The Hotel is a gripping thriller that’s hard to put down. Mark and Abby seem to have it all with their son, Henry. They’re married happily and run their successful bed and breakfast off the coast of Maine. But, times are tough, so when they get a booking for a full three weeks by a family who has booked their entire home, Abby couldn’t be more thrilled. The Rowes are coming to stay with them. But, is there a more sinister reason behind it?

This novel was really really engaging and hard to put down. I loved the atmosphere and the suspense. The characters while not likable were relatable at times, and boy did they have their motives for what they were doing. There were a few small things that prevented me from giving this a 5 star rating including a continuity error and some reaching toward the end of the novel.

The atmosphere in this book is crazy. I really felt like I was in Maine during a snowstorm. I could feel the cold creeping in as I read. I’m not usually a closed-room thriller fan, but the author did a good job without the book falling stagnant. I think the setting was perfect for the plot, and it really immersed the reader into the novel.

The characters were mostly awful people each with their own secret. I think I resonated with Abby more than the others. I understood why she was doing what she did more than the others. I think Lottie was the weakest character by far, and there were parts of her narrative that I found myself becoming bored with. I do think the multiple POVs worked here, but there wasn’t a big enough shift between characters in my opinion. Lottie and Abby were definitely far too similar. I got confused once on whose POV I was reading. I think giving the two women a more distinctive voice would’ve done wonders here.

There was a small continuity error in the beginning of the novel. Abby claims her husband was her high school sweetheart, and Mark talks about meeting Abby whenever she was throwing his roommate’s things out of his room for cheating on her. There’s a possibility these two things could be true at the same time, but it felt disjointed.

The plot was slow at first, but it really picked up on the back end of the book and propelled the narrative forward. I will say some of the stuff at the end felt like a reach in some places. But, it tied up interestingly enough, and I was satisfied with it once it was finished.

Another small thing is that the title and the cover don’t exactly match what’s going on in the book. There’s no hotel in the book really. It’s a bed and breakfast. Plus, the season on the cover looks like spring/summer when it’s set in a snowstorm. But that’s just me nitpicking.

Overall, I’d definitely read another book by this author. I thought it was a fun fast-paced easy-to-read thriller. The plot twists weren’t insane, but they weren’t fully predictable either. The story had a solid ending. It was simply a good book.

Yea! Another great read by Emily Shiner! Somewhat new to me author and I’m hooked. This was dark and creepy, and I loved it. Great characters and tense atmosphere creates the perfect storm.
Thank you NetGalley, Emily Shiner and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This was such a great read! Very THRILLING and the twists had me AWESTRUCK! I read it in one sitting. Definitely UNPUTDOWNABLE. You will not regret reading this amazing book! Its fun and full of suspense.

Thank you to NetGalley, Emily Shiner and Bookouture for this advanced copy!

Sadly, this book didn’t really work for me ultimately. It had everything I would want in a thriller, but just didn’t pull together the way I would have liked, unfortunately.

Mark and Abby own a beautiful B&B atop an ocean cliff side in Oyster, Maine where they live with their young son, Henry. Finding themselves in struggling times, Abby decides she needs to save her dream of owning the B&B by offering an anniversary sale, celebrating 10 years of successful business.

Immediately she receives booking from the Rowe family for an extended, private stay, Lottie, Tim, and their teenage daughter, Chelsea. They are coming to rent the entire B&B for weeks. Everything is going exactly as planned, until the Rowes arrive and Abby realizes her husband has been hiding a terrible secret from her.

Things become increasingly weird, Lottie seems overly familiar with Mark. Tim has a knowing look in his eye when he glances at Abby and her family, and they insist they are repeat guests, despite Abby having no recollection of them. Circumstances are made even more difficult as the storm rolls in, leaving them all stranded and isolated in a whiteout blizzard.

As small, chilling incidents happen, Abby becoming locked in her room, hearing someone speaking to Henry over his baby monitor, and Mark’s truck being compromised, Abby realizes that she and her son are trapped here with people whom none of which she can trust, even her husband. What they don’t realize however is that Abby has secrets of her own, and just how far she will go to keep her son safe.

