She Treads Softly: Under the Palms

Friday, May 3, 2024

Under the Palms

Under the Palms by Kaira Rouda
5/21/24; 269 pages
Thomas & Mercer
Kingsleys #2

Under the Palms by Kaira Rouda is a very highly recommended tale of family treachery, greed, betrayal, and scheming all set during a weekend retreat at a luxurious Laguna Beach resort. Oh my! Under the Palms is delicious, lethal, soap-operatic fun and once you start reading, it is impossible to stop.

Paige Kingsley, the current president of Kingsley Global Enterprises, was put in charge of the family business by CEO and family Patriarch, Richard. Sons John, the eldest, and Ted, Paige's husband, still have plans to take over the family business. Paige has planned a weekend corporate/family retreat and team building time at the exclusive Twin Palms Resort in Laguna Beach. The family is there plus several surprises, which means the secrets and scheming are going into overtime.

Let the cut-throat competition of power games, and intrigued begin! The entire novel is pure entertainment with nonstop action and so much scheming, twists, humor, and dark secrets you will not be able to stop reading. It is also a whodunit mystery as a murder takes place- just another one for this bunch.

There is not one likable, trustworthy character in this glorious soapy, engrossing narrative featuring one very dysfunctional family. They are all complex, cunning, calculating, clever characters and immanently scheming all the time. You will follow the maladjusted family through chapters that present the point-of-view of Paige, Richard, John, Ted, Serena (ex-wife of Richard), Sibley (estranged daughter), Krystle (John's girlfriend), and blurbs from the gossip site OC Scoop.

Although it is the second in a series, I read it not knowing that and still followed the plot and enjoyed it tremendously. This novel is excellent fun! Thanks to Thomas & Mercer for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.