To save their struggling hotel before Christmas, rivals Izzy and Lucas call a truce. As their relationship grows more complex, they wonder if more is at stake than the hotel's future. Will their hearts survive the hectic holiday season?

This is a fast-paced novel with interesting characters. It's a bit farcical, so you have to let go of any expectation of logic. If you like rivals-to-lovers rom com, this book is for you.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

While this isn't going straight to the top of my favorite Beth O'Leary books, this one is fun. There are delightful characters, particularly the secondary characters and hotel guests, and Izzy's deep love for the hotel and her passion for stories and connection really makes the story.

Beth O’Leary has a really easy style of writing that makes connecting with the characters simple, which I really appreciate. The Wake-Up Call had one of my favorite tropes, enemies to lovers, and two main characters that were easy to like and root for a happy ending. The conflict of the plot between those two characters took a little while to resolve but by the time it did, I knew backwards and forwards the who, what, when, where, and why’s of their disagreement and/or miscommunication. The author did a good job of allowing the reader inside the character to help understand their perspective.

The plot to save the hotel was fun and I really liked the side characters, both good guys and bad. They helped create that feeling of a well-rounded story and sometimes gave the main characters a push in the right direction towards their final romantic conclusion. I appreciated all the drama and humor that went into creating the hotel setting and the strange characters you’d probably find in in true life were definitely inhabiting Forest Manor Hotel.

If you’re interested in a quick plot and interesting characters, you may want to give Beth O’Leary’s newest novel a try! I enjoyed it!

After Izzy disastrously attempts to confess her feelings for her coworker Lucas, things get pretty tense at the hotel where they both work as receptionists. With the hotel struggling financially, they have to get creative to keep the hotel open. They are forced to work together to track down the owners of lost wedding rings at the hotel in the hopes of earning rewards. Will being around so many love stories influence Izzy and Lucas?

What I loved:
-enemies to lovers and grumpy/sunshine
-the storylines with the rings
-all the supporting characters at the hotel!
-the setting of the hotel. SO cozy

This was a really precious book. I was rooting for Izzy and Lucas from the very beginning, while also mentally yelling at them to grow up and communicate with each other. This was such a cozy read that I enjoyed immensely!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the advanced reading copy!

Beth O’Leary has done it again with another great story in The Wake Up Call.

I love Beth O’Leary’s books. She’s a go-to author for me because I know it’s going to be a great read, and The Wake Up Call is yet another example. She’s the perfect comfort read author for me. I can count on Beth to deliver a perfectly balanced book. Just enough conflict to keep things interesting, but not so much that you feel lost or agitated. The right kind of depth that ensures the story doesn’t feel fluffy, that it has some weight and feels genuine, but it’s expertly balanced with humour and funny moments that make me laugh out loud.

Another thing you are guaranteed in Beth’s books is great character development. She is a master at crafting characters that feel real and relatable, characters you want to cheer for. The story is told from the point of view of both Izzy and Lucas in alternating chapters, allowing the reader to really get to know both characters well. I really enjoy dual POV books. I like knowing what’s going on in both character’s heads and seeing how their perspectives clash or match. I loved both Izzy and Lucas in this story, and even better, I loved their dynamic together. Izzy is a blur of sunshine with her colourful sneakers and her love of fairy lights to Lucas’ buttoned up, broody Brazilian grumpiness. I loved all the pranks they pull on each other and how they rile each other up. This one has a lot of tropes we know and love: grumpy/sunshine, enemies to lovers, and workplace romance, all packed in a heart-warming story.

There are a lot of other great characters to love in this story. One of the things I liked best about this book is the setting. Forest Manor Hotel is much more than just a hotel. It’s a family-run business that feels more like a family, and I enjoyed all the characters that make it great. The owners, the grumpy on the outside, but cinnamon roll on the inside chef Arjun, the put-upon staff like young Ollie and Poor Mandy. Even the regular guests are terrific and add to the story. I love how everyone banded together to try and save the hotel and the plotline of returning rings from the lost and found to their original owners is just delightful.

