Many people wish for a better life. Everybody has had this thought one way or another. Some people want a new job. Some people want to break away from a relationship holding them back. Some people want a lifestyle change. Some people want new friends. Some people want to find their special someone. Suite Spot offers a perfect blend of all these desires coming into fruition with a healthy dose of reality every now and then.

Quick Rundown of the Plot 

Rachel Beck has lived in Miami her entire life. At the beginning of this story, she lived with her three-year-old daughter Maise and her mother in her childhood home. She has a complicated relationship with her charming but immature ex-boyfriend Brian, who is Maise’s biological father. After a VIP guest assaults her, she is wrongfully accused and finds herself packing her things the same night. She finds herself in a difficult predicament: jobless, blacklisted from every hotel in Miami, and sleeping in the same room with her daughter at her mother’s house. One of her friends from work recommended that she apply for a hotel manager position in Lake Erie, Ohio. Surprisingly, she is immediately offered the job by a mysterious man on the phone. Despite her skepticism, she decides to move out of her old town with Maise and start her life over in Ohio. The hotel is far from what she dreamt it up to be. But, she is given the chance to build her own hotel and begin a new chapter with Mason, Maise, and all the friends she meets along the way. 

Imagery

One of the standouts from this book was Trish Doller’s beautiful use of imagery. The book offers a way to meet the characters yourself and walk through the good and bad situations Rachel finds herself in. Doller has a colorful way of describing each scene and adding a genuine and personal touch to each character. The author’s use of minor details helps give a realistic feeling to the book. It could be the looks two characters might give each other, the way a character walks out of a room, or the interpretation from each small hello and goodbye that connects the story on a more personal level. Certainly, it could be the dazzling cover design by Olga Grlic that gives me a warm and comforting feeling every time I read the book, but the lessons, relationships, and events in each chapter jump off the page.

German Vocabulary

Throughout the book, Doller sprinkles in German words at the beginning of each chapter. Rachel comes from a German family and has always had dreams of meeting her German grandparents for the first time. To begin each chapter, she attaches a German word and its translation in English to describe the lesson from each chapter and convey Rachel’s current state of mind.

What was before Suite Spot?

It is a bit unusual to make a book review on the second book of a series while skipping the first one. But, this just so happens to be the time when my passion for reading and writing aligned. Trish Doller’s first book in this series is titled Float Plan. The plot is drastically different from Suite Spot. The story revolves around Rachel’s younger sister, Anna Beck. Anna Beck found herself become a young widow when her husband tragically committed suicide. In a moment of uncertainty, she decides to take the boat that her husband left for her and travel from Fort Lauderdale, through the Caribbean Islands, and all the way to the Turks and Caicos island. The one-thousand-seven-hundred-mile trip offers a lot of time for things to go wrong. But, surprisingly, everything seems to go right. 

Two Worlds Collide

In all, my favorite part of the story was when Rachel and Anna met for the first time. Both of the books mention the other sister, but this was the first time the two characters met in person. It was a beautiful and genuine moment to see the sisters and their significant others interact. 

Final Thoughts

The best part about Suite Spot is how it blends together numerous characters, storylines, and settings into one exceptional read. Significantly, while the book is very easy to relate to, it is still very unique in its own right. For anyone in need of a comforting and soothing read with a little bit of adventure, this book most certainly could be for you. To me, the quote on the front cover tells you all you need to know, “ Sometimes you find what you need most where you least expect it “.