Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Once Upon A Summertime - Melody Carlson

Once Upon A Summertime
Melody Carlson
Revell, Jun 2 2015, $14.99
ISBN: 9780800723576

Anna Gordon’s goal used to be to manage a major Manhattan hotel.  Although she obtained her Masters in Hotel Management thanks to her Grandma, dumping her dream Anna is far from the Big Apple as she runs the Value Lodge in her hometown Springville.  She runs into her best friend Marley Ferris who took leave from her international flight attendant job to help her parents manage Lou’s Café while her mom recovers from back surgery.  Marley sends a text to her brother Max to ask Vincent Newman if he would hire Anna to work at the Rothsberg of SoHo Hotel.  Her decision to go or stay is out of hands when the Value Lodge owners dismiss her for doing her job when she fired their worthless nephew and his girlfriend.

She realizes during the day manager position interview that Vincent will not hire her as she just lost two years of references and has limited experience otherwise.  In the bathroom, Anna meets Vincent’s wife Denise who hires her as the housekeeping manager.  Soon after that Anna meets the new head manager Sean O’Neil who also comes from Springville.  As Sean and Anna work together, they fall in love; but fraternization is against the hotel’s rules.

This New York romance is a pleasant contemporary starring a competent caring female, a very nice capable male, the hotel staff and the City.  Readers will appreciate the first Follow Your Heart tale although the climax seems sudden.

Harriet Klausner

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