ARC Review: Paradise City (Paradise #1) by C.J. Duggan

There's bound to be trouble in Paradise . . .

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?

I actually don’t know how to start this. There are a lot on my mind and a lot I really wanted to say. I don’t usually give low ratings but when I do, I sometimes make concessions based on how I feel about other things like maybe if it’s a series and I will continue reading or that I can’t contain my feelings I’m in a fit of rage. I guess, let’s just dissect my thoughts on points I will point out.

So, this story started out more than fine. I mean, a farm girl with big dreams and ambitions and wanting to make it big in the city. In Paradise City. I know what that feels like so I really have basis for this book based on personal experience or of people I know about.

The Author, whom I’m actually new about and never had an experience with her works before, has written up the novel in a way that actually captivated me. I mean, I can’t stop reading and I am just stuck reading words after words, paragraphs after paragraphs and pages after pages. All good, right?

Now, maybe you were wondering, with it being a page turner for me, why oh why, I am rating this book like this? I’d have to bullet it point for point.


Yep, beast mode there at its finest. Why, do you ask? She is:

1 A fucking diva, spoilt, immature, self-centered, selfish bitch. Like spending time in her head makes me want to bash my head in the nearest wall and crack my skull so I’d be lost in a fucking oblivion. What. The. Fuck. Grrrr! All there is is about her feelings, her expectations her everything. I mean, fine! The fucking fuck this is about her but fucking seriously?

Okay feelings, calm down a bit. Let’s talk about expectations first.
~Expectations about school. You are a fucking A+ student, albeit a homeschooled one. But you did check MySpace, right? So the fuck didn’t it occur to her head to do her research? She is so super excited she can’t contain the giddiness to be in that fucking school and never once it occurred to her genius brain that she should do a fucking research. Didn’t the school have a website? Okay fine, maybe it didn’t but hell, they could have a brochure right? And when you check into school, what the fuckity fuck. She have MySpace for crying out loud. Didn’t it occur to her to ask?

~Expectations about Amanda. Again with the fucking MySpace account. Can I hurl my kindle at my head and just break? God! I think I’ve age so much. Like she received a post card some years ago but she checks that fucking MySpace for updates and getting jelly about the pictures posted and all. You were fucking close. The fuck. No common sense. Like maybe private message her or whatnot? No conversational skills? Like there was this penpals you were writing and where the hell is your communication skills or brain for that matter?

~Expectations about Ballantine. Egotistic much? Just because he laughed at what you said, he would already know your name or whatever. Misconstrued misconceptions. There were experiences about boys and yet the fuck, because you’re a new girl every boy would like you? Hell.

So, since my hate for Lexie ‘no middle name’ Atkinson have been cleared up, lets continue, shall we?

2 Stupid, no common sense or just dumb.


So, why again? Let’s see.
~Gilshoms will be braniacs. You got that right. There was this factions in the school. And I mean, it does happen. Relating to real life, there was this public school program and it was called special class. To be admitted, you have to get and passed an entrance exam to be accepted in that program including a set of interviews. There was (i)School of Arts – yep, arts, you get it including drama clubs, stuff like that; (ii)School of the Future – sporty, techies, I think; and the (iii)Special Science Class – you get it, more about science and chemistry and physics and other alternative subjects, the brainies. See there? I didn’t question that because let’s just say I have experience.
So going back why I was pissed. Gilshoms the braniacs. God, where’s your fucking brain? Left it at the farm? Hell. Stupid decisions after stupid decisions after stupid decisions because of the fact Lexi was envisioning she can do the stuff like a cakewalk and everything she thought will just fall into place perfectly. What world are you living? Alternate dimension of reality? Wake up! Gilshoms the braniacs. Never heard of research or recon or validating and verifying the facts? Where’s your brain? Argh!

3 There's number 3. Yipee! Hell. Cliché. Like a very long one. The same new girl, attracting the bad boy. The four original guys, the mean girls. And all I could think about with all the meanness and stuff is the famous F4. Meteor Garden. If you're unfamiliar with that Korean telenovela, don't worry. You've probably read the the same concept in some story. Four guys who was like the coolest of guys, one owning the school and you guess it, the baddest. And then the two guys at the group were just that, part of the group. The heroine has either a one guy friend and another one girl friend and she was bullied. As I've said, cliché.

But we are talking about teenagers here and a farm girl wanting to make it big in the city hanging with the cool guys. But still, not all farm girls are like that. Some maybe, but they used their brain and even if they made stupid decision, not as stupid as that. I mean, I know. Hormones right? But hell, if you don’t have a fucking common sense even if you’re intelligent, what’s the point? Seriously.

But with all my frustrations, I actually like one guy here. It is Dean Saville. Ah, yes. I don’t know, he made an impression.

But then again with Lexie and all her delusions including with Dean? Hell, I was ready to just throw my kindle reader.

Still, I finished it out because I wanted to see where everything was going. I was unimpressed with Ballantine. And then it ending in a cliffhanger, I wasn’t actually expecting. It didn’t made me frustrated, just wanted to read where everything will go.

So, up to the next book.



Note: Complimentary copy received, read and reviewed for the next book.

Books in the series and must be read in order: