Note: I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving this honest review.

Release Date: August 13, 2021

Blurb

Transport yourself to the sandy beaches of Costa Rica in this fun-loving action-packed romantic comedy, a stand-alone novel in the Escape in Paradise Series.

Chauffeuring two women in a van full of cocaine was probably not his best move. But what else could he do? They needed him. Grace needed him.

Grace. He loved that name.

She thought he was busy and important. Ha. Nobody ever thought that about Noah. He had to admit it felt nice for someone to assume he had more pressing things to do than help a couple of ladies out of a jam.

She was gravely mistaken, though. He wasn’t anything special.

Noah rubbed his jawline, looking in the rearview mirror again, catching her intoxicating aquamarine eyes staring back at him. They were staggeringly blue, like two tropical lagoons. Every glance felt like magic, the kind that could make him fly from thinking happy thoughts.

He almost forgot she was sitting on thirty million dollars worth of drugs.

Almost.

***

All Noah wants is surfing, sunsets, and pura vida. But a two-hundred kilo problem is really cramping his style. Now a drug cartel is on his tail and he needs a place to hide.

Grace sells adventures for a living but is too afraid to go on one herself. When her job takes her to Costa Rica, she meets a charming stranger who pushes her to face her fears. Grace must decide: cozy up in her safe bubble or go on an adventure of a lifetime.

Noah should be hiding, but he can’t keep away from the blue-eyed beauty who captures his heart. He wants to help her break out of her shell, but can he keep her safe from the dangers that come with living on the run?

Review

This book perfectly encapsulates adventure romance, with smart, interesting, and dynamic characters that we get to watch transform into better versions of themselves right before our eyes.

Noah is the youngest of three brothers, who all believe that family loyalty is everything. Noah opts to delay college so that he can help his family’s coffee roasting business because family is the most important thing. In the process, he kind of loses sight of who he wants to be. Along the way, he isn’t sure he belongs anywhere.

Grace, on the other hand, has no family aside from her Aunt Judy. She’s stuck in her own battle of loyalty, wanting to take care of the aunt who took care of her for her entire life. She works really hard to provide in a job that pays enough, but isn’t her passion. She’s convinced she only belongs in one space, where she knows her and her loved ones will be safe.

When the two happen upon each other, in scenarios that neither one want to be in (Grace with her boss in an exotic country away from the safety of Michigan; Noah with 200 kilos of cocaine in the back of his van with the cartel on his tail), they look at one another and see who they want to become.

For Grace, Noah brings out the adventurous spirit she buried after her parents’ deaths, with the safety net she finds within his arms. For Noah, Grace brings out his desire to become more than he was willing to let himself dream of becoming. The wishes for their lives, they realize, were safe bets, and sometimes those simple joys are exactly what we need, but other times, they’re just walls we build to protect ourselves from being hurt.

I laughed out loud at some of the adventures these two embarked on. I was heartbroken by some hard but real choices that were made. And more than anything, I found myself cheering for these two characters. They compliment each other in all the best ways, sometimes in a cringe-worthy or challenging way. But what’s love if not challenging?

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Grab your copy of Exit through Tortuga Bay here!

Meet Alicia Crofton!

Alicia Crofton writes contemporary romance action-adventure romance novels set in faraway places. When she’s not fictionally escaping through the Caribbean, she’s self-publishing her work, mothering her two rascals, and promoting her husband’s artwork on IG (@PNW_art.love).

Contact her!

aliciacrofton@gmail.com

PO Box 264
Beaverton, OR 97075

Find her on social media!
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aliciacroftonauthor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aliciacroftonauthor
Website: https://www.aliciacrofton.com

If you give this book a read (or the first book in the Escape in Paradise series, Exit Through the Jungle), let me know what you think in the comments. As always, see what I’m currently reading on Goodreads here!