Reviews with content warning for Classism - Hotel Magnifique

Lovable characters: "It's complicated" because, while some of the side characters are arguably lovable, the MC is intolerable. She spends the entire novel jumping to conclusions, acting impulsively, and excusing her own behavior by claiming that her stubbornness is a virtue, even when it puts her and her sister in greater danger. She's rude, self-centered, and extremely difficult to sympathize with or root for.

Diverse characters: "It's complicated" because the author has a weird obsession with showing off how many colors she can list for skin tones. Every single unnamed side character is described by some inane set of words like "the copper-skinned boy," "mocha" "olive" "porcelain" etc. etc.. It essentially feels like she is just filling the room with as many "diverse" looking characters as possible without having to put in the work to incorporate an actual sense of diversity into the story.

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lettigirl101's review against another edition

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4.0

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brokentoes's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

Perfect blend of “Howl’s Moving Castle” and “Spirited Away”

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art_books_chemistry's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

I cannot say I enjoyed or didn't enjoy this book. It was very middle of the road for me, solid storyline but nothing especially special. I liked the concept a lot and maybe was expecting too much from a YA novel but I was disappointed we didn't dive into the artifacts more. I also thought that there could have been a lot more ingenious use of magic. I did like some of the clever things we saw, I liked the "games" but would have liked more of an explanation of the umbrellas at the very beginning. The depth of the evil was pretty well designed and clever though to some extent quite predictable.

I found the mild romance subplot to be borderline skeevy. I'm sure it isn't really but it was giving me 1000 year old vampire with 16 year old vibes. The text was clear about how the magically inclined didn't age the same and some of the ones in the hotel had no idea how long they had been there which made me imagine a mentally middle aged man with the face of 20 year old flirting with the female main character. Maybe that's just me or maybe it's my old person brain. I certainly didn't see a problem with it when reading Tamora Pierce's Wild Magic series and Numair is significantly older than Daine who is also 16 when they start falling in love. My adult hindsight makes a face but when I reread it, I think it's written in such a way as to make you forget that to some extent and their story is just so adorable. <sorry for the sidetrack lol>

So, I really don't recommend this book and I was disappointed in it as well. I think the concept just could have been fleshed out more and maybe made into a duology, the ending felt a bit rushed like everything the author wanted needed to get out on paper and then get wrapped up before she hit too many pages.

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monniebiloney's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious relaxing medium-paced

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

3.75

Pros:
has a wonderful setting
I liked the horror elements, especially at the beginning of the book
The ending was satisfying

cons:
The ramance fell flat. They were trying to go for some kind of enemies to lovers like tension but Idk if I just hate Enemies to lovers, or this book make it real really boring.

The main character also felt very entitled to other people's lives which bothered me. Like you are NOT owed the secrets of your aquantenses, let alone your friends. The amount of times he got mad at Bel, who wasn't even her boyfriend yet, for not telling her stuff like, was kidn go anoying.

The fact the MC also was clumbsy, but only clbsy when the plot called for it was also quite anoying.

All in all, I was planning on rathong the book 3 stars, but I felt the ending was satisfying enough to bump it up to 3.75. If Bel and the Main character weren't a couple and instead they focused more time on Beatrice, I probably would have rather the book 4.75.

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aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

A mystical, mysterious read. A little slow in spots but overall enjoyable. I loved all the magic and intrigue. The villains were interesting and the ending was fulfilling. Not a standout, everybody must read kind of book but if you're looking for something with a little mystery, magic, and a cool setting, this would be a good one to pick.

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