QOTD: Have you ever gone antiquing?
My A: Yes!! My parents went through a phase where they were super into it and I learned to love the uniqueness of each small shop or booth! The hidden gems you can find are amazing and I highly recommend! 😍
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Trish Dollar has officially found herself on my Instant-Buy Author list with this one! I read Float Plan last year and really loved it. Seeing The Suite Spot on NetGalley I had to snag it! Funny enough, I went into this not realizing the connection between Float Plan and The Suite Spot, so that was a fun surprise. I thought I loved Anna and Keane, but man oh man do I LOVE Mason and Rachel!
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There was so much to love about this book. The setting, the chnesitey, the sweet moments, the heartbreaking moments... I was hooked through it all. I KNOW this will be a popular book and I can't wait for everyone to get a chance to read it.
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BLURB:
Rachel Beck has hit a brick wall. She’s a single mom, still living at home and trying to keep a dying relationship alive. Aside from her daughter, the one bright light in Rachel’s life is her job as the night reservations manager at a luxury hotel in Miami Beach—until the night she is fired for something she didn’t do.

On impulse, Rachel inquires about a management position at a brewery hotel on an island in Lake Erie called Kelleys Island. When she’s offered the job, Rachel packs up her daughter and makes the cross country move.

What she finds on Kelleys Island is Mason, a handsome, moody man who knows everything about brewing beer and nothing about running a hotel. Especially one that’s barely more than foundation and studs. It’s not the job Rachel was looking for, but Mason offers her a chance to help build a hotel—and rebuild her own life—from the ground up.

This book is a sweet (and fairly closed door) romance between two people looking for a second chance. One thing that I particularly love is when characters are highly capable - something Rachel and Mason both exemplify. The setting was an absolute delight. I want to go to a cozy cabin on an island right now. My least favorite part of the book (unfortunately), was the end. I found the final conflict a little frustrating and a regression in the characters. However, the rest of the book was a lot of fun and quite enjoyable.

After Trish Doller's last book I was ESTATIC to read this one.
Yet, it didn't quite go as I expected.
Was the book interesting? Yes.
Were the characters fun? Yes.
Was there romance and drama? Again, yes.
But for me the book was so quick. And the characters decisions/thought processes were some I just couldn't get with. They didn't seem to be realistic or follow a good arc.

So thus, it was not my favorite book. BUT I will still be reading Trish Doller's Next book hoping it will be just as good as the first.

*I read this book in return for my honest feedback. Everything within the review reflects my honest opinions.

I unfortunately did not really enjoy this book.
If I could say one thing, it's that I wanted more. Of basically everything. This book is less than 300 pages, so I think there was room for the author to expand on...every plot point. The romance felt incredibly rushed; not quite insta-love, but felt like it happened quickly without much explanation on how they ended falling for each other. Mason + Rachel had little build up to becoming a couple, and I could not get myself to invest in their relationship.

I liked the mother/daughter relationships featured in this book; the single mother aspect was my favorite aspect of this book. I also enjoyed the small town elements we get on Kelleys Island, and would have loved to see more of the inn + brewery + island characters.

Overall, I don't think this author is for me, but if you enjoyed Float Plan I would give this book a shot.

Just stop it with how cute this was! Rachel is just the sweetest woman ever, with precious little Maisie to kick everything into overdrive.
Rachel is a character that resonates with me so hard. She’s a bigger lady, and owns herself. She’s rushed too quick into relationships in the past, and isn’t about to throw herself headfirst into another potential mistake. With Maisie as priority number 1, wanting to give her daughter the best life possible, she moves across the country to pursue her dream job, and ends up in a position where she has to make the tough choice of going home with her tail between her legs, or facing the challenge head on. Our girl pulls up her boot straps and gets busy!
Mason, oh be still my heart! That man has me wrapped around his little finger. He’s been through so much, and worked so hard pull the walls in around him. So much loss, grief and sadness were held in his heart. He’s gone full Havisham, keeping everyone at a great distance so he can stew in his sadness. Mason, along with his overly dramatic cat Yōkai, have their lives turned upside down (in surprisingly positive ways) by Rachel and Maisie Beck. Was that a smile on Masons face? Is Yōkai being affectionate?! It’s full cuteness overload by the time 4th of July comes around!
There are real life complications and issues dealt with in this story, and I love how truthful it all felt. Like we were being allowed in to private moments rather than blowing those moments up for attention. It was touching and sad, but also beautiful. Such a caring and delicate way to address some really hard hitting topics. Fabulous writing.
Thank you to Netgalley and the author for allowing me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

I loved The Float Plan so much, intact it was one of the few 5-star reads I had last year, it was so much more than your typical romance. Trish Doller seems to be able to pull at your heartstrings more than some. So as soon as I saw Suite Spot on Net Galley I was all in for it.

