On so many levels the cards seem to be stacked against Meredith Bancroft and Matt Farrell. But you know what they say about opposites attracting and the bigger question is if they really are so different. With each test of their relationship you wonder if they will have the strength, trust and optimally the love to get through them. Matt and Meredith fight their uphill battles with seemingly different goals. Meredith's is to continue the lineage of a Bancroft in the president's seat of the family's chain of department stores. However to accomplish that, she has to conquer a life long battle with her domineering, critical and often mentally abusive father. Matt's struggles have actually shaped him into the fierce and determined competitor necessary to build his personal empire from the ground up. The passion they share when they first meet sets the motion for some life altering decisions but through no fault of their own they separate. The separation leaves both Meredith and Matt facing their own private hell. Eleven years later a chance meeting at a country club proves that the sparks are still there. But the residual hurt and anger over their mutual feelings of betrayal keep them from realizing how very much they need and love each other. It will take a miracle or a disaster to admit their true feelings.

First I have to admit I am unabashedly a huge fan of Judith McNaught. PARADISE is a perfect example of why that is. From the first page to the epilogue she ensnares you in the lives of her characters. I read this book with crossed swords because I was unable to put it down and yet didn't want it to end. McNaught has you biting your nails and gnashing your teeth as you share with the characters of the book a series of mishaps from a bomb scare to corporate take-over to devastating personal betrayal that has you waiting for the other shoe to drop. Since I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen I found myself devoting the entire weekend to this book but by Sunday night I was reluctant to get to the end. So curl up with this wonderful story and don't be surprised if you don't get up till it's done.

Book Summary

Corporate raider Matthew Farrell had come a long way from the poor, scruffy kid of Indiana's steel mills. A long way from the country club where, feeling like an outsider, he had dared to fall in love with a beautiful blonde named Meredith Bancroft, and known a once-in-a-lifetime passion and betrayal that still haunted his memory...Now world leaders courted him, the media watched his every move, and he was ready to move in on the Bancroft empire.

A cool, poised executive in her family's legendary department store chain, Meredith had once defied her father for the sexually magnetic, intense Matt Farrell -- and their brief, ill-fated marriage was the disastrous outcome. Now, as the Bancroft firm is threatened by a hostile takeover, Meredith is forced to confront Matt. As tensions build between them, bittersweet memories rise to the surface, leaving them suspicious, restless, and uncertain. Will they be able to believe in each other -- and grasp the tender miracle that is before them?