I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Some secrets won’t stay buried. Not even in the Everglades.

Deep in the Everglades, there was once a luxurious and legendary hotel enjoyed by the wealthy elite. Until one mysterious night when a fire tore through the building, killing a young socialite and casting blame on a local dock worker. Soon after, the hotel vanished, swallowed up by the wetlands like it never existed at all.

Until now.

When a powerful hurricane unearths the ruins of the long-forgotten hotel, the past is dragged back to the surface as clues to the devasting truth about the night of the fire are revealed.

It’s the truth that die-hard local Noa and her friends have been chasing for years in the hopes of clearing their ancestor’s name and pushing back against the rich families trying to force them out. With the help of Jamie, the rebellious son of a wealthy businessman, Noa and her crew begin a desperate fight for the justice they deserve.

It won’t be easy. Because the wealthy control just about everything on Paradise Coast—including the truth. And they will do whatever it takes, even kill, to make sure the past stays buried.

Short and Sweet Review

Paradise Coast is separated by the elites and the locals. Deep in the everglades there was a luxurious hotel that the elite would frequent until one night there was a fire and a socialite was killed and a dock worker was blamed, then the hotel was swallowed up by the wetlands and not seen again. A hurricane unearths the remnants of the hotel and Noa and her friends are determined to find the hotel in order to clear their ancestors name and push back against the wealthy who are trying to slowly push them out. Noa is helped by Jamie who is the son of a wealthy businessman, the group discovers the hotel but they realize the truth will be hard to get out when the wealthy control everything.

Paradise Coast has an interesting premise but I found myself bored while reading it and I think it’s because the pacing is so slow. We have the POVs of our two main characters, Noa and Jamie. Noa is a local she works at her family’s surf shack and business isn’t doing too well, also her brother has gone MIA. Jamie is just coming back to Paradise Coast and his family is wealthy but he’s kind of the outcast and treated as he’s not good enough. Noa and her friends learn the location of The Starline Hotel they decide to go see it for themselves and see if they can learn anything about what might have happened on that night long ago. When they get to the hotel they see that it’s still standing and that there’s a lot of corruption going on. This is where the story gets a bit crazy because I thought we would have more of a focus on the hotel but we only visit the hotel once and the story then turns into how corrupt Paradise Coast is and how deep the corruption runs. We see that there’s a big divide between the elite and the locals because of what happened at the Starline, which is why I thought there would be more investigating there. We see that the group learns that even though they know the truth it may not do them any good especially because the wealthy seem to have all of the pull. The ending was okay, it just wasn’t what I was expecting.

Overall, the synopsis of this book sounds amazing, it makes you want to jump right in and find out what happened at the Starline and what these kids are going to find now. I kind of feel like I got a different book in the end. I think this book wasn’t for me but I would still recommend it to others especially if it sounds interesting to them.