Suite Spot deals with Anna’s big sister Rachel, who is a single mother and not a risk-taker at all but takes a management job on Kelley Island in Ohio, where she meets the hotel's owner Mason. The story takes us through their getting to know each other, building a relationship, and learning to work together, especially once they establish that they have a mutual attraction.

As in Float Plan, Doller is a master at making her characters feel real to the reader. You can relate to, maybe not all their problems, but something they have going on. Rachel deals with the struggles of being a single mom with a very honest portrayed child in Maisie.

Mason is grumpy, and not really open to relationships after his ex-wife and a tragedy from his past that Maisie seems to make worse when she is around him. He is authentic and likable as is Rachel. There is also a nice grouping of side characters that fit in well with the story.

Their relationship was nice, it wasn’t anything that blew me away, but there was some mild steam in the romance.

I love an author who can use words to describe a place so well that you can picture it to a tee in your mind and Doller did just that with the area around Lake Erie.

I was a bit disappointed in the ending, it felt a bit forced and abrupt, but for the most part, I really enjoyed The Suite Spot, however, I can not say as much as I did Float Plan. I still very much recommend reading this, it has some lovely writing and is heartfelt and a great story on second chances

This is such a heart-warming romance. After Rachel loses her job at a high-end hotel in Miami Beach, she and her four year old daughter move to manage a new hotel on a small island in Ohio. She doesn't expect how attractive her new boss, Mason, will be or that the hotel she's been hired to manage isn't done being constructed yet. I loved the way the relationship between Rachel and Mason grows as she figures out a new life for herself and her daughter.

Thank you to publishers and NetGalley for sending me this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I honestly loved this story! Such a sweet story that has great character development and I just enjoyed learning about them! It kept me engaged and wondering throughout the whole book. I definitely recommend as an easy read!

I absolutely devoured Doller's Float Plan and just adored Anna and Keane's sailboat adventure, so I had a feeling that this book was going to deliver for me. But you don't need to read Float Plan necessarily to enjoy The Suite Spot :)

Dollar returns with the story of Rachel (Anna's sister) and her little daughter, Maisie. Rachel finds herself out of work, and out of love (Maisie's father is an alluring but deadbeat character that Rachel seems to always get hurt by) and she takes a huge change by uprooting herself and Maisie from FL to a small resort island on Lake Erie, called Kelley's Island. Bring on the winter jackets and MI/OH culture! Rachel agrees to be the manager of a brewery/resort cabin that is owned by the moody, but handsome, Mason. Soon she finds herself completely into her boss, but trying to remain professional ... but quickly, Mason proofs he is not only a big sweetheart and great with Maisie, he also had a lot of baggage and is dealing with a lot of heartache.

I loved how Mason and Rachel each were dealing with their own issues/insecurities and truly could see myself joining Rachel's book club and sipping wine on Mason's porch. This book was a perfect romance/chic lit read and I totally feel like it could be an amazing movie??? But so could Float Plan. Loved it!

OMG this gave me allll the feels 🥰🥺 Have you ever felt like an author has taken a look around the inside of your head and been like “I think I know just the thing” and then written a book that feels tailored to your personal tastes and interests? That’s what this book felt like. I’ve never read anything by Trish Doller before (Float Plan is high up on my TBR) but I love the characters she created here, the story she told, and her writing style. I’m definitely looking forward to reading more of her work after this.

Rachel Beck is a single mom who finds herself in need of a new job and decides to make a big life change to get it. This is a follow-up to Float Plan (the MCs of both books are sisters) but can absolutely stand on its own. (For Float Plan fans: Anna & Keane make cameos.)

There was honestly so much I appreciated and enjoyed about this book. I loved Rachel’s strength and tenacity and her big heart. I loved her 3 yr old daughter Maisie. She is absolutely precious and lights up every scene she’s in. Rachel is a wonderful mom and their relationship is heartwarming. And I thought the way we get to know Mason, the layers slowly being peeled away, was interesting and worked really well. Mason is a sweetheart and he and Rachel are perfection together. 😘👌

I also appreciated the fat rep in the book. Rachel deals with body acceptance issues and casual fatphobia from douchebags in a way that I think is super relatable for a lot of women (myself included).

