Victoria Alexander: Paradise Bay

Love Spell (Paperback), ISBN 0-505-52350-7

What would I call this book? A wild romp through paradise? Playboy-computer nerd-recluse meets the flying-monkey-goddess-all-American girl? Millennium Family Ties? Billed as a contemporary romantic comedy, Paradise Bay certainly lives up to its billing and then some.

The all-American girl is Patricia “Trish” Taylor, stepdaughter of Russell Evans, III, and engaged to the son of Russ’ second wife. But Russ doesn’t consider his stepson good enough for his stepdaughter — or so he says. A wily, devious man with a different agenda, Russ sends Trish to family-owned Paradise Bay to scout locations for a vacation resort on the island, which lies very near the International Date Line. Russ reasons the adventurous rich will pay big money to be the first to greet the new millennium, and he plans to let them.

When Trish lands on Paradise Bay, she finds nerdy recluse Jack Kendall living in the family home, writing computer software for the family business. Actually, she finds Russell Jonathan Evans, IV, Russ’s son by his first wife, who withdrew from the world to live a wealthy hermit’s life on Paradise Bay. But Number One Son doesn’t plan to let Trish know that. Jack wants to simplify his life. Trish’s presence means complications with a capital “C.”

Is Paradise Bay serious? Absolutely not, but it is fun. Alexander excels at wickedly turning a phrase, inserting a giggle, twisting the plot, and giving the reader just what the book promised — comedy well spiced with romance. Was the plot believable? Not in the slightest. Did I care? No, indeed. I enjoyed it far too much to worry about the small stuff. A well-paced, tightly written romantic comedy, Paradise Bay would make a great date movie — if only a movie producer or two was listening…

Patricia Lucas White

Patricia Lucas White’s latest historical novel, To Last a Lifetime, was an Eppie finalist for 2003. To Last a Lifetime and two of her fantasy romances, the Sapphire Award-winning A Wizard Scorned and The Godmother Sanction, can be ordered through Hard Shell Word Factory. Her recent contemporary, PS, I’ve Taken a Lover, is available from Lionhearted Books.