⛴️ 🏖️ 🏨 "The Hotel" (2021) 🏨 🏖️ ⛴️ - Book Tour & Review
Secrets and lies...at Nantucket's most exclusive and glamorous, family-owned hotel.
The Whitley is Nantucket's most exclusive waterfront hotel--a sprawling collection of pristine white cottages and an elegant main building on a long stretch of private, white sandy beach.
It's a family owned business--brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, all work there in various capacities.
Paula is happy in her back office accounting position. But changes are in store when her grandfather promotes her and fires her cousin--who then blames Paula.
Meanwhile, a blond romantic comedy superstar is hiding out at The Hotel for a few months. She meets Paula's brother, a chef--who has no idea who she is--and she likes it that way.
Paula's grandfather also hires a consultant to help her settle into her new role. But she isn't sure what to think of David, who grew up on Nantucket but now lives in Manhattan.
He's a brilliant consultant and will be assessing Paula's suitability for the role. He's also home for another reason, a difficult family issue that makes Manhattan seem very far away.
A new family saga from the Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller author of The Nantucket Inn and The Restaurant.
Tour Giveaway
One winner will receive a gorgeous Kate Spade totebag with two signed paperbacks, one of The Hotel and one of The Nantucket Inn (US only)
Ends June 23, 2021
Thank you in advance to the author, Pamela Kelley, for providing a complimentary review copy through Prism Book Tours. A positive review was not required or requested, all words are my own.
The Hotel is my first introduction to Pamela Kelley’s work, and it reminded me of a LOT of the MIRA romance books I got some 18-20 years ago. I got a LOT of my Debbie Macomber books through MIRA/Harlequin and this storyline is similar.
Like most of the MIRA books I was able to read (there are several boxes of unread ones in my home), this was a CLEAN read. There is no foul language or even a mention of intimate scenes. There are a few kisses and those are sweet and not graphic. Those looking for any intimate scenes – you won’t find those here. I know reviews of the author’s other books complain about that aspect.
The blurb in this post is also Amazon’s “blurb. So, I was expecting a different kind of read when I decided to “request” it.
The blurb on the back of the physical book I got:
“The Whitley was Nantucket’s most exclusive hotel. It was a sprawling collection of pristine white cottages and an elegant main building on a long stretch of private, white sandy beach. The list of famous celebrity guests that had visited over the years was top secret and a matter of pride to the Whitley family. If you worked in the hospitality industry, landing a job at The Whitley was the ultimate goal. Many of the staff had lived and worked there for years. There were strict rules about the staff keeping their distance from both the guests and the family. But sometimes, ruled were broken.
No one is more surprised than Paula Whitley when her grandfather, Wynn Whitley, the founder of the hotel and many other business holdings, makes two big announcements. He is promoting Paul from her quiet behind the scenes role handling the accounting, to being in charge of everything. The rest of the family, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, and parents, are stunned and not everyone is happy about it.
And the second big announcement – she’s expected to work closely with a newly-hired consultant, a turnaround expert in luxury hotels. Paula dislikes David Connolly immediately. He’s arrogant and bossy and annoyingly right most of the time. She’d be loving her new role, if it wasn’t for him. And, everyone, family and staff are wondering – what is grandfather’s goal? Is he looking to sell The Whitley?”
As you can see, it reads a bit differently than the “official” blurb. So, I didn’t know what to expect. At least the cover is gorgeous!! I could almost hear the waves, feel the breeze, and smell the ocean. It’s been six (6) years since I was near an ocean (San Diego, CA – June 2015) and I definitely miss it.
One of the main reasons I wanted to read this? I grew up in Las Vegas and while my family didn’t work in hotels, that is ONE of our MAJOR tourist industries. And, I’ve seen a LOT of hotels come and go. This was a rather interesting take on the behind-the-scenes operations of a hotel, especially a family-owned/operated one.
I do know there were some issues in being able to review this. The “review” tour was put on hold for a few months for several reasons which I completely understood. As a result, I was VERY happy to see this on my porch when it arrived. But, I am wondering if that is the main difference in the two “blurbs”.
Right away I was wondering what was going on in this book. And, who was who?
