This book was wild! The prologue grabbed my attention and after the first chapter, I was invested in Abby and Mark and baby Henry. The couple own a struggling B&B and decide to run a special to entice business. Boy do they. The secrets and twists in this book were top notch! I couldn’t put this book down. I finished it in one day! This book is told from multiple POVs and then the story unfolds through each of their experiences.
I’ve never read anything by this author and was thrilled to receive an advanced copy and will definitely seek out more books by Emily Shiner!

Excellent thriller that kept me guessing the entire time. The characters and plot were spot perfect. Actually wanted more at the end. Highly recommend this one!

Thank you to NatGalley and the publishers for this ARC.

I sadly had to dnf this book at 17% because I just couldn’t get into it!
Super sad because I’ve enjoyed quite a few of her other books.

Pumped to be a part of the tour for this magnificent book! @authoremilyshiner never disappoints with her books!!

The twists in this book will keep you guessing right up to the last page!!! Another 5 ⭐️ read!! Thank you @bookouture for the Arc!!

#thrillerbooks #bookstagram #booksbooksbooks

It took me a while to review this mainly because after I had read it, it just flew under the radar! I felt intrigued in the beginning but slowly lost interest before the half way mark. The characters didn't feel real to be, and frankly quite unlikable. I didn't care enough about them to be as gripped in the story as I would have liked. There was something left to be desired!

Abby hatches the idea of a holiday discount to boost business at the bed and breakfast she owns with her husband and as soon as the social media post goes live a family of three books the entire place for a month. They claim to be repeat visitors, but Abby can't remember them or find any record of a previous stay.

I had a hard time getting into this one. The chapters alternate between characters and if I missed the name at the beginning I found myself either flipping back to see whose head I was in or waiting for context clues. Every adult in the book has an ulterior motive. As readers, we don't know what that is (a couple of times it's easy to guess) but it's immediately clear that there's SOMETHING.

What bugged me most about this book was the setting. I could probably overlook the fact that a thriller called "The Hot is set in a bed and breakfast, but whatever the place is, it doesn't make sense. After running it for a decade, wouldn't Abby and Mark have clearly defined which spaces were off limits to guests? Wouldn't they have decided which doors should have locks?

I enjoyed this atmospheric snowed in thriller that is set on the coast of Maine! It is told in alternating POVs and I it works well as more and more is revealed through the characters as the book goes on. I read it pretty quickly wanting to figure out how these two families are connected. It's a suspension of disbelief for sure - but I don't have a problem with that! I'd definitely recommend this one. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a slow burn, in a great setting with just enough secrets to make it stay with you.

But, the characters were not as well written as the plot, leaving me somewhat apathetic at times.

I don't doubt that for someone new to the genre this would be a good read.

I generally avoid slow paced books, but this one kept me interested. At least in the beginning. Everyone was keeping secrets - or thought they were. Turns out everyone knew what was going on.

I did not like the characters at all and I love a morally grey character as much as the next person but the execution felt very one dimensional and like a soap opera with all the planning and plotting

This started out very promising but the book quickly became quite confusing and muddled. It appears that everyone knew what was going on but they all thought they were keeping a secret from one another. I finished it- but the characters had much to be desired in this one. The only person I didn't hate was Henry the toddler son. I appreciate the ARC

What a twist.
It had me guessing through every chapter what the hidden agenda was of a few mysterious characters. A gripping, thrilling page-turner you will not want to put down. Well done Emily Shiner!

I’m happy today to be part of Bookouture’s tour for a new thriller by Emily Shiner: The Hotel. I found this story a little hard to get into at the start as the pacing seemed a tad slow. Then I felt that things sped up about a third of the way in. The last quarter of the book was filled with twists and turns and surprises! I thought at first I liked the characters, but by the end I disliked everyone but the toddler.

While I enjoyed the novel (I do love suspense!), I had to suspend disbelief a bit for the last part of the book. This story did keep me on the edge of my seat and I look forward to more from Ms. Shiner.

Thank you for my copy and for having me as part of the tour!

