The Maid by Nita Prose

 

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 This delightful mystery has been getting all the buzz lately, and I couldn't wait to read it. 

Molly Gray is a maid at the Regency Grand Hotel, and she takes her job very, very seriously. She will not leave a hotel room less than perfect for a hotel guest. Her tag line: "I am here to restore your room to a state of perfection". 

Molly is a character that is certainly memorable. She has trouble reading social cues and takes everything people say literally. She's painfully honest, too. Sadly, she's a loner amongst the hotel employees, and of course they make fun of her. Yet she is the sweetest, most honest person around. 

One day, Molly returns to the hotel suite of the Blacks, a rich couple who frequent the hotel. Molly doesn't care for Mr. Black, as he's rude, crude, and treats his young second wife badly. He's been known to be mean to hotel staff, too. Molly had already been in the suite once that morning, but had to leave before she could finish cleaning the bathroom. Upon returning, she notices the suite she left in tip-top shape (except for the bathroom) is now messy again. Moving into the bedroom, she discovers Mr. Black, dead on the bed. 

Oh dear. 

Molly quickly becomes the center of the murder investigation-mostly because police can't understand how or why she can remain calm, cool, and emotionally detached as they question her. Well, Molly is a bit different, and unfortunately, the police just don't understand her at all. 

Molly gets herself into a pickle, mostly because she just can't read people very well, and mistakes attention for caring when it's not. As Molly finds herself getting deeper into the muck of the murder, will she be able to save herself from going to jail?

Molly will tug at your heart, for sure. She's lonely, has only the best intentions, and is struggling to make ends meet. You will certainly cheer her on, worry about her, and want to make her a cup of tea. The murder definitely takes some twists and turns, too. 

Rating: 5/6 for an entertaining mystery centered around a maid who falls under suspicion after discovering a dead body at a hotel. This novel takes a few surprise turns, all the way to the end. I loved it. 

Available in hardcover, ebook, and audio. 

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The Maid by Nita Prose

Last Summer at the Golden Hotel by Elyssa Friedland

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    Oh, I've been in a bit of a reading slump the past few weeks. I have oodles of books here at home, but I just can't seem to sit still long enough to make a dent in any of them. So frustrating! 

I picked this novel from June's BOTM choices because it looked fun. You know sometimes you get in a slump and keep reading the same type of book over and over, and you just don't realize it. Well, that was me. Reading Last Summer at the Golden Hotel kicked me out of my routine and it was the perfect summer book for me. 

Nostalgia is HUGE in this novel about two families: the Goldmans and the Weingolds. Benny and Louise Goldman, and Amos and Fanny Weingold owned the famous Golden Hotel in the Catskills of New York State. For sixty years, it was a classic summer getaway for Jewish families living in the big city. A week or two spent at the Golden Hotel meant plenty of time for swimming, dancing, endless food, class A entertainment, and plenty of gossip. The Golden was a family tradition for thousands of people over the decades-something very special. 

Now, however, the Catskills are no longer a big draw, and the Golden Hotel is the last remaining resort. Others went out of business or were bought out and turned into casinos or golf courses. The Golden is teetering on the brink of closing. Guest counts are way down; the place needs serious renovation, and now a company wants to buy it and turn it into a casino. Brian Weingold has struggled to keep it afloat, but now must call in both families to spend one last week at the Golden and decide if they want to keep it or sell it. Amos and Fanny, and Louise arrive. Sadly, Benny died a few years before. Louise's daughter Aimee arrives with two of her adult children. Her husband, a doctor, is in serious trouble with the law, and Aimee came to the Golden to get away and figure out what to do with her troubled marriage. Amos and Fanny's grandchildren Phoebe and Michael arrive as well. Phoebe is an Instagram influencer, and Michael has a secret he is afraid to share with his family. Peter, Brian's twin, stayed home with his wife. Peter is a super successful lawyer who is only concerned about making money. 

