Hurricanes in Paradise

Title: HURRICANES IN PARADISE
Author: Denise Hildreth
Publisher: Tyndale
May 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4143-3557-6
Genre: contemporary women’s fiction

Riley Sinclair took her little girl and left her husband for a position on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. Now, her husband is moving on with a wonderful new wife, and Riley is still struggling to get her life back together. But she is attracted to a Greek man who works on the same island.

But this particular week, a hurricane is churning in the Atlantic Ocean, and still guests are arriving at her five-star resort. She’s has three special guests to cater to. One is a demanding woman writer who expects to be catered to every moment. One is a beauty queen with a disease that’s taking over her life. And one is an older woman, a principle at an inner-city school, who is in mourning.

Desperate to get her daughter to safety with a hurricane approaching, Riley calls her ex-husband. He quickly comes for Gabby, but the weather is not all that Riley must deal with. Each of the women she has to care for comes with lurking demons, paralyzing secrets, and overwhelming fears. Together they embark on a journey of laughter, lunacy, heartache, and healing.

I have read Ms. Hildreth’s Savannah in Savannah series and loved them. The last book by Ms. Hildreth I didn’t care much for (too sad and depressing). So I was hoping this would be a book I loved. It started a bit slow, but by the time the quests started appearing on Paradise Island the story had begun to pick up. I struggled through the first several pages, but then read page after page after page without realizing how much time passed.

Riley is a character is could identify with. The elderly widow, Winnie, is a dear sweetheart. I loved her and her quirks. The writer had her baggage and is someone I could classify as high-maintenance, but in awhile I understood her, because I’m a writer—hopefully not one considered high-maintenance. The beauty queen I identified with the least, but she did tug at my heartstring. Discussion questions are included at the end. $13.99. 375 pages.