Title Hotel for the Lost Series --- Author Suzanne Young Cover Art --- Publisher Simon Pulse - 2015 First Printing Simon Pulse - 2015 Category Young Adult Warnings None Website --- Main Characters Audrey, Daniel, Elias Main Elements Ghosts

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Program comes a haunting, romantic, and suspenseful story about one girl’s search for healing in a grand and mysterious hotel full of secrets.

Stay tonight. Stay forever.

When Audrey Casella arrives for an unplanned stay at the grand Hotel Ruby, she’s grateful for the detour. Just months after their mother’s death, Audrey and her brother, Daniel, are on their way to live with their grandmother, dumped on the doorstep of a DNA-matched stranger because their father is drowning in his grief.

Audrey and her family only plan to stay the night, but life in the Ruby can be intoxicating, extending their stay as it provides endless distractions—including handsome guest Elias Lange, who sends Audrey’s pulse racing. However, the hotel proves to be as strange as it is beautiful. Nightly fancy affairs in the ballroom are invitation only, and Audrey seems to be the one guest who doesn’t have an invite. Instead, she joins the hotel staff on the rooftop, catching whispers about the hotel’s dark past.

The more Audrey learns about the new people she’s met, the more her curiosity grows. She’s torn in different directions—the pull of her past with its overwhelming loss, the promise of a future that holds little joy, and an in-between in a place that is so much more than it seems…

And the 13th chapter will only add to the mystery behind the 13th floor of Hotel Ruby...and ultimately, what it means for Audrey.

Welcome to the Ruby.

This book was availbe for free in October 2020 on rivetedlit.com

Like the Hotel California...you can never leave.

Now, I don't think I'm giving a spoiler away when I say this is a ghost story of souls trapped in a hotel after a fire killed them. After all the only reason we're reading this book is because we know there's something weird going on in the hotel. However, I will admit that Audrey's experiences made me wonder if there was more going on than just a haunted hotel.

For the most part, I didn't care much for the angsty characters, I mean I get it, they lost a mother/wife so you're not exactly going to be full of joy but there was a fair amount of teenager whine that I didn't much care for coming from both Audrey and her brother. And of course while the word "romantic" is used in the blurb of the book, I didn't feel any of that at all, not even between Audrey and Elias, more like, hey here's a cute guy to distract me while my life sucks, and less a here's my soulmate I'd be willing to die for.

So there were moments I was near bored to tears, and yet, the weird things tossed in, like why was Audrey on the 13th floor and why does the staff react weirdly to this (and why would a father give each of his teenage kids their own hotel room, in an expensive hotel, and not all share a room? I've never travelled with someone and stayed in separate hotel rooms, except for work), what is with the visions Audrey has, where is the music coming from, and what's up with the creepy concierge?? Somehow you know this isn't just a simple ghost story with a malicious building that traps hapless travelers on a dark and stormy night. There's a little more going on and that made me keep reading, and ultimately, somewhat even enjoying it. I'd never have picked this book up to read if it hadn't been made free on Simon Pulse, I wouldn't have picked it out of the library either, since there are so many other things I want to read, but it was absolutely perfect for an October read leading up to Halloween. It had an appropriate amount of creepiness without being nightmare inducing (ghost stories can really creep me out). Thus while I didn't love the book, I still enjoyed it, and in a Covid year when you can't go out to Halloween parties, at least you can curl up with a spooky book!