Aimee, Brian, and Peter grew up at the Golden. They have so many memories, just being there brings back so many wonderful memories. It may be run down, but the Golden still has some magic. Will the family decide to sell or to keep it, and try to bring it back to life? Over the course of one week, you'll get to know both families and understand the dynamics between the two. The staff who work at the Golden are a treat, and you can't turn a page without grinning. This novel is truly a nostalgic read--even for those of us who have never been to the Catskills. 

I so enjoyed reading this book. It was delightful, even if a bit sad in parts. If anything, it is a gentle reminder of days gone by full of happy memories and people we love who have passed on. It's also a reminder that in our busy world, sometimes the best vacation is to unplug and return to simple pleasures in life, spent with the people who matter the most to us. 

Rating: 5/6 for an absolutely satisfying read about days gone by, the intrusion of today's high speed world, and reconnecting to family and what is important. A part of Americana that has slowly faded away, but remains a golden memory. 

Available in paperback, ebook, and audio.

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Last Summer at the Golden Hotel by Elyssa Friedland

Dial A for Aunties by Jesse G. Sutanto

 

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Well, i spent some time this weekend creating an impromptu video where I talked about a whole lot (no shelf control, folks) of books I wanted to read for the summer. However, it was too darn long to load into a post and I finally gave up posting it on Facebook after what felt like a zillion tries. 

So, I'm a bit late posting and I'm going to try another, shorter video and get that up Friday. 

Meanwhile, I have been reading a few books, and I finally finished this novel that's a bit romance, a bit screwball comedy, and well, a slight murder mystery. 

Meddelin Chan has three aunts and a mom who run a successful wedding company. They do it all: flowers, cake, makeup & hair, and Meddy is the photographer. Their biggest wedding is coming up: two wealthy families joining together on a posh island hotel resort. It's huge for Meddy and her family, and they can't screw it up. 

Meddy's mother sets her up on a blind date, and things go terribly, terribly wrong. As in dead body wrong the morning they are to leave for the wedding. What's a girl to do? Call her aunts! And what's wonderful about Meddy's aunts and her mom is that they believe her without question, and throw themselves into solving the pickle Meddy has created (accidentally). 

At the hotel resort, Meddy runs into Nathan, now part-owner of the luxury hotel. He is Meddy's true love, and she broke up with him in college because she couldn't leave her family in California. The heat is still there between the two, and Nathan makes it clear he's missed Meddy and still has feelings for her. Now, to just explain about the dead body in the cooler...

It really is a screwball comedy in that we have a group of women preparing for a major wedding, dragging a cooler around with a body in it-trying to hide it but constantly being interrupted and having to change course. Toss in a developing second plot involving the maid of honor, theft, and a whole fleet of really, really hungover groomsmen, and this wedding will take a miracle to pull off! 

I wasn't sure what to expect and actually enjoyed this novel very much. I wouldn't say it's a mystery, nor a straight romance, either. Kind of a little bit of both, with plenty of Chinese-Indonesian culture and family dynamics. Will Meddy have a happy ending? Happy news! This novel has been optioned for a Netflix movie!

Rating: 3/6 for a fun read about a wedding where everything that can go wrong, goes wrong-and how having a meddling ma in your romantic life can lead to a really, really bad blind date. Enjoyable, full of loveable characters and a demonstration of what families will do for each other in times of crisis. 

Available in hardcover, trade paperback, audio, and ebook. 

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Dial A for Aunties by Jesse G. Sutanto

Christmas Under a Cranberry Sky by Holly Martin

Still on my holiday reading groove! I have to admit I've begun reading a few non-holiday novels just to balance out the sweet. I found this author at my local Barnes & Noble and I must confess I immediately bought every book of hers they had on the shelf, and ordered a few more. I know most of her novels are available as ebooks, but since my e-reader is out of commission, that's not an option. 

Holly Martin is a British author, in the genre of Jenny Colgan chick-lit type novels. I was astounded at everything she's written! Needless to say, she doesn't just cover the Christmas season, but you've got a chance to enjoy her novels all year round. Check out her extensive title list on Goodreads. Some are available in paperback in the U.S., but many more are available as ebooks. 

