EMILY J TAYLOR
Synopsis:
All her life, Jani has dreamed of Elsewhere. Just barely scraping by with her job at a tannery, she’s resigned to a dreary life in the port town of Durc, caring for her younger sister Zosa. That is, until the Hotel Magnifique comes to town.
The hotel is legendary not only for its whimsical enchantments, but also for its ability to travel—appearing in a different destination every morning. While Jani and Zosa can’t afford the exorbitant costs of a guest’s stay, they can interview to join the staff, and are soon whisked away on the greatest adventure of their lives. But once inside, Jani quickly discovers their contracts are unbreakable and that beneath the marvelous glamour, the hotel is hiding dangerous secrets.
With the vexingly handsome doorman Bel as her only ally, Jani embarks on a mission to unravel the mystery of the magic at the heart of the hotel and free Zosa—and the other staff—from the cruelty of the ruthless maître d’hôtel. To succeed, she’ll have to risk everything she loves, but failure would mean a fate far worse than never returning home.
My rating: ★★★★
Categories: YA, fantasy, romance
Content:
Language: Use of mild language and one or two uses of stronger ("s").
Violence: Most of the violence is performed through magic. There are scenes and mentions of eyes and fingers being cut off, a depiction of someone being frozen to death through magic, and a description of stabbing. There are minimal descriptions of blood and gore. Manipulation—both emotional and magical—is also present.
Sex: A few allusions to sex, a magical honeymoon suit that shrinks the bed so the MCs are trapped on it, kisses and some intimate touching (nothing really explicit though).
LGBTQ: One of the side characters is lesbian and her girlfriend is mentioned a few times. One of the main characters is bisexual and is mentioned to have had a past relationship with another man. There are several mentions of gay couples.
My Review: I had absolutely no idea what to expect going into this. The pacing at the beginning was a little off, but then it slowed down (perhaps even a little too much), but I really enjoyed the story and the characters. I haven't read anything like this recently and there were a few unexpected twists I appreciated. I wanted to see some more development of Bel, too. This book has extremely similar vibes to Caraval, but I actually enjoyed this one more (I'm sorry, I just cannot stand Donatella—I only read the first one because I knew she would play a bigger part in the other two).