Interestingly, the book has a plethora of useless and terrible male figures: Rachel’s deadbeat father, her disappointment of a baby daddy Brian, her former boss, the VIP hotel client who takes advantage of her. I really appreciated the real world take on how often women are subjected to misogyny, male privilege, and sexual harassment/assault and how those things affect their lives. Rachel is a very strong, smart and capable woman but is still constantly fighting against the affect these men have (inadvertently or otherwise) on her life. The implied feminism warmed my cold heart.

So I guess I don’t have to tell you I really, really enjoyed this and once I started it I didn’t want to put it down. The Suite Spot is a thoroughly charming, incredibly sweet, and deeply emotional gem of a romance. I will definitely be buying this one for my shelf.

4.5 stars out of 5

"So that's the new boyfriend, huh?" Brian asks as we reach the lobby..."No," I say, smiling back at my love. "He's my home."

Okay. That quote though!!! Hearts don't literally skip a beat, but readers will FEEL a sensation when they meet Mason Brown! He is prickly but soft. Channeling Eeyore but oh, SO thoughtful! Definitely a charming stand-alone romance in an interconnected duology! Reader, see authors note regarding possible sensitive topics.

"Thank you for holding my son's heart in such steady hands."

THINGS AND STUFF:
-single mama
-Japanese American hero
-age gap (several years)
-a giant tortoiseshell cat
-pilsners & lagers & Berliner Weisse!
-hospitality industry
-grumpy x sunshine
-work place romance (employer x employee)
-book club
-second chances
-Kelleys Island
-#IsThisAKissingBook: 18+ "Worst first kiss ever. "Definitely a contender," he says. "Should we give it another shot?" "I think we should."

Thank you SMP Romance for an advanced copy!

Song: Wild Horses by The Rolling Stones

If you’re looking for a book that will give you all the feel-good vibes and feel like a warm embrace from a loved one - look no further!

This book is exactly that and I fell head over heels for it thanks to;

~ its charming characters
~ as well as their chemistry
~ its theme of taking chances
~ the quaint small town feel
~ the hospitality & brewery aspect

I especially loved how the book evolved around the chance to start a new life & how to allow yourself to fall in love again ❤️

Thank you so much @smpromance @netgalley & @trishdoller for my e-ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Find The Suite Spot on sale March 8th 2022!

The Suite Spot is a sweet read. A single mother, Rachel, moves to Ohio to run a hotel for Mason. Except she finds a whole lot more. I liked Rachel, she has a good head in her shoulder and is more forgiving towards her ex for the sake of their daughter.
There is an excellent cast of supporting characters to make this a feel good read.

This is the second book I’ve read by Trish Doller and the second book I’ve LOVED! This story explores loss, love, and healing. Doller’s characters pull you right in and make you feel you are experiencing life right alongside them! !!

The Suite Spot follows Rachel after she gets fired from her job as the night reception manager at a fancy hotel after an entitled guest makes an unwanted advance towards her. As a single mom, Rachel is attempting to find a new job when she hears about a boutique hotel opening up in Ohio looking for a manager. After getting there she finds out that the job isn't exactly what she was told, and the man who hired her might also have more to him than it first appeared.

I really don't have much to say about this book because it was very cute, but not anything particularly special. I picked this book up when I was in need of a light contemporary, and this book definitely delivered. I really enjoyed following Rachel and her daughter Maisie as they acclimated to life in Ohio and began making new friends. It was also great getting to learn more about Mason and his backstory, and I enjoyed watching Rachel and Mason's relationship evolve throughout the story. My two favorite aspects of this book were Rachel's daughter Maisie, and the work that went into planning and decorating the boutique hotel. Besides for those two aspects, there wasn't really much that made this book stand out from any other short, light contemporary out there. Because of that I gave this book 3.5 stars. It was cute, it was written well, it had a decent romance, but it isn't a new favorite or one I'll be remembering in a few months.

This book borders on the fine line between romance and Womens Fiction. While I think the book is very much central to Rachel’s growth as a person, if you remove the romance between her and Mason, the story isn't whole.

This book is well written and well paced. If I had a solid chunk of time, I think I would have finished it in one sitting, I did finish the book in less than 24 hours.

Rachel is basically in a rut, she’s been at her current job for 10 years, and she has mainly stayed on the promise of a promotion plus the nightshift hours are great for her as a single mom - allowing her time to spend with her young daughter during the day. She’s fine with everything until she’s fired for declining the sexual advances of a rich client. After taking a job at the only hotel that would hire her in Fort Lauderdale, an opportunity in Ohio becomes available, and after some hemming, she jumps on it. She packs up her life, and her daughter, Maisie, and goes to Ohio. Only the hotel she expected to manage is not the one that materializes. However, this doesn’t turn her off.

