When Sophie’s uncle leaves her a castle in the Italian Riviera in his will, she can’t believe her luck. The catch? She and her estranged sister, Rachel, must live there together for three months in order to inherit it.
Having worked in Rome for four years, Sophie’s excited to revisit to Italy, even if it reignites memories of a cheating ex who soon learns of her return and wants to rekindle their spark. Sophie realises that distance does indeed make the heart grow fonder – but for her friend back home, Chris, who she discovers is more to her than just a friend.
With the clock ticking, can Sophie and Rachel stick it out and heal old wounds, or are the sisters destined to go their own way at the end of the three months? And does Chris feel the same way about Sophie as she does for him? (Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads)
T.A. Williams always creates the best written destination romance novels, and Paradise is no exception! Paridiso is yet another locale I’d love to visit someday, with its gorgeous views and soft sandy beaches, the kind of experience Sophie can really get behind. The biggest issue involves a sister she hasn’t seen in years, not to mention the situation that has brought the two of them back together again--the death of their beloved uncle, George.
He has bequeathed his castle to them, but in order for that to occur, the two sisters must live together first. Sophie has a lot of deep-seeded resentment towards Rachel due to past hurts, and the same can be said for how Rachel feels about her big sister. It made me question whether they’d be able to fulfill their obligations on time, and amicably. With that potential blockage is the potential love triangle that Sophie finds herself in. This is another great premise to Williams’s writing; someone almost always finds themselves in some pretty amazing messes where the heart is concerned, and Sophie questions whether her best friend Chris, or the next door neighbor Dan could be a potential relationship. But Rachel has always been the one to attract the most attention, which throws yet another wrench into the fold.
Much like the synopsis states, my biggest question of all pertained to the relationship Sophie and Rachel have. Will they stick together for now, for the greater good, then later drift apart, or did George have the best of intentions in bringing the two sisters together to work out their differences? Secondary for me is where Sophie will land--with someone she’s known for years and has always considered to be her best friend, or with a new certain someone who lives right next door. I could understand her anguish over potentially ruining the great friendship she already has with Chris, while also potentially making things awkward with a neighbor she’ll have to live next to for a few months. In the end, the heart wants what the heart wants!
I almost always mention how setting is yet another strong character in a Williams novel, and that is so true with the backdrop in Paradiso, and that castle! I’ve yet to see anything like it in my own world, so it was nice to live vicariously through Sophie. I can’t even imagine A Little Piece of Paradise without that special castle, and not to sound too cliched, but the experience really was a piece of paradise for me. A well-deserved five star experience!
Thanks to Rachel's Random Resources for the book in exchange for an honest review.
I’m a man. And a pretty old man as well. I did languages at university a long time ago and then lived and worked in France and Switzerland before going to Italy for seven years as a teacher of English. My Italian wife and I then came back to the UK with our little daughter (now long-since grown up) where I ran a big English language school for many years. We now live in a sleepy little village in Devonshire. I’ve been writing almost all my life but it was only seven years ago that I finally managed to find a publisher who liked my work enough to offer me my first contract.
The fact that I am now writing escapist romance is something I still find hard to explain. My early books were thrillers and historical novels. Maybe it’s because there are so many horrible things happening in the world today that I feel I need to do my best to provide something to cheer my readers up. My books provide escapism to some gorgeous locations, even if travel to them is currently difficult.
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