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Paradise Redeemed
Thinking her family has married into for his money, Adam Rawlins banishes his stepsister upon becoming her guardian, but when she returns four years later--with incredibly precocious business savvy and well-developed womanly charms--he regrets his hasty judgement
448 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 1989
53 people want to read
About the author
Ana Leigh
39 books27 followersWisconsin natives, Ana Leigh and her husband, Don, have three children and five grandchildren. From the time of the publication of her novel, LOVE'S LONG JOURNEY, by Leisure Books in 1981, Ana successfully juggled her time between her chosen career and her hobby of writing, until she officially retired in September of '94 to devote more time to her "hobby." In the past she has been a theater cashier (who married the boss,) the head of an accounting department, a corporate officer, and the only female on the Board of Directors of an engineering firm.
This best selling author (New York Times and USA Today bestsellers lists) received a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award nomination for Storyteller of the Year in 1991, the BOOKRAK 1995-1996 Best Selling Author Award for her May release, THE MACKENZIES: LUKE, the Romantic Times 1995-1996 Career Achievement Award for Western Historical Romance, and the Romantic Times 1996-1997 Career Achievement Award for Historical Storyteller of the Year. Ana still considers her proudest achievement as that of homemaker.
This best selling author (New York Times and USA Today bestsellers lists) received a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award nomination for Storyteller of the Year in 1991, the BOOKRAK 1995-1996 Best Selling Author Award for her May release, THE MACKENZIES: LUKE, the Romantic Times 1995-1996 Career Achievement Award for Western Historical Romance, and the Romantic Times 1996-1997 Career Achievement Award for Historical Storyteller of the Year. Ana still considers her proudest achievement as that of homemaker.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 13, 2026
If you’ve ever read a romance and thought, “Ah yes, this is the least romantic part of the entire novel,” then buckle up for Paradise Redeemed by Ana Leigh.
Because wow. What a ride. What a fever dream. What a Victorian soap opera with commitment issues.
Let’s set the scene. It’s 1843. We meet Evelyn (Eve), age 12, whose mother marries a man with a 22 year old son named Adam. Yes. Adam and Eve. Subtlety has left the building. On their honeymoon, the parents promptly die (as one does in dramatic historical fiction), leaving 22 year old Adam as legal guardian to a grieving 12 year old girl who already despises him (and with good reason).
Not knowing what to do with this deeply hostile child who hates his entire existence, Adam sends her off to France until she’s 16. Problem postponed! Emotional development? Never heard of her.
When Eve returns, expecting a warm welcome home, she is instead greeted by Mr. Broody McSilence. Adam is cold, distant, and apparently allergic to basic communication. The only time they bond is when he teaches her to ride a horse, which is admittedly peak Gothic energy. Think Wuthering Heights but with less moor wandering and more “please unpack this in therapy.”
Meanwhile, suitors circle Eve like it’s Regency Shark Week. And Adam? Oh, he chases every single one off. Usually with bribes. Romantic? No. Unhinged? Slightly.
Then, when Eve turns 18, Adam announces *drumroll please* that he sabotaged every potential marriage prospect because he intends to marry her himself and in his eyes she has always belonged to him and him alone.
Eve reacts appropriately: horror, disgust, and immediate flight. She runs away that very night with her maid and best friend, Simon who accompanied her return from France years prior.
And honestly? That’s when the book gets GOOD.
Because suddenly this isn’t just a questionable romance, it’s a coming of age survival saga in Gold Rush era newly founded San Francisco. Eve, headstrong but wildly unprepared, has to navigate a city full of bandits, thieves, drunkards, prospectors, opportunists, and men who think “no” is a decorative suggestion. It’s slice of life meets “welcome to the Wild West, darling.”
And then.
Then we meet Sam.
