Paradise City by C.J. Duggan - Review

Title: Paradise City (Paradise #1)

Author: C.J. Duggan
Genre: New Adult Romantic Series
Length: 358 pages
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Release Date: April 28, 2015
Source: NetGalley
Rating: 3
Heat Rating: 3
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

When her parents decide a change will be good for her, seventeen-year-old Lexie Atkinson never expected they'd send her all the way to Paradise City. Coming from a predictable life of home schooling on a rural Australian property, she's sure that Paradise will be amazing. But when she's thrust into a public school without a friendly face in sight, and forced to share a room with her insipid, hateful cousin Amanda, Lexie's not so sure.

Hanging out with the self-proclaimed beach bums of the city, sneaking out, late night parties and parking with boys are all things Lexie's never experienced, but all that's about to change. It's new, terrifying . . . and exciting. But when she meets Luke Ballantine, the sexy bad-boy leader of the group, Lexie can't help but wonder if Luke is going to be good for her . . . or very, very bad?

So, this book is marketed as a New Adult Romance, but there is no HEA. I am going to assume this means that this is a romantic series that will eventually get there. But for those of you that want  a traditional romance, this one isn't for you.

If you are looking for a small town (I'm talking like 15 people live there small) girl that finds herself swept up in a total culture shock as she enters high school in a very big city, Paradise. Lexie is feeling quite overwhelmed as she is thrown face first into the whirlpool that is high school social structure. Adrift on her own, she begins to develop a new indentity and branch out a little. I really loved watching her transform from a niave and awkward girl to a person that was happy (most of the time) with who she was.

The romantic interest was a little too dramatic for me. They are on agan and off again, and then sort of inbetween for awhile - and as you can see from the beginning of my review here - we don't end with as HEA or a HFN. I certainly hope things get worked out in the next book. While I enjoyed the writing very much, since it was presented as a romance I was really hoping for a good, happy ending.

*This book was received in exchange for an honest review*

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Cover Reveal and Giveaway: Stan (Summer Series #1.5) and Max (Summer Series #2.5) by C.J. Duggan

Title: Stan (Summer Series #1.5)

Author: C.J. Duggan

Publication date: December 2014
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

I had plans, big plans, but all that changed the night Bel Evans darkened my doorstep.

Stan Remington is the go-to man; what he doesn’t know about Onslow means one of two things: it doesn’t exist or it hasn’t happened yet.

And when it comes to Onslow, for Stan, being an only child has meant a guilt-riddled sense of duty to help out at his parents’ caravan park every summer. Same old town. Same old story.

Until Belinda Evans.

The wild and annoying doctor’s daughter spends her summer family holidays at Remington’s Caravan Park, and normally she’s not Stan’s problem. But then she sabotages his planned weekend escape. Now Stan finds himself not only caretaking the caravan park on his own, but also responsible for Bel.

Just the two of them.
Under the one roof.
For one long, long weekend.

In a world where mundane routine and small-town boredom is his norm, one weekend changes every element of his world to anything but boring.

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Title: Max (Summer Series #2.5)

Author: C.J. Duggan
Publication date: December 2014
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

Max Henry thought he’d left the dusty flats of Ballan behind, but when the past slams into his present, suddenly there is no escaping – even if he wanted to.

Melanie Sheehan didn’t set out to be a liar, but her last lie landed her in big trouble. Now Mel must suffer a harsh consequence – she’s not allowed out of her father’s sight.

No friends, no parties, no life.

Since impeccably good behaviour is now all she’s about, her dad, renowned Ballan local ‘Bluey’ Sheehan, is about to finally cut Mel some slack. The catch? While he heads out of town on business, she has to stay at the Onslow Hotel, and he’s entrusting Max Henry, the eldest son of Bluey’s best mate, to look out for her.

He just doesn’t know it yet.

Max, the new head barman at the Onslow Hotel, is the one boy Mel has been crushing on since forever. At a time when Mel plans to go on the straight and narrow, she is about to tell the biggest lie of all. Will Max be able to handle the fiery farm girl or should he be considered the last boy in Onslow to trust?

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AUTHOR BIO

C.J Duggan is a Number One Best Selling Australian Author who lives with her husband in a rural border town of New South Wales, Australia. When she isn’t writing books about swoony boys and 90’s pop culture you will find her renovating her hundred-year-old Victorian homestead or annoying her local travel agent for a quote to escape the chaos.

The Boys of Summer is Book One in her international best selling New Adult Romance Series.

The 'Summer Series'
The Boys of Summer
Stan (Summer Novella)
An Endless Summer
Max (Summer Novella)
That One Summer
Ringer (Summer Novella)
Forever Summer 

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