If you like the television series Downton Abbey, you will enjoy Hotel Portofino. Even though the hotel on the Italian coast has been open for just a few weeks, problems abound. Bella Ainsworth, who has opened the hotel on the Italian Riviera, welcomes a variety of well-heeled English people. Its during the rise of Mussolini after the First World War. Her son, Lucian, suffers PTSD, and is looking for his way in the world, while being ridiculed by his father. This is stressing for Bella as is the slow crumbling to her husband, an upper crust Englishman, who thinks money his wife wants to use to improve the hotel is for him. The setting is lush. And just like Downton Alley the strength of the story relies on the strength of the characters, both the wealthy and the servants. I really look forward to the TV series.

This book was okay. Kept my interest but was ultimately forgetable. I am looking forward to the adaptation because I think it will do well in different form.

When I read Hotel Portofino I didn't realize it would be a PBS series, but I totally read it with that intent in mind. I could see the characters, and sense the ambiance and the tension. An open ended ending left me wondering if a sequel is forthcoming.
I found the characters interesting, but with so many to be introduced in this book, we know few of them well. I was interested in the repercussions of the politics of the time and how some of the characters reacted to those.
All in all, a very satisfying and engaging read.
Thanks to NetGalley and Blackstone publishing for an ARC of Hotel Portofino. Much appreciated!
I will be looking for future works by this author.

Despite the multiple storylines, this book can unfortunately not catch my attention. Bella and Cecil are not doing it for me, nothing makes want to root for them. I had to DNF 39% into it.

“What some people get from the church, I get from the sea - the sense of suspension in something bigger and grander than yourself.”

3.5 stars for Hotel Portofino JP O’Connell, a historical drama about a British family who open a quaint hotel in 1920’s Italy and all of the drama that comes along.

My favorite part of the book was definitely the characters. You can’t help but root for the main character Bella, as she tries to piece together herself, her family, her employees, and her guests. Everyone is a hot mess with their own host of issues to sort out and it was entertaining seeing it all play out. Claudine was my favorite guest, who was certainly progressive and played a role in the storyline of many other characters. I also really enjoyed Constance’s story line and thought she was a very admirable character. One minor critique is that some of the names were very similar (lots of Bs and Cs) and that can make it difficult to keep up with characters especially at the beginning. The story also jumped from character to character which for the first half of the book created some confusion for me.

The author did a great job with the setting and I wish I could take a trip to 1920s Portofino myself! The imagery of clothes, decor, food and everything in between was well done. I would absolutely love to stay in Hotel Portofino!

My main criticism is that I did not like the open ended nature of the book. Not everyone's storyline came to a close. And perhaps that was intended but I wish we had a little more ending for the characters, especially the ones that I loved.

I would recommend this book for those that enjoy character driven historical drama. It is an easy read and I did enjoy it for the most part. There are some politics woven into the story - including an antagonist of the story who is part of Italy's Fascist movement as well as diverse characters who must deal with racism. I do think the political themes somewhat mirror current issues and were well done. This book was also made into a TV series and I am definitely excited to watch that when it releases in the US!since I loved the characters so much

“They are people who seek to exploit the worst in us - our greed, our selfishness. Our capacity to hate. They care nothing for what makes us individuals, different, uniquely lovable, human.”

e-ARC provided by the publisher (Blackstone Publishing) via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

TW/CW: Fascism, Racism, Abuse

This book was a miss for me. I found the book predictable and the scenes were very all over the place. I also didn't like the characters all that much as I found them predictable and not as exciting as I thought they would be. However, the writing was awesome, the book felt flat.

I was so excited for this book, historical fiction is one of my favorite genres to get lost in. But I felt underwhelmed reading this. I predicted everything that was going to happen, it just felt choppy to me. and then the ending was a major disappointment. It just ended, it felt rushed and lots of things were left unanswered. Maybe this was done intentionally for another book? However, the descriptions were so vivid and beautiful I felt like I was there and could see everything. The writing was also beautiful. I just felt like the plot didn't do it for me.

✨ Review ✨ Hotel Portofino by J. P. O’Connell
This has all of the Downton Abbey vibes for DA lovers! Bella Ainsworth, a British expat opens Hotel Portofino on the Italian Riviera in the 1920s, drawing a variety of British, American, and Italian patrons to the homey hotel. As the characters collide, romances develop and face stress, schemes evolve, and, notably, Bella and her husband must fend off the Fascists threatening to drive them out of town.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Genre: historical fiction,
Location: Portofino, Italy
Reminds me of: Downton Abbey
Pub Date: Out now!

I was drawn to this book by its Art Deco 1920s vibes, and it definitely features 1920s social and historical themes including renegotiation of racial, gender, and class relations, alongside the rise of noveau riche and the weakening of aristocratic wealth. The setting is gorgeous - set in gorgeous Portofino, and has an interesting blend of British people negotiating new norms in Italy (cultural and social norms, new cuisines, etc.).

