To get your life and career back on track, but at the cost of love?

Synopsis

For Beatrice, working at one of London’s boutique hotels is a dream come true. She doesn’t need a social life. She just needs an ordered diary, crisply folded sheets and happy guests. But Beatrice’s routine comes to an abrupt halt when her hotel is raided by the police. Suddenly she finds herself released on bail, and trapped in London, with only the hotel chef Jock for company.

Having decided to make the most of their situation, Beatrice lets her hair down – figuratively and literally – for the first time in her life. And incredibly, despite the threat of possible prison around the corner, she finds she loves every moment spent exploring London in Jock’s company.

But all bubbles have to burst, so when the pair are released without charge, it’s time for Beatrice to get her life, and her career, back on track. She can’t let a little thing called feelings get in her way… So why can’t she forget Jock, even when her career dreams look set to become reality?

Beatrice may like to keep life fully booked, but can you ever really be too busy for love?

My review

Beatrice has a busy job working at one of London’s boutique hotels. Even if the owner, Madame Dufour, for some reasons doesn’t want to make some logical and sensible changes, Beatrice enjoys her job. So to say that Beatrice is shocked when everyone at the hotel, herself included, is being arrested for running illegal business, is the understatement of the year. Luckily, Beatrice and hotel chef Jock are being released on bail, even if they now have a curfew to follow. Finally Beatrice has free time to explore London, and who better to do that than with the person that is in the same situation, namely Jock. When the pair is being released without charges, Beatrice now has to get her life and her career back on track. Even if that means to accept a temporarily job working for a company shooting a brand-new reality show, set in Mallorca. But no matter how stunning the place is, or how close Beatrice is to achieve her own dream, there is one thing, or rather person, she cannot forget… But she is too busy to let love have a place in her rather hectic new life, right?

Ooh the happiness I felt when I started with this book… just indescribable! I know that Phoebe MacLeod is one of those authors that write stories that put a smile on my face.

I am one of those people that always believe that other people are good people. No matter how much I joke around, I never see something evil in someone’s behaviour. So of course I could understand how Beatrice didn’t see any signs of what was going on in the boutique hotel. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, how can see it?

Unfortunately, Beatrice (and I) also believes that if you are innocent, the system will be able to clear your name. So I could understand her not seeing the need to get legal help. But having seen also too many crime shows, I also know that not getting any legal assistance may not be the best idea ever…

I found it truly sweet to see how Beatrice and Jock, finding themselves limited to the hotel and the curfew are getting closer and truly bonding. So that made me think that the story would be mainly about Beatrice and Jock discovering London together, getting closer and yeah, you know what I mean 😊

So in that aspect, I was a bit disappointed because I had this whole storyline already in my mind and I wasn’t getting that kind of story! But that doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy reading it! 😊

Because the main part of the story is about Beatrice and her time in Mallorca, and her also chasing her dreams.

Seeing Beatrice in Mallorca was just great. We see her at ease, being comfortable around Rosa, but also how she can bring the contestants of the reality show at ease. She is able to give the right advice, she understands them and give them a nudge in the right direction. But we also see how her recent past, what happened in London, follows her.

And I found it important that the author, through her book, addressed the issue of internet trolls. It’s easy to condemn someone you don’t know with just writing things online. It’s easy to talk badly about someone without knowing the whole story.

It was inspiring seeing Beatrice finding the courage to talk about it on a podcast, showing everyone how hurtful even online words can be.

What saddened me in this book though, was how Beatrice was treated by her parents. I understand that when you are working in the hospitality, reputation is everything. But doesn’t family prevail over business?

But what put a smile on my face was the moment that Beatrice starts to chase her dream for real. It may seem like just that, a dream, with no chance of turning into reality. However, Beatrice finds a determination to make it happen, and with help from a lovely new character, she can see her vision becoming reality.

And I was glad that in a way, the realization of that dream was a walk in the park. Because that is not how things work in real life. Beatrice even makes a few mistakes, wrong choices, making me a bit angry at her. But on the other hand, I could also understand why she had to compromise at some points.

Now, I haven’t talked about Jock that much in this book. And that is not because he isn’t a great character or love interest. But it’s more that he isn’t just that present in this book. Like I said, this wasn’t the story I was expecting, and thus Jock wasn’t that big of a part of the book as expected.

We see him at the start of the book, and he for sure makes a great impression. But then he is just doing his own thing, only to physically reappear towards the end of it. Yet that doesn’t take away that the memories of the time they spent together aren’t filling up Beatrice’s mind.

While this was not the expected story, I found this truly a great and inspiring story to read. It’s about getting your life back on track after a disastrous event, it’s about daring to dream big and pursue that dream. But it’s also about making mistakes, and trying to rectify them.

And also, it’s about finding the right balance between a career and a dream that may consist of more than you thought. Phoebe MacLeod once again wrote an amazing story, which didn’t surprise me at all!