Sam is half Indigenous and half white, living in 1849 America, meaning society treats him with all the grace and nuance of a brick. Once a man of the law, he carries a strong moral compass and ends up protecting Eve and Simone when they arrive alone in San Francisco. He is steady. He is principled. He is not trying to groom anyone he met at age 12. Already we’re ahead.
Simone? Simone is in her late 20's, unmarried, deemed “plain,” and considered practically expired goods by the charming gentlemen of the era who prefer wives young enough to be half their age if not more.
But what Sam and Simone build together? That’s the romance. That’s the heartbeat. Two overlooked souls finding comfort and gentleness in each other. It was soft. It was tender. It was the only relationship in this book that didn’t make me want to stage an intervention.
Meanwhile, Adam.
Because you didn’t think he’d just let her go, did you?
No.
He follows Eve to San Francisco and opens a casino directly opposite her newly acquired bakery.
Relentless. The man is Victorian persistence personified. A human tracking device in a waistcoat.
And here’s where the book really leaned into its telenovela era. Twists. Turns. Drama. Revelations. My flabber? Fully ghasted. More than once. I kept thinking, “Surely we’re done now,” and the plot said, “Absolutely not.” Those surprises took me down to quite literally the last few pages.
What surprised me most is that this story isn’t really about romance. Not primarily. It’s about Eve growing up. About a sheltered 18 year old discovering the world in all its grime and glory. About learning who she is outside of the house she felt captive in. The journey is the entire point. The destination (yes, there is a HEA… eventually… with drama lingering like a Victorian ghost) almost feels secondary.
Did I ever fully support the Adam/Eve pairing? No. The step sibling dynamic (non-blood, but still), the 10 year age gap, the strict guardian history, the stolen kisses and first unwanted advances... my modern brain simply could not unclench.
But did the book entertain me? Absolutely.
It’s chaotic. It’s dramatic. It’s morally messy. It’s “historical romance but make it slightly unhinged.”
If you like your stories sprawling, twisty, and powered by stubborn characters making questionable life choices, you’ll have a grand time.
Just know going in: the most beautiful love story might not be the one on the cover.
Because wow. What a ride. What a fever dream. What a Victorian soap opera with commitment issues.
Let’s set the scene. It’s 1843. We meet Evelyn (Eve), age 12, whose mother marries a man with a 22 year old son named Adam. Yes. Adam and Eve. Subtlety has left the building. On their honeymoon, the parents promptly die (as one does in dramatic historical fiction), leaving 22 year old Adam as legal guardian to a grieving 12 year old girl who already despises him (and with good reason).
Not knowing what to do with this deeply hostile child who hates his entire existence, Adam sends her off to France until she’s 16. Problem postponed! Emotional development? Never heard of her.
When Eve returns, expecting a warm welcome home, she is instead greeted by Mr. Broody McSilence. Adam is cold, distant, and apparently allergic to basic communication. The only time they bond is when he teaches her to ride a horse, which is admittedly peak Gothic energy. Think Wuthering Heights but with less moor wandering and more “please unpack this in therapy.”
Meanwhile, suitors circle Eve like it’s Regency Shark Week. And Adam? Oh, he chases every single one off. Usually with bribes. Romantic? No. Unhinged? Slightly.
Then, when Eve turns 18, Adam announces *drumroll please* that he sabotaged every potential marriage prospect because he intends to marry her himself and in his eyes she has always belonged to him and him alone.
Eve reacts appropriately: horror, disgust, and immediate flight. She runs away that very night with her maid and best friend, Simon who accompanied her return from France years prior.
And honestly? That’s when the book gets GOOD.
Because suddenly this isn’t just a questionable romance, it’s a coming of age survival saga in Gold Rush era newly founded San Francisco. Eve, headstrong but wildly unprepared, has to navigate a city full of bandits, thieves, drunkards, prospectors, opportunists, and men who think “no” is a decorative suggestion. It’s slice of life meets “welcome to the Wild West, darling.”
And then.
Then we meet Sam.
