The Suite Spot by Trish Dollar: Book Review

The Suite Spot

by Trish Dollar

Rating: 5/5 
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Steam: Mostly Closed Door
Publisher: St. Martin's Press Romance
Pub Date: March 8, 2022
Thank you St. Martin's Press Romance and NetGalley for my Advanced Copy! You're the best!
Available: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop

The Suite Spot Synopsis:

One of the few bright lights in Rachel Beck’s life is her job at a Miami Beach luxury hotel—until she’s fired for something she didn’t do. As a single mom, Rachel knows she needs stability, and fast. On impulse, Rachel inquires about a management position at a brewery hotel on a tiny island in Lake Erie called Kelleys Island. When she’s offered the job, not even the grumpy voice on the line can dissuade her from packing up her whole life and making the move.

What she finds on Kelleys Island is Mason, a handsome, reclusive man who knows everything about brewing beer and nothing about running a hotel. Especially one that’s barely more than foundation and studs. It’s not the job Rachel was looking for, but Mason offers her a chance to help build a hotel—and rebuild her life—from the ground up.

The Suite Spot Review:

Trish Doller can write. After having read Float Plan by her earlier this year, The Suite Spot was a must read for me and honestly should be for you too. It’s amazing. Float Plan was about grief and finding yourself afterwards, this was the opposite. It was how to help someone through grief and how to take chances on your life although you’ve been the steady and safe one. There are content warnings at the beginning of the book and I’m just going to repeat them here: mention of child’s death, sexual assault, and suicide. It isn’t super descriptive, but be aware that it is there. I’m also going to put this up front; I liked this book more than the first.

Loves:

The writing and plot were just top notch. There’s something subtle and charming about the way that Doller writes that sucks you completely in and makes you fall in love with the characters and the setting. The writing creeps in and makes you feel so much. Doller has become one of my favorite authors because of this incredible skill. Plus the plot is so much more than what the synopsis gives, I mean it’s pretty close to the depth that Doller takes everything is amazing. Plus none of the characters were really villains which I also greatly appreciated with her writing.

Rachel felt so real and honest. Her conflictions, her anger, her grief, her character arc were all so vivid. I loved her interactions with all of the characters. Rachel and Maisie were adorable, I felt so much for her with ex and the stringing along that happened. Plus her personal insecurities were real and kept in line with the whole of the book.

Mason needs everything in life and I love him. His journey through grief and rediscovery of himself was truly the best part of the book. His beer making was absolute perfection. I do wish that both he and Rachel would have discussed their relationship more with how things would look because that could get messy quickly, but he is quickly ascended to the top of cinnamon roll heros whom I love. I mean Mason and his mother, come on.

OH-IO setting made my little buckeye heart so happy. I mean BGSU was mentioned and no one ever mentions BGSU and my sister goes there so I was so happy. Plus the representation of Kelleys Island and all of the NW Ohio goodness. Loved it.

Meh:

I’m still a little confused about the ending/plot issue at the end. Not going into any specifics, but it felt off. Like Rachel ignored Mason’s suggestions about calling ahead, but Rachel was just do before think and it didn’t seem like her character. IDK, it was odd and not my favorite.

Long Story Short:

Read this book. I am so thankful and happy that I was able to read this early and I know I’m going to be recommending it to everyone. SUCH AN AMAZING NOVEL. I already want to reread it. But seriously, heed the caution of the content warnings, and pre-order/read this novel because it’s so good. Also, FYI to the romance readers I would consider this to be a closed door romance, but there is more than in Float Plan.

If You Liked This One…

I highly recommend reading Float Plan by Trish Doller as well. Technically it’s the first book in this series and things would probably make a bit more sense reading them in order, but if you’re a chaos reader go ahead with no order! An author that I think is very similar to Doller is Roni Loren. Her book are much steamier, but they also cover some heavier topics with so much heart. My reviews for Yes & I Love You, What If You & Me, and The Ones Who Got Away are linked!

Trish Doller is a writer, traveler, and dog rescuer, but not necessarily in that order. She is the international bestselling author of Float Plan, The Suite Spot, and Off the Map. She has also written several YA novels, including the critically acclaimed Something Like Normal. When she’s not writing, Trish loves sailing, camping, and avoiding housework. She lives in southwest Florida with an opinionated herding dog and an ex-pirate. Find Trish on Twitter and Instagram at @trishdoller.