Official Description: During a summer long stay in Hawaii, Bella meets Edward, letting her inhibitions go. With other options on the horizon, she eventually has to decide between her heart’s desires and her head’s logic.

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When I first heard about this story, I knew I had to read it. I mean, who can resist hot boys in board shorts running around shirtless, bronzed and built, on the beach. Add to that a strong, independent Bella, a down-to-earth Alice and Jasper, a very likeable Jake, a beach, and restaurant in Oahu, and you have found your way to Paradise.

Suzie55 has done a great job of bringing each of the characters in this story to life. They don’t have the same tired cliché feel, and I found myself latching onto each of them, feeling what they were feeling, and wanting to know more about them.

Bella arrives in Hawaii the summer between her junior and senior year of college. Alice, her best friend, works at a local beach bar, Big Kehones, and Bella has agreed to spend the summer working with her. When she arrives, she immediately meets Edward in the airport under less than ideal circumstances.

We find Edward, cocky and hot as hell, in the airport saying goodbye to one of his many vacation flings. He’s a surf instructor at one of the local hotels and is quite the ladies’ man. As Bella watches the girl’s tearful goodbye, she notices Edward is totally checking her out.

“I’ll call you,” he says, stroking her shoulders.

“You promised to write too,” she says, a tear slipping down her cheek.

He swipes his hand gently across her face wiping away the tear. But, just as she leans into him wrapping her arms tightly around his back his eyes flick up to meet mine. He embraces her while arrogantly and flirtatiously smiling at me. He says, “I’ll write…everyday.”

While leaning over her shoulder, his eyes still locked with mine, he feeds her another line as my axis shifts back onto its normal rotation with disgust, settling in. What a jerk!

“I’ll miss you and don’t forget to text me to let me know that you landed safely,” he says, pecking her on the lips and leaving her standing there alone with her tears.

I look down at my feet, shaking my head, disgusted, that he just flirted with me while kissing his girlfriend goodbye. I guess guys aren’t any different in Hawaii than they are on the mainland. I look up noticing the baggage area and laugh at the predictability of boys. I grab my large suitcase off the carousel and pull it to the curb to wait for my ride. I sit down on the side of it wanting to pull a cigarette out for a smoke. I want to alleviate the stress that built up inside of me in the last ten minutes. I want to get out of this airport. I look at my watch before realizing I didn’t change the time to make up for the three hour time zone difference. I quickly unhook my watch, turning the dial, when I hear a surprisingly familiar male voice ask, “Do you need the local time?”

I look up to see Mr. I-might-have-a-girlfriend-but-I-can-still-flirt standing two feet from me. Fuck it, I need a cigarette. I turn to my bag shuffling through to find that hidden piece of hell that will make me feel better. “So, are you here on vacation?”

Well, one thing leads to another, and these two find themselves in the beginnings of what is supposed to be a one night stand.

My hands work their way down his backside and I take the open invitation, since he’s not stopping me, and lightly squeeze his ass. Oh lordy, why’d I do that? It’s fantastic, hard and rounded. I conjure images of seeing it moving up and down above me as we have sex and suddenly feel a surge of ultimate boldness, and command, “take off your shirt.”

His lips stop on my jaw, his hands stop on my waist just under my shirt, and he leans his chest back away from mine, and with a furrowed brow asks, “Bella? What kind of guy do you take me for?”

“I’m hoping a guy who can back up this reputation you have worked so hard at creating.”

His hand graces my face and he places a soft sweet kiss on my forehead then with a smug expression says, “Oh, baby, I can back it up. Don’t you worry your little cotton panties over that. But, I’m a firm believer in ladies first.”

This story is full of fun dialogue, hot lemons and UST, what is potentially shaping up to be a love triangle and bitter rivalry between old friends, and little drops of angst. It is a great story, and Suzie55’s writing immediately captivated me.
Give this little fic a read, and you’ll be wishing you could have a private surf lesson with Surfward.

Edward is rich, a player, and a douchebag, and the setting is Hawaii in Welcome to Paradise. Bella, fresh off a break up where her boyfriend cheated on her and on her way to visit her best friend, Alice, meets our favorite douchebag and ends up hooking up with him because she gets turned on by his honesty. For some reason, Bella expects more from him and things go downhill from there.

They are utterly entrancing, but he alone, is nothing less than physical perfection. As their lips part, I find my lips part as well. Then I hear him speak and my world shifts on its axis. “I’ll call you,” he says, stroking her shoulders.

“You promised to write too,” she says, a tear slipping down her cheek.

He swipes his hand gently across her face wiping away the tear. But, just as she leans into him wrapping her arms tightly around his back his eyes flick up to meet mine. He embraces her while arrogantly and flirtatiously smiling at me. He says, “I’ll write…everyday.”

While leaning over her shoulder, his eyes still locked with mine, he feeds her another line as my axis shifts back onto its normal rotation with disgust, settling in. What a jerk!

In this rotating point of view story, we’ve got Jake as the competing love interest, Rosalie as Edward’s sister, and Edward hiding some big secret. It’s a big see saw – Bella and Edward are together, and then they’re not… they’re having a lot of sex, and they’re not… they’re happy, and then they’re not.

I know this may sound a little strange but my absolute favorite part of this fic occurs in chapter 13, and it has to do with Rosalie’s love of Emmett’s ass hair. I giggled maniacally.