Paradise City (The Paradise, #1) (Paradise City)

by C.J. Duggan

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, exciting doesn't even come close to describing her new life. Trouble with a capital T, Luke is impulsive, charming and answers to no one. The resident bad-boy leader of the group, he's sexier than any boy Lexie has ever known.

Amidst the stolen moments of knowing looks and heated touches, Lexie can't help but wonder if Luke is going to be good for her . . . or very, very bad?

• ISBN10: 0733633862
• ISBN13: 9780733633867
• Publish Date: 28 April 2015 (first published 26 April 2015)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: AU
• Imprint: Hachette Australia
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[lizarodz]

4.5 Stars

As I’m a big fan of CJ’s Summer series, I couldn’t wait to read Paradise City. I knew we were going to be a great match and I was not wrong. Not at all.

This book is more like a mature YA than straight NA. This might change with Paradise Road since it seems like Dean will play a more prominent role. Lexie is a hoot! Being in her head was hilarious! She comes from Red Hole, a farm in the middle of nowhere and she’s been homeschooled her whole life. She moved with her aunt, uncle and cousin Amanda to Paradise City to attend school for the first time ever. In Lexie’s head, high school is a production from a Disney movie and overthinks, overanalyzes, and romanticizes everything. As I said, hilarious. She sort of falls into “interest” with Luke Ballantine, one of the resident surfer-bad boys in year twelve, a Kirkland boy.

“I may have been from Red Hole but at least we had the common decency to treat each other with a bit of respect. Even my drunken Uncle Eddie was more sociable toward a dog tied up outside the pub then anyone I had stumbled across in the last few days, including my own cousin. Maybe it was something in the water?”

Ballantine is dreamy, sweet, mysterious, a bit insecure when it has to do with his brother, a surfer and he gets in trouble in school constantly. Lexie and Ballantine’s relationship moved kind of fast and furious. What I found weird is that Lexie and Ballantine are attracted to each other, but hardly talk to each other. Don’t get me wrong, their moments together are fun, their dialogue entertaining and priceless, but I wish there would have been more of that.

“Oh-my-God-what-the-hell-was-that? I yelled, breathing erratically.

Ballantine laughed. “It’s probably just seaweed.”

I felt it again causing me to claw and scream at Ballantine. If he had been a tree I would have climbed him…. “Let me out” I screamed, fear carrying me through the water…”

I love the story, Lexie’s predicament and ‘newness’ in everything she saw and experienced. I loved the town, the school, Laura, Boon and even cranky Amanda. I appreciate that Amanda’s parents are vigilant (or try to be) and so are Lexie’s. Even though the story takes place in Australia, it was really easy to understand and follow. As always, Duggan’s writing is always refreshing, gripping, and amazing.

Something I didn’t like was that Ballantine and his brother Dean are at ‘war’ and we don’t know why. Not only that, but Dean seems to be interested in Lexie as well and that is no-no between brothers (I’m sure that’s written in stone somewhere.) I see a triangle coming on and I’m not too excited about it.

Overall, Paradise City was a great book! I’m glad that this is a duology because I can’t wait to know what happens with Lexi and Luke next!

[Sarah Says]

Raise your left hand if you ever made an ass of yourself in high school. Now raise your right hand if you ever tortured yourself over a boy (or girl). Now give yourself a high five because you survived, maybe not unscathed, but you survived.

Oh how this book took me back. Duggan perfectly captures the – he likes me, he likes me not – torture teenage girls put themselves thought. Perfectly captures the hormone induced hysteria that growing up causes.

I loved how real Lexie felt. I wanted to be her friend, I wanted her to flourish and succeed. At some points it was if I was reading my own but better written teenage diary. I wanted to jump into the pages; slap Amanda, kick Ballantine up the bum and hug Lexie while offering her a big bowl of cookies and cream ice cream.

I love bad boys with soft and cuddly centers, love seeing their masks slip, love seeing them let their guards down. Every teenage girls dream is a bad boy that’ll be good just for her. A naughty, cheeky, hot mess. A bad boy who’s really not a bad guy – Boom! it’s Ballantine.

A likable, relatable sheltered country girl. A grade A student who’s been cooped up and restricted – and now, damn the consequences, she’s going to find out what it’s like to live – Boom! it’s Lexie.

There are twist and turns and lessons to be learned. Family tensions, school detentions and late night rendezvous. A boy named Luke Ballantine and girl named Lexie Atkinson – Boom! an exciting, endearing and entertaining story.

Duggan’s writing is beautiful; fresh, humorous, full of heartache and yet full of hope – A damn nice surprise in what can be a rather unbelievable, excessive and skanky genre.

