Ten Days in Paradise

  In this blog post, I reviewed Linda Abbott’s Ten Days in Paradise. This memorable woman’s fiction novel deals with matters of the heart.  For Ellen Bennett, all she wanted to do is to go on vacation in Sanibel Island and take a break from her failing marriage and troublesome son. Sun, surf, and sand were all she expected to find in Sanibel Island. While she relaxed in paradise, she had a chance encounter with David Blakemore on the beach, a fellow traveler who’s vacationing with his family for his parent’s 50th wedding anniversary. At first they were strangers and later potential friends. But it later became something more intimate between them. During this time when she felt revitalized like never before, she befriended Liz Taylor, a priest at Grace Chapel, that’s about to be demolished by a wealthy businessman to built a family home on the island. With Ellen’s encouragement to go to the public, she helped Liz and her congregation in the biggest way by letting the public know about this in the news to spread the word. For David Blakemore, he’s a father of three kids and had never thought to fall in love with Ellen on the beach. His wife Marianne is a handful. His sister Maggie is estranged from his father, who’s going through some memory issues, that his mother couldn’t put her finger on.  Between them, things are a kind of nice, though they’re both married with children. This affair wouldn’t last long since it wouldn’t work. During David’s parents 50th wedding anniversary celebration, things change between his father and Maggie especially when his son Colin goes missing. At this time, Ellen’s husband Jeremy surprises her and tells her he wants to give their marriage another change and explained the issues that’s going on with their son. At the end of her stay, Ellen decides to follow her heart to stay in her marriage and break it off with David forever.
 
This tender-hearted woman’s fiction is about family, life, and marriage. I cared for Ellen who had been going through some difficult times in her marriage and had hit the crossroads. This break was what she needed to make the toughest decisions she had to ever face in her life. I did feel a bit bad for David, who’s been going through a turbulent crisis in his marriage, and also with his family as well. The picturesque location of Sanibel Island, Florida, made the scenic  settings pop on the page. The theme of the story is family brings us together when crisis pulls us apart.

This emotional woman’s fiction pulls at your heart strings. I have found a couple of nitpicks in this story, though this is just my opinion: the focus should be on David and Ellen and to trim the excess chapters dealing with the Grace Chapel and David’s family, unless they’re in the scene. There a lot of characters in this novel as well. Less is more.  I rated this book, four out of five stars because it has a HFN ending. If you love woman’s fiction that deals with family and matters of the heart, a hint of drama and non-stop action, Ten Days of Paradise will take you away. This book is recommended if you like woman’s fiction novels like Taylor Reid Jenkins and Karen White.