Today it’s back over to Mandie who has a review of Felicity at the Cross Hotel by Helena Fairfax. Our thanks to the author who provided a copy of the book for review. Before we take a look at Mandie’s thoughts, here is what it is all about.
About the Book
A simply wonderful story about love and loss, moving on, and the importance of family. Felicity at the Cross Hotel is the ideal summer read!
A quaint old hotel by a lake in the mountains. The Cross Hotel seems like the perfect place for a relaxing summer, and when Felicity Everdene arrives in her old banger of a car, she’s looking forward to a quiet break from working in her father’s global hotel chain. A few weeks hiking and swimming should restore her. But then Felicity meets the hotel’s owner, Patrick Cross.
Patrick doesn’t know the first thing about running a hotel, but his father has left him the family business in his will, and now Patrick has to take charge, or the staff will lose their jobs. With a missing barmaid, a grumpy chef, and the hotel losing money, the arrival of Felicity Everdene from the notorious Everdene family only adds to Patrick’s troubles…This feel good romance will make you cry, make you laugh, and leave you believing in the happy ever after!
Felicity Everdene has taken a sabbatical from the family hotel business to help her mother’s friend Judy Cross at the Cross Hotel. Judy has recently lost her husband and Felicity needed a break from her job after she fell out with her father over how to deal with a takeover. Believing that she is going to be giving business advice, she finds herself working behind the bar which is totally against her expertise and experience.
Felicity’s character is at odds with her position at Everdene hotels. At work she is expected to restructure new acquisitions to make them more streamline and efficient, however she would much prefer to work with existing staff and encourage them. It is this approach that caused the disagreement between her and her father. She enjoys working at the Cross hotel as she gets to be more herself. Bonding with Judy Cross they work together to find ways of making small improvements at minimal cost.
Patrick Cross has returned home after running his own diving business abroad for several years. He never wanted to run the hotel and after a tragic accident involving his best friend the fallout and guilt gave him the perfect excuse to move away. Now he is back he is torn between selling up so that he can return to his business and making the hotel work so that he does not take away everything that his mother has left of his father.
Patrick comes across as very distrusting of Felicity. Well aware of the rumours about how her father runs his business, he assumes that she is cut from the same cloth. He sees everything that Felicity is trying to do as a way to worm her way into his mother’s affections and ultimately line up the hotel for her father to purchase. I will admit there were times I felt I could have cheerfully thumped him up the side of his head for being so stubborn.
I really enjoyed reading this book as it was fun to see how the relationship between Felicity and Patrick developed. Dealing with their own issues they somehow managed to bring the best out in each other and work out their misunderstandings.
Helena Fairfax has created a charming book with characters you can warm to with great ease. Felicity at the Cross hotel is the perfect read for anyone to take on their holidays.
If you would like to pick up a copy of the book for yourself, it is available at the following links:
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