The writing was fantastic, as always, with books by Maggie. The setting was amazing too. I so loved reading about the mountains and the hotel as well. Especially the sweetwater and everything about it. I adored the three dachshunds, even though their role in the book was small. They were simply too cute. Loved the vibes.
There is simply too much to share about this story. And I am not sure where to begin. So I shall start with the year. It is set during the spring of 1942. The Avallon hotel is being forced to be a host for three hundred Axis diplomats. Nazis from different countries. Enemies of America. They are to stay there until those in charge are able to swap them for their own prisoners in Germany. I must confess that I hadn't heard about this part of history before now, about diplomats and such. At least not that I can remember. And so I did find it interesting and fascinating to read about, to learn more about the past as well. It was interesting to read about these people, to figure out who were actual enemies and who were just unlucky in their work. As there were several of those too.
But this book is more about the hotel than those staying at it. It tells the story of June Hudson, the woman who takes care of the hotel, the sort of owner of everything. It took a whole while before we finally learned her age, which did bother me a little. She was thirty-five. Which is a little old for me, and yet I didn't mind. As she was adorable and awesome and I just loved her to pieces. Getting to know June was the best. We slowly learn more about her childhood and how she ended up running this hotel. June was just incredible.
Then we spend pretty much half the book getting to know the hotel and the guests and everything around it. I do wish the book had been a little bit faster, as I had some trouble with the start. It grew a little boring for me. Since nothing happened. But still. I did enjoy the slow parts too, as I loved getting to know June. She worked for the Gilfoyle's, the owners of the hotel. She had been general manager of the hotel for ten years, having been there for over twenty years. The hotel was her home, the Gilfoyle's her almost family.
We learn about the sweetwater. The water that runs under the hotel and that everyone drinks from. It is sort of magical. And I so loved that. I wanted to know more. It seemed mysterious and awesome. There were four small pools at the Avallon and I enjoyed getting to know more about it. This book is about the hotel and about June. About the complicated state of having to host the Nazis. About June beginning to learn more about herself and about what she wants for her life. I honestly just liked this story a whole lot.
I have already said too much about this book yet not nearly enough about the plot. And yet. There was not that big of a story. It is a slow and lovely book. The last third had more happening, but it was pretty quiet as well. But I did not mind. I found this book to be precious. A little slow, but then better. I so loved June. I loved Agent Tucker and all we got to know about him. He was a mystery first. But he opened up and become someone better. I loved reading about him and June together. Him with everyone else too.
The book was filled with amazing characters. I'm not going to mention all of them, but have to talk about some. There was a ten-year-old girl, Hannelore. She was different. She did not speak, but she could sing. And scream. She had some fits at times. She was all kinds of smart and lovely and I adored her. We get some chapters from her, which I so loved. She was a little damaged, I think, but I could fully see why, with her parents being who they were. They seemed nice, but on the wrong side. Hannelore was so precious.
Then there was the state agent, Pennybacker. He was all kinds of fun and lovely. I adored reading about him and getting to know him. I liked when he and June were together. They grew some type of friendship that I liked. He did not have it easy. But he did his best and I adored him. There was a guest at the hotel who had lived there for years, never leaving her room. They just called her 411. We learned a little about her, but not enough. I thought she was pretty awesome. A little mysterious. But a special friend to June.
I'm not going to write about the war parts of this story. It is a complicated one. The hotel June works at have always served the rich, no matter if they were nice or not. But this is different, having the hotel filled with Nazis. The staff does not want to work for them. But they have no choice and they are getting paid for it. And June is their boss, their Hoss, and they love her and would help her with anything. And so they try their best to be civil to them all, even though it was hard. I loved that. But yeah. A heartbreaking time.
Going to mention the romance a little bit. There was not much of it. But what we got was pretty lovely. At first, June had a somewhat relationship with the eldest Gilfoyle son. She had loved him since she was a kid. And he kept coming back to her. But he was also with someone new almost every week. And I hated that so much. June deserved so much better. I love how she realizes this too. How she starts to slowly fall for Tucker. And how their relationship started. It's small and slow, but I loved it with all my heart. Precious.
The Listeners was such a different and special story. I had some troubles with it at first, with how slow it was. But then it got better and I started to love it a whole lot. I loved the hotel and the sweetwater. I just wanted even more details about it. The water was still such a mystery. And I wished to know more. It was awesome. I'm pretty sure there was a hint to The Scorpio Races island in there too, and I loved that very much. I loved the history of this book, how much of it was real. I loved that the book was honest and real.
The biggest thank you to the lovely PRH International for this free eARC copy of The Listeners to read and review via Edelweiss. I'm so glad that I got to read this one early. I should have read it a few months ago, but it took me a while to find the time. It was worth the wait, though. And I cannot wait to buy all the finished copies of this book too. Now to wait for Maggie to write more. The Scorpio Races will always be my favorite of her books. But they are all incredible. And you all really need to read The Listeners as well.
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