Queenie Malone’s Paradise Hotel audiobook

I’m screaming at top of my lungs friends: Please read this book to feel good, completed, joyful, for melting your heart and refreshing your soul!I didn’t expect to enjoy this so much but I loved the authors’ previous works so this is not a big surprise for me to like the writing style by separating the POVS with a person’s childhood self and adult self. Because as soon as you start to learn about Tilly (younger version) and Tilda (exhausted and broken adult version, 39, just lost her mother) you realize they are not the same person. The compelling years, traumatic relationship with her mother and working on with the hand life dealt her changed Tilda completely. Young Tilda a.k.a Tilly is still hopeful, innocent, energetic, funny, smart ( her comments about the people around her and descriptions about her life are so witty, enjoyable, I wanted to give her so many virtual hugs, the kid version of character is amazing!) But a mother is real enigma, keeping so many secrets, reserved and cold. After Tilly lost her father, she moved to Queenie’s Hotel with her mother and these parts are the happiest times of her life. She met new people, eccentric, interesting characters, formed so many friendships. But her happiness doesn’t last because her mother dearest decided to send her to the boarding school without any explanation that shatters her heart in pieces.But now she is 39, orphaned, visiting mother’s house to gather her things, looking reserved, unhappy and asocial woman. Till she meets with Daniel and connecting with his friends which change her completely and help her face the truth behind her past and her unhealthy relationship with her mother by reading the diaries she left behind. I confess I loved Tilly’s parts most but finally seeing Tilly’s childhood joy and innocence gather with adult Tilda’s lifetime experiences and chasing her second chances by making peace with her past and her relationship with her mother to move on her life was the best resolution of the story.This is heartfelt, emotional, witty, feel-good reading that we need these days!Special thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins Publishers/William Morrow Paperback for sharing this emotional ARC in exchange my honest review

2020 F.A.B. Bookclub pick # I.❤️. F.A.B. Queenie Malone and her hotel don’t have a lot to do with this story. Considering the title I expected Queenie to play a much larger role. 🤔 With that aside, I actually enjoyed this mysterious story. It follows Tilly at 7 and Tilda (same person) as an adult. Her quirks and mishaps as a child are very ‘Amelia Bedila-esc’. There are some lol moments for sure! 😂🤣 I don’t wanna give away the spooky aspects 😱 but it’s a good little twist on this story.

This gem languished on my kindle for far too long and I could kick myself! I loved it! This is the story of Tilly as a child and Tilda as an adult and her fractured relationship with her mother Grace. After her mother’s death Tilda learns the truth about why her mother acted as she did. This wonderful story is told by Tilly\Tilda in alternate timelines. Tilly as a child is just delightful. She’s innocent, so so funny and her childhood is beautifully captured. Some of her comments had me rolling around with delighted laughter. She’s just brilliant and I think there should be a Tilly mould created!! Tilly loves her dad dearly but her relationship with her mother is a puzzle. After her father’s death, Grace takes Tilly to live at Queenie’s hotel in Brighton and it’s here that Tilly is at her happiest. There she meets the most colourful characters, the brightest of which is Queenie herself although all the characters in the book are fantastic, so richly depicted they are easy to picture. Tilda is very different to her childhood self. She’s solitary, she hides away, she likes ritual and order and has no social life. This changes dramatically after her mother’s death when she moves into Grace’s apartment in Brighton. There she meets some wonderful people, including Daniel. With the help of Daniel and the nurturing of Brighton friends she comes alive again and learns the truth about her past and that of her mother. This book is full of lovely surprises. It’s so well written, it’s lively, colourful and a joy to read and it’s fair to say I loved every single word of it!! Fabulous. Just fabulous. I was already a fan of Ruth Hogan but I’m an even bigger fan now 😂!!!

