Book Blog: Hotel Ruby by Suzanne Young
This book was on my amazon for quite a while, so when I found it at the library I figured it would be better to borrow it first before puchasing it. I had just finished it today, so it only took me a good week to finish. Plus it is one of the shorter novels I’ve read being that’s just shy of being 300 pages. Spoilers alert.
PLOT: Audrey, Daniel (brother), and here father were originally going on a road trip to grandma’s house in Elko Nevada where Audrey and Daniel would be dropped off and would live there with the relatives and the dad would be going back home. This is all because of the mother’s death that happened three months prior and that nobody knew how to handle their grief, but along the way they come across a beautiful hotel. The Hotel Ruby. It is just as gorgeous on the outside as it is on the inside, and the people the meet along the way are just as colorful. However, Audrey does notice that beneath the glam and glitter there is something foreboding about the hotel and why she was not invited to the ballroom party.
PROS: Audrey is for the most part a relatable character. we do get a good portion of her backstory as to why she has her moments, what caused her mother’s death, how she feels about certain people, etc. So she is a well developed character. The love interest Elias is also enjoyable; he kind of reminds of the guys you would see in an old 1940-50′s romance. Y’know hes got class and charm but he can also be a pankster and slightly immature. and there does seem to be some sort of underlying threat throughout the book whenever someone even mentions the hotel in general.
CONS: Even though Audrey is a well developed character, she’s still kinda bland. Still kinda like a typical heroine who’s kinda into one thing but is also into another. Wants to be with the man of her dreams, but knows she can’t. She has the oppritunity to save herslef, but does the right thing and stay behind. Predicable stuff. Not saying it’s bad but when I was in the middle of the story I had a hunch of what was going to happen, and I was right. Wish there was another twist or something. The only other complaint I have is that while the Hotel Ruby is threating, it’s never fully explained why. Young does give us a few answers, but they just don’t quite make sense to me.
Overall this was an entertaining read. I did enjoy it, got kind of predicable near the end. So now I tink it’s safe to say that I would much rather borrow this book than purchase. I give the Hotel Ruby a 7/10.