Sam is half Indigenous and half white, living in 1849 America, meaning society treats him with all the grace and nuance of a brick. Once a man of the law, he carries a strong moral compass and ends up protecting Eve and Simone when they arrive alone in San Francisco. He is steady. He is principled. He is not trying to groom anyone he met at age 12. Already we’re ahead.
Simone? Simone is in her late 20's, unmarried, deemed “plain,” and considered practically expired goods by the charming gentlemen of the era who prefer wives young enough to be half their age if not more.
But what Sam and Simone build together? That’s the romance. That’s the heartbeat. Two overlooked souls finding comfort and gentleness in each other. It was soft. It was tender. It was the only relationship in this book that didn’t make me want to stage an intervention.
Meanwhile, Adam.
Because you didn’t think he’d just let her go, did you?
No.
He follows Eve to San Francisco and opens a casino directly opposite her newly acquired bakery.
Relentless. The man is Victorian persistence personified. A human tracking device in a waistcoat.
And here’s where the book really leaned into its telenovela era. Twists. Turns. Drama. Revelations. My flabber? Fully ghasted. More than once. I kept thinking, “Surely we’re done now,” and the plot said, “Absolutely not.” Those surprises took me down to quite literally the last few pages.
What surprised me most is that this story isn’t really about romance. Not primarily. It’s about Eve growing up. About a sheltered 18 year old discovering the world in all its grime and glory. About learning who she is outside of the house she felt captive in. The journey is the entire point. The destination (yes, there is a HEA… eventually… with drama lingering like a Victorian ghost) almost feels secondary.
Did I ever fully support the Adam/Eve pairing? No. The step sibling dynamic (non-blood, but still), the 10 year age gap, the strict guardian history, the stolen kisses and first unwanted advances... my modern brain simply could not unclench.
But did the book entertain me? Absolutely.
It’s chaotic. It’s dramatic. It’s morally messy. It’s “historical romance but make it slightly unhinged.”
If you like your stories sprawling, twisty, and powered by stubborn characters making questionable life choices, you’ll have a grand time.
Just know going in: the most beautiful love story might not be the one on the cover.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 15, 2022
You can tell by the book title, the names of the H an h (he's Adam Rawlins, she's Evelyn MacGregor but called "Eve"), and the names of their respective businesses ("The Original Sin" and "The Forbidden Fruit") that the author has a fondness for the world's first people, but ironically, there's no mention of the "coincidences" by any of the characters, even when the first thing Eve bakes is an apple pie! They never make a reference to their names, and there's no biblical comment about the name of her bakery or his casino. The fact that Adam's Eve's legal guardian, as well as her stepbrother, would give their relationship an aura of the forbidden, but still, no Genesis comments. Are we supposed to believe that they'd pass up all those opportunities to make witty remarks? I don't think so.
Be that as it may, this was a good story, and I was glad that there's only a ten-year difference in their ages, so when they get together as a couple, she's around 19 and he's about to turn 29, no ridiculous 17 and 35, or something like that.
The novel moves quickly, from a short stop in Eve's childhood, (where she loses her mother and new upper-class stepfather, and meets Adam, who didn't approve of his father's second marriage to a working-class woman who didn't marry Eve's father), to four years later, when she graduates from boarding school in Paris and returns to Sacramento (bringing her maid, Simone with her) finding Adam to be autocratic and dictatorial, to a few years after that, where, frustrated by Adam's interference in her choice of suitors (sending them all away with bribes and job opportunities in the gold fields - it's the 1840's Gold Rush days - one of them right before they planned to elope), Eve sets off for her old home town of San Francisco, Simone in tow, to start an independent life, away from Adam's dominance. However, Adam has no intention of letting her go. If the mountain won't stay with Mohammed...
