H is for Hotel

I’m doing folklore and book review posts to reach and please a larger audience. Previous years have shown select interest in both and to minimise blogging throughout the year, I’m focusing my efforts on April.

Focusing on an A to Z of my TBR (to be read) list, each letter will have books starting with that letter on my list, a book I’ve read and reviewed (with the review!) and one of my books matching the letter with a link about more info about the book.

If you’d rather check out my folklore post for today, go here.

My TBR

About the Book I’ve Read

The Hotel by Louise Mumford

Four of them went to the hotel

Four students travel to Ravencliffe, an eerie abandoned hotel perched on steep cliffs on the Welsh coast. After a series of unexplained accidents, only three of them leave. The fourth, Leo, disappears, and is never seen again.

Only three of them came back

A decade on, the friends have lost contact. Oscar is fame-hungry, making public appearances and selling his story. Richard sank into alcoholism and is only just recovering. Bex just wants to forget – until one last opportunity to go back offers the chance to find out what really happened to Leo.

Ten years later, they return one last time

But as soon as they get to the hotel things start going wrong again. Objects mysteriously disappear and reappear. Accidents happen. And Bex realises that her former friends know far more than they are letting on about the true events at Ravencliffe that night…

Check it out on Goodreads.

My Review

An interesting gothic thriller that keeps you guessing until the end. I liked how Bex was clearly more mature in the present timeline, more in control of her impulses, opposed to the younger Bex. “Being a teenager is like being drunk.”

The language and descriptions were lush, fitting with the gothic atmosphere of the book. “But we all know about fairy tales, don’t we? They are vicious, dripping in blood.”

The mystery of what had really happened at the hotel when Bex was a teenager, with the lot of them filming themselves as they explored the old ruin, was a fun riddle to solve – and it had all the things I love about old buildings (chandeliers, secret compartments, etc.).

I liked that the stories that drew Bex and the others to the hotel were explored throughout the novel and given context. I also liked that the weirdness of the Victorian age was shown throughout the hotel and the secrets they uncover.

What I didn’t like: the swearing and the use of the Lord’s name as an expletive. There were also typos (especially extra words left in sentences that were missed during rewrites and editing) that pulled me from the story as I stopped to make sense of “you weren’t stood right there” and other weirdness.

An enjoyable book about a haunted Victorian hotel and the secrets people keep.

My Book

The Fae Realm (Faery Tales #1)

I hope you enjoyed this. For more books I’ve read and reviewed, check out either my Pinterest board about reviews or my Goodreads profile. Alternatively, you can check out my reviews on BookBub. Have you read any of the books? Loved or hated any of them?

You can now support my time in producing book review posts (buying books, reading, writing reviews and everything else involved) by buying me a coffee. This can be a once-off thing, or you can buy me coffee again in the future at your discretion.

*FYI, my reviews are my honest opinion and if something bothers me, I tell it straight. How else will anything change? My opinions are based on being a voracious reader and book buyer, not an attack on the author.*