Paradise by Judith McNaught

Hero: Matt Farrell
Heroine: Meredith Bancroft
Grade: A

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?

Wow.

I haven't read a more emotional book since, the last time I read this book. This book always strikes a chord in me that has me bawling my eyes out right about the time I get to the scene where Meredith tracks Matt down at the old farm house in Indiana. When Meredith finally confesses all that happened when she thought Matt didn't want her anymore, it always squeezes my heart until I think I'm going to burst from the impact of it all. The raw emotion you read about coming from Matt Farrell in that particular scene will probably always stay with me.

This book is one of those books that has you cheering and rooting the couple on to the very end. It's one of those books that stays with you period, long after you have read the book. Matt Farrell is an exceptional hero, one of the very best, I think at grabbing you and holding your attention long after you have finished the book. He's one of those heroes that you think about, months, even years after reading his book. He's one smart cookie and hot as all hell. Flippin' gorgeous.

Meredith on the other hand is a gentle and caring young woman who fell in love with Matt, long before he got all richy rich on her. She loved him when he was a steel worker and had dreams of making it big and with all the drama that makes a romance novel, she had to fight tooth and nail to get her happy ending, even when she thought it wasn't with Matt.

Matt and Meredith's love story has the makings of a classic. It's one of those stories that you can't help but love, because of the emotion the book envokes in you. To have gone through everything they went through and still come out on top, with all of the odds working AGAINST you and to still find your way back to each other is something that everyone should read about and love, I promise that you will love this book, so you should totally go out and read it.

Judith McNaught did a wonderful job with this story and this was one of the reasons I continued to stalk Judith McNaught's work at every turn, I fell in love with Matt and Meredith and was mad as spit when all of the hardships these two endured because of the people in their lives happened.

We highlighed Matt Farrell as our Hero of the Week a few weeks back and I'm so glad we did because this weekend I fell in love with Matt Farrell all over again and I can't wait to reread the book again soon, so that I can fall in love again because I know I will.

Read it ya'll, you'll love it.