karen7 's review for:

Hotel Portofino by J.P. O'Connell

2.0

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This is a case of "you can't judge a book by its cover" and the lure of an upcoming PBS TV show. I wanted to like this book; it had many alluring elements: beautiful Italian landscape, 1920s setting, Brits, and a "Downton Abbey" appeal. Perhaps the TV show fares better. I just didn't enjoy the writing. With so many characters, there was no time to fully develop them. Feelings/motivations were announced in 1 or 2 sentences. The episodic structure rapidly changes every few pages, and onto a new character. Why include them all? Just to check boxes and/or imitate Downton Abbey? Yes. Some characters were rather stereotypical (all the Italians, of course). Athough set in the late 1920s, it was extremely contemporary and "woke". How dare Lucian stare at a beautiful woman on the beach! He's lecherous and invading her privacy! In the last chapter, a sentence went something like this: "How dare he colonize her bedroom as he did her body". Sorry, but I laughed out loud. The author obviously did some research for this book but maybe J.P. should read Julian Fellows' novels. But there was just too much to cover (without much of a plot) for any kind of depth.