If you decided to try and pick Under the Palms up without reading Beneath the Surface first then you need to rethink that decision right away, because you’ll be totally lost trying to read this book without reading BtS first. That’s the first thing I need to say. 

The second most important thing I need to say is: While I was happy to hear and see that The Kingsleys were getting another book (because why not have another book full of rich, unscrupulous people doing more unscrupulous things?) I was kind of disappointed with the story Kaira Rouda chose to tell. 

Under the Palms takes place roughly a year, maybe two, after the events of Beneath the Surface, and company President Paige Kingsley has organized a company retreat at a luxury retreat in the hills. This corporate retreat is more than it seems, of course, because everyone at Kingsley is gunning to oust Paige as President and she’s pulling everyone together (including some surprise players) in order to stop this coup in its tracks. 

I don’t mind that in a lot of ways it echoes the bones of the first book’s plot. In a way, that’s in line with how the characters in these books work, using each other’s tactics and weapons against them. What did bother me was how the female characters in this book ended up relying on males to get them out of their bad situations. I’m not a fan of female characters who are supposed to be strong willingly letting men lead them around and make decisions for them when they had previously spent pages declaring they’d never do that again. 

So while it was a fun read, it didn’t do the Kingsleys justice. They deserved more depravity.

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: Book Series/Domestic Thriller/Murder Thriller/Psychological Fiction/Suspense Thriller