Assessment:
Plot: Grace, somewhat timid and very inexperienced, is responsible for a disabled aunt. When she finds the courage to take the business trip to Costa Rica her company offered, she encounters Noah at the airport on her arrival in San José. Two hundred kilos of someone else’s coke in the back of his van, an older brother idiotic enough to get involved with a cartel and cougars persistently in his bed, 22-year-old Noah meets Grace at just the moment when he does not need any more complications in his life. But Noah is smitten, and before she knows what is happening Grace—and readers—are caught up in his mission to evade the drug cartel and get his life on a track he chooses for himself, and he is trying to help her break out of her preconceived notions of what her life must be.
Prose/Style: Crofton delivers an extremely readable story—great for a long winter evening by the fire or a day at the beach.
Originality: In Book Two in her Escape in Paradise series, Crofton is especially adept at capturing the conversational interplay between characters who are not sure of each other, or of themselves.
Character Development/Execution: The characters here are well-delineated and diverse, from Grace’s boss Jane, a cougar with her eye on Noah, to Noah and his younger brother Kai who are trying to do the right thing. Noah nearly assumes the role of therapist with Grace to help her move forward.
Date Submitted: July 11, 2021
Exit Through Tortuga Bay… holy cats I haven’t loved a book this much in a long time.
First of all, this book takes place in Costa Rica. Now, I have a lot of bias here because I spent a magical semester studying abroad in Costa Rica, so it holds a special place in my heart. 🏝 PURA VIDA.
THE ADVENTURE, the suspense, the romance… SWOON, swoon, and swoon again! I really enjoyed that the hero and heroine had their own levels of suspense and pieces of their lives at stake. It really balanced out the suspense. And the adventure was amazing. I was right there, along for the ride on each adventure. It made me crave vacations.
I really loved how much the main characters could be playful, silly, tease, and poke each other’s buttons. I love playful characters. They feel so real to me.
Noah… this character is so damn dreamy. I don’t know if Alicia was going for Ryan Gosling who played another famous Noah… but that’s who I was picturing. Especially with the use of a line that reminded me of the Notebook.
Speaking of references… I had a total freak out when I saw one of my favorite movies of all time referenced in this novel. True Romance is such an underrated film in the popular zeitgeist. Which is truly remarkable seeing its star-studded cast and high critical acclaim on rotten tomatoes. I knew right then and there I would read whatever Alicia Crofton writes from now on.
This book spoke to me on so many levels. I really hope other people take the time to read the fun, light-hearted, adventure that Noah and Grace endure. Seriously 5 ⭐️s, 10/10 would recommend, 💯. Stop reading my essay on why you should read this book, and just read it.
REVIEW ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Exit Through Tortuga Bay by @aliciacroftonauthor
(Advanced Copy)
Noah’s in trouble. Big time. After his brother gets him involved with the wrong guys at the wrong time, he finds himself at the front of a hot pursuit in a van full of cocaine and a drug cartel hot on his heels. What could possibly go wrong next? Oh, yup. He just happens to stumble across Grace, and he knows he can’t have her - but he just can’t seem to tear himself away from her. She’s sweet, she’s beautiful, she’s everything he didn’t know he needed, she also has no idea about the box of cocaine she’s sitting on riding in the back of his van…
Exit Through Tortuga Bay is fun and flirty; the perfect mix for the hopeful romantics and steamy rom com lovers alike. But, fair warning - it is not your typical Hallmark movie boy meets girl and falls in love trope. You know, drug cartel and all… 😉
I absolutely loved this book. I love the most typical, cheesy and predictable romantic comedies - but this one went above and beyond and really hit all the marks for me to make it a 5/5. I laughed, I teared up, I loved the characters - and also wanted to give them a good shake and say “what are you thinking?!”, and I appreciated the slow burn with a good balance of backstory, love story, romance, humour, adventure, and subtle unpredictability. I have not read the first book in this series, (I will be now!) but feel this book can absolutely read as a stand-alone. An absolutely fantastic summer rom-com; the bar has been set for all others I read next!
