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. 

Book Review: Dirty Together by Meghan March (Dirty Billionaires Book 3)

     Holly has ran back to her home-town of Gold Haven, Kentucky after finding out Creighton lied to her. Now that she is home her car has broken down and her high school crush has insisted to take her "back to her roots" so she can take her mind off her annoying husband. But this small town country singer may be getting more than she signed up for after a night of drinking when Karris shows up to cart her back home. Is she willing to forgive him and move forward? Is she ready to stop running and trust this man with her heart? 

    I got book one of this trilogy on impulse from Libby and if it wasn't due to the fact that it was an audiobook through my local library I never would have finished it. I am not one for breaking a book into multiple parts. Just put it all together and move on with your life. Outside of that I still feel the butt stuff is overdone in the books. Alright, my complaining session is done with the series as a whole. On to this book in particular.     

    There are actual feels in the book unlike in the other books in this trilogy, which is saying something. Holly is able to lose herself in her music while Cray losses himself in Holly. The work life balance is a challenge, just as it has been. Holly's mother is an issue, more so than she was previously. And Creighton's family plays a large part in the end of the book. While it tied up the loose ends how it ended kind of left me with a "what the fuck?" feeling. It felt like an easy cop-out more than anything else. Maybe that was the intent, but it wasn't my favorite move. 

    Anyways, I liked Creighton more in this book than in others. Maybe it was the mushy side as well as the dominant asshole, but I liked him more. Holly was still amazing and reminded me so much of someone I used to call my best friend. 

    This book is available on Amazon for $5.99 by clicking here, but as I have previously mentioned if you want to read this book just see if your local Libby has it. Because I wouldn't pay that for a 3rd of a book. 

Books by this author:

 Dirty Billionaire (Dirty Billionaire Book 1)

Dirty Pleasures (Dirty Billionaire Book 2)