I really wanted to like this book. It had the elements of a great thriller and I did read through it very quickly, but didn’t necessarily enjoy myself. It felt as if the main plot was overtaken by a few things, the first being that none of the characters likable or relatable. Abby’s crippling anxiety especially felt overbearing. This woman is constantly running around screaming when she can’t find her son for 2 seconds, yet she’s still constantly leaving him out of her sight. The dialogue felt clunky, awkward, and out of place in most scenes. I would have also liked a more satisfying ending. The resolution was there, but didn’t feel complete to me. Especially in the twist.
Ultimately this was a decent read, and I would be interested in reading more of the author’s work.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bookotoure, and the author for this ARC!
Publication date 9/7/23

The hotel set in a bleak, lonely area may not be everybody’s idea of a vacation but the Rowe’s booking the entire B & B for three weeks was with deadly purpose. The story is very twisted. Very early on you cotton on to the fact that Mark and the Rowes have a history. A complicated history involving blackmail as Well.

What no one cottons on to is that the simple, hardworking wife is no simpleton. Scheming from the very beginning she is the mastermind who engineers the whole situation in her favour - she wants to get out of the marriage with as much money as possible to safeguard the future of her baby son Henry. Everything works with that aim in mind.

Devious, all the characters were - and this was the story. Their deviousness. Not apparent at the beginning but apparent within a few pages of the story, each chapter giving you another bit of depth to the story.

Very well told, this was a good thriller.

I was conflicted as to how I felt about this book. On the one hand, this was incredible. The winter setting is beautiful and it made me want to spend a holiday in Saltside Inn.
The twists were interesting enough and I very much enjoyed Abby's character - until I got to the end. She wasn't what I thought she was and even though it was surprising it was also disappointing. Most characters other than her were unlikable so I had hung on to her for dear life. But alas, the ending ruined it a bit for me.

All in all Emily's detailed description of the stunning winter landscapes kept me going as well as the suspense as to what Mark was really hiding. I do recommend it.

I have mixed emotions about The Hotel by Emily Shiner. In the beginning I was very curious on where the story was going to lead. About 1/3 in I felt like the story was moving a little too fast, that some of it just didn't make that much sense. Also, that I guessed the plot pretty early on. But thankfully at the end was one other slight twist. But all in all I give it a 3 star.

Abby and Mark ( and their 2 year old son-Henry), own an isolated B&B overlooking the ocean in Maine. Struggling financially, they are offering a special to families that stay with them in December. Almost immediately after posting the special on social media- the Rowe family books the entire inn for 3 weeks. Full of characters that I just loved to hate.
WOW! What an absolute page turner, totally unputdownable, edge of your seat thriller. Shriner leaves you wondering who is telling the truth, who you can trust, and how far will you go to protect the ones you love.

I loved everything about this book!, the storyline, the characters and the way the story was written, i felt full immersed in the story and it had me hooked. I just couldnt put it down. Fantastic story

This book was absolutely amazing from the writing to all of the twists and the don’t get me started on the story as a whole. I couldn’t put it down I had to know what happened and honestly I thought I knew what was going to happen and then bam it happened totally different.

Abby and her husband mark own a hotel in Oyster called the Saltside Inn and they have a son named Henry. So at first we see a family hurting for money with a snowstorm closing in how will they make money? Open up the hotel with amazing discounts and hope someone books. Well what do you know a family of 3 requested to book the whole inn for three weeks for a family vacation. Or so we thought!! Then Things start getting really interesting!

Highly recommend if you love a good thriller with lots of twists.

Thank you Emily Shiner, Bookouture, and Netgalley for this ARC of The Hotel due to be published September 7th 2023.

Thank you to #NetGalley, #Bookouture and Emily Shiner for the opportunity to read an advance copy of The Hotel, to be published September 7, 2023. A couple who reside in Maine and have a B&B that she had always wanted begin to have some financial slump in the business, so the wife sets up a family of three to come visit their B&B for three weeks. During that time, a terrible snowstorm wiped out the power and then things go downhill from there — to bottom out! The characters were believable and easy to dislike for certain personality quirks. 5/5 Stars for this psychological thriller. #NetGalley #Bookouture #EmilyShiner #TheHotel

This was a thriller for the ages! Kept me on the edge of my seat. I love a book that keeps me turning the pages!

I found this book to be a slow burner. Predictable and unbelievable in parts. Unlikeable characters. The premise was good and descriptions of the area were excellent. Just missing something for me and the ending was abrupt. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it.