"REVENGE IS A DISH BEST SERVED COLD"


'The Hotel' and 'The Wife In The Photo' are the latest two books in a run of some eighteen psychological thrillers new to me author Emily Shiner has written. Having only just finished reading 'The Wife In The Photo', which had a very distinctive structure to the storyline, I was unsurprised that 'The Hotel' followed an almost identical format. If something works for you, why change it? This strong style statement certainly makes for some edge-of-the-seat reading, although for me, as a reviewer, it does make summing up the storyline without spoilers, very difficult to do well!

You really do need to read this one for yourself, because, as I found out the hard way, you can't trust anything you read in this potted premise...

...

Abby and Mark Hardy were childhood sweethearts, now married for over twenty years. Together with their 'rainbow baby' two-year-old Henry, they are the ten year, live-in owner / managers of a remote B&B, perched high on a cliff, facing the ocean with a forest backdrop, in the fictional town of Oyster, Maine. 'The Saltside Inn' is predominantly Abby's project, with Mark busily off supplementing their seasonal income, as an odd-job / handyman. Increasingly concerned about their finances, as inexplicably, their business account seems to be haemorrhaging cash, and with Mark seeming to be growing evermore distant from her, Abby decides that they should offer winter sale packages in an effort to boost off-peak occupancy.

Once she has managed to persuade Mark that her plan has 'legs' and might be quite lucrative for their bank balance, Abby places an advert and is surprised to receive a booking within hours. Lottie, Tim and Chelsea Rowe, not only want to stay for three weeks during the winter, but they want to rent the entire property exclusively, with the exception of the private bedroom suite belonging to the Hardy family, which is on its own locked floor and Abby insists remains out of bounds to guests.

However, Abby is unprepared for the reaction she gets from Mark, when she tells him the good news, especially when he discovers the identity of their guests, although he denies knowing them. Abby wants the Rowes to feel welcome and to treat their extended stay as a home-from-home experience, with the two families eating together and sharing the living accommodation, which all goes to plan for the first few days, before strange things begin to happen around the place, making for an unpleasant atmosphere for everyone, with rather more sinister implications for the genial hostess herself.

Tensions become so awkward that Abby and Mark consider asking the Rowes to leave early. However, a massive storm blows in, cutting the The Saltside Inn off completely, with its biting gale force winds and feet of driving snow. Then the power is cut too and everyone is on tenterhooks, especially when they are not all together, in plain sight of one another. Against all the odds, baby Henry goes missing, so a search of the house and land is organised, as it is clear he won't be able to survive the arctic conditions for more than a few minutes, if by some fluke, he has managed to make his way outside. An unstoppable chain of events is now set in motion, which can really only end one way - and inevitably does. Some of their number make good their escape, whilst for others, being forced to remain behind, has a whole different set of consequences!

You can run, but you can't hide...

...

The most important thing to remember here, is that nothing is as it seems and no one is who they purport to be, in this dark psychological thriller / domestic noir storyline of revenge and vengeance. Well structured, multi-layered and highly intense, it is broken down into short, easy to navigate chapters, which are narrated in the multiple voices of what is, a very minimal cast of characters. All the participants in this unpredictable, shockingly twisted plot, spend the entire time hinting at the many secrets each of them possesses, without actually ever saying what they are, making this a compelling guessing game of epic proportions. As with the previous Emily Shiner book I read, one big revelation is fairly easy to work out during the midway section of the story, however those tiny offshoots of lies and deceit just keep multiplying and growing, entwining themselves around the untruth which began the entire chain of events, tying me, as an inconsequential reader and unfortunate bystander, up in knots.

As indicated, the cast of characters in this locked room style storyline, is small, which is probably just as well as they are all so unreliable, complex, often volatile and never quite authentic. Both individually and collectively, they exude an air of misery and doom, which was as cloying and claustrophobic as the snow which blankets the landscape around them. There are not even any small glimpses of levity or happiness amongst them, with even a mostly miserable baby Henry seeming to pick up on the tense atmosphere, made worse I am sure, by the lack of any synergy between the dour and lugubrious adults who surround him and become the centre of his small world. I can honestly say I disliked them all and was unable to find few redeeming features to recommend any of them, which I am certain is just as the author had planned, as on occasions, it made it quite easy for me to take my eye off the ball for a few moments, just as some vital clue was dropped into what little conversation there was between them.