Enter Mason, the hotel proprietor. He’s deep in grief from the death of his daughter (it is unclear when she died), and his divorce. He was originally planning to build and run this hotel with his wife.

Rachel and Maisie are able to pull Mason out of his grief and get the hotel built, along the way Rachel and Mason fall in love. However Mason isn’t ever really verbose, and his love language is gift giving and acts of service. He makes her tea each morning, and he brews a beer for his mom (and another one for Rachel).

I enjoyed how this small island community was readily accepting of Rachel and Maisie. That for the most part, there is great communication between the characters, well you know once Mason started opening up about his past and all that.

Tropes and other things: grumpy/sunshine (or more like get things done), age gap, single parent, small town

While I did read the first book of this series (The Float Plan), I remembered very few details, so I’m confident that you don’t need to read the first book in the series, but it is something you should go back to read if you can.

Content Notes: beer/alcohol, death of child, attempted sexual assault, boss-employee relationship, single parent, parental abandonment, mentions of suicide, mentions of divorce

Thank you to SMP for the eARC

Trish Doller, I loved the Float Plan, so I clearly had high hopes for The Suite Spot and man did you deliver! Thank you for providing me with this absolutely fantastic read! Here at home it's snowing outside, so fantasizing about the little island in Ohio near Sandusky and Put-In-Bay described by Doller was perfect. Rachel Beck (sister of Anna Beck from The Float Plan) is a hardworking single mom. To maximize her time with her kiddo, she works his tail off at night as the night reservations manager at a high end resort in Florida. When she's unexpectedly fired (this scene makes me particularly mad), Rachel is forced to confront her circumstances and decide if she's ready to make a serious change. Her daughter Maisie's dad is unreliable at best. He often flakes out or brings Maisie home early, which I found devastating. Doller paints this young girl as the cutest most lovable little girl and to picture anyone wanting to shorten their time with her hurts. So on a tip from a former coworker, Rachel makes a call that changes her life. She calls Mason, a man who is opening his own boutique hotel and brewery. The job seems too good to be true. It's on a small island, reachable by ferry in Ohio and the owner is okay with Maisie coming too. Excited to take control of her life, Rachel heads off, but what she finds isn't at all what she expects. Mason may have oversold the business' progress, but while taken aback, Rachel realizes this is the kind of opportunity she's always dreamt of; the chance to make all the design decisions and bring a place to life. This book is sweet, it sparked my creativity, so once again, I've moved furniture around my home, and it evoked such a range of emotions for me as a reader. I genuinely loved the characters and wanted the book to just keep going. I should warn that the book does deal with a significant loss.

I am eagerly awaiting the next book by Trish Doller! Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Another fun rom-com by Trish Doller. In the second book of the Beck Sisters books, Rachel finds her unfairly fired from her job. On sn impulse she moves her and her 4 year old daughter to an island off the coast of Ohio to run a boutique hotel except when she arrives there is no hotel.. yet. Mason, the owner of the brew pub/hotel begs her to stay and gives her free reign of the building and design.

A quick read that I didn't want to put down. You get to know the characters and the island ,(and little about craft beer) through easy to read straight forward detailed descriptions throughout the book. Just a delightful story that I want to book a girls weekend at hotel.

Rachel Beck has a job she loves at a Miami Beach luxury hotel, until accusations from a guest leave her fired and jobless. As a single mom, she needs to find a job fast. After some consideration regarding her daughters irresponsible dad and a horrible last-minute job she took, she decides to pick-up and move out to Ohio for a job opportunity on an island called Kelleys Island.

When she arrives at the Island, she finds Mason a beer brewer who knows nothing about running a hotel and desperately needs her help, more help than he let on.

I was excited to read this book because I had heard such great things about the first book in the series, Float Plan, which is actually sitting on my book shelf, but you don’t need to read it before reading this book, which I liked.

The story was a warm and sweet read, but I was really having a hard time seeing the chemistry between the two characters; I really didn’t start feeling it until near the end of the book. I felt the best relationship in the book was between Mason and Rachel’s daughter Maisie - it was a sweet and nurturing relationship, one that Maisie was probably wanting/needing from her dad, but didn’t have. I also love how Maisie and the cat from hell shared a cute little bond. Maisie was probably my favorite character in the book.

If you’re looking for a nice rom-com that will bring a feel-good smile to your face at the end, this is for you!

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

I LOVED. THIS. Slow burn, HGTV adjacent, recluse with hidden issues meets take no shit working class woman and is almost immediately head over heels?

YES. THANK YOU. MORE PLEASE.

Bonus points for great found family.