Another Ruth Hogan hit. Really enjoyed this one. Who didn't play with ghosts and matches as a kid?

I could relate to this book on a personal level

I perhaps should've given up on this one but all the high star reviews made me think there was a plot twist or something but unfortunately there isn't. The writing style didn't do it for me and I didn't find the child's voice believable and most of the characters are caricatures. I also didn't understand the title as the hotel doesn't feature until half way through and isn't the main plot.

This seems to be the year of feel good book and it males sense considering all the terrible news trickling in day after day ever since this year started.
Anyway, moving on to the review, this book has been languishing in my kindle, unread for atleast a year. I loved Ruth Hogan’s Keeper of Lost Things and was very excited when I got approved for this e-arc on Netgalley but then I somehow forgot all about it and moved onto other books. Recently I saw the audiobook for this one on Scribd and suddenly remembered getting the arc, so I finally decided to read/listen to it and get it off the backlog on Netgalley.
This book is told in a dual PoV of Tilda as an adult and Tillie her younger self. Where Tilda is introverted, anxious and lonely , Tillie is a darling precocious child full of vitality. If it was just Tilda I probably would have ended up dnf-ing the book because for a long time her PoVs made me melancholy but Tillie made up for it. Tillie has such a singular voice and her take on the world and the various people who fill that world of hers is so refreshingly quirky, laugh-out-loud funny and heartbreakingly sad all at once.
How this vivacious child turns into the lonely adult Tilda we meet at the beginning of the book and how Tilda starts rediscovering herself forms the rest of the story.
Every single character and their stories leave an impact and Ruth Hogan successfully delivers another warm, bittersweet novel to cherish forever.
Recommended for fans of mild magical realism and feel good books.
Trigger: anxiety, ocd
Rating: 4 stars

Back with a new cast of wonderfully quirky characters - her best novel yet!

Absorbing, tender and heartfelt this book will take on a fabulous journey between two different time frames through a whole range of emotions into a very well timed, placed a thought twist. Everything is there for a reason - beautiful writing, a perfect sense of place & a character that is sure to steal your heart.

A gem, not to be missed!

Thanks to Two Roads & Netgalley for sending me this in exchange for an open and honest review.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Who wouldn't love this book!? The characters make you feel you are part of their lives, you experience their highs and lows just as you would in your own lives with the hope that the ending would turn out well for them, after all a fairy tale always does doesn't it? Set in wonderful Brighton this is a fabulous book, humorous, poignant and a true reflection of modern life. A great read - highly recommended.

I adore everything written by Ruth Hogan and this is no exception.

I love how I feel that any Hogan book will be a winner for me and I am never disappointed.

Tilda travels to her mothers house following her death and is overcome with memories and emotions which along with mental health is the underlying theme of this book.

Love Ruth Hogan’s writing and was so looking forward to reading this. I wasn’t disappointed, couldn’t put it down. Would recommend

Heartwarming and sweet, I absolutely loved this book! In fact, I love anything by Ruth Hogan! She knows just how to bring the emotion and get me attached to the characters, while making me feel warm and cozy along the way. I cannot wait to read more from her!

I loved Ruth Hogan’s first novel The Keeper of Lost Things so am delighted to say that this book lives up to it. This book follows Tilda in two timelines – we see her as a child as she’s struggling to understand the loss of her father and her struggling mother. This alternates with Tilda as an adult in the present now interested in re-visiting her past in the wake of her mother’s death. I really enjoyed this book, it’s very much character driven and you really get to understand Tilda and why she is the way she is. Through the novel we’re introduced to a wonderful cast of characters including the fabulous Queenie Malone! This book is a really emotional read at times but it’s also fun and beautiful… and there are plenty of surprises along the way too! It really captures life and I adored it. I recommend this one!

Set in Brighton (which is an automatic win for me), this novel takes place at a quirky hotel (which you'll wish you could visit) and is full of fun and eccentric characters, who are total misfits but you'll wish were you best friends. The writing is lovely and light, but at the novel's core is a lovely, tender story of a mother and daughter that will make you shed a tear for sure!

I loved the premise of this book, although I felt it slightly slow-going for my taste. Great for readers looking for a good family tale with a little mystery and eccentric characters. Thanks NetGalley!

