Trish Doller

The Suite Spot by Trish Doller is a 2022 St. Martin’s Griffin Publication.

Yes!

This is the follow up to Float Plan, which I really enjoyed, and where we first meet Rachel. She gave her sister a really hard time, so I was very curious to see what her story would be like…

Rachel is a single mom working in the hospitality business. Her daughter’s father, Brian, is immature and not much help to her. She still lives at home with her mother, but she’s getting by- until she loses her job show more and has one final blow up with Brian. She takes a job, sight unseen, working at a brewery hotel in Ohio.

Upon arrival, she realizes she’s been duped, but the hotel’s owner, Mason, offers a better opportunity that she signed up for- a chance to help him build his hotel from the ground up.

With Mason’s background in beer brewing and Rachel’s hospitality experience, they could be a good team.

The trouble is, Mason is not in a good place after suffering the worst tragedy imaginable. As long as he and Rachel give one another a wide berth everything should work out okay. But as time passes a friendship of sorts develops between them- but Rachel finds herself wishing for more…

I loved this story- everything about it! It’s such a sweet, touching and gentle story, but it’s also just so normal- which is such a relief to me- and unbelievably refreshing!!

Maisie, Rachel’s daughter, was age appropriate-and... Again... Refreshingly normal. (I was beginning to wonder if regular kids existed anymore, as we seldom see them in books anymore)

So much of the story felt real and heartfelt. All the everyday things ordinary people deal with- regular jobs, business building, single parenthood, dead-beat dads, family issues, pain and loss, and the natural longing to find the right person to share one’s life with. I felt like these were people I might encounter in my life and would feel comfortable getting to know them. I loved the way these characters developed and became stronger- first working on their own pain, issues, and insecurities, and then stepping up for each other.

The author wrote this book in 2020 and realized the need to write a gentle book as much as we needed to read one. While there are some heavy topics, and they are given the gravity they deserve, the story is not heavy or gloomy, just realistic and ultimately uplifting and heartwarming. The author gives it just the right balance.

Overall, this there isn’t much to critique here. This is a short book, but packs a lot into the space allotted it. I really, really need to read more books like this one! All the stars for this one!! show less

This made me cry. Especially the last chapter, and the last two sentences--they killed me. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

This book was beautiful. It was sad and moving. It was harsh and about an ugly reality at some parts, but was so honest and realistic in every vein, that I read it in one sitting and loved it. There is a lot that went into this book, and you can feel all the emotions, good and bad. It is not a very complicated story, but there are many different parts of Travis's life show more that he needs to fix, and he goes about that in such a human, honest way that I really liked him as a narrator. I loved the varied cast of secondary and minor characters, from Travis's mother and Marine friends to Charlie's mom. Every moment in this book, the tragic right up to the little gems [turtle nesting:)], was there to add to the story, to build up your understanding of Travis's life and beliefs.

I hated some characters (Travis's dad, Paige--well okay I didn't hat her really), my heart squeezed for Charlie and the Afghanistan experiences, and I loved other characters (Harper, the moms), but my favorite portion was the bildungsroman thread throughout. Travis is only a 19 year-old kid, but he has already been through so much, and he doesn't know how to handle it. This book is (among other things) about him learning how to let go of the past, break the bad cycles, and move on to a happier future. I loved who Travis became, and the journey he went through was rendered so beautifully and uniquely that this book easily stands out.

I recommend this story if you like romance, a little pain, and the reconstruction of a life into one that's better. show less

It's the emotion and characters that really make this book. This is not a story of heroism in war, rather it's a story of a young man trying to adjust and find his place in the world after war has changed him so drastically. Characters and emotions are fleshed out in such a way that they become real, and I couldn't help but care and become involved in their story. Everything about Normal felt authentic--especially Travis's 19-year-old Marine voice and the romance. That romance--it pushes a show more lot of the right buttons. It's tentative, playful, and emotionally intimate. I believed it all the way and was totally sucked in. Despite the cover, this is no Nicholas Sparks book. Rather it's a book that takes a look at what faces a young Marine when he comes home--ranging from family dynamics to ptsd to friendships to grief to intimacy. I think it has appeal for guys, too show less

A few phrases come to mind when I think of this book: culture shock, reality check, and. . . Stockholm Syndrome? Perhaps that’s a little far, but I think it rings true. All Callie has ever known is life with her mother–the mother who kidnapped her and hid her from the rest of her family almost all her life. And why it’s easy to point fingers at Callie’s mother, her story is also heartbreaking, watching her struggle with inner demons. And then there’s Callie: stuck in the middle show more between the life she should have lived for the past ten years, and the life she actually lived.

Watching Callie come to terms with her life was an incredible journey that lasted the duration of this book. At the beginning, even the mood and the atmosphere FEEL so lonely, and it was the hardest part of the book for me to get through because of that. As Callie slowly learns to trust people, to open up, and to really entertain the idea of being part of a family, the setting and Doller’s writing started to reflect that.

This isn’t a book to pick up if you’re looking for a book packed to the brim with plot–it’s heavily character-oriented and while I wouldn’t classify it as one of those slow-moving, but beautiful books, I think the pacing does tend towards the slower side. The revelations that Callie comes across as she struggles with her new life keep the book moderately paced and I HAD to find out how this part of Callie’s story ends, but I don’t think I’d go so far as to call it a page-turner.
I don’t know how a person would act in Callie’s situation, but her character development seemed highly realistic to me. Here she is, thinking all of life has been one way the entire time, and suddenly she’s confronted with this new truth that’s the opposite of everything she’s always been told. She’s dazed and confused, which affects ALL her relationships–her relationship with her father, her relationship with her cousin who becomes her new friend, and her potential romantic relationship. It’s hard to read about Callie’s inner turmoil, but it’s worth it in the end.

At the end of this book, things aren’t perfect. It’s not as if Callie wakes up one morning and suddenly feels like she fits everywhere she “needs” to and her life’s now normal, but she’s in such a different place at the end of the book that it works. Everything might not be tied up in a pretty string, but she’s come far enough that it’s clear to see she might one day be that way, which was an incredibly emotionally satisfying ending.

Final Impression: I loved this book. If I hadn’t heard so many good things about the author, I might not have picked this one up, but I’m SO SO glad I did. It was hard to read at times, but I think the emotional journey Callie went through was believable and satisfying from a narrative point of view. The beginning was slightly rocky for me, but after that, it was clear this was a wonderful book that I came to love.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book on Netgalley by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. show less