The Honeymoon Hotel by Hester Browne

I think this book ranks as a guilty pleasure; it is everything you should dislike about a book, full of cliches and tried and tested tropes but in Hester Browne's hands they feel fresh, new and invented just for this book.  The setting itself, The Bonneville Hotel, is exquisite and you can almost smell the beeswax and lavender polish that I am pretty sure they use to buff up the banister of the sweeping staircase - oh, how I want to visit!  You would think that constant references to "Hollywood Glamour" and of the building as being a "Grand Old Lady" would irk, but somehow they don't, they just help you inhabit this fictitious setting and make you understand just why Rosie is so devoted to the place.  Strange really, I think I loved the hotel more than the people the tale purports to be about.

The characters are realistic and full of personal quirks and foibles that help you to understand them as living and breathing people not just words on the page.  I think we all know a hypochondriac like Laurence (if you don't - newsflash - it's you), we understand Joe's reluctance to take on the family heritage and Rosie's sheer dedication to perfection for their events.  I didn't really like Rosie as a person, and found myself agreeing with Joe early in the book that she was far too controlling and that her approach to Wedding's in particular was formulaic and didn't allow for individuality.  Even though she annoyed me I did warm to her, a bit like a work colleague that drives you up the wall but you know they are ultimately harmless but they just don't really get "it".

The plot of the story is Rosie getting out of a dull relationship and falling in love with a capital L and has plenty of pratfalls along the way.  To be honest that did little for me but the day to day events in her chaotic personal and professional lives is told with such verve you do get sucked in.  Whilst not laugh out loud funny there is a warm, dry wit here that really does entertain and keep you reading.  For once I can see how a book would translate to the screen and this would make a really good chick flick for date night - enough goofiness for the blokes and just enough romance for a starry-eyed girl to enjoy (definitely think early Sandra Bullock).

A couple of times I did find myself thinking "just one more chapter" so you know it can't be all bad.  There was also a lot of sighing when I had to stop reading to go to work so it is definitely immersive and I can honestly state is is an awful lot of fun.