The Suite Spot

3.5 stars — I both enjoyed myself, and was kind of underwhelmed at the same time. I think I was expecting the romance aspect to be a bit stronger, and this definitely felt a bit more women’s fiction-y to me…especially given the fade to black-ness of the steamy (or not so steamy) scenes. I think one of the things that frustrated me the most was Rachel’s complete inability to listen to her loved ones. On multiple occasions she jumped to conclusions about a situation, and instead of listening to a loved one, she just steamrolled ahead. And, quite honestly, her conclusions were kind of bonkers. It was like, we got this story that was actually pretty light and sweet, and then had teeny tiny moments of angst, but it was completely unnecessary angst, and so I was just annoyed. Characters are usually what draw me into a story, but Rachel was definitely not a fave. I had a hard time connecting with her, and occasionally she would come off a bit unlikeable. Her most likeable moments were when she was not alone and in her head — so it kind of felt like it was the other characters that were bringing out the best in her. Mason was actually pretty adorable, if heartbreaking. I loved the way his character developed — the pacing felt realistic. His emotions and reactions felt realistic. Too bad he was more just a background character, because I enjoyed him more than Rachel. Strangely enough, I loved Maisie. I think that’s because she felt like a realistic 3-4 year old. So many times in books the kids just don’t feel…real. Like you don’t get the balance of their absolute wonderful adorableness, with their very real emotional lows (temper tantrums, irrational moods, etc). Maisie was perfect. And I still loved her, even as she melted down. The Kelleys Island crew was actually pretty fun, mostly the book club/yoga peeps. But I especially loved the friendship that Rachel developed with Avery — she needed that. I also appreciated the family members we met — they felt real too. The parts of the story that actually have me rounding up instead of down were all the weird miscellaneous moments. I’m not always there for them, but for some reason I adored hearing about Rachel’s journey of making decisions for the cabins and such. I loved the brewery aspects and everything I learned there. I don’t know why it drew me in, but it did.