Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - Hotel of Secrets

Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Hotel of Secrets by Diana Biller

11 reviews

annabelle's review against another edition

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emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

A very enjoyable read!

There was lots I loved:

the setting of Vienna during ball season
the multiple mysteries while trying to pull together a last minute ball
the complicated family dynamics and all the family lore
the characters are all very competent and capable! both Maria and Eli have a good head on their shoulders
watching Maria and Eli fall in love and embrace vulnerability with each other!!
Eli studying up on how to please Maria... I was so into it hehe

The only reason this isn't a full 5 stars is because of

Eli's reaction to Maria's love confession. The third act breakup was not totally out of left field, but it still felt jarring and a little unexpected. I honestly was not expecting him to react the way he did after everything else that happened. If we are meant to believe hes felt insecure/unworthy this enitre time, we could've seen more internal monologue of him not believing in her affections seriously. His reaction just felt really cruel when he doesn't seem like a cruel character at all.

Even with that little hiccup, I still really enjoyed my time with this book!

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faerietears's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Hotel of Secrets was an enjoyable read. What I think I loved most was that this is an APPROACHABLE historical fiction novel. Despite taking place many, MANY years ago, the language didn't feel stilted or forced. I was able to appreciate learning about this time-period in Vienna in an easy way. It was also fun to make connections to another book I read in the last year or so about Empress Sisi from Vienna!

I loved the characters in this story. Every single one of them had a role to play and they did it well. I want to travel through time and visit the Hotel Walner! I want to go to balls and dance the waltz and meet the spies!

The romance was fine. I appreciated that Maria was the dominate partner and Eli was more subdued. I appreciated the backstory that Eli had, and the familial issues for Maria. They were very in-depth characters. At one point I made a note on my Kindle, "Eli reminds me of Mr. Darcy in the 2004 version of Pride & Prejudice!" (Because of his reserved nature.)

I felt like the mystery took a while to really get going, but I didn't care because I was enjoying every moment with the characters. I was rooting for Maria to get the hotel fixed up for the ball. I was enjoying Eli being forced into situations by the other spy and Maria's half-brother.

So yeah, this was a really fun book. I knocked down a star because of some really cringe sexy scenes that IMO didn't add to the story.

Huge thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

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crystalisreading's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.75

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sydapel's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Sometimes I think I'll never get bored of historical romance, especially when it so often pairs a grumpy reticent man with a dark past he thinks will never be forgiven with a fiery, independent woman who has emotional walls built so high she thinks no one will ever care to scale. And boy howdy are they both wrong!!!

On a serious note, I really appreciated how this was set somewhere that wasn't England and found the cast of characters, plot and setting really well done. The last 20 pages to me felt a bit clunky and rushed, but overall a really solid HistRom.

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naomi_k's review

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adventurous hopeful mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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mcbryson's review

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I really enjoyed the setting in late Imperial Vienna, which was a nice change from most historical romances. There's definitely a lot more mystery/action than those as well. I do think the main characters could have been a little more developed, particularly the MMC.

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wilybooklover's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

5.0

Diana Biller writes some of my favourite heroes. They're just so utterly besotted with their heroines; I love them!

Maria and Eli were so lovely together. Maria is take-charge and independent, running a hotel practically by herself. Eli is buttoned-up and reserved and unflinchingly honest (despite orginally being in Vienna undercover). He's protective of Maria without being domineering about it. I just LOVE to see a starchy hero become undone over the heroine and this book gave me that in spades. Their sexual tension was off the charts and

that scene where Maria masturbates in front of him?? HOT!!

There was very little internal conflict in this romance which is something I always appreciate. Just two incredibly competent people getting to know each other, falling in love and learning to accept it.

All in all, a stunning blend of swoony romance, suspense, and political intrigue. Very rich in historical detail and the complex politics of the time without becoming dry or overshadowing the romance. Plus a great cast of vividly-drawn secondary characters, from Maria's complicated family to her friends and hotel guests. I particularly loved Josephine and Claude! In fact, I want a story featuring Claude.

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emilylovesgoodbooks's review

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funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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booksalacarte's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.25

Hotel of Secrets- 2.25⭐️3.25🌶️

It’s ball season in Vienna, and Maria Wallner only wants one thing: to restore her family’s hotel, the Hotel Wallner, to its former glory. She’s not going to let anything get in her way - not her parents’ three-decade-long affair; not seemingly-random attacks by masked assassins; and especially not the broad-shouldered American foreign agent who’s saved her life two times already. No matter how luscious his mouth is.

Eli Whittaker also only wants one thing: to find out who is selling American secret codes across Europe, arrest them, and go home to his sensible life in Washington, DC. He has one lead - a letter the culprit sent from a Viennese hotel. But when he arrives in Vienna, he is immediately swept up into a chaotic whirlwind of balls, spies, waltzes, and beautiful hotelkeepers who seem to constantly find themselves in danger. He disapproves of all of it! But his disapproval is tested as he slowly falls deeper into the chaos - and as his attraction to said hotelkeeper grows.

——————

✨My Opinion✨

I’ve honestly never read a German based romance novel. It was interesting to see a glimpse of the times, but I didn’t get a very good picture of actual setting of Vienna or anything else other than the hotel itself. But the little historical political snippets were nice.

This book was all over the place. The first half of the book was specifically a suspense book, a super slow one where things didn’t even seem to be tied together. I started skimming fairly early on. Then all of a sudden it was very much a romance novel. Thankfully, the second half was interesting, but the espionage entangled ending was a big dud. It seems that exactly no agent/spy/traitor is good at their job… which makes for a bad book about espionage.

As far as characters go, The two main characters were fairly blah. Eli had no personality, with the excuse that his childhood trauma sucked it out of him. Tall, dark and never smiling/laughing before just isn’t enough to make a character interesting for me.

Maria was fine, but for such an independent and modern woman, had to be saved too many times for my liking.

*Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins press for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

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unsuccessfulbookclub's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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