Review by redhairedashreads - The Haunted Hotel

redhairedashreads 's review for:

The Haunted Hotel by Vawn Cassidy

4.0

4 stars - It was really good

Morgan Ashton-Drake hasn’t thought about his ancestral home in decades, but when the scandal of the murder at the hotel reaches him he can’t ignore it anymore. Morgan returns to England for the first time since he was a child and finds that the house may be outdated, but it is well kept and homey, which he didn’t expect. Nor does he expect to find himself attracted to the cute receptionist, Ellis.

After being introduced to this hotel and characters in Dead Serious Case #4 Professor Prometheus Plume, I really wanted to know more about the ghosts within. So as you can imagine I was happy to see this new spin-off series all about this haunted hotel!

Ellis has been working at the Ashton-Drake Manor since he was 16 and the people and ghosts within are his family. He works hard daily to try and keep the manor running, but things are getting dire. Ellis was a sweet, happy guy who will do whatever he can to save the manor and help his family. I really liked Ellis and his determination to save this historical manor.

Morgan is a grumpy workaholic who runs a successful chain of hotels. He comes to the Manor angry and reluctant to restart a relationship with his grandfather, who he hasn’t spoken to since he was a child. I really enjoyed Morgan’s character development in this. He arrives grumpy and stressed and as the story progresses we see him reevaluate his life and what he wants. He starts to laugh and smile again and lets some of the stress that he has put on himself over the years go. We also see him rebuilding the bond with his grandfather and realizing how similar they are.

The ghosts in the Manor are all great and each one is unique. I love that we are getting this series because we can really get to know all the different ancestors and other people who have died in this house. Bertie and Roger were hilarious and such troublemakers. I can’t wait to read more of this series and see what other kinds of shenanigans the ghost gets up to.

Overall, this was a great start to a spin-off series and I really enjoyed Ellis and Morgan’s story. I can’t wait to see what will happen next for them and how they will save the manor.

TW: threat of loss of job and home; death of family members discussed;

Content Warnings