a boat.

He’s super sexy and I think what makes him even more sexy is that he’s part Samoan. Like me. Hehe. But my favorite kind of guys are the half white, half polynesian guys because really, they are super hot. LOL. Jason has the characteristics that fit a Polynesian guy and I thought Kery did a fantastic job writing his character. His character was complex and there were times when he got on my hot damn nerves with his attitude toward Lana but for the most part, I absolutely adored him.

Lana’s back story definitely had me wondering all throughout the book. I wanted to know why she denied that she was part Hawaiian and I wanted to know what happened to make her hate Hawaii so much. After all was said and done, I totally understood why she was the way that she is. Being Polynesian myself, growing up I saw the kind of abuse that Lana went through. Children being forced to perform for their parent’s friends, for Church functions (yeah it happens) and getting disciplined when you don’t do what you’re supposed to do. Performing in fear that if you don’t, you’re going to get the belt. Those kinds of things but for the most part, I didn’t see the kids that I grew up with that lived in those kinds of households grow up to hate their culture or deny their culture the way that Lana did. It was interesting to see that side of the coin because even though I didn’t see it, I’m sure there are plenty of kids that felt the same way that Lana did.

This book pretty much had it all, there was chemistry between the hero and the heroine, a solid storyline with the right amount of angst and a steamy romance that literally heated up the pages. I enjoyed reading this book and loved getting to know the characters in this book outside of Lana and Jason. I loved Jason’s family, well everyone except for Po and I loved the friendship that was evident between Melanie and Lana. Watching Lana soften in her attitude toward Jason and seeing Jason help her come to grips with the past so that she could move on with the rest of her life made for great reading material and really, this book was just good.

There were times when I felt that Jason was too pushy but I got over that easily but one of the things that kept throwing me right out of the story was during many of the love scenes, it’s mentioned that Lana has pink nipples. I know, stupid thing to be paying attention to but look at the heroine on the cover of this book. She’s part Polynesian, part Mexican and she’s got that kind of hair…there’s no way in hell she’s got pink nipples too. Unless that’s a good dye job, I can promise you…her nipples ain’t pink. But aside from all of that, this is a good book and I totally recommend it to contemporary lovers who like steam in their stories. This was a good one.

Grade: 4 out of 5

This book is available from Penguin. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

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