Book Review / The Thousand Lights Hotel by Emylia Hall

 

The Thousand Lights Hotel is the gorgeous new novel from Emylia Hall, author of Richard & Judy Summer Pick The Book Of Summers. Set in idyllic Italy, it's the perfect holiday read, for fans of Louise Douglas and Hannah Richell.

When Kit loses her mother in tragic circumstances, she feels drawn to finally connect with the father she has never met. That search brings her to the Thousand Lights Hotel, the perfect holiday escape perched upon a cliff on the island of Elba. Within this idyllic setting a devastating truth is brought to light: shaking the foundations upon which the hotel is built, and shattering the lives of the people within it.

A heartbreaking story of loss, betrayal, and redemption, told with all the warmth and beauty of an Italian summer.

Published:   1st January 2017

Publisher:   Headline Review

Goodreads :   Click here

Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone

Source:  Bought

Genres:     Romance

Pages:   304 pages, Paperback

MY REVIEW

What I loved about this story...  The description of both the location and the characters that transported me directly to Italy and want to stay there.  Such a beautifully written story.  There's just something about a family drama or mystery that always draws me in and this story was no different.

What I didn't like about this story...  This was one of those stories that immediately when I finished it I couldn't quite remember what I had just read.  There was no staying power with the story with this one.  If I picked this up to read again I probably wouldn't have remembered much.  This may be a me thing rather than the story, though.  Also, at 304 pages I would have loved to have more of the story and follow the main character for a bit longer...

Would I recommend...  This was an ok read.  If this is your thing, do pick it up.

Book Review - The Book of Summers by Emylia Hall

Beth Lowe has been sent a parcel.

Inside is a letter informing her that her long-estranged mother has died, and a scrapbook Beth has never seen before. Entitled The Book of Summers, it's stuffed with photographs and mementos complied by her mother to record the seven glorious childhood summers Beth spent in rural Hungary.
It was a time when she trod the tightrope between separated parents and two very different countries; her bewitching but imperfect Hungarian mother and her gentle, reticent English father; the dazzling house of a Hungarian artist and an empty-feeling cottage in deepest Devon. And it was a time that came to the most brutal of ends the year Beth turned sixteen.

Since then, Beth hasn't allowed herself to think about those years of her childhood. But the arrival of The Book of Summers brings the past tumbling back into the present; as vivid, painful and vital as ever.

You can find the Goodreads page here.

My Review  (Video review at the bottom of the post)

Words really cannot describe how much I loved this book.  Even though when reading this book it was typical English weather outside (cloudy, rainy and cold), I felt warm and all summery on the inside.  Not only does the cover and title scream out summer but the story just sweeps you away into this summery dream.

The characters in this story were so rich with life and turmoil, I just had to follow the story to find out more.  At the beginning, we see Beth living far away from her father in Devon and her mother in Hungary.  Her father comes for a visit and you can see that something has gone on in the past as their relationship is trained.  He brings with him a package that had been delivered for Beth.  She immediately knows that it is from Hungary.  That is when she discovers the Book of Summers that record the childhood summers that she spent with her mother.  

From glancing through the pages, we are transported back to a time when Beth looked forward to spending her summers in Hungary with her mother, her mother's boyfriend and new friends and as the story unfolds we see a bigger picture of what happened in that last fateful summer that was the downfall of the entire family.  

I especially enjoyed the slow pace of the story, which meant that I could sit back, relax and enjoy the summer drama.  If you like family drama and emotional summer reads, this is definitely one to pick up.

10 out of 10 

Best wishes


Debs :-)