My friend recommended I try a book by Amanda Quick, an author whose work I have never read. I was happy to get the opportunity to read this novel through the First to Read program created by Penguin Random House so thank you to the author and publishers for giving me the opportunity!
If you are looking for privacy, then you should go to the exclusive Burning Cove Hotel, situated in an idyllic small town. All the Hollywood moguls and stars go to this glamorous and private hotel, as it gives them the luxury they need without the torrent of reporters. But that all changes when reporter Irene Glasson finds herself staring at the body of a beautiful actress at the bottom of the hotel pool. Irene was promised an exclusive interview with said actress – and now that she’s dead, suspicions are on Irene. In order to find out who was behind the actress’s death, Irene teams up with Oliver Ward, a once-famous magician-turned-owner of the Burning Cove Hotel. Oliver’s desire to determine the truth is in order to save his hotel’s reputation, even if it means working with Irene, a woman who just moved to LA and seems to have no past. With Oliver’s help, Irene soon sees the danger lurking behind the glamorous paradise of Burning Cove. Now she just has to make sure that the secrets don’t drag her and Oliver down…
With a synopsis like this, I was expecting to see Hollywood glamour and pizzazz. Instead, I got a bland story. The mystery was an interesting idea but the writing style didn’t really carry it. I didn’t find myself interested in the interactions between Oliver and Irene, and there were times when the dialogue just bored me to tears. As I kept reading, it just felt as if the author was trying to infuse the novel with a kind of sleek allure… but for me, it just seemed to plod on. There was nothing that made this novel pop, there was no spark. So while the concept behind this story was interesting, the execution failed to make it a worthwhile read. I’m still going to try reading more books by this author; hopefully the next book I choose will be more suitable to my tastes!
Happy reading ~