Christmas Under a Cranberry Sky is a full on holiday experience. Set on Juniper Island, a island north of Scotland, the folks of that tiny island have partnered with the owner of the Stardust Lake Hotel to create a winter wonderland for tourists. They're pretty isolated, so it's either create a place where they can earn a living and live, or move off the island and away from their homes. Piper Chesterfield is on her way to the island to review Stardust Lake Hotel. She's a traveling hotel reviewer and hasn't had a place to call home in years. After this assignment, she's taking a 6 month break, renting an apartment in London, and figuring out where she wants life to take her. Traveling non-stop, living out of a suitcase has become weary, and she needs a change. 

Everything about Juniper Island and the hotel is magical. Most importantly, to Piper's surprise, the owner of the hotel is none other than her teenage love, Gabe Whitaker. They haven't seen each other for twelve years, after the tragic accident that changed both of their lives and drove them apart. Shocked to see each other, the spark is still there, but now Gabe has a little girl-Wren-and the heartbreak Piper caused is battling with his desire to begin a new relationship with Piper. And there's the sticky situation of Gabe not knowing Piper is there to review his hotel...

Juniper Island and the hotel are places I'd like to go, if they existed. A winter wonderland full of wild ponies, epic scenery, ocean views, and igloos designed for overnight guests to experience the Northern Lights from a warm, cozy bed; a town with shops, friendly people, and everything decorated for the Christmas season. It's hard not to want to stay there; even in the warm months, it remains a popular tourist destination. This is Gabe's big project, and while he owns other hotels in big cities, this is closest to his heart. Will his rekindled love for Piper win out over years of distrust, hurt, and angst?

You'll meet a supporting cast of characters that will round out the whole experience of Juniper Island, and I certainly had a very clear vision in my head of everyone and everything. Some of Gabe and Piper's angst got a little old for me, but other than that, it was a fun novel to read, and I can't wait to read more of Holly's novels in 2019. Maybe I'll squeeze another one in before the end of 2018--who knows?

Rating:  3/6 for a magical setting, where the author thought of every detail, but leaves enough to your imagination to help you create your own Juniper Island. Cast of characters are solid; romance is steamy, and it's a fun read for December. 

Available in paperback and ebook.

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Christmas Under a Cranberry Sky by Holly Martin

The Last Days of Cafe Leila by Donia Bijan

This novel caught my eye a few months back for two reasons:  it is set in Iran, and it's about food.  It's also about coming home after a very long absence.  

Flipping between present day Iran and San Francisco, and Iran before and during the revolution in the late 1970's and early 1980's, The Last Days of Cafe Leila tells the story of the Yadegar family; Russian immigrants who moved to Iran in the mid-twentieth century to escape persecution and settled in Tehran, opening a popular cafe.  Yanik and Nina have three sons:  Davoud, Zod, and Morad.  Zod is the son who works alongside his parents, cooking delicious meals for friends and family.  The Cafe Leila becomes very well known, and a hotel is built to accomodate guests, along with nightly music, dances, and a beautiful garden full of delightul scents and exotic plants.  It's a happy life, until tragedy suddenly takes a family member.  Zod marries Pari, and they quickly fall in love, raising Noor and her brother Mehrdad with the help of Naneh Goli, Zod's childhood nanny.  

And then the revolution comes, and with it terror and uncertainty, and terrible, terrible heartbreak.  Zod decides to send his children to the United States to safety.  Noor and Mehrdad, speaking no English, find themselves in Oakland, struggling through college, unsure of their surroundings, and for Noor, experiencing culture shock.  They both know they can't go home. 

Interwoven with this story is present day Noor, now the mother of teenage Lily, and going through a divorce from Nelson, a cardiologist with a wandering eye.  Zod is dying, and he calls Noor home for the first time in decades. It's the perfect excuse to take Lily and escape the pain and humiliation of her husband's infidelity.  Lily, of course, is very angry and not at all interested in visiting Iran or the grandfather she's never met. But for Noor, it is a crucial turning point in her life, and how she sees herself. For so long a timid, gentle woman, she's forced to move out of her boundaries while at the same time physically covering herself with garments when she leaves Cafe Leila and the apartment upstairs.  Iran becomes for her a place of freedom.

