misskjm's review against another edition
5.0
*I received an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review*
If any of you have ever watched the show The Hotel Inspector which stars Alex Polezzi, then you will be familiar with the premise of Crescent Hill, which is about a male hotel inspector, Roman Finnegan, who goes into a run down, family owned hotel in small town America. Roman has his work cut out for him— a broken family full of secrets and lies and less-than-enthusiastic staff members and a growing attraction to the owners' daughter, Maggie.
Roman is very much a 'tough love' sort of guy, professionally, and totally the opposite in his personal life. He is confident, warm and has a good head on his shoulders. He also has a dirty mouth and a mighty temper.
I really liked Maggie, too. At first, she appeared too perfect, but she actually had deep flaws that caused her to do some unconscionable things. But I could relate to her being a bit gullible and always second guessing whether she was worthy of this happiness.
Overall, Crescent Hill was a great story that I read very quickly. Definitely a hard one to put down and Roman is most definitely swoon-worthy!
If any of you have ever watched the show The Hotel Inspector which stars Alex Polezzi, then you will be familiar with the premise of Crescent Hill, which is about a male hotel inspector, Roman Finnegan, who goes into a run down, family owned hotel in small town America. Roman has his work cut out for him— a broken family full of secrets and lies and less-than-enthusiastic staff members and a growing attraction to the owners' daughter, Maggie.
Roman is very much a 'tough love' sort of guy, professionally, and totally the opposite in his personal life. He is confident, warm and has a good head on his shoulders. He also has a dirty mouth and a mighty temper.
I really liked Maggie, too. At first, she appeared too perfect, but she actually had deep flaws that caused her to do some unconscionable things. But I could relate to her being a bit gullible and always second guessing whether she was worthy of this happiness.
Overall, Crescent Hill was a great story that I read very quickly. Definitely a hard one to put down and Roman is most definitely swoon-worthy!
mamabookwyrm's review against another edition
3.0
So I have an addiction to those rescue shows. You know the ones like Bar Rescue, Hotel Hell, etc. So when I read the blurb for Crescent Hill I was intrigued. How would that translate into a book? Jackie Wang did a really good job infusing the story with the attitudes and drama that encompasses that sort of rescue into the story. Roman Finnegan had the right amount of ego, expertise and compassion need to help rescue Maggie Summers’ family hotel. Her family was argumentative, broken and needy. Maggie herself was desperate to make things work. It was the perfect combination.
What didn’t work for me was the romance between Roman and Maggie. I didn’t feel the chemistry between them. So when Maggie went from determined abstinence to sexpot in what seemed like 0.2 seconds I was pretty shocked. It just felt like the romance was forced. I personally like it when the chemistry builds up and then there’s a big KABOOM. Other than that, I did like the characters. Roman was charming and slightly arrogant. His thoughts often made me chuckle. Maggie was a hardworking, self-deprecating single mom who’d been through a lot of crap. The secondary characters were pretty great too. I wish I’d seen more of Grandma Rita, she seemed like she would have been a hoot.
Overall, a pretty decent story, it just didn’t work for me. If you like the rescue reality stories just as much as me, it may be worth picking up. It could be that it’ll work for you.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book.
For more reviews, visit
What didn’t work for me was the romance between Roman and Maggie. I didn’t feel the chemistry between them. So when Maggie went from determined abstinence to sexpot in what seemed like 0.2 seconds I was pretty shocked. It just felt like the romance was forced. I personally like it when the chemistry builds up and then there’s a big KABOOM. Other than that, I did like the characters. Roman was charming and slightly arrogant. His thoughts often made me chuckle. Maggie was a hardworking, self-deprecating single mom who’d been through a lot of crap. The secondary characters were pretty great too. I wish I’d seen more of Grandma Rita, she seemed like she would have been a hoot.
Overall, a pretty decent story, it just didn’t work for me. If you like the rescue reality stories just as much as me, it may be worth picking up. It could be that it’ll work for you.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book.
For more reviews, visit
becsa's review against another edition
4.0
Roman Finnegan is a hotel "fixer-upper". He comes in to save struggling hotels, sometimes funded by his own money when it's clear that the hotels can't survive without him. When he leaves England to take on a hotel in the US it's clear that there is a reason that this hotel is suffering.
Yet maybe Roman can't even save this one. With the owners, Langston and Mercy Mary Beth Summers fighting him every step of the way, inedible food, someone stealing money and enough mounted animals to make a taxidermist proud.
But the one positive seems to be Magnolia "Maggie" Summers, the owners daughter who tries to make everything go as smoothly as possible. But Maggie has her own issues and letting Roman get close to her is not in the plans.
As Roman tries to get closer to Maggie more secrets are revealed and as his date for leaving gets closer he tries to persuade her to come back with him. But Maggie isn't ready to leave her past behind on her and she may choose that over uncertainty.
Wow! This book is great! There were definitely some things that I was not expecting and Roman definitely had his work cut out for him!
I really liked Roman and the fact that he did some of these renovations from the goodness of his heart and just wanted people to succeed. He is definitely a good guy but gets frustrated when he tries to help and people don't want to implement his changes. He is extremely attracted to Maggie but she has reservations from her own part that make her think that she isn't worth his love.
This family definitely has many issues and a lot of it comes with never coming to terms with their past and their loss. Mercy especially clings onto the past and not wanting to make changes as it means moving on and she struggles with that. When Roman makes the family discuss everything it clears a lot up and makes everything easier.
Maggie is living with so much guilt that it doesn't allow her to be happy in the present. She is completely dedicated to her boys and her family but doesn't do anything to be happy and allow herself to move on. She blames herself and is trying to make up for it which isn't helping anyone.
I really loved how our opinions changed about certain people in the book and definitely hope everything works out for everyone involved!!
Great read and looking forward to the next book by the author!
Yet maybe Roman can't even save this one. With the owners, Langston and Mercy Mary Beth Summers fighting him every step of the way, inedible food, someone stealing money and enough mounted animals to make a taxidermist proud.
But the one positive seems to be Magnolia "Maggie" Summers, the owners daughter who tries to make everything go as smoothly as possible. But Maggie has her own issues and letting Roman get close to her is not in the plans.
As Roman tries to get closer to Maggie more secrets are revealed and as his date for leaving gets closer he tries to persuade her to come back with him. But Maggie isn't ready to leave her past behind on her and she may choose that over uncertainty.
Wow! This book is great! There were definitely some things that I was not expecting and Roman definitely had his work cut out for him!
I really liked Roman and the fact that he did some of these renovations from the goodness of his heart and just wanted people to succeed. He is definitely a good guy but gets frustrated when he tries to help and people don't want to implement his changes. He is extremely attracted to Maggie but she has reservations from her own part that make her think that she isn't worth his love.
This family definitely has many issues and a lot of it comes with never coming to terms with their past and their loss. Mercy especially clings onto the past and not wanting to make changes as it means moving on and she struggles with that. When Roman makes the family discuss everything it clears a lot up and makes everything easier.
Maggie is living with so much guilt that it doesn't allow her to be happy in the present. She is completely dedicated to her boys and her family but doesn't do anything to be happy and allow herself to move on. She blames herself and is trying to make up for it which isn't helping anyone.
I really loved how our opinions changed about certain people in the book and definitely hope everything works out for everyone involved!!
Great read and looking forward to the next book by the author!
More...