Author: Sheila O’Flanagan
ISBN: 978-075-537-5165
RRP: $29.99
Sheila O’Flanagan is back, with what is sure to be another bestseller and a totally seasonally appropriate read.
A Season To Remember is an emotionally charged book that tells the stories of all the guests in a luxury hotel one Christmas season.
The book begins with the hotel owners and the background of the hotel, not to mention its current financial position. Claire and Neil borrowed too much money to chase their dreams and open a luxury hotel in country Ireland. The 5 year restoration project on Sugar Loaf Lodge has turned it into everything they imagined.
Now that the economy is in downturn and everyone is saving rather than spending it’s looking like the Christmas may be a make or break season. If Sugar Loaf Lodge isn’t booked to capacity for the Christmas period it’s going to mean running at a loss.
Regardless of how many rooms they manage to book Claire promises that she will deliver a Christmas to remember to every guest staying in the hotel.
As things are looking their grimmest and Claire is despairing that she’s made a huge mistake, she has a conversation with what she assumes is her subconscious. This conversation ends with her wish for the empty rooms to be booked. And then, the phone starts ringing.
It isn’t until the last possible moment that the final room is booked, but still they have achieved their full house – almost like someone was watching out for them.
Each of the guests has a strong and varied reason for being at the Sugar Loaf Lodge for the 2 night Christmas package. For each of them there is a measure of tension, a measure of unhappiness. Christmas has become, for a lot of them, a time to get away from the family and remove themselves from all the memories of Christmases past.
Whether they have booked Sugar Loaf Lodge to avoid ‘choosing a side’ in the war for baby’s first Christmas, to avoid having to spend Christmas with siblings or children who don’t want to worry that they’re alone or as a romantic getaway with their lover they are all there with baggage.
Each chapter is named for one of the rooms in the Lodge, and is a relatively brief account of what has brought the guests in that room to the Lodge. Describing it like that makes it sound like these are disjointed chapters telling totally different stories, but this is not the case at all.
All of the stories intertwine as the guests mingle and get to know one another. Each of these characters is beautifully drawn for you, they are realistic and lovable while still being humanly flawed. Every story will touch a heart string on some level.
This book will have you cheering on all the featured characters and hoping things turn out for them. Most importantly that they all get their memorable Christmas experience and the Sugar Loaf Lodge comes out stronger.
There are a few interesting little twists that I don’t want to say too much about but they will certainly pique your interest. Sheila O’Flanagan has done it again and this is a fabulous feel good Christmas book that will do wonders getting you into the Christmas spirit.
I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!