Review: The Heartbreak Hotel by Ellen O'Clover

Rating: 4 Stars

I loved this book. 

The Heartbreak Hotel follows Louisa as her long-term boyfriend breaks up with her and in a desperate bid to afford to stay in the best home she's ever had, she turns to her landlord - a grumpy vet named Henry - and persuades him to allow her to turn the large house into a bed and breakfast. One that she markets as a retreat for the broken hearted. 

I loved the characters - from Lou to Henry to the cast of background characters that stayed at the bed and breakfast. They all held so much depth, and it was a delight to read all of their different problems and the way that they were going through healing. I liked that the heart break portrayed wasn't just from a romantic relationship ending, it also came from death. 

There were a couple things that kept me from giving this 5 stars and most of it was the third act drama. I normally am okay with third act drama, but I just was not a fan of the way Lou reacted a couple of things and how the book then jumped into a different problem, leaving Henry and Lou without talking. I do feel like this author has a lot of potential and I really look forward to checking out whatever she publishes in the future. 

Synopsis:

Louisa Walsh emerged from a tumultuous childhood with a degree in counseling, a wealthy boyfriend, and her sunny outlook on life mostly intact. But that optimism is tested when she’s dumped and left unable to afford rent on their gorgeous house in the mountains of Colorado. Even with her life in disarray, Lou knows losing the one stable place she’s ever called home is not an option.

She asks her reclusive landlord, Henry Rhodes, to let her stay for free in exchange for renting out the house’s many rooms as a bed-and-breakfast. She’s shocked when he agrees to her terms, and even more surprised to discover Henry is a handsome thirtysomething veterinarian with silver at his temples and sadness in his eyes. One who does not take it well when Lou starts marketing her B and B as a retreat for the recently heartbroken.

But as the Comeback Inn opens its doors to its weary, hopeful guests, Lou and Henry find themselves dancing around both their undeniable connection and the closely held secrets that threaten to topple this fragile new start. A chance at love, here, could be too close to home…or it could be exactly where their hearts finally heal.

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