111
people found this helpful, as of 2023
ranked #241,936 most helpful
out of 571,544,897 reviews
★★☆☆☆
Where is Ms. Hilderbrand?
Normally, I would not bother writing a 2 star review. However, there are so many Hilderbrand readers that I wanted them to know that this book is not what you would expect from her. I have always much preferred her books set on Nantucket, but as I had read the first two books in the "paradise series," I wanted to know how it all ended. The writing style is so different from the usual - is she emulating USA Today, James Patterson? The characters are flat with no depth, no development. It is all facts, name dropping of places on St. John, superficial plot filled with romantic angst, which all ended up as predictable. Perhaps if you had visited St John, you would appreciate the locale. I didn't feel as though I had been there. This is about what I expected, but it was disappointing nonetheless and fairly costly as that. If I had not read 28 Summers recently, I would have thought that Ms. Hilderbrand had lost her muse. That book, however, was a delight, a worthy addition to her long list of books. I hope she ditches this staccato plot driven style and returns to giving the reading something to feel, to remember, and to empathize with her characters and their situations. Thank goodness Troubles in Paradise was the end to this lackluster trilogy.
