Book Review: The Wake-Up Call by Beth O’Leary

About the Book:

Title: The Wake-Up Call

Author: Beth O’Leary

Page Length: 368

Publication Date: Sept. 26, 2023

Publisher: Berkley

Synopsis: Two hotel receptionists–and arch-rivals–find a collection of old wedding rings and compete to return them to their owners, discovering their own love story along the way.

It’s the busiest season of the year, and Forest Manor Hotel is quite literally falling apart. So when Izzy and Lucas are given the same shift on the hotel’s front desk, they have no choice but to put their differences aside and see it through.

The hotel won’t stay afloat beyond Christmas without some sort of miracle. But when Izzy returns a guest’s lost wedding ring, the reward convinces management that this might be the way to fix everything. With four rings still sitting in the lost & found, the race is on for Izzy and Lucas to save their beloved hotel–and their jobs.

As their bitter rivalry turns into something much more complicated, Izzy and Lucas begin to wonder if there’s more at stake here than the hotel’s future. Can the two of them make it through the season with their hearts intact?

LINKS:   Goodreads   |    Amazon

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My Review:

This is such a fantastic new contemporary romance by Beth O’Leary! I loved Lucas and Izzy, the setting and characters, and the love story.

Lucas and Izzy make such a dynamic duo, and I love the grumpy-sunshine vibes that exude from them. The verbal sparring is witty and sharp, and it totally exemplifies the chemistry between them. There are some laugh-out-loud moments as these two opposites work together and repeatedly clash.

Their relationship has become hostile because of miscommunication issues in the past, but I like how they own up to their mistakes and try to make things right. I also like how they go forward with a new way of communicating without jumping to conclusions. They didn’t really know each other well when they had a falling out, and they judged each other harshly and superficially for a long time. However, as they start to look past each other’s facades, they both see a depth of character that is much different than they thought. They both have such powerful revelations about themselves and each other, and I love how they learned to talk and trust and be honest with each other.

The story takes place at a beautiful location which unfortunately is on the brink of closing. It sounds like such a wonderful place to work, with a motley group of workers and guests that I quickly fell in love with. There are definite found family vibes going on, and the connection all of the characters form is lovely.

It also takes place around the holidays, and Lucas and Izzy are trying to find the owners of special rings from their lost and found, which adds to the whimsical, magical nostalgia of the season. Of course, with trying to save the hotel, find ring owners from years gone by, and deal with their complex feelings for each other, there are a lot of mishaps and shenanigans to endure.

And the secondary characters are so endearing. From the family who has come to stay at the hotel to the hotel owners and the hotel staff, they all have strong personalities.

The Wake-Up Call has made Beth O’Leary an auto-buy author for me. It’s the third book I’ve read by the author and is my favorite one yet. I would definitely recommend it to readers of contemporary romance or contemporary fiction, and I’m so grateful to NetGalley andBerkley for providing me with a copy of the book. All thoughts are my own.

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Rating:

Favorite Parts:

• The romance.

• The characters.

• The enchanting setting.

Favorite Line:

“Some things are important enough to cause a little drama.”

Tropes:

• enemies-to-lovers
• forced proximity
• workplace romance
• found family