Main cast of characters –> Paula, Andrea, Paula’s siblings – Nick and Lucy, David, Bella, Marco, Ben, and Jason; (others I didn’t name or forgot)
The story is told mainly from Paula, Andrea, David, Bella, and Nick’s POV. And, the reader is treated to a few love triangles as well:
Paula/Andrea/Ben (Paula is seen talking to Ben, so jealous Andrea takes a chance and takes Ben up on an offer)
Andrea/Ben/Lucy (turns out it was Lucy who Ben is interested in and he was
only “talking” with Lucy, but he seems interested in Andrea and their “golf” dates)
Andrea/Ben/Marco (while Andrea is “golf-dating” Ben, Marco [one of her subordinates] is trying to “woo” her and she’s beginning to like him)
Paula/Jason/David (Paula, while interested in Ben, ends up “dating” Jason, though she clearly has NO interest in him; yet her romance with David runs like their work relationship – hot/cold)
However, it does culminate in about four (4) total romances –>
Andrea/Marco (at about 75%)
Lucy/Jason (this is sort of halfway)
Paula/David (more towards the near-end of the book; there are a few laughs with them at the beginning)
Nick/Bella (they’re the only “normal” and steady couple; Nick is a chef and Paula’s brother; Bella is in “hiding” recovering from an illness – she’s really an actress; the two hit it off from the first meeting)
The characters are definitely hard to keep up with and explain, so that can make it a bit hard for readers looking for “simple” with the romance aspect. There are characters that do not tend to “grow” well, that is they pretty much stay the same from when they’re introduced.
The biggest growth in terms of “improvement” – Andrea, which I found as a complete surprise. I didn’t see it coming at all. And, anyone reading this book will see what I am talking about. It took about one-third (1/3) of the way in to finally get to know everyone with regards to familiar relationship and work relationship.
The business? Well, most of the “official” blurb is true: Paula is hired, replacing her cousin Andrea. Andrea isn’t so much “fired” as placed in Concierge Services. Not the “big-wig” job she had, and she is not happy at all. So, she starts looking for a GM job at other hotels. That search doesn’t go very well.
David is there because of not just the consulting job, but his family. Namely his mother, recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Some readers might be sensitive to this. And, he’s also hoping to boost income for the hotel and lower their costs. He’s also there to help Paula in her new role as GM.
Most of this read like it was a “day-to-day” and “personal” look at the characters. There was nothing really dramatic or exciting. Most of the “tension” was kept to a minimum.
As the characters get to know each other, and became more intertwined, I was wondering when the “plot” was going to drop – the “sale” part as mentioned on the book.
That doesn’t even come into play until about 78% in the novel, so almost towards the end, and it is a brief moment. This is the result of a “problem” that Paula’s aunt has and nothing to do with Paula’s grandfather at all.
I was thinking that plot point might be a bigger part since it was mentioned. And, as a result, I was hoping for a bit more exciting read. I do think that expanding this to match the back part would’ve added a bit more to the plot and given it some substance.
Another missed opportunity was with David’s ex-girlfriend, married and divorced, Missy. Missy was more of a plot foil, and not used to her potential. However, there were a lot of characters in it that were mentioned, including a Bridezilla (Davina). And, I get that it was hard to keep track of them.
There is also a LOT of good food mentioned in this book which leads up to a “Taste of the Town” event. I’d definitely suggest a snack while reading this.
At first I thought this MIGHT be a standalone read. And, it does quite well as one. I would like to know what happens with a few of the couples so I might read the next one in the series.
Due to the short chapters, this was a very quick and somewhat easy read for me. Though there were a few stumbling blocks with a lot of repetition with a few things that could’ve sufficed with “pronouns”. “Nantucket” was thrown around a LOT on page three. In one paragraph it was mentioned four (4) times when the word “there” could’ve sufficed for a few of them.
There were also some typos – missing quotes, and a misspelled word on page 127 with “jurecognized”. Also, on the back of the book, Paula’s grandfather was listed as WYNN Whitley. On page 183, the name Alvin was used, seemingly referring to her grandfather.
The mistakes didn’t hinder the overall story too badly, but they were a bit “glaring” and distracting.
While I did rate this as a four (4) star read, it really ran between 3.7-3.9 due to the plot differences, the lack of a juicy plot, some flat characters, as well as the mistakes. I did round up as it was far more than 3-stars, but it really missed hitting the fourth (4th) one.
Overall, it was enjoyable “little beach read” aside from the “hiccups” that plagued it.
Fans of the author and the genre will probably be curious about this and might find it interesting to read.
RATING:
4 (3.7-3.9) ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Goodreads
4 (3.7-3.9) ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Bookbub
4 (3.7-3.9) ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Personal Rating (see rating explanation in this blog: https://readingexcursions.blogspot.com/2020/01/rating-system-2020-changes.html)
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