SUMMARY

A BRAND new escapist enemies to lovers romance for fans of Tessa Bailey, Christina Lauren and Ali Hazelwood! Stuck in paradise with only one bed…

Dee Donovan is used to living up to her reputation as the ‘wild’ twin. She finally has an opportunity to prove everyone, especially her father wrong. She just needs her sister’s business partner Jem to play along with her outrageous plan. Secure a business deal by faking it as her boyfriend in Greece. The catch? Jem and Dee are not that close. In fact, Dee can’t put her finger on it, but Jem seems to really dislike her!

However, it’s just for 24 hours. Until a storm blows in trapping them, alone in Paradise! With no way of getting home, they need something to do… why not confront their tensions head on? After all, they’ve been dancing around their chemistry for years now. But Jem has a secret – he’s not quite as experienced as Dee in this particular area!

So Dee promises to teach Jem everything she knows before they return. And it’s clear that her student is a very fast learner! And all too quickly, they start wishing the storm would hang around. Because neither want to think about what will happen when they have to return to reality…

Image & Summary from Goodreads.

The Paradise Hook-Up is released on July 11 2025 and you can get your copy here for paperback and kindle.

REVIEW

Thank you to Netgalley and Boldwood Books for this ARC copy of The Paradise Hook-Up.

The Paradise Hook-Up is the first book I’ve read by Christy McKellen and if this is a taste of what her writing is like, then sign me up. This was a fast paced read and it took just about five hours for me to finish, which is practically a personal record. I couldn’t put it down as it had me hooked!

This book features two of my favourite romance tropes: enemies to lovers and fake dating. Seriously – give me any book with that combo and I’m sold, I always enjoy watching tension turn into chemistry. Christy McKellen gives the reader that with a playful and easy to read story that’s perfect for summer (well winter for me in Australia). It’s fun, flirty, and doesn’t take itself too seriously.

We have a dual POV in this book and being able to get inside both Dee (Delilah) and Jem’s (Jeremy) heads helped me understand where each character was coming from. With Dee’s struggle with coming of as a little childish and asserting her own identity with being an identical twin to Jem being more serious with his overall need to grow up quickly to be able to care for his older parents. It added more depth to their characters that I felt helped me as a reader to connect to them. I did enjoy the character depth and development however I felt that the story could have explored it a little deeper instead of it feeling a little rushed.

Another small letdown for me was the ending. The “three months later” wrap up served as a conclusion, but I wouldn’t call it a proper epilogue. I love seeing what the characters are up to beyond the initial honeymoon phase of the relationship that normally happens when a story ends.

Overall, The Paradise Hook-Up is a quick, fun, flirty enjoyable read with the enemies to lovers and fake dating tropes. It had me turning the pages and didn’t have too much drama that sometimes spoils a romance book. This was a 3 star read for me and I will be reading Christy McKellen’s other books.