Overall, another great read from Beth O’Leary. If you are looking for something heartwarming and reliable, this would be a great choice.

4 A Fabulously Wonderful Read Stars!!

This was my first book by Ms. O’Leary and what a delightful introduction to her writing. I loved this book being set in a hotel that is literally falling apart and the hatred, at least they think it’s hatred, between Izzy and Lucas.

From the get-go I was captivated by the hotel and all the secondary characters. Especially when the roof collapses the day before a major event and these two front-desk staffers must find a way to work together. Their witty banter had me laughing out loud so many times.

There’s a tension just underneath the surface every time Izzy and Lucas are in the same room. When they’re tasked with cleaning out the Lost & Found closet at the hotel, things begin to change for them. There’s lost wedding rings that need to be returned to their owners the first of which leads to a generous gift to the hotel that just may help them salvage this historical place. And so begins Izzy and Lucas’s quest to return the other rings but they turn it into a competition… trust me the moments that I was chuckling can’t be counted.

As this story moves along, their friendly competition heats up as does the chemistry. These enemies soon find themselves feeling differently about each other. It was a fun read to not only go on the journey of saving their hotel but also them finding their way to each other.

Overall this was a great read and it was just what I needed to brighten a couple of days of downtime after a few stressful weeks.

I have yet to read a Beth O'Leary book that I do not like. The premise of this one was phenomenal. Workplace rivals competing to return wedding rings left at their hotel was so fun. The chemistry between Izzy and Lucas was off the charts despite how much they both denied it and swore to loathe each other. I'm not a big fan of the miscommunication trope but I feel like it worked in this instance. Izzy wrote a Christmas card confessing her feelings to Lucas and asking him to meet under the mistletoe, only to arrive and find him kissing her roommate. She proceeds to yell at him and that is when they become enemies. A year later and the 2 are forced to work together to find the owners of the rings. As things start to heat up between them, Izzy is determined to protect her heart. But the more they get to know each other the more it becomes clear that perhaps neither of them fully know what happened at last years Christmas party.

Review: This was a lovely read! I really enjoyed the plot. I thought Izzy and Lucas were wonderful! The ending was my favorite part! Overall, I would definitely recommend this adult romance!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

This book was a struggle to get through for me. Normally I am all there for an enemy to lover's romance. But there was just something about this one that I could not get into.

I did not like Izzy at all. She seems to be a very manipulative individual. I mean at one point she uses another guy to make Lucas the main male character jealous.

The whole point of this story seems pointless and unnecessary. I mean they're trying to save a hotel and they find this mysterious ring that they dubbed the ring thing and instead of selling the ring making money and using that to save the hotel which would have made sense, it becomes this whole other convoluted thing.

On a positive note, I did like the fact that it alternated between perspectives so you got to see the viewpoint of both individuals involved in the "romance".

I would say that if you are a fan of Beth O'Leary to pick this book up because the writing style is very good like her other books. I just did not enjoy the premise of this one as much as I was hoping I would.

This is nice enemies to lovers romance.

The dual narration in this book was fantastic and I really liked there was a real depth written about each of the main characters.

This one is also funny as the main characters are trying to keep the Hotel where they work in business. Part of that is their own contest to find the owners of lost and found wedding rings in the hope of getting monetary rewards to put toward the hotel’s repairs.

Each of the rings held a really fun story and I enjoyed that part of the plot as well.

There is poor communication and a grand gesture as all good romances deserve to make this an enjoyable romcom read.

The Wake-Up Call by Beth O’Leary was very slow getting into since Izzy and Lucas did nothing but snipe at each other, try to one-up or ignore each other. It’s hard to do when you work side by side at a small family-owned hotel as a receptionist with guests going in and out continually. Could their behaviors be masking other feelings? There is no better way to find out than to delve into the book, which is told in alternating chapters by each of the two main characters.

