The Big Dreams Beach Hotel
Lilly Bartlett
Rating: 3.5 stars
Amazon UK (K £2.99 / P £7.99)
Synopsis:
This is a brand new standalone novel from the author of the Carlton Square series with a whole new cast of characters to fall in love with!
Wriggle your toes in the sand and feel the warm breeze on your face when you check into the hotel that's full of dreams...
Three years after ditching her career in New York City, Rosie never thought she'd still be managing the quaint faded Victorian hotel in her seaside hometown.
What's worse, the hotel's new owners are turning it into a copy of their Florida properties. Flamingos and all. Cultures are clashing and the hotel's residents stand in the way of the developer's plans. The hotel is both their home and their family.
That's going to make Rory's job difficult when he arrives to enforce the changes. And Rosie isn't exactly on his side, even though it's the chance to finally restart her career. Rory might be charming, but he's still there to evict her friends.
How can she follow her dreams if it means ending everyone else's?
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At first, I'll be honest - it took me a little while to get into. I think what it was is that I was actually confused as to where it was meant to be set! Was it in New York or was it in England? (It's set in England, just FYI). After I realised where it was set I did get into a bit more and started to enjoy the story.
I've never read a book by this author, so I didn't know what to expect. One things for certain though, all of the authors books have absolutely stunning covers! They draw the reader in and I for one fell in love with the cover of this novel. The colours are beautiful and I simply adore the bunting going across the top!
I think one of the things that confused me at the beginning (wondering if it was set in NYC or not) was actually one of the things I did enjoy about this book in the end - you see, the story is set around main character Rosie and her journey as to why she left her job in NYC. Throughout the book there are 'flashback' in which we go back and learn a bit more. I don't want to give too much away obviously but this was certainly one of the things that kept making me want to keep reading!
The characters were all really quirky and unique and another thing I enjoyed was that there was a real sense of friendship and community between those who worked at the hotel - reading it made me want to be part of it! I liked Rosie's character and found her to be easy to relate to. One thing I didn't think was entirely plausible was Rory's character and his place within the story - again I won't go into too much detail but I found sometimes I was a little bored reading about him.
Overall, it was an easy, romantic read. I wouldn't say it was one of my favourite books but it was enjoyable.
Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for a chance to read this novel, which I have reviewed honestly.
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