Having read and thoroughly enjoyed Ruth Hogan’s ”The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes” I was keen to read this. This is the story of Tilly, or Tilda, and is told in an alternating narrative between Tilly as a child and Tilda as a grown woman, returning to the Brighton home of her recently deceased mother to sort through her belongings. Tilda has OCD and memories of a poor relationship with her difficult mother, coupled with a sad longing for her beloved father who left the family home when Tilly was just 7.

As the story progresses Tilda learns more and more about her mother from a box of diaries she discovers beneath her mother’s bed, giving her a much better understanding of her parent and the reasons behind her mother’s behaviour and their brittle relationship.

Ruth Hogan obviously likes the theme of the paranormal as Tilly and Tilda have the ability to not only see dead people (and dogs) but to interact with them too. The Queenie of the book title is one of them, and whose somewhat unorthodox and eccentric friends, family and hotel business provided a much needed home and solace to both Tilly and her mother. It is she who encourages Tilda, as an adult, to unravel the true history of her childhood and to find the courage to face life and begin a relationship with Dan, the proprietor of a seafront cafe. I did find myself wondering who was a ghost and who wasn’t at times though.

Queenie’s Paradise Hotel, in common with Ruth Hogan’s other books, is a quirky and heartfelt read, but perhaps I was hoping for something a little more, something to show a development in style instead of more of the same. I guess publishers are keen to propagate repetitive successes if they have hit on a for,at which works and sells books but I’d like to see something different as the author is obviously a talented writer.

Being of a particular age, I liked and recognised a lot of the nostalgic references to popular culture during Tilly’s childhood. However, I did have issues with the endless misunderstanding and muddling of words by the young Tilly. No doubt they were meant to be endearing and funny, but I just found them plain irritating and very false. Nor do I understand what Tilly’s father has done that was so bad to trigger the whole saga, so feel that should have been better explained.

Overall, this was a warm and enjoyable read. I’m sure serious fans will love it, but I’d like to see Ruth Hogan take a risk and experiment with a detour from the trued and trusted.

What an emotional, very well-written book dealing with OCD (or autism/aspergers), family traumas and a totally unexpected ending. I was hooked and could identify with many of the characters from my own family experiences. Brilliant and highly recommended.

I was disappointed with this book. I absolutely loved ' the keeper of lost things' but I just couldn't get into this. I found it very slow to start and didn't feel gripped enough to continue.

Superb. Absolutely loved it. Well written and entertaining. Highly recommended for all types of reader..

What a truly beautiful book this is.

After Tilda's mother dies, Tilda goes to sort through her things, leading her on a journey down memory lane which uncovers secrets hidden for years. Split between Tilda as an adult and Tilly as a child, we see her past as she experienced it, and the contrast when she learns what was really happening years later.

The title's a little bit of a misnomer. While Queenie is an interesting character and the hotel somewhere Tilly lived, the focus is more on Tilda/Tilly's perceptions and her different way of viewing the world.

Filled with quirky individuals and a slowly unfolding tale of tragedy, Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel will leave you more than a little misty eyed.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC without obligation.

Well written sweet story that didn't go the way I though it would. I enjoyed it very much. Thanks you to Netgalley and the publisher!!

Thank you NetGalley and John Murray Press for this book.
This was my first Ruth Hogan book an I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I loved it.
Lots of vibrant, interesting and different characters and a young woman coming to terms with the death of her mother and wanting to know more about her life and her father.
I would highly recommend this book and it is a delightful summer read.
I liked it so much I have just bought Ruth’s other two books.
Review also posted on Amazon

Tilda has returned to her mothers flat to clean it out after her death, a bit of a loner with her own secrets, Tilda finds her Mums diaries, hoping to find out why her Mum sent her away to boarding school even after Tilda had begged not to go, more secrets are revealed.

The book switched between Tilda the adult and Tilly the child.

A lovely book which I really enjoyed.

I really enjoyed this book much to my surprise. Surprised as it’s not my usual genre when it comes to novels but Ruth Hogan was recommended to me so when I spotted a review copy available on NetGalley I decided to give it a try. I’m so glad that I did. Queenie Malone’s Paradise Hotel is a superb read, a bittersweet tale of a childhood of love , loss, deception and curiosity which leads to an adulthood overshadowed by misunderstandings and strange rituals until Tilda finds ‘the diaries’ . I especially loved the part of her childhood spent at Queenie’s , such fabulously colourful characters all under one roof, my only criticism, and it’s in no way meant to be detrimental, is that I would have loved more of Queenie...she’s divine! Highly recommended.