Hotel King (California Suits #1)

Meet Ryan Michaels, a stubborn yet charismatic man who is on a mission to open five unique hotels in two years, one being on the La Jolla coastline in California. Renovating historic buildings, Ryan, as well as his brother and several friends, have named themselves Hotel Kings, actively working to turn these landmarks into luxurious five-star hotels. In doing so, Ryan recruits Charlotte Ray, a former business partner, to become the vice president of the company, overseeing sales and marketing in order to turn the La Jolla hotel into a lavish retreat. Ryan and Charlotte have some secrets that they aren’t quite ready to share, and those secrets quickly begin to unravel as their relationship progresses, like the underlying reasons Charlotte was hired by Ryan, especially when he appears to dislike her so much.

In this dual perspective hate to love romance, Ryan and Charlotte must work together to renovate the beautiful hotel, which ultimately earned the name Pacific Jewel Inn. Spending so much time together causes some lustful, yet bewildering thoughts for both of them and they find that being strictly professional with one another is becoming a difficult task. In this hot and steamy story, secrets will be revealed that could make or break Ryan and Charlotte’s relationship, and the finality of the hotel renovations. While this read is sexy, it was a little slow-going and the character development was a bit lacking. The ending was a bit predictable as well. However, the overall premise of the story and the alluring scenes made this one unputdownable!

Jennifer Shepherd