The first two thirds of this book? Eh.The last third? BROKE me.Another enchanting and tear-jerking effort from Ruth Hogan!3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 for an incredible ending!⭐⭐⭐⭐

I was at the library picking some books I had on hold when I spotted this book prominently displayed. I felt compelled to grab it, as I adored The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes.I love the worlds and characters that Ruth Hogan creates. Her writing is infused with beautiful descriptions, complex characters with rich inner worlds. Throw in a bit of whimsy and a dusting of magical realism and we've got ourselves a charming novel.Told in two alternate timelines, one of Tilly a seven-year-old girl and Tilda, the adult who'd just buried her mother, Queenie Malon's Paradise Hotel is a slow, nostalgia-filled novel that dwells on how little we know those closest to us and how easy it is even for good people to do bad things that have negative consequences for those they love.Upon discovering her mother's diaries, Tilda rediscovers herself and her mother, and she can begin to put together the puzzle of her life. Coincidences and the right people in the right place at the right time move this story along.I don't think this is as well realised as The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes - with which is tied-in in certain ways- but it was nevertheless still a very enjoyable read.I'm looking forward to reading Ruth Hogan's fourth novel.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.Emotionally rich, contains all the good feels!I have enjoyed every Ruth Hogan book I've read so far, so had big hopes for this latest novel. And, joy of joys, it was another good 'un!Tilda returns to her mother's house after she dies, and is awash with emotion - it's clear from the start that their relationship was fractious. Through the dual perspectives of Tilda as a grown-up and her younger self (Tilly) we realise that her father is absent and that her mother is hiding a whole lot of emotion behind a mask of disinterest and disapproval. Along the way, we're taken to the Paradise Hotel - a place where finally, Tilly and her mother seem to find some sort of peace; mainly thanks to the larger-than-life Queenie Malone and the other guests. Unlike Ruth Hogan's other books, there are no major reveals or twists in this book (though there are a few minor ones); instead, the focus is very much upon emotions. It's evident that mental health is a theme in this book, and it's explored sensitively and honestly.In fact, this is one of the things I appreciate most about this author; she has a frank, unfussy narrative style that gets to the heart of the matter. Nothing is dressed up in fancy prose or waffling description; instead, she strips all that nonsense out and works on just telling the story as it really is. I LIKE this a lot. The characters are also gloriously full of life and verve; with their quirks and foibles. Sometimes they're perhaps a little kinder than people would be in real life - but I don't have a problem with this. The slightly rose-tinted spectacles worked for me.Overall, a very enjoyable, immersive read with all the nice feels attached.

I recommend this book!