The book has some strong and weak points, the weakest being the nonchalance Adam and Eve have toward their respective businesses. Adam is a wealthy businessman, so even when he followed Eve to San Francisco he had no need to start a casino and live there, he could have just bought himself a house or stayed in the finest hotel suite, and if he wanted to work, he could have opened a S.F. branch of his company. It was just silly to build a casino from scratch that he wasn't all that interested in.
As for Eve, she takes over her "Aunt" Hannah's bakery and -along with Simone - turns it into a real success, even expands to start a tearoom, but later just forgets about it altogether. She worked hard and was proud of it, ready to overcome a major setback as well, and then she decides it was only a way to prove her independence and feel she didn't need Adam to succeed. Next thing you know, the bakery is obsolete.
Another silly thing was making the bakery an obstacle between them having a life together, as he wants to return to Sacramento. At the time, she was reluctant to give up the bakery, so why not compromise, and have her open a bakery in Sacramento? She could be Mrs. Adam Rawlins and keep her independence at the same time. Makes sense to me.
The strong points were the lack of certain HR story tropes. There was no annoying OM or OW to interfere and cause trouble. During the time they were separated, the casino manager's mistress kept coming on to Adam, going as far as to sit on his lap and kiss him, but though she was attractive, he didn't take what she offered. Also, the separation only lasted a few weeks, it wasn't drawn out for months (sometimes years) like in other books. It was due to Adam keeping info about Eve's family from her, and acting controlling once again, at least that's how she saw it. And she soon changed her mind. Also, a typical HR scene, where he forbids her to go out riding and she rebels and takes off on horseback anyway, didn't end up going all melodrama, with her facing some sex-crazed outlaw who tries to rape her, or getting thrown from her horse and badly injured, or some such thing. All that happened was a peaceful ride by a stream and a well-deserved lecture from Adam, making Eve realize she was being selfish for staying out so long and making Simone worry, just to spite him.
Both Eve and Adam had to acknowledge their own mistakes and faults, and think about the other's feelings, instead of always their own. He had to treat her more as an equal and stop keeping things from her "for her own good". She in turn, had some growing up to do and to try and be more understanding.
Simone was given her share in the story, along with Sam Montgomery, a half-Native with an itinerant past, who looks out for them, and acts as bodyguard, as early SF was a tough city for two single young women. He and Simone have a really sweet love story, much calmer than the battling Adam and Eve, yet it's hindered by the social prejudices against "half-breed" Sam, as well as Simone's insecurities and Sam's belief that he won't make her happy. He's an interesting character, strong and stoic, who takes life as it is, and doesn't expect anything from it, yet finds himself falling for Simone. She in turn, has felt inferior to other women because of her "plain Jane" looks and never dreamed Sam would return her love. I found myself rooting for them more than for our "biblical" couple.
There's also Bailey, Sam's wandering father, determined to strike it rich with a mine he's sure is full of gold. This plays a large part in the story.
A lot more happens, but I won't spoil it. There are flaws, but it's still worth reading.
Be that as it may, this was a good story, and I was glad that there's only a ten-year difference in their ages, so when they get together as a couple, she's around 19 and he's about to turn 29, no ridiculous 17 and 35, or something like that.
The novel moves quickly, from a short stop in Eve's childhood, (where she loses her mother and new upper-class stepfather, and meets Adam, who didn't approve of his father's second marriage to a working-class woman who didn't marry Eve's father), to four years later, when she graduates from boarding school in Paris and returns to Sacramento (bringing her maid, Simone with her) finding Adam to be autocratic and dictatorial, to a few years after that, where, frustrated by Adam's interference in her choice of suitors (sending them all away with bribes and job opportunities in the gold fields - it's the 1840's Gold Rush days - one of them right before they planned to elope), Eve sets off for her old home town of San Francisco, Simone in tow, to start an independent life, away from Adam's dominance. However, Adam has no intention of letting her go. If the mountain won't stay with Mohammed...
