The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren

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Was this cheesy? Yes. But did I love it? ABSOLUTELY! 

The Paradise Problem tells the story of Anna Green and Liam Weston, who entered their marriage fraudulently in order to qualify for cheap housing at their college. At the time, Liam was attending graduate school while Anna was an undergrad. Two years later, Liam graduates and moves out. Anna assumes they are divorced, but Liam never actually turned in the paperwork - he knows he would receive nearly $100 million from his grandfather in an inheritance if he's married for at least 5 years. Now, 5 years is almost over, but his sister Charlie is having a wedding and the family is urging Liam to bring his wife, whom no one has met. To further complicate matters, there's a loophole in the inheritance - if any of the 4 siblings' marriages turns out to be a fraud, then no sibling would get the inheritance. So Liam needs to keep the charade on for the benefit of everyone. 

Liam shows up at Anna's house and explains to her of what's going on. He's surprised that Anna didn't know about Liam's wealth, or being an heir to the Weston Foods corporation. He assumed his brother Jake had told Anna when he hooked the two of them up. When Anna met Liam years ago, Liam had no money. That was because his family cut him off when he chose to go to graduate school instead of working on the family business. Now Liam is a professor at Stanford University. Anna agrees to go to the wedding with him.

Contrastingly, Anna had switched her major from pre-med to art, something Liam didn't even know about. Anna has no money, and has a lot of ground to cover before heading to Indonesia with Liam for the wedding. His family all thinks she's studying medicine!

At the wedding, Anna learns about Liam's family. His father Ray is a domineering and controlling man, who wants Liam to take his place in the business, even though Liam doesn't want to. Liam and his brother Alex have a strained relationship. Alex wants to be the next CEO of Weston Foods, so he tries to be competitive about everything against Alex. Liam's mother Janet is equally toxic.

As Anna and Liam spend more time together going through the wedding events, Anna starts getting to know Liam and realizes he's not like his family - he's a good guy. Of course, they have to put on a the show of real husband and wife, so it's comical at times as well. Anna gets along with Charlie, Alex's wife Blaire, and Liam's niece Reagan.

As the relationship is getting more and more real, the group is getting more and more toxic. Ray tries to dangle some scandal in front of Liam to get him to agree to take the CEO position. Anna finds out three of her paintings are sold at the gallery. She's excited, until she finds out they were purchased by Liam (no surprise there). She calls him out on this, but it ends up giving her the career boost she needed.

A reporter at the wedding tells everyone that Liam is likely the next CEO of the company. This triggers Alex, who announces to everyone that Liam's marriage is a fraud (he had figured it out). Ray announces that if Liam doesn't take the job, then all of the siblings would lose their inheritances. Anna confronts Ray and urges Liam to turn down the CEO role and do what he wants with life. Ray is angry and flies the two of them back to California. 

On her flight back, she finds out it was Liam that purchased the paintings and is so angry. They argue and break up. Liam's purchased paintings are already delivered to his house, and he admires them. He realizes Anna chose something she wanted to do instead of a job that would give her more wealth. He decides to turn down his father's job offer. Ray, who's outraged by now, announces on TV about a software Liam wrote years ago, that was used to harass and stalk female employees of Weston Foods. 

Surprisingly, Liam's brother Alex makes an official statement and reveals that Liam's software was only intended to track inventory in Weston Foods stores and minimize waste. It was Ray who used the software to track female employees and use it for nefarious purposes. Ray is arrested, which means he can no longer control the children's inheritances.

Liam and Anna are happily together. Anna now works as an art teacher. Liam still has his position at Stanford, but also serves on the board of Weston Foods. They buy a house in Palo Alto, and another house for Anna's father nearby, who was battling cancer during the whole book. Janet has filed for divorce from Ray, who's in prison for lots of white collar crimes. Janet also discovered about Ray's affair - his lover called her and told her. On Liam and Anna's "sixth" wedding anniversary, Liam proposes and Anna says yes. The End.

I loved this story. Romantic, predictable, funny, cheesy and so enjoyable. I'm going to read the other books by this author now. 

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