Paradise 69 - Book Review

Paradise 69 by Ed Silva is an erotic novel about four teenage girls who go to the island of Tahiti to celebrate their graduation from high school and to have fun meeting new men from all over the world. The protagonist is 18-year-old Scarlett De Santis, who relates the adventures she and her three friends experience during their stay in Tahiti. Scarlett is a kick-butt, sexy, sweet, and strong young lady who Is the more responsible and cautious one of the group and often tries to rein in her wild girlfriends. Her loyal girlfriends are Vittoria, Adrianna, and Giuliana, who are also only 18 years old.

When the girls first get to Tahiti, they immediately meet men who treat them like royalty. These men from around the world also take advantage of the girl's naivety and are quickly having wild, abandoned sex with them. Next, the foursome are invited to an exclusive club where they party all night long, drinking, doing drugs, and actually having sex with numerous men. During this first evening at the resort, Scarlett meets Sam Mijan, an alpha male from Iran who wows her with his good looks, wealth, and power. She is shocked yet thrilled by Sam's singular erotic tastes and all the trappings of success―his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his security guards, his helicopter, expensive cars, etc.  Sam expresses his interest in her, but he also tells her that he likes to share with others the things he loves - and she is one of those things. 

 At first, the partying and sex seem exciting and harmless to the four vulnerable girls, but behind all the fun, there is a very sinister element at work. The relationships the four teenagers have with these men are very dangerous encounters. Under the fog of drinks and drugs plied by these men, they are taken advantage of sexually. They are also emotionally manipulated into doing things they would never do otherwise. Soon their erotic experiments, unworldliness, and pure innocence put them in very compromising situations, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation.

Eventually, the girls are enticed to make pornographic movies, and Scarlett finally realizes she is being exploited. She also realizes that she and her friends are in serious danger. Scarlett is in much deeper than she had ever imagined. Luckily she is also smart enough to recognize that these are dangerous men and that she must do something to escape their clutches. But does she?

Paradise 69  gives a peek at how easily girls are introduced into sex trafficking by using force, drugs, fraud, or coercion. It really is a disturbing and gripping read about how young, innocent women are manipulated to trick them into what the Department of Homeland Security defines as "modern-day slavery."