The book has some strong and weak points, the weakest being the nonchalance Adam and Eve have toward their respective businesses. Adam is a wealthy businessman, so even when he followed Eve to San Francisco he had no need to start a casino and live there, he could have just bought himself a house or stayed in the finest hotel suite, and if he wanted to work, he could have opened a S.F. branch of his company. It was just silly to build a casino from scratch that he wasn't all that interested in.
As for Eve, she takes over her "Aunt" Hannah's bakery and -along with Simone - turns it into a real success, even expands to start a tearoom, but later just forgets about it altogether. She worked hard and was proud of it, ready to overcome a major setback as well, and then she decides it was only a way to prove her independence and feel she didn't need Adam to succeed. Next thing you know, the bakery is obsolete.
Another silly thing was making the bakery an obstacle between them having a life together, as he wants to return to Sacramento. At the time, she was reluctant to give up the bakery, so why not compromise, and have her open a bakery in Sacramento? She could be Mrs. Adam Rawlins and keep her independence at the same time. Makes sense to me.
The strong points were the lack of certain HR story tropes. There was no annoying OM or OW to interfere and cause trouble. During the time they were separated, the casino manager's mistress kept coming on to Adam, going as far as to sit on his lap and kiss him, but though she was attractive, he didn't take what she offered. Also, the separation only lasted a few weeks, it wasn't drawn out for months (sometimes years) like in other books. It was due to Adam keeping info about Eve's family from her, and acting controlling once again, at least that's how she saw it. And she soon changed her mind. Also, a typical HR scene, where he forbids her to go out riding and she rebels and takes off on horseback anyway, didn't end up going all melodrama, with her facing some sex-crazed outlaw who tries to rape her, or getting thrown from her horse and badly injured, or some such thing. All that happened was a peaceful ride by a stream and a well-deserved lecture from Adam, making Eve realize she was being selfish for staying out so long and making Simone worry, just to spite him.
Both Eve and Adam had to acknowledge their own mistakes and faults, and think about the other's feelings, instead of always their own. He had to treat her more as an equal and stop keeping things from her "for her own good". She in turn, had some growing up to do and to try and be more understanding.
Simone was given her share in the story, along with Sam Montgomery, a half-Native with an itinerant past, who looks out for them, and acts as bodyguard, as early SF was a tough city for two single young women. He and Simone have a really sweet love story, much calmer than the battling Adam and Eve, yet it's hindered by the social prejudices against "half-breed" Sam, as well as Simone's insecurities and Sam's belief that he won't make her happy. He's an interesting character, strong and stoic, who takes life as it is, and doesn't expect anything from it, yet finds himself falling for Simone. She in turn, has felt inferior to other women because of her "plain Jane" looks and never dreamed Sam would return her love. I found myself rooting for them more than for our "biblical" couple.
There's also Bailey, Sam's wandering father, determined to strike it rich with a mine he's sure is full of gold. This plays a large part in the story.
A lot more happens, but I won't spoil it. There are flaws, but it's still worth reading.
August 31, 2023
Somehow this didn’t work for me. They were step-siblings turn to guardian & ward. That didn’t bother me too much as it was the trope of the story, but she was still young when they reunited. Around 16… their chemistry felt so forced then. I didn’t feel their attraction to each other at all, the first touchy-touchy scene was so random, too. It didn’t evoked any good feelings. Then all of a sudden she’s a good apple pie maker. Yeah, strange book.
January 31, 2013
It's hard to rate this book very accurately. There was so much I loved about it and so many other things that left me kinda cold. All in all a good book for someone looking for a hate/love romance and a hero who is posseive. The book tends to ramble on and on and on and on and on but it's plot line is unique and if you want a long read this assuredly fits the profile.
July 29, 2016
It was fine until the very end. She gave up and basically decided that his behavior was okay and that love would fix it all. No No No No! I call bull sh**. Pissed me right off. Love will not fix it all or make a dominating partner okay. Argh!!!!!!
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