Thank you to the author, Bookouture and NetGalley for an ARC.

All opinions are solely my own.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of 5 stars.

A secluded bed and breakfast (not hotel) perched atop a seaside cliff in Maine during a blizzard. What could go wrong? Two families will soon find out.

Mark and Abby devoted parents of 2 yr old Henry are the owners of a struggling inn who offer a special sale for bookings in order to turn a profit. The Rowe family Tim, Lottie and teen daughter Chelsea book the entire inn for a 3 week family retreat. When a blizzard hits and the power goes off what secrets will be discovered?

An eerie 4 story old house is the perfect setting for this domestic thriller. None of the characters are particularly likable as we hear their perspectives in alternating chapters. How ever, I don’t require likable characters to enjoy a good thriller. Some issues could have been addressed more in depth or plainly excluded because they weren’t really germane to the narrative, I.e. fertility issues. Connections between the characters could have been more elucidated upon. They were glibly mentioned which made for a clunky merging of the relationships.

I love the setting it portrays an eerie, secluded atmosphere. Pacing was good, but was left confused by marks allying with one character since his family was such a strong motivation for his earlier behavior. The ending was somewhat abrupt.

All in all a solid narrative

I would recommend to my reading groups

The setting of this book brought me back to my childhood summer vacation in Maine,and Emily Shiner's description of the setting and the B&B itself made it easy for me to picture in my mind.

As the book starts, it seems as if there might just be a wrong place, wrong time aspect to the book plot. However, from the first hints that it was more than just a random vacation for Rowe family, I wanted to know the secrets of how Abby and Mark's seemingly mundane lives of running a cozy, quiet B&B are intertwined with the lives of Lottie, Tim, and their daughter Chelsea. I did find that I was correct in my assumption about how these characters were connected. It was pretty predictable from an early point. What wasn't as predictable was how each of these characters, whom each had their own plan, would develop during the story and which plan would come to fruition.

I found the characters to be ones that I loved to hate. None of them had many redeeming qualities. The lies they told and secrets they kept made them unlikable, but in a good way. I wanted to see who would come out on top and get what they wanted.

While some of the book was predictable, I did enjoy the writing style of Emily Shiner. She conveyed the tenseness of the predicament the characters found themselves in and keeping up with multiple points of view was not overwhelming. I was surprised at the ending and overall enjoyed the book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for providing me with access to an advanced traded copy in exchange for my review.

I did notice one mistake - chapter 46, page 210, the paragraph that begins with "Chelsea's back". The next sentence states "first aid kid" instead of kit.

I absolutely loved this book. Hooked straightaway and finished it all within 4 hours. The story and twists were engaging and kept me on the edge of my seat. The paragraphs are short and easy to follow with alternating narrators. My only constructive criticism would be that I found some of the sentences were a bit longer than they needed to be and a bit overly descriptive at times. That said I would definitely recommend this author and book.

At first, I wasn't sure how I felt about this book. It has multiple POV's each chapter and I wasn't sure how I felt about the story line (personal preferences) BUT Emily had my jaw on the floor once I finished this. I read it in an entire day. The plot only became more intriguing, and I was trying to figure out the ending before the book ended. Definitely recommend reading this book.

This book was an absolute roller coaster of emotions. I could not even begin to describe the twists and turns this book took me on and I enjoyed each page turn. I do feel the book left a wide open space to walk a sequel thru it. I am keeping my fingers crossed to see what kind of trouble can be stirred up following this book!
Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to preview this book.

I really enjoyed this book, I could barely put it down. Loved that it kept me guessing and was not easy to predict. This was also the first time I have read anything from this author, I will definitely be looking to read more of her books.

Thanks to Bookouture publishing and NetGalley for an eARC of The Hotel by Emily Shiner.

This book is really atmospheric, I can truly feel myself in the brutally cold winter snowstorms of Maine. However, that may be the only thing I truly enjoy about this book. None of the characters are likeable characters, they all have serious issues amongst a lot of plot holes. It's a very slow burn type of thriller that has the some elements to be kind of good, I just feel it doesn't quite hit that mark for me. Set to be published September 7, 2023 I think if you'd like to give this book a try during the snowy months would be ideal because the setting is truly great!