ESCAPE TO PARADISE ISLAND By Trish Ollman Sometimes we need a change of scenery to clarify what's good and what's wrong in our lives. The 4 main characters in this novel, have lives that are problematic All 4 see an advert for Paradise Island, a luxury Resort in tropical North Queensland, and decide to spend a week there to see if a week of Sun, Sand and Sex will allow them to change their lives. The 4 characters are Sue, Anna, Bianca and Rachael. Anna is in her early 60s and is married to Ken, whose huge sexual appetite means that for many years he has lied and cheated on his wife. Anna decides to make herself over in an attempt to get Ken to love her again. She persuades him to go to Paradise Island for a week and goes about seducing him, but unfortunately, Ken finds his wife's 'new look' repulsive. However, he soon finds someone on the Island who will give him the sex he needs, leaving Anna to find a love of her own. Anna is seduced by a fake Italian lothario who she falls in love with, only to be devastated as she's about to leave the Island. Will Ken stay with Anna on their return home or is their marriage over? Sue, 50, is a school teacher who has never known love or passion in her adult life. Living on her own, she wonders if there is someone out there for her. She decides to go for a week to Paradise Island after seeing its glossy ad in a magazine. On the Island, Sue falls head over heels in love with the same fake Italian lothario as Anna, thinking that this is a life changing romance for her. But she also will be bitterly disappointed. Back home her life becomes one that she could never have imagined. Bianca, is young and newly married, but her husband doesn't like sex, due to him being abused as a child. Having no sex life has a huge impact on Bianca. Joel, feeling the pressure of his wife's expectations of him on their honeymoon night on Paradise Island, wanders off, away from the Resort, to be on his own. But disaster strikes and a search party is sent to find him. While he is lost, both he and his new wife realise that they must change themselves to move forward. But while Bianca realises that sex is not everything in a marriage, Joel is determined to make more of an effort to please his new wife. Once Joel is rescued, will their plans to accept what they have and make each other happy, change their lives forever? Rachael and Harry have three children. They have never been on holiday together without them in their ten-year marriage, as Jake, their 9 yr old, has ADHD, and his behaviour is almost unmanageable. Rachel plucks up the courage and asks her parents, who have never even looked after their grandchildren for even an hour before, to have them. Her mum reluctantly agrees. However, once on the Island, Rachael becomes so obsessed with worry and anxiety, especially about son, Jake, and how her parents couldn't be expected to cope with him, she rings her parents only to find mayhem in the background. Realising that she should never have left her children with her elderly parents, she leaves the Island after only a few days, leaving her angry husband behind. However, now on his own, he starts an affair which will have far reaching consequences for them as a family. SPOILER: For Anna and Sue, who are middle aged and not that attractive, they both find themselves seduced by one of the Island's staff, a lothario who cannot do without his daily sex, and uses a fake Italian accent, Marcello (real name Mark who has a broad Aussie accent). Unknown to both women, he makes each of them feel that she is the most beautiful woman he has ever seen which make them feel better about themselves, with his false flattery and sexual prowess. By the end of the week, and unknown to each other, both women have fallen in love and planned a new life with Marcello back home. But disaster strikes when they find him out. For Australia & NZ Print Books email: [email protected]