There were a LOT of characters in this book (something like 20+ prominent characters) and it's a lot to track (especially in audiobook form), but eventually I got the hang of it and got sucked into the plot. The emergence of the fascists especially gave me a lot to think about their slow rise to power in Italy and beyond. Characters regularly explored the melting of boundaries of race, class, etc. as servants become less obligated to the families they worked for, as new political movements blossomed, and as non-white characters spent time at the hotel.

This is being made into a tv series and I'm excited to check it out!

Read this if you like:
⭕️ Downton Abbey
⭕️ 1920s historical fiction
⭕️ complex stories with LOTS of characters

Thanks to Blackstone Publishing and #netgalley for a copy of this book!

This book had such promise. Who doesn’t dream of living on the Italian Riviera? The issue became that it was set at a hotel and was about ALL the guests. There were so many of them that it was hard to keep track. And after a while, they all blended together rather than becoming more distinct in their own stories. I can see this being a great miniseries but as a book, it was too much all at one time and I couldn’t keep up.

Thank you NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the ARC of Hotel Portofino in exchange for my honest review! When I saw the cover of this book, I knew I had to read it even though this was not my typic genre to read. I did enjoy this book however I think I would like to watch the series on PBS more.

Hotel Portofino is a historical drama set in an upper-class hotel on the stunning Italian Riviera during the Roaring 20's. Needing a fresh start, Bella convinces her family they need a fresh start and opens the hotel. Nothing seems to go the way she thinks it will. There is drama, intrigue, and romance, and while the descriptions are well written, some of the dialogue and characters leave you wanting a bit more. It is good for a light read but the ending leaves you wanting more, maybe it will lead to a sequel.

HOTEL PORTOFINO
By J. P. O'Connell

“It really has been like one of those Agatha Christie novels.”
“Indeed, though I'm not sure even she could dream up quite so motley an assortment of characters!”


The two quotes above from the final chapters of this book really tell it all! O'Connell brings a varied and eclectic group of characters to a start up hotel and it's all uphill from there. Join this group of zannies as they weave through a series of events that will entertain you and also get you thinking.

Spencer W. Birt

The cover drew me in on this one (so pretty!) and while I found the story to be charming (and the writing beautiful), I anticipate I will enjoy this even more as a television series. Because: oh my gosh, the drama and intricacies of the plot!

The characters are deep and the setting beautiful. Overall, this was an enjoyable read. I am very excited to see how PBS translates it to the screen! Some writing is easy to translate in ones imagination but this was a bit difficult for me at times but I feel that way about historical fiction overall.

Now BRB ... I need to book a trip to the Italian Riviera ... :D

In the 1920s, Bella and her husband opened their hotel in Portofino. After the Great War ended, they decide to start over in this beautiful and serene place. Will it let them create happy memories and ease their pain? The arrival of their first guests causes unexpected problems and bitterness. I enjoyed Hotel Portofino. Bella is a powerful force. She's the heart of this hotel. I loved her kindness and compassion but I knew she was stretched thin. Cecil, her husband, was a wastrel. He thought that he was important but people saw threw his posturing. He wasn't an admirable man. I wondered how Bella could put up with him. It was interesting to get to know the guests. They were an eclectic group. There are racial tensions as well as class issues. Add to this mix - an adversarial political climate, the unrest of the locals and the dishonest town's leaders. As the story progressed, these characters are forced to make life altering decisions. Where would these choices lead them? The Roaring Twenties and the changes in society that it caused added drama to the story. JP O'Connell wrote a book that captured me. I cared about these characters. Their feelings and pain were understandable and their bravery was admirable. Hotel Portofino is an excellent book.
I received a copy of this book which I voluntarily read and reviewed. My comments are my honest opinion.

This will definitely be one those books that is actually BETTER as a movie as I felt i was reading a script. Lively characters- good, bad and ugly.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy to read. I loved the writing and the setting, but so many characters I struggled in the beginning to keep up with them all, but the more I read it became easier. I was just really getting into the story when it ended and honestly even though I loved what I read, I only gave 3 stars because I didn't get that can't put it down feeling and I felt like the characters stories did not end. If I knew if this was a series, and would continue I would change to a 4, but I rated a a 3 assuming it is a single novel. If that changes I would change my review as it would make much more sense to me.

I wanted to love this book. The dashing cover, the Italian romance, the intrigue of a period piece, it had all the ingredients. It was a fine book. Not stupendous, not horrible but somewhere in the middle. A complex cast of characters occupy the Hotel Portofino. A business folly by British ex-pats, the hotel is struggling to get going. The guests are made up of British aristocrats looking for an Italian holiday. Set during the uncertain times between the world wars, there is political turmoