Hotel Magnifique

The cover alone of Hotel Magnifique promises a story rich in magic and it delivers! It’s a story about Joni, who, along with a younger sister, is orphaned at 14 by the death of the world mother. Since then, she has taken on the heavy responsibility of keeping her and her sister alive and cared for. Though she has done just that, they have done so barely scraping by. She dreams of so much more for her sister and herself. So when she gets the opportunity to work at the famed and magical Hotel Magnifique, she does anything and everything to get her and her sister there. Once she enters the magical world of the traveling hotel, Joni discovers not only magic she could never before imagine, but also the cost of that magic and the price she herself must pay for clawing her way inside. I highly recommend this book to fans of Caraval and books to offer escape into lush fantasy worlds.

Hotel Magnifique follows the story of two sisters who gain employment at a mysterious, magical hotel that travels to a new location every night. Jani is to work as a maid and wants to provide for her younger sister Zosa after their mother died and left them orphaned. Zosa, who has a beautiful voice is employed as a singer. Shortly after securing contracts to work at the hotel, Jani realizes that all is not as it appears. Something dark and sinister lurks beneath the dazzling, luxurious surroundings. Determined to save her sister, Jani uncovers the dark secrets of the hotel with the help of a few allies including Bel, a handsome magician. Hotel Magnifique is richly imagined with an interesting magic system, that is both enchanting and dark. There is a slow burn romance, but this is really a story about the love between two sisters, and the lengths they will go to protect each other. The writing and dialogue could, at times, be simplistic, which made me think it was oriented to a younger YA reader. It was a spellbinding, enjoyable and compelling read with some unexpected twists and turns. Thank you to BookishFirst for a review copy.

Solid Debut After reading the premise and first look, I knew I had to read this book. The world building is well done and provides the dark, magical atmosphere that I felt myself transported into. I found myself gasping at some of the plot twists and revelations, but also found some of the world to be copies of others that I've read before. The book started off slowly, but the pacing picked up quickly. I loved the characters and felt they were well drawn. The romance was slow build, just as I prefer, but I think the book needed to be longer to give more time to Bel and Jani's relationship. There are ethical questions and issues that pulled the plot along and I felt all the emotions Jani and the supporting characters felt when facing the painful new realities that living at the hotel brought. I think this novel could be classified as upper middle grade; I was anticipating a darker magical world than I experienced in Hotel Magnifique. I also wish to have "visited" the places traveled to more as I think this would have deepened the world created. About half way through, I thought this was going to be the first in a duology or series, but the ending wrapped up very quickly maybe too quickly. I did appreciate the epilogue and maybe companion novels will be written in the future to bring me back to this world.