Official Review: Guardian of Paradise by W.E. Lawrence

[Queen Carmen]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Guardian of Paradise" by W.E. Lawrence.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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W.E. Lawrence's novel, Guardian of Paradise, is a historical romance book, set on the South Pacific island of Alofa in 1888.

Kira Wall was brought to the island as a young girl by her parents, whom were missionaries, to teach and aid the island natives. With the death of her parents, Kira has grown up among the natives and learned their ways, taught them English and come to think of them as her family.

With the arrival of an Australian merchant ship at their beautiful remote island, Kira is suspicious as to the true nature of their arrival. Kira believes the crew has come for nefarious purposes, but the tribe accepts the lavish gifts given by Captain Coleman, without question and allows them free access to the island and it's harvest. Deciding to take matters into her own hands, Kira gets herself into trouble repeatedly with the tribes Chief Ariki, whom is too trusting and the Captain, too cunning.

Upon meeting Dr. Trevor Marshall, the ship crews doctor, she finds herself confused by her new feelings, but guarded and decides to help him in his quest to find new plants for medicine, as a way to keep watch on the new comers.
When an explosion on the island causes chaos, Kira's suspicions mount, as does her attraction to the handsome doctor. Running out of time to prove herself right and protect the islanders, Kira places herself in danger.

Will the handsome doctor protect her or is he helping the conniving sea captain? Were the islanders too naive or was Kira jaded in her mistrust of the ships crew?

I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars.

I did not give it 3 stars because the romance did not draw me in. It had action, but not enough romance. I did not feel the characters attraction and it was hard to feel a connection with the characters because of the stilted and childlike conversations. I gave it 2 stars though, because it had a unique and creative story line and I liked the descriptiveness of the island.

I found the book hard to read and hard to keep my interest. I generally can read a book in 1-3 days, however, this book took me 9. Had I not picked this book to review, I probably would have stopped reading it, but I continued reading a little every day, hoping it would get better. Towards the end, the book did get more interesting and I was able to finish it more quickly, but there were still issues I had with it.

Kira had no real reason for her mistrust in the beginning and was kind of annoying in her persistence, with no real cause. She sounded like a child talking. It may have been the attempt to sound proper, because of the year this was set in, however I have read many historical romances that didn't leave me feeling like I was listening to an English teacher, where every word had to be properly said. A lot of the conversations seemed stilted as well. It may have been the native's language that was used continuously through out, that caused some of the stilted conversations though.

Her "love" interest barely had any conversations with her and none that made me think, wow, they are really attracted to each other or made me feel, well, anything. When she agreed to take him around the island to look for plants, I thought, here is where they get to know each other, but nope, a few conversations about the huge fruit, etc was all. I would have recommended this for teens, however there are some descriptive love scenes.

The fact that she could fight off several men at once or carry a 200 lb man, was not believable to me at all. It said that the islanders were larger than normal men and women, but not her. I like when they have strong, independent woman, but the woman should not sound more manly than the man.

Which brings me to Kira's love interest, Dr Marshall. I don't know about you, but when I read a romance book, I want the man to not only be good looking (of course!) but smart, strong and protective. He was smart, but the use of "blimey" all of the time, didn't give me manly thoughts, it just seemed silly. Also, he repeatedly let Kira go off on her own to face the bad guys, knowing her life was in danger, not very protective.

Now to the good. I liked the descriptiveness of the island. It did make me feel like I could see what was being described. I also liked how everything unanswered, was answered. You know how you want someone to tell someone else what is going on or how they will tell bits and pieces and not the things you want them to and it's irritating? In this book, W.E. Lawrence did a good job of explaining each event or occurrence in the book, to the other characters. I also enjoyed the action/adventure and thought the ideas of the book were different and creative and the book had a good ending.

Overall, I would actually give this book 2.5 stars. It wasn't the best for me, but it did have it's good moments as well.

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Guardian of Paradise
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Like Queen Carmen's review? Post a comment saying so!

[kimmyschemy06]

That was a very honest review. Though I love stories that take place in islands (I find it romantic), when I read romance novels, I expect hard core romance that will tickle my heart and leave me dreamy-eyed, but as you said, it has some good points.

[Queen Carmen]

Thank you! I don't like having to leave a less than glowing review, but I have to be honest. I just prefer more romance and the draw of the characters being together. I want to feel their attraction, not just hear them say it once or twice. Although this wasn't the book for me, other's may still enjoy it.

[tarafarah7]

Thank you for the review! I appreciate you being so detailed...it helps me decide if this is a good choice for me or not. I also like your last paragraph that states the good points of the book. Yes...it is nice that the author doesn't leave the reader hanging with questions at the end...I hate when a book leaves you wondering what happened to one of the characters or an unfinished event!! I also like that if I choose to read the book, I will be able to easily visualize the setting since there are good descriptions. Thank you again and good job!

[bookowlie]

Great, thorough review! I think it's hard to recommend a book if you have to push yourself to keep reading. Also, it helps to feel a connection to the characters. It's not a good sign if the dialogue sounds awkward. I am glad you found some positive things about the book, since you took the extra time to read it!

[Queen Carmen]

Thank you tarafarah7 and bookowlie!

I like to point out the good and bad parts of a book because what I consider negatives, someone else might not be bothered by and positives they might not like, it just gives them more information on deciding if they want to read that book or not. Your welcome and thanks for reading my review.