Alexandra Bell

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got this on ebook from NetGalley to review.

Thoughts: I enjoyed this. I thought the beginning of the book and mystery behind The White Octopus Hotel was especially intriguing. As with many time travel books, things don't quite add up and make sense, you just kind of have to go with the flow.

In 2015 Eve is visited by an old man who says he is a composer named Max Everly, a composer that Eve admires. However, Max Everly shouldn't be alive. Then show more Eve starts to hear rumors of The White Octopus hotel, and she thinks she remembers visiting there herself. However, when she looks into it, the hotel has been closed since 1935. Eve decides to go and visit the ruins of The White Octopus Hotel and finds herself pulled into the past.

As I have mentioned many times, I am not a huge fan of time travel stories. No matter how well they are written, things never seem to quite add up, and so many questions are left unanswered. That is the case for this book. In addition to that, what starts out as a mystery ends up more as a love story set throughout non-linear time. It is decently done, and I liked Eve and Max well enough. However, the ending felt a bit contrived and unfinished to me. I had so many questions about the "why" and "how" of everything that happened. When you really start to think about it those answers end up being circular because this is about time travel.

I really loved the beginning of the book where Eve is tracking down information on the mysterious White Octopus hotel. Once Eve travels back in time to the hotel, things slow down quite a bit. Eve is participating in a hunt for clocks and octopus that she hopes will unravel both some mysteries from her past and some secrets about the hotel. During this hunt Eve is also having occasional encounters with Max. This is a situation where Max has spent time with Eve, but Even hasn't spent time with Max yet because she meets him later in her timeline than he meets her in his. We also occasionally hear from Max's POV as well and this gets into some events in WWI.

This was easy to read, and I enjoyed Eve and Max as characters. There are a lot of side characters here and they weren't as well done. The bouncing back and forth in time never really gets confusing; it is clearly indicated on the chapter what time you are in. However, all this bouncing around does pull you out of the story, and then once you are starting to get into the time you are reading about, you are pulled back into another time.

This was well done but suffers from some of the flaws all time travel novels have. The ending doesn't quite make sense if you think about it too hard; you are left feeling like a lot of your questions aren't answered. When you try to think about the answers to them, you start to feel like you are chasing yourself in circles.

My Summary (4/5): Overall I really enjoyed the beginning of this book, the characters, and the odd White Octopus Hotel. I though the middle was a bit slow and the jumping between POVs and time (while not confusing) did pull me out of the story, leaving me feel less engaged than I would have liked. The ending left me with a lot of questions about the "how" and "why" of The White Octopus Hotel. There were a lot of other mysteries about the people within the hotel that were never answered. If I had realized that this was a time travel book, I probably wouldn't have picked it up for review because that is a genre that I don't really enjoy. If you are looking for a love story across timelines sort of story, this is decently done. show less

"...the only thing people loved more than something magical and beautiful was something cruel and monstrous."

If you want to read a book with a ridiculous story line, excessive tropes and unbelievably awful characters with no redeeming qualities, this is the one for you. The two protagonists are meant to best friends but act more like spiteful 5-year-olds. The only likable character (James) would, in real life, distance himself from these two without a second thought.

I can’t stand feminist show more books that are set in the wrong timeline and get it oh so wrong. Aristocratic women of the 1800's may have had feminist thoughts but certainly would not have been able to act or speak in the way shown in this book. I disagree with those commenting on the rape and domestic abuse elements. In truth, a married women of that period would have had an expectation to ‘please’ her husband and produce heirs, whether willing or not. Yes, in today’s world that is rape but, in the past, it was expected and accepted and we should not overlook the issues of the past just to suit current ideals. Rosa was just as guilty of domestic abuse and mental torture as her husband. Beatrice was a spoilt brat living off of riches exploited from the slave trade. It’s a shame the author didn’t acknowledge and explore these aspects more appropriately.

At over 500 pages this was a long slog and could easily have been cut down. The hints at magical realism weren’t fully explored and did not make sense. If magic were normal and accepted, there would have been no need for the winter garden. I initially thought, due to the immaturity of the characters and writing style, that this was a YA book, but this was clearly unintended due to the topics discussed. Overall, this just left a bitter taste in my mouth. show less

I feel like I just woke up from a long, imaginative dream. I was visiting a luxury hotel in Switzerland and all around me were beautiful and magical things. Music boxes, elaborate clocks, fountains and octopuses—lots of octopuses.

Such was my experience reading The White Octopus Hotel. The story revolves around a young woman named Eve, who has been sad since the tragedy that happened on her 4th birthday. Anyone that has a day in their life that they would give anything to go back and show more un-do, will relate to Eve’s story.

The hotel enables guests to travel back and forth in time, which seems to give it been a dreamy quality. As the reader, I had to really work to keep my time frames organized as I read.

At the hotel, Eve meets Max, a musician recovering from his time in the war. Max is haunted by the loss of his good friend while fighting in the trenches. Like Eve, he would like to have another chance to change the past.

When Eve and Max meet, their encounters through various times in their lives fill in the blanks for the reader and show us how they were able to help each other heal.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Del Ray , Random House Worlds, Inklove for allowing me to read an advance copy. I loved the story and am happy to give my honest review and recommend the book to other readers. show less

In turn intriguing and sad, a book about dealing with extreme guilt and grief, with a little magic and time-travel thrown in.