July Skies

A Year in Paradise, Book 7

By: Hildred Billings

Narrated by: Rachel Leblang

Nobody loves Paradise Valley more than Mayor Karen Rath, a woman who works tirelessly to keep the town’s cogs turning and the people content. This doesn’t leave much time for love and dating, but the single mom of two grown kids has better things to do.

Until a stranger comes to town.

Dahlia Granger of Hibiscus Films is on a mission. Ever since Paradise Valley hit the national news, Dahlia is compelled to create a documentary exploring the history and culture of a town founded by lesbians.

She may have an agenda. Just a tiny one.

Karen and Dahlia represent two very different sides of this film, but their attraction is undeniable. Can Dahlia peel back Karen’s veneer and reveal her true self? Or will Karen have to kick Dahlia out of her town first?

Assuming the townsfolk don’t get to Dahlia first, anyway....

©2019 Barachou Press (P)2020 Barachou Press

A Mayor and A Filmmaker in Paradise

This is the 7th installment in the "Year in Paradise" series. The mayor, Karen Rath, agreed to a documentary about her adopted home. It's an Oregon community founded by lesbians. Dahlia, the filmmaker, comes in with quite a chip on her shoulder and her prejudices get exposed. The characters are believable and Hildred Billings does a great job with character development and it is fun to see the characters pop in and out of each book. The narrator did a great job with the characters; however, there were times where it seemed a bit fast. It did not take away from the story though. Highly recommend the series as well as other books by Hildred Billings/Cynthia Dane.

Bringing the truth to light

I like the strong and compassionate mayor Karen Rath. She doesn’t hold back except for her feelings for Dahlia. Dahlia has a major problem with the concept of the town and thinks everyone is hiding the truth. I can’t wait to listen to the rest of the series. I found the narrator spoke a bit quick for me but it was still a wonderful

Sweet Storyline

This is the 7th book in the series... Hildred Billings has written a very sweet story about two adult women that discover who they are by looking at where they have come from. You may need to slow down the Audio because the narration is very fast! In my opinion, Hildred Billings is an excellent and talented Author.

A Year in Paradise

Paradise is a small town built by lesbians to give them a safe place to live with the women they love. Mayor Karen Rath loves her town and is fiercely protective of it and the residents. Dahlia, head of Hibiscus Films, gets permission to film a documentary. All is well until Dahlia’s hidden agenda becomes obvious. A small town older woman romance. Recommend series.

Conflicted

Trying to decide how I feel about this book is hard. I love everything that Hildred has written. And I’ve enjoyed the few other books of this series that I read. But I had a hard time getting in to this book. I think some of it was that I didn’t like the narration much. I’m sure some was I didn’t like the premise. (Which is at least a “me” thing, as anythjng else. I get a little nervous around at least seemingly-homophobic characters, especially if they are a main character. And Dahlia’s unresolved issues about her mother leaving their family for another woman seems to fit that, at least for me.)

I was really starting to feel it clicking, for me, and then it ended. But it ended correctly, it really did. If it were to continue appropriately, it would have been twice as long. And, with this being a series, I can hope (maybe even expect?) to see this couple in later stories.