Paradise Rules-Beth Kery

Paradise Rules
Beth Kery
Heat, Oct 2009, $15.00
ISBN: 9780425230121

Blues singer Ailana “Lana” Rodriguez hides her Hawaiian background because she knows first-hand from her childhood that paradise is a sham. She vowed to leave the islands the first chance she got and did. Although she prefers to never return to her home state, Lana reluctantly agrees to accompany her best friend to Waikiki on vacation after a marriage to a sleaze went sour.

Lana and local surf school instructor and celebrity Jason Koa meet with each feeling the attraction between them although she transmits icy tundra at him. However, Lana wants nothing to do with the chick magnet while he makes it clear he desires her. They soon share a vacation getaway filled with passion until pictures of the pair surface that could only mean family betrayal. She wants to flee back to the mainland, but he and his kin shower her with love.

This is a terrific look at the islands paradise from a different perspective; a native who escaped and loathes Hawaii. The relationship between Lana and Jason starts off colder than the polar region as she is Ms. Bitchy and he reacts accordingly. When it thaws, the heat melts the polar cap. However, a serpent in Eden may break up the couple as they fall in love because trusting men ended with the tune “Over the Rainbow” due to her late abusive father.

Harriet Klausner