Bella Ainsworth’s dream, since she visited on her honeymoon, of open a hotel on the Italian Riviera has finally happened but not without some snags along the way. Her husband, Cecile, wastes away her profits and her two children are dealing with their own issues left from the Great War. Her daughter lost her husband and her son was badly injured and almost died in battle. And along comes the local politician looking for protection money to aid the acceptance of the hotel with the locals. Bella never thought she’d have so much to deal with in running a hotel.

Hotel Portofino is a rambling historical fiction novel with an extraordinary amount of characters that is confusing at first. Some character names are spoken similarly and may come off better if you read the book rather than listen to the audio as I did. After my initial confusion dispersed, the story was likable, but not very interesting or intriguing.

Thank you Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for this arc.

Set in Italy after the Second World World, the story follows Bella Ainsworth, a wealthy English woman, who decided to move to Italy with her family and buy a hotel in the breathtaking Italian Riviera. Mrs. Ainworth does her best to make her rich clientele have a great stay while being blackmailed by people related to Mussolini's regime.

The book depicts PTSD, corruption, arranged marriage, art theft, romance, family drama, and for all that I can clearly see why it has become a PBS tv series. O’Connell’s writing is extremely detailed. But the pace of the story is so slow that this book ended up not working for me. There was nothing in this story that wowed me. I listened the audiobook, narrated by Esther Wane, who did a great job. Her narration was the only thing I did really enjoyed about this book.

Overall, good plot idea, descriptive writing, round characters, great narration, but Hotel Portofino ends up being shallow. There was nothing that kept me interested in this story that ends up abruptly. So I do not think I would recommend this book but I will probably watch the tv series and I might end up liking the series more than the book.

Well.. this story definitely gave me Downton Abbey / Great Gatsby vibes! Let’s just start by saying how gorgeous I find this cover to be.. 😍 I would love to have this displayed on my bookshelf! I appreciated the character names, I found them to be charming and unique. The conversations between the characters were very well-written and had a nice flow throughout the story. The description of the setting and surroundings during this book was elegant and nostalgic. I found this story to be an overall refreshing and vibrant read!

This audio quality is too bad to listen too. I cannot finish this one. At the speed anything other than the default the echo makes me feel like I am listening to someone read in a cave and I cannot listen to it so slow.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an audio copy to listen to and review.

I'll be honest - at first it was a bit difficult to get into the story of this on audio. There are a lot of characters to organize and keep track of. However, the story was so good! A hotel in Italy in the 1920 gives off Downton Abbey vibes - we meet the family that owns the hotel as well as the guests and staff that are staying there during the time of the story. I love the sheer grandness of aristocratic families and I'm finding I like to read how barrier changes at that time. The characters are well written - some are lovely from start to end and some are complete cads that only get worse. A great book!

I would give this book 3.5 stars.

Hotel Portofino sounded right up my alley. As a huge fan of Downton Alley, The Halcyon, The Grand Hotel, and others, I was excited to learn that this book had already been picked up for television and figured it must be great. Unfortunately, it just didn't seem to pick up speed. There are a variety of characters and a lot of different things happening in town and at Hotel Portofino, but I just didn't feel that the character and plot development was enough to make me CARE about it at all.

The narration was well done and fit the story and characters well. It bought them to life, and I would listen to Esther Wane again.

Thanks to #Netgalley #BlackstonePublishing and the author for this ARC!

I received an advanced listening copy from netgalley and really tried to give this book a chance. Ended up DNFing due to slow moving plot and nothing truly happening. Hopefully this will work for other readers but this was not the book for me.

Hotel Portofino is a historical fiction set in Portofino, Italy about a British hotel owner and her guests. Honestly I thought the plot was a bit stagnant and I really wanted more behind it. The “major” incident felt both too convenient and contrived. I did love the atmosphere and descriptions of the scenery, as well as the narrator. 3.5*

I received a copy of this audiobook from netgalley in exchange for an honest and fair review.

3.25 stars

Already destined for a TV adaptation, I can absolutely see this book as a BBC miniseries that will appeal to the Downton Abbey period drama. Throughout the process of reading this book, I would be in the middle of a scene thinking about how this would translate so well onto the screen. More often than not, however, the exact thought was "Wouldn't this be so much better on screen?"

For me, Hotel Portofino exists in this liminal space between "all vibes, no plot" and "character-driven drama". I enjoy both when they are executed well, but I think that O'Connell's choice to swing between them results in a book with characters that are given enough dimension that the reader is disappointed to not learn more about and a plot where pacing is a bit erratic. I appreciate the effort that O'Connell makes to craft this multi-layered story and it is enjoyable for the most part, but it never quite reaches the depths to which it aspires for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing - Audiobooks for an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for a fair and honest review!

Hotel Portofino by J.P. O’Connell and audiobook narrated by Esther Wane is a great historical fiction that takes us into the heart of the glitz and glamour of the British upper class on the Riviera in the 1920s.

Such a fascinating and evocative era…the 1920s took many societies from one extreme to the other. While things were hot…they were hot. The author does a wonderful job taking the reader into the glamorous daily lives of the upper crust among those living and basking in the glow of the Italian Riviera. There were darker aspects as well with a second undercurrent, and those two juxtaposed concepts were balanced nicely.

As a more character-driven novel, we see more of the daily lives, shifts, relationships, and experiences of the characters living in and around the hotel than necessarily an action-packed narrative, and that’s ok. It was wonderful and fascinating to take a peak into this time period…in this location…and into these lives.

The audiobook was also wonderful and the narrator does an excellent job bringing this full cast to life.

4/5 stars

Thank you NG and Blackstone Publishing for this wonderful arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 1/18/22.

Set in the Italian Riviera between two World Wars, this is the story of Bella Ainsworth and her grand Hotel Portofino. Bella is caught between her spoiled and demanding guests and a scheming local politician who travels in Mussolini’s poisoned orbit. To make matters worse, Bella’s marriage is in trouble and she’s attempting to see her adult children happily settled down and married, but World War I has left its mark on Bella’s son Lucian and he sees a very different future for himself. As I listened to this story, I couldn’t help compare our modern woes (a never ending global pandemic) with those of the characters in this story (and their real life counterparts), who had to face a pandemic and two world wars in the span of two decades. Luckily, Bella (and our forebears) were heartier folk than we are, otherwise who knows where we would be today?

Surprisingly good -- a nice choice for Downton Abbey fans.


Review copy provided by publisher.



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