Synopsis (straight from the book cover): Irene Steele has an idyllic life: a beautiful Iowa City Victorian house, lovingly restored to perfection; a husband who adores her to skywriting, sentimental extremes; two grown sons out leading interesting lives; and a satisfying magazine job. But as she greets the new year on a cold and snowy night,everything comes crashing down around her with the insistent ringing of her phone and the showing news that her beloved husband, away on business, has been killed in a plane crash. But before Irene can even process this tragedy, she must confront the perplexing details of her husband's death, on the island of St. John, a distant Caribbean paradise she'd be challenged to find a map. What on earth was he doing there, and why is his boss being so evasive about the details surrounding his death? Irene and her sons arrive on St. John only to make another shocking discovery: her husband had a secret, other life. As Irene investigates the mysterious circumstances of her husband's death, she and her sons have to face the truths about their won lives and secrets. Rich with the lush beauty of the tropics and the drama, romance, and the intriguing only Elin Hilderbrand delivers, Winter in Paradise is a truly transporting novel, and the exciting starts of a new series.

I was able to get this book from Book of the Month. It sounded really interesting I'm only on the second page and I've really liked the first page. So far it is setting up really nice but I really can't have an opinion on it yet. Even though I like to hear what other people think about books I don't take the book's rating into account on whether or not I would like it. However, this book has a pretty high rating on Goodreads and on Amazon. I will update this post as I read it, probably half way through the book and then again after I've finished this book.
Before Reading
I think I'm going to really enjoy this book. I'm definitely going into this book with an open mind but it seems like something I would like to read, especially around this time of the year because I really wish I was back in the virgin islands. It sounds like there is going to be some interesting twists and turns throughout this book. I'm really curious to how Irene is going to react to the whole other family, plus it sounds like you going to have the whole family's reactions to it. It is going to be a lot of different dynamics going into this. I'm really excited to read this story and see what all happens in this book.
(11/11/2018)
(11/11/2018)
*******SPOILERS********
Middle of the Book Thoughts
So I am now pretty much in the middle of the book. I love how Hilderbrand broke the book up, it is separated out into different parts and then each part is also broken down into different characters. I love getting closer looks into each character and seeing how this whole mystery is effecting everyone. The book basically follows five different people: Irene who is Russ's wife, Ayers who is Rosie's best friend, Cash who is Irene and Russ's younger son, Huck who is Rosie's stepfather, and then Baker who is Irene and Russ's older son. To say that they are all completely different people is a mild statement. So far I love all of them except Baker. Baker is most definitely on the top of my hate list and probably actually tied with his father. Which kind of makes sense because Baker and Russ were the closer pair just like Cash is closer with Irene.
The book itself is focused on figuring out what happened to Rosie and Russ since they pretty much died in a very mysterious way. It has been incredibly hard trying to get any information. After learning about her husband's death and also that he was killed in St. John Irene immediately wants to go see her husband and make sure that it was really him, but Marilyn Monroe is trying to tell her no she can't and that her boss is the one that had identified the body. Yes I said Marilyn Monroe! She is supposedly the secretary to Russ's boss, who is also another big bag of mysteries. Anything related to Russ is pretty much a bag of mysteries. It has been a lot of fun reading this book so far. I'm really interested to see how it ends. I have a love triangle going on between the boys and the best friend, and I'm hoping something happens with her and Cash. Then there is something going on with Huck and Irene possibly! Like I said if something happened to Baker I wouldn't be too upset. I did kind of like him in the beginning because stuff does happen that makes you feel a little bad for him but ever since they got to the island I've just hated him more and more as I read his sections. I keep getting a vibe that maybe Rosie and Russ aren't actually dead, and if this vibe I'm getting is true I think it would be messed up because she does have a kid, her daughter is only twelve I think. I will definitely update this post again once I have completed the book.
(11/14/2018)
Conclusion
I just finished this book. Overall I loved the book but I kinda hated the ending. I don't know if it fell flat because it is bridging into a series but the whole book was just one thing after another and when the loose ends were being tied up I think it just happened so fast that it fell a little flat and then the cliff hanger at the end because of the unknown Puerto Rico number calling all of the family members that the book was following was just a huge cliff hanger. I will definitely look into more books by this author because I love her writing style. I will also have to remember to keep my eyes open for this series.
(11/14/2018)

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