Book Review: The Hotel Penn by L. L. Abbott

     Rose moved to New York with the help of her mother after her fiancé died at the age of 17. Now, she has a job at the glamourous Hotel Pennsylvania and is witnessing a changing social scene as it sweeps the nation. Women fighting for their rights, the prohibition, and WW1 had just ended. Everything was so much grander than the small town of Clarington where she grew up, but with a front row seat to all the biggest changes there is more than her heart on the line. 

    I purchased this book at the suggestion of the author. Since it's purchase it has sat in my Kindle library, which was a year ago, and I started reading it at random. Scrolled through my unreads and clicked a book where the scrolling stopped. Fun way to pass the TBR. Anyways, this is a period book which I am always on the fence about. I either love them with everything in me or I am constantly rolling my eyes and waiting on the book to be over. In this case it was the prior. 

    I really enjoyed this book as it talks about the first year of the Hotel Penn and the events of a young girl carving out a life for herself among numerous huge changes that were happening in the US at that time. There is talks of inter-racial couples, which was frowned upon at that time, bootlegged gin, abortions, birth control, women standing up for their rights, and so much more. If you are looking for a fun, slightly sad romance book laden with history than look no farther. 

    After finishing this book I looked up the Hotel Penn and if this story rouses in you a desire to visit the Hotel Penn, as it is a real place, I am sorry to say that you will be disappointed. While the hotel is very real and was indeed opened in 1919 to a Mr. Statler just like in these pages the hotel was closed permanently in April, 2020 and there are now talks to demolish the great building for some kind of transportation thing. I am not sure the details about that. I was more interested in the hotel depicted then in what will be happening to it now that it is closed. If you have ever stayed in this once great hotel please tell me about it! I would love to hear your stories and see if you felt anything like what is mentioned from it's beginning! 

    This book is available on Amazon for $3.99 by clicking here or for free with Kindle Unlimited.