**You can see this full review and more at Book Briefs: http://bookbriefs.net** 

I love C.J. Duggan's books. She can write the heck out of New Adult contemporary romances. As an author on my auto-buy list, I was super excited to be a part of the Paradise City blog tour. Paradise City is the first book in C.J.'s Paradise series, which is a new adult contemporary romance series. Even though the main character is in high school, this had more of a new adult feel to it. Maybe younger new adult or a ya/na crossover. It is a little different than her Summer Boys series, in that each book does not work as a standalone. Here, you will need to read the series in order. And here, there is a cliffhanger. It caught me off guard because I have never experienced a cliffhanger in any of C.J. Duggan's other books, so I wasn't expecting it at all. And it is quite the cliffhanger, at that.

Cliffhanger aside, Paradise City is the same brand of feel good, fun and sexy romance that I have come to love from this author. I can't wait for the next book in the series already. Lexie grew up home schooled in a tiny Australian town. She is super smart, and for her 11th grade year in high school, her parents have finally agreed to let her move in with her aunt and cousin in the bigger town of Paradise. Lexie was so adorably excited about moving and going to a real high school. She was like a kid in the candy store when she got to Paradise. I loved it. She wanted ALL THE TEENAGE EXPERIENCES. And any good reader of new adult knows that means teenage romance.

I loved the way the students at school were divided into one of three different houses. I have no idea if that is how it is actually done in high school in Australia, but I would like to imagine that it is. Lexie totally got the best house too- Gilmore. (Gave me a total Gilmore Girls flashback) That is the house for the smart kids. The house for the beach bums, or cool kids was Kirkland, and that is where Boon and Luke and some of Lexie's cousin's friends are in. I knew right off the rat that most of the action was going to come from Lexie's interaction with this crowd. It took me a couple of minutes before I could get a read on Luke as a love interest, but once I did, I really enjoyed his interactions with Lexie.

Paradise City is a great romance with a great main character. I loved Lexie. A lot, a lot. And I liked the whole group of secondary characters as well. I am looking forward to seeing more of them in the next book, and getting to know them a little bit better. If you loved C.J. Duggan's Summer series, you should give Paradise City a try! And if you are new to C.J. Duggan's books, you need to get in the loop and grab all of her books. You will become addicted.

 This review was originally posted on Book Briefs