Set in a small town in England, there is some English humor and vocabulary along with Portuguese-Brazilian since Lucas is from Brazil. There is nothing but problems at the hotel once the ceiling falls in, and repairs must be done to remain open and viable.

They learn that the hotel is not financially stable, and they must get creative in how to raise money to stay afloat and keep their jobs. They go through the lost and found and try to return items to their rightful owners—some of which are wedding rings.

The story picks up as the two compete to find which past hotel guests have lost them, adding depth to the story. There are some laugh-out-loud moments as well as many misunderstandings along the way. Izzy and Lucas need to learn to communicate, especially when realizing they might have feelings for each other.

We get to know the other workers and some long-term guests, some of whom are quite interesting. We also learn of Izzy’s relationships with her friends, who are like family, and Lucas’ family back in Brazil.

The story has vivid descriptions and presents a variety of characters who have more to them than meets the eye. As Izzy and Lucas try to put the past behind them, will they succeed, or will it be too little too late?

There is closure with a happily ever after in the offing, but the book ended abruptly for me. I liked the cover’s vibrancy, and the title has meaning to the story.

The Wake-Up Call is set in England and Brazil and takes me there with vivid descriptions and characters I grew to enjoy, especially seeing what they’d be up to next.

I rated it 3.5 stars but rounded to 4 stars here and on other sites.

I have read most of Beth O’Leary’s books and love the combination of romance and deep family back stories. This one sadly was a miss for me. The characters felt flat and the miscommunication drove me nuts. It felt like the chemistry was not there because they fought and hated on each other too much. I did enjoy the banter and Izzy’s BFF.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for access to this ARC.

“I’ve always said that love takes a different shape for everybody. Some of us fall in love the straightforward way, and some of us have a more . . . winding path.”

Two hotel receptionists, who also happen to be arch-rivals, find a collection of wedding rings and compete to return them to their rightful owners, discovering their own love story along the way.

I hold almost every Beth O’Leary book up to The Flatshare and maybe that’s unfair. But I LOVED that book. This one was cute and fun and with enjoyable characters, but it wasn’t quite to that level.

Told from dual POV, Izzy and Lucas, and with dual narrators, this audiobook felt very authentic. There is a lot of heart and soul in this enemies to lovers story and I loved how much Lucas loves the beauty of his native Portuguese language, which really came through in his narration. Their determination to save the hotel and the sprinkling of fairy lights and Christmas cheer made this a sweet, quirky, and overall enjoyable read.

“I would like to believe that I can let a person see me, and that once they have, they might think more of me, not less.” 😕💕

Thanks for the free #audiobook @PRHAudio #PRHAudioPartner and to Netgalley, Berkley Publishing, and the author for the ARC.

Izzy and Lucas both work the reception desk at the cash-strapped Forest Manor Hotel, and they are arch-rivals. Izzy confessed to Lucas that she had feelings for him in a Christmas card a year ago, and he kissed her flatmate that very night. When Izzy locates the owner of a wedding ring found at the hotel and receives a substantial reward, the hotel starts trying to locate the owners of the rings they've found to raise cash. Izzy and Lucas compete to find the ring owners, and sparks fly!

I have loved all of Beth O'Leary's books, and this was no exception! Charmingly set in a cozy hotel during Christmas and full of sweet characters, this was delightful! Enemies to lovers, grumpy sunshine, workplace romance, this had some of my favorite tropes, and it was all wrapped up in a heartfelt holiday story. It took me a couple of chapters to get into it, but once I did, I could not put this down, and by the end, it was tough to say goodbye to these characters. Quirky Izzy and buttoned-up Lucas were memorable characters, and their slow-burn romance full of chemistry had me rooting for them as a couple.

The book also has themes of found family. Izzy and Lucas had both endured loss and found each other and a wonderful group of amazing friends. When returning the lost wedding rings, the people they encountered brought a whole range of stories, from sweet to scandalous! This might be the most light-hearted of O'Leary's books, which works well for a holiday read, but as you would expect from the author, Izzy, and Lucas are well-developed and complex characters, and the story is layered. This feels modern and nostalgic, making for a heartwarming holiday book. If you are looking for a holiday romance with some substance and characters you will grow to love, add this to your tbr!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for the opportunity to review this ARC.

I'll be honest, I didn't think I was going to enjoy this book. I'm always hesitant about workplace, rivals-to-lovers romances because the characters always come across as so immature and annoying, and this book definitely followed the trend. But I've loved every Beth O'Leary book so far so I wasn't giving up!

I'm so glad I pushed through because OH MY LAWD this book was so adorable!!!! Once I learned backstories and built those connections with the characters, I fell in love.

The rivalry was enjoyable, the found family was perfection, and the romance was steamy and sweet at the same time.

I do think this book would be better around the holidays since the story takes place around Christmas, but I highly recommend you add The Wake-Up Call to your TBR at any time!

I loved this enemies-to-lovers challenging romance. Lucas and Izzy are delightful and their chemistry so playful and fun even when they aren't getting along. The secondary characters add so much to the found family vibe of this story and I thought they were especially well-written. I've worked in a hotel before and I enjoyed the setting and atmosphere. The audiobook was very done and I'm sure I'll listen to this one again.

I adored this latest romcom from Beth O'Leary so much! It's basically like if THE HATING GAME took place at a super cozy hotel during the winter. Just a ton of fun, with excellent characters and wonderful, laugh-out-loud humor. A must-have for everyone's winter tbr!

I loved O'Leary's The Flatshare and I was excited to read O’Leary’s new book, The Wake-Up Call. It is wonderful! This story features Izzy and Lucas, arch rival receptionists trying to save the hotel they love and their jobs. It’s a sweet, enemies to lovers romance that’s full of charm and low on angst. I loved it and I think most romance readers will too.

Last Christmas, a year ago, Izzy was crushing on Lucas. She wrote him a letter letting him know how much she liked him and that she hoped he might feel the same way about her. She asked if he'd meet her under the mistletoe, but something went wrong (we're not sure what yet) and they did not become a couple. Now, a year later, they are competitive rivals at work and always trying to outdo the other. They do things to get a rise out of each other and I found their daily banter and antics really funny.

The family hotel where they work has been struggling and is in desperate need of renovation. It’s so run down that when Izzy and Lucas are discussing decorations for an upcoming wedding (Izzy wants more decorations, Lucas wants less) half of the ceiling falls down. Luckily no one is hurt, but the owners finally decide to make repairs. They raise extra funds by selling some antiques and ask Izzy and Lucas to help with odd jobs including cleaning out the lost property room. As they're doing this, Izzy and Lucas find four wedding rings in the lost and found and Izzy decides they must find the owners.

Lucas is a handsome Brazilian who is serious about his work but gets grumpy, especially with Izzy. He has an uncle who helped out his family when his father died, but is pressuring Lucas, telling him he needs to work harder if he wants to be a success. Lucas is good with computers and spreadsheets but it’s hard for him to open up about his feelings plus he was seriously hurt by an ex-girlfriend who called him ‘cold hearted’. Luckily, Izzy thinks Lucas is pretty hot! Izzy is creative and caring and so upbeat, even while she is afraid of losing her job and close friends at the hotel. This romance has classic grumpy/sunshine action, which I loved.

My favorite part of the story is when Izzy and Lucas make a bet with each other that whoever returns the next ring gets to have things their way for a day. The upshot of this wager it had me laughing out loud. Along with the very funny humor, the chemistry between Izzy and Lucas is palpable. When they do finally act on their mutual attraction, the love scenes are spicy and add to the story.

If I have a quibble, it's that the story was a little predictable but, overall, that didn’t really bother me. I just enjoyed the back and forth slow burn and wanted to see them happy together. There’s a group of colorful characters at the hotel and even a quick cameo from Tiffy from The Flatshare. There was a 'big misunderstanding’ that I wished they had talked about sooner, but the ending is wonderful and pleasantly satisfying. This book will lift your spirits. I recommend it to readers looking for a happy and upbeat romcom with humor. The Wake-Up Call had me smiling the whole way through and I bet it will do the same for you!

A sweet romance that gets a bit bogged down in the hating each other (but not really!) trope.

Izzy and Lucas are both receptionists at the Forest Manor hotel. A year ago, Izzy declared her crush on Lucas in a Christmas card to him but he thought it was funny and kissed her flatmate under the mistletoe instead of Izzy. Since then it’s been a quiet war and free-spirited creative Izzy and buttoned up Brazilian (yes, that is a bit random but diversity!) Lucas have mostly managed to avoid each other.

But then with the hotel crumbling, both physically and financially, they have to work together to save it. Izzy comes up with a scheme to reunite rings from the lost and found with their owners in the hopes of a reward. Lucas is quite sneery about the “Ring Thing” but gets involved anyway.

Though, judging by the cover and the blurb, this is meant to be the main plot line, and it is indeed a cute one, it all gets rather lost in the romantic drama of the two protagonists. I knew the romance was not working as well as it should when I found myself much more invested in whether the hotel was going to survive than whether (or, given the genre, when) Izzy and Lucas were going to get together. Anyway, it all comes together in the hotel’s annual Christmas party, which also interested me, but once again got subsumed to the swoony stuff.

I loved the author’s first two romances, The Flatshare and The Switch, and have consequently been excited to read her subsequent novels. I have mostly found them a little disappointing (especially The Road Trip) so I was enthusiastic that The Wake-Up Call seemed to be going back to the simplicity of the earlier ones. While it didn’t charm me as much as I hoped, it was definitely a cut above and, for me, that made it a good read.

Thanks to Berkley and Netgalley for the digital review copy.

✨ Book Review ✨

A big thank you to @berkleypub @netgalley for the #gifted copy of #TheWakeUpCall !!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 The Wake-Up Call by Beth O’Leary

Two hotel receptionists and arch-rivals, Izzy and Lucas, find a collection of old wedding rings and compete to return them to their owners finding their own love story along the way.

Wha to expect:

🥊 Enemies to Lovers
☀️ Grumpy/Sunshine
💘 He Falls First
🧬 Found Family

Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️/5

Quick thoughts:

✨ Very cozy atmosphere.
✨ Holidayish.
✨ Awesome chemistry between Izzy and Lucas.
✨ Made me smile.

Overall thoughts:

After pouring her heart out to Lucas in his Christmas card and being rejected, Izzy intentionally makes Lucas as miserable as possible when they work together. Triggering the competitiveness in Lucas, the two are now seemingly at war.

When Izzy finds a box of unclaimed wedding rings at their hotel she makes it her mission to find all the owners. Eventually it becomes another source of competition between her and Lucas, inadvertently bringing them closer together.

It’s hard to summarize this book properly without giving the story away but I truly loved every second of it. I will say this books foundation is a murky miscommunication which bothered me but it bothered me in a way that made me want to read faster to see it cleared up.

I loved the tension and chemistry between Izzy and Lucas that slowly builds and catches on fire throughout. Especially this second chance, enemies to lovers situation they have going on. It was fun to watch them spiral.

This is a he falls first romance which made me all warm and fuzzy. There is spice in this one but it’s fade to black.

The cozy atmosphere of the hotel was perfectly paired with the light holiday vibes. All of the secondary characters were lovely as well. I loved the friendships and found family aspect of the story.

If you like stories that keep you wondering this one would be a good pick for you!