When I requested the galley for this book, I was taking a chance. I do love good historical fiction, but I seldom enjoy a cozy mystery, and this story is but a whisker away from being one. I was afraid the story might be cutesy instead of quirky, cloying instead of life affirming. And how delightful it is to be wrong! I received my copy free and early, thanks to Net Galley and Harper Collins. It’s for sale now. The premise is that Tilda has returned to the town where she and her mother lived after her parents separated. She was an only child, and her mother is dead, and so it falls to Tilda to tie up the loose ends of her mother’s small estate. And at this point, my snark is already peeking its beady eyes out, saying Oh geez, another story that starts with an only child cleaning up the estate. Lots of those lately! And a mean mother? That’s got to be my number one eye-roller right now! And I tell you these things, reader, because it underscores what a job Hogan had ahead of her in order to break down my resistance; and yet, she did. The narrative is divided into two points of view which alternate. The first is young Tilly, the little girl that doesn’t understand what is happening between her parents, and is devastated when her father moves out. The second is the adult Tilda, whose capacity for trust in other people is limited. The first part of the book is a hard read in places, because Tilly is in so much pain, and it feels drawn out, although one could argue that time passes more slowly when we are young. Tilly’s parents are always quarreling; then her daddy moves out, and Tilly, who was a daddy’s girl, takes out all of her hurt and rage on her mother. Her mother is brittle and not very stable, and she’s at wit’s end. First they move from the house where the family had lived to the hotel in the title; then, against her wishes, Tilly is sent off to boarding school. Tilly had loved living at the hotel and didn’t understand why she was exiled. Tilda learns what her mother was thinking when she finds and reads the journals that her mother had left for her, and again, it’s not exactly an original device on the author’s part, but it’s done so well that it doesn’t matter. Tilda also finds one of her mother’s old friends, and she learns some things that way as well. There are some genuine surprises that are also believable and fit the characters and setting. It’s artfully done. As to the quirky bits, they are what makes the story unique and successful. For starters, Tilly (and Tilda) see ghosts, not just now and then, but in some cases regularly. Let’s take, for example, the little dog named Eli. Not everyone can see Eli; Tilly can, and some others can as well, but most cannot. And our suspicion that Eli is not a corporeal critter is affirmed by the fact that decades later, this woman still has exactly the same dog, and he is as spry as ever. Then—and I have saved the best for last—there’s the child’s narrative. Tilly explains things to us in the language, and with the frame of reference, of a small child of six or seven years. She is a bright girl, but she’s a child, and so her explanations for things are often a bit twisted, and her conclusions are often far-fetched ones that are based on the limited amount that the girl understands. My favorite bits are the mondegreens, and there are many. (A mondegreen is the word or phrase that results from someone that hears words that aren’t in her vocabulary, and thus replaces them with words she does know; one well known example is the American Pledge of Allegiance, starting with “I led the pigeons to the flag.”) My favorite of Tilly’s mondegreens is when she attends church and sings “The Old Rubber Cross.” And the thing I love most about Tilly’s mondegreens is that Hogan doesn’t explain them or beat them to death; she drops them in and then moves on as if nothing unusual has occurred. I started reading this book using the review copy provided me, but because I was running behind, I checked out the audio version at Seattle Bibliocommons when I was a short way in, and I alternated versions. I especially want to give a shout out to Jane Collingwood, who reads the audio version. I can think of no more challenging narration than that of a child. Collingwood had to sound like a little girl half the time, but nobody wants to hear an actor’s version of baby talk at all, and surely not for half of a novel, so she has to walk a very fine line, not sounding like an adult, but also not sounding inane. On top of that, she must also voice the adult version, sounding like the same child, except grown up. It’s a tricky assignment and she carries it off perfectly; I tip my hat to her. The ending is optimistic, yet credible. Those in need of a feel-good story—and there are an awful lot of us that do, right now—could do a whole lot worse. Recommended to those that enjoy quirky novels and historical fiction.

This book , whilst covering some serious mental health issue topics, felt light a light read. It is the story of Tilly and her Mother, told in two threads, one as the child Tilly and one as the adult Tilda. There isn’t much of a plot, it is much more of a character driven novel ,and there are some very entertaining characters! An enjoyable book.

I adore this author's whimsical stories with all her eclectic characters. Yup, I said adore. They make me happy. The end.

I love Ruth Hogan’s writing. I’ve read each one of her novels and they fill you with that warm fuzzy feeling without being so cheesy that you regurgitate your tea. Queenie Malone’s Paradise Hotel gives you that same feeling but it takes quite a long time to get you there. It’s a much slower build than the other novels but once you get to Tilda’s POV towards the end it all comes together wonderfully. Until that point, it’s very bitty and Tilly’s narration I found to be very slow and quite confusing as elements aren’t explained until much later. If you have the patience to hang on in there then the resolution is so enthralling and capturing that it makes the whole journey worth it. All the separate elements about the characters come together to create these lovely rounded, but flawed wholes. Hogan is the master of characterisation. This is definitely my least favourite of the three novels but only because I found this one really tricky to read as I found it heartbreaking. Each one of the novels featured some lonely and broken characters but I found this to be the hardest to read because there wasn’t much happiness until you get small snippets further into the novel. It’s still a 4 star read and I’d definitely read Hogan’s next novels but this one was a bit of a slog.