This truly is a family saga with plenty of love, laughter, and loss. The food is the most magical part of this novel; pomegranates, lemons, kebabs, perogie, rose water, honey; it is so much a part of the culture of Iran, but also the history of the Yadegar family and their blending of Russian and Persian foods. There is a bit of a twist at the end, but I didn't think it was very surprising, and it was the best way to end the novel.  Who knows?  There may be more to Noor's story in a future novel. 

Rating:  3/6 for a novel about a woman traveling back home to rediscover herself, her family history, and her future.  The descriptions of food were mouthwatering and have me craving pomegranates and perogies.  It is an interesting look at how people can live life in a society that has undergone tremendous, painful change. 

Available in hardcover, audio, ebook, and large print.

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The Last Days of Cafe Leila by Donia Bijan

Christmas in Paris by Anita Hughes

I discovered Anita Hughes' novels last year, and I've enjoyed the few that I've read.  I've still got at least two more sitting on my bookshelves.  But I spied this somewhere on the web, and decided it was a perfect read for Christmas.  

I'll say right off the bat that I was not enchanted with this novel.  I had to keep reminding myself to suspend my sense of reality and just go with the flow.  Seriously, there's no way this could ever really happen to anyone!

Isabel Lawson calls off her wedding three days before the big event.  She realizes her perfect fiance just wasn't a perfect fit.  They both decide it would be a great idea for her to fly to Paris and stay in the ritzy hotel suite they had reserved for their Christmas honeymoon in Paris.  Isabel is a beautiful analyst who works for JP Morgan, and loves numbers.  This is her second broken engagement, and she's a bit puzzled as to why she can't fall in love with the right man.  

Isabel meets Alec, a French children's book illustrator, when she is stuck on her balcony, and she throws a shoe at his window to get his attention.  Alec is also nursing a broken engagement; his beautiful fiance dumped him for a gorgeous Australian a week before their wedding.  Both Isabel and Alec are taking advantage of pre-booked honeymoon suites at the Crillon, the most exclusive hotel in Paris.  It's a lousy way to spend Christmas in Paris.  

Alec and Isabel decide to explore Paris together, and they have a good time seeing the sights and eating delicious food.  Isabel loves Paris, and has studied up on the history of every place they go.  A chance meeting with a fortune teller sends Isabel on a quest to find the perfect love in Paris.  Only problem is, she's not seeing her perfect match is Alec.  Will she keep following the fortune teller's predictions or will she open her eyes and see Alec?

Okay.  Isabel is a woman who loves the sense and orderliness of numbers.  She's brilliant at math.  But she decides  to swallow the predictions of the fortune teller and ignore what her heart is telling her.  After all, she's been an utter failure so far at romance.  But she's had amazing sex with both of her ex-fiances!  Gotta say this is a lucky girl in that respect.  I just found it completely beyond belief that this young, brilliant, beautiful woman could be such a ding-dong.  She's so enchanted with Paris, the food, the places...she finds the perfect gown for every occasion, and isn't really too blue being in Paris by herself at Christmas.  

Alec is slightly more down to earth.  He's broke after spending a chunk of his income on his ex-fiance; he eats nuts and drinks scotch in his hotel suite and draws Gus, his famous dog in all sorts of situations.  He works through his feelings by constantly drawing, which I thought was a cute quirk of his.  He's miserable, thinking about his ex-fiance, and never wants to fall in love again.  

I found it impossible to suspend belief long enough to think that two people could fall in love so fast after being thisclose to marriage with two other people.  Yes, they both realize they weren't in love with their ex-fiances, but really?  I know love can appear when we least expect it, but I'm not a huge proponent of jumping into another relationship a week after leaving another one.  Isabel seemed like such a contradiction, and fairly shallow.  Alec was endearing, but a little lost.  It was not easy to believe they could fall in love with each other so quickly.  

Rating:  5/10 for a lovely tour of Paris at Christmas time, but Isabel was just too poorly developed as a character to believe, and Alec and Isabel fell in love way too quickly after leaving other relationships. It is definitely a perfect read for Christmas if you read it purely for fun.  

Available in paperback and e-book.

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Christmas in Paris by Anita Hughes