I am internally chucking a full blown teenage tantrum that I have to wait until September to find out what happens next in the world of Lexie. Five Stars.

[Leah]

A lot of books recently have left me with that urghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh feeling. In a good way. Like urghhhhhhhhhh it’s sooooooooo goooooooooooooooooood. Honestly, the YA and NA genres elicit feels out of me like no other genre and it’s like a bloody emotional roller-coaster. Paradise City left me gasping for more. And I almost didn’t read the book – it was only by chance that I read the email from Netgalley and didn’t just sling it in my junk folder (because they send a LOT of emails these days promoting books/publishers). BUT I DIDN’T. And I got to meet Ballantine and Lexie and it feels like my life will never be the same again, sigh.

It’s been a while since I’ve read a REALLY GOOD New Adult book; in fact, C.J. Duggan reminds me a bit of Cora Carmack – Paradise City is similar in tone to Carmack’s Faking It series, which is actually one of my most favourite NA series, ever. It’s fast paced, Lexie’s a bit of a goof (and I loved her for it) and oh God, Ballantine. Can I get me a one of them, or what? UGH. What is it with these perfect NA boys, and where can I find myself one because THEY DO NOT EXIST IN REAL LIFE.

It felt so refreshing to read Paradise City. I loved the Australian setting, although there were a few words I didn’t have a clue what they meant (haha); Australia is one of my favourite places, and somewhere I really want to visit so the next best thing is always books set there and this one was freaking awesome. I loved Lexie! I felt so sad for her starting a new school (after years of being home-schooled, like Lohan in Mean Girls) and her cousin Amanda was hardly a delightful person, but Lexie was so much fun to get to know. Even rolling in to the staff room and getting into soooo much trouble was hilarious. AND BALLANTINE. Oh sweet Jesus, Ballantine. If you read this book it should be so you can meet Ballantine. Then when you’re finished, you can catch the first flight to Australia and find your own Ballantine. He’s so broody and sexy and mysterious but also really sweet and funny and it was just so hard to get a reading off him, but I loved him anyway.

I am STOKED for the second Paradise City novel, Paradise Road. There’s a very delicious love triangle brewing between Lexie, Dean and Ballantine, and while that’s not normally my thing (it’s very Vampire Diaries-ish, considering Dean and Ballantine are BROS!) I’m actually pretty stoked to see where it goes because Lexie has pretty intense chemistry with both boys, and Dean has rather snuck up on me as Paradise City progressed. There’s some evil glint in his eyes, and his words that tell me there’s a lot more to his story, and while I adore Ballantine, I’m intrigued to see how it plays out. I just can’t believe I have to wait until September *SOB*

[Kelly]

http://www.divabooknerd.com/2015/04/paradise-city-restoring-my-faith-in-new.html
As most of you know, I rarely read new adult, never mind actually enjoy it. It's the same tropes over and over and often sexually based with barely a hint of a storyline. Paradise City not only reinvents the new adult genre, but sets the standard that all new adult authors should strive for. Set in the fictional town of Paradise City, Lexie is the girl next door looking for a big city adventure. Originally from the sleepy town of Red Hill, Lexie has been home schooled and longs for the high school experience. Having moved years prior, her cousin Amanda and her parents agree to take the seventeen year old in, but where Lexie and Amanda were once as thick as thieves, now their relationship strained even further with the vapid and arrogant Amanda wanting her gone.

But Lexie is a tough as boots country girl and refuses to let Amanda win. She digs in her heels and is determine to make the most of her opportunity. But starting a new school isn't easy especially when Ballantine seems to be staring her down, the attraction and sexual tension can be cut with a knife. Ballantine isn't the playboy that his reputation leads everyone to believe and he and Lexie form a tentative friendship, bonding over shared detentions and late night rendezvous.

More mature young adult than new adult, C. J has crafted a sizzling storyline that could be considered to be a coming of age for the realistic, every day girl. Lexie is not only likable, but incredibly relatable and wants to find her place in the social hierarchy of Paradise City. She isn't perfect, but awkward, clumsy and naive. Her budding relationship with the sinful Ballantine is tense, but the banter and awkwardness of Lexie navigating her first real crush was absolutely charming.

I loved every moment. Uniquely Australian, Paradise City was simply brilliant. C. J is a born storyteller that breathes a realism into her characters and situations that we've all found ourselves in. But the biggest difference is, that her books span across the ages. Generations of yesterday, today and tomorrow will relate to not only Lexie, but her plight. But be warned, Paradise City does end of a cliffhanger. I can't wait to see what will become of Lexie and Ballantine and head back to Paradise City in the next installment. It can't come soon enough.