Emily also doesn't really focus on location in her stories either, which whilst it keeps everything tightly focussed on the plot and characters, can be a little frustrating for any 'armchair readers' like myself. However, the fictional Saltside Inn and its immediate surrounding area, is described in graphic detail, so it needed little imagination from me to picture myself trapped there, in the middle of nowhere, in the intense cold, with darkness all around me, not trusting any of my companions, and becoming increasingly scared of my own shadow.

Would I read any of Emily's many previous books? You bet! Although I shall probably take a short breather first, so that her unique storytelling technique is vibrant and fresh for me, next time I open the pages.

I would give this a 3.5 stars. If I was solely judging on the 2nd half of the book maybe 4.5 stars.

I really enjoyed this book and read it pretty quickly. The only part that I didn’t love was how repetitive the whole first 1/2 of the book was. I feel like very quickly the characters developed into who they were throughout the whole book. Which is great but I felt like all the bits and pieces were the same pieces just said 10 different ways. There were not any twists I didn’t see coming however I really did enjoy how the story went.

I really liked Lotties character you were rooting for her a lot in the book knowing she wasn’t who they want you to think she was. But there were some characters that thru me off like Tim. He never really developed he just was kind of there and a one off for many diff situations and scenarios it was almost like okay where is Tim in all of this. I really liked Henry too but thought it was strange he not once spilled the beans anywhere in the story after such traumatic events.

I think that Abby’s character was the most developed and thought out from start to finish. The way Emily was able to tie the whole story up and end it with a nice bow was great.

I really did enjoy this read and would recommend you stick with it because the 2nd half of the book was great!

Thanks NG for this ARC.

Omg! This book had me hooked from the first chapter! So much suspense and mystery. It is literally a page turner! One family vs another… it seems everyone has a secret! I love that there’s multiple POVS - I honestly wish there was more to read! The author will have you guessing from page 1… definitely recommend!

4.5/5

Wow.

I could not put this book down, taking breaks throughout my day as often as I could to just get a few more pages in on my phone!

Shiner packs this story full of scenery and description, I could picture myself at the B&B on the cliff side, pulling up blankets to my lap as I read, fighting off the cold as the characters did.
Beyond the setting, you are met with twists and turns, unveiling characters true selves and unbelievable motives left and right. Just when you think you know the worst person, someone outdoes them.

A great read and I look forward to reading more from Emily Shiner. Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this book.

Emily Shiner has written an intriguing book, and I enjoyed it!

Mark and Abby and their young son, Henry, live in Maine, and run a B&B in their home.
When money gets tight, Abby advertises a special rate for guests, and to her delight, a family of three books the entire house for three weeks!
No sooner does this family arrive, when a massive snow storm begins. Housebound without phone service or transportation, the situation becomes increasingly uncomfortable for everyone.
As the story unfolds, the plot begins to thicken with clues, questions, and finally a stunning reveal!
In the end, there is a big twist!
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC in return for my honest review!
4 stars

Another good one from this author with yet again another unique plot. I always enjoy books by this author.

Abby,Mark and their son Henry live at a clifftop hitel. The rowel family rent the entire place out for 3 weeks. As they come every character has secrets and lies which iunravel.Told from different characters pov this is so entertaining. I did gueese the originsl twist the subsequent were fantastic. I was totally hooked.. The action was fast paced. . I felt Tim could have done with a chapter of his own . Some of the events seem far-fetched in places but it was very enjoyable lead. I loved the way the pov were written to lead you to think one thibg but it was actually another.
Thank you netgallery publisher and author for a solid four star arc

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of this book!
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel by Emily Shiner. It drew me in and I was invested in the characters to see who was the responsible person. My only issue was at the end--it fell a little flat. I wasn't a fan of the very last twist, although I was happy with how our main character ended up. I am not one of those people who believe that a fictional story has to be believable, but I just would have liked to hear a little bit more of the back story during the skip through time. I did really enjoy most of the twists throughout the story. Ultimately I really enjoyed reading it and that is why I read--so this one fit the bill perfectly.
#thehotel #netgalley