BLOG TOUR & REVIEW - The Promise of Paradise by Allie Boniface

The Promise of Paradise starts off with us meeting Ashton Kirk (or better known as Ashley Kirkland, to the people of Paradise) as she moves to a small town in order to escape and run away from all her family drama and boyfriend troubles back home in Boston. Ash doesn’t know where her life is heading now that a family scandal has broken out all over the media and her boyfriend of three years has dumped her.

Soon after she moves into her new place she meets her new housemate, Eddie. If there were a polar opposite to her ex-boyfriend Colin, it would be Eddie. Both Eddie and Ash seems set on thinking they shouldn’t screw up their newfound friendship by trying to take things any further.

Now, my first thought is about the name Ash uses in Paradise to keep her cover. Ashley Kirkland is not much of a stretch from Ashton Kirk. When people start asking about Ashton Kirk being in town, I didn’t think it would take much of a leap for someone to realize it was Ash, but no one did, and that was a little disappointing.

However, I really enjoyed the way Allie Boniface tortured us with the sexual tension in the relationship between Ash and Eddie for quite a bit of the book. By the time something finally happened between our two main characters I was practically begging for it. But I think it was nice the way it was written for their relationship to take some time to blossom. It was sweet torture.

I felt like there could have been even more though to the book, because parts were skipped around and we only got to hear about nights of the two of them hanging out and afternoons of them watching baseball games second handedly, rather than read it while it was going on. I felt a little disappointed in missing out on parts of their relationship growing, but I guess in all honesty it wasn’t needed to get a clear understanding of where they were in their relationship.

I also felt like there was so much inner dialog going on with both characters when they were apart and thinking about the other one, but then when Ash and Eddie were together they never shared the inner dialog we read earlier to each other. It was a little anti-climatic once they were face-to-face.

It was a nice surprise though not to end up hating the ex-boyfriend. Colin was a nice addition as a secondary character in the book. In most cases us readers end up having hard feelings for the ex-boyfriend of the heroine that caused her pain, but it was hard not to have a soft spot for Colin and have your heart break a little bit for him.

I highly recommend this book if you enjoy some delicious torture with the sexual tension, that is well worth the wait in the end!

Near the curb, engine still running and rock music bellowing from the speakers, idled a red pickup truck. White and yellow flames danced along both sides. Bending over the tailgate was a broad, bare, definitely male back. Yow. No wonder Jen looked like she was about to start drooling. Even one floor up, Ash could trace the outline of nearly every muscle in his arms and back. A bright red and yellow king cobra tattoo curled around his left triceps. Wavy brown hair fell across the sides of his face. His jeans, faded in all the right places, sat low on his hips. Ash squinted harder and ran one hand over her hair.

           

Oh God. They still make men who look like that?

           

“Turn around, please,” Jen commanded under her breath. As if he’d heard her, he straightened up, biceps flexing as he hauled two large boxes from the back of the truck and turned up into the sidewalk. Her sidewalk. He looked up, and Ash’s heart dove into her stomach. A neatly trimmed goatee underscored a crooked nose. He flashed a smile and winked.

           

“Hey,” he called up. “You live here?”

           

Jen nodded and jabbed a thumb in Ash’s direction. “She does.”

           

“I’m Eddie West. Movin’ in today.” It was hard to hear him over the noise of the truck’s humming engine and the music. Ash watched his mouth move instead.

           

“Need any help?” Jen asked.

           

Eddie shook his head. “Nah. I’ve just got a couple of boxes to bring in. The rest is coming tomorrow. But thanks.” He continued up the sidewalk.

           

Jen cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled down. “Come up later, if you want.”

           

Ash elbowed her. “What are you doing?”

           

Eddie backpedaled and nodded, grinning wider. As he disappeared from their view, the heavy front door creaked open and, after a few seconds, thudded shut behind him.

           

Jen straightened up. “See? I told you he’d be good-looking.” She rolled her eyes. “He’s beyond good-looking, Ash.” She fell back against the railing, hands to heart in a dramatic pantomime. “He’s perfect.”

Allie Boniface is a small-town girl at heart who's traveled around the world and still finds that the magic and the mystery of small towns make them the best places to fall in love and find adventure. From the New England coast to Rocky Mountain hotels to tiny European bars, she's found more character and plot inspirations than she could ever count. Currently, she's lucky enough to live in New York's beautiful Hudson Valley with her own "Hometown Hero," a guy who can fix, build, drive, and grill anything and is the epitome of the strong and silent type.

When she isn't writing love stories, Allie is a full-time high school English teacher who gets a kick out of helping her teenagers negotiate the ups and downs of writing along with the ups and downs of life (because, really, she's still trying to do the same thing!). And while she'll continue to travel far and wide, Allie knows there's really nothing like coming back to the place where the people who have known you forever welcome you home with open arms. 

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Website: http://www.allieboniface.com/

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