Guest Author | Dan Dembiczak

For thirty-two-year-old Sarah Chizeck, marriage was not an option, but an expectation. She was raised to believe that a woman’s main focus is to get married and start a family, and she put everything else on hold to accomplish this goal.

So when she finally marries her boyfriend of five years, Sarah and her family are ecstatic. But underneath Sarah’s smiles, something else is lurking.

Sarah’s career and personal interests were not all she put on hold to pursue marriage. She also put her feelings on the backburner and buried her emotions. But when she reluctantly goes to Hawai’i for her honeymoon, these things come to the surface, and she is both pleased and alarmed by the sensory experiences she encounters.

Terrified by her attraction to a handsome young concierge, Sarah is forced to confront her new feelings, as well as what she previously ignored, and she ultimately comes to shocking revelations about her upbringing, marriage, and future.

“Imperfect Paradise” tells the compelling story of Sarah’s internal awakening and delivers a powerful message about hope, happiness, and finding your place in the world. A classic romance with a contemporary twist, it is sure to appeal to fans of modern, liberating fiction.

The next day, my sixth on the island, I awoke to my first overcast morning. It had almost been a week, and I had yet to show tan lines. We still had another week until we’d be home, away from scented towels and disturbingly crisp linens. Michael was still asleep, so I quietly tiptoed into the living room, closing the door to the bedroom. I looked around, thinking of all the sugar I’d ingested on that couch, how many of my blank stares went just beyond the balcony. It had all been internal before, teenage ennui, a bored housewife concocting her own dilemma to convince herself she was still complicated. At least, that was how I started to see it, how I began to judge myself. The difference between yesterday morning and right now was consequences. I wasn’t just bringing toxicity into my thoughts anymore, but now into my actions as well. I took my shiny, beautiful life for a reckless drive. Before I let this other person out, I was just damaging myself. Now, I had the hearts of two men to potentially fling into the deep end.