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The Paradise Pact
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The Paradise Pact

By: Anita Heiss
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About this listen

 Recovering from a bad break-up, Abbey travels with her two lifelong friends to Hawaii, where personal challenges, laughter and new love await – in this heartwarming contemporary novel from bestselling author Anita Heiss.

Abbey’s ready for a holiday. Between her growing business, her recently failed relationship and her energetic grandkids, she needs to get away. So when her lifelong best friends suggest they take their yearly girls’ trip international and hit Hawaii, Abbey says yes faster than you can say aloha.

Before Abbey, Stevie and Caitlin head to paradise, they make a pact: they will do nothing but indulge in mai tais and sunsets – oh, and run a half marathon. It’ll be just what Abbey needs, and she’s determined to put herself first for once.

Then Abbey meets Kaleo, a man who makes her heart race, and things get complicated. This was supposed to be a fun, drama-free holiday, but will the call of holiday romance be too much to pass by? And what happens when reality comes knocking? Contemporary Romantic Comedy World Literature

Critic reviews

‘The Paradise Pact is a funny, heartwarming, honest and life-affirming celebration of friendship and being true to yourself. This book proves it’s never too late to try something new and that a girls’ trip to Hawaii is a good idea no matter your age. Written in Heiss’s signature effortless and entertaining prose, it captures the wit, warmth and heart that have made her one of Australia's most beloved novelists. I smiled the whole way through!’ (Rachael Johns, author of The Patterson Girls)
‘Instantly recognisable First Nations voices shine through this every-woman story of challenges, sisterhood and the great journey of self-love. I feel I’ve known these characters all my life – in the strong women demonstrating black excellence in every profession, those who start the race and finish it, and the women who carry their culture with ease and fierce pride.’ (Leeanne Enoch MP)
‘A “Blakcellent”, heartwarming and deadly funny race for love and luaus. Spread the aloha – the sistas are doin’ it for themselves!’ (Hsu-Ming Teo, author of Love and Vertigo)
'Joyful and quietly radical, The Paradise Pact is a novel about choosing yourself and choosing friendship, told with Anita Heiss’s trademark warmth and intelligence.'
(Saman Shad, author of The Sex Lives of Married Women)
'Anita Heiss writes with a warmth and clarity that makes space for complexity without losing lightness. The humour, the longing, the ache of reality knocking at paradise’s door – it all feels lived-in and real.

This novel celebrates women in all their phases: mothers, grandmothers, friends, lovers, runners, dreamers. It honours the richness of sisterhood and the quiet power of choosing yourself without abandoning those you love.

Heartbreak may be out. Holidays may be in. But what lingers long after the final page is something deeper: the affirmation that friendship, culture and self-belief can carry us anywhere – even back to ourselves.' (Mindy Woods, chef and author of Karkalla at Home)
'Another bright, sparkling jewel of a book by the queen of Australian rom-com, Anita Heiss. No one captures the joys of female friendship and the challenges of mid-life dating quite like her – with wit, verve and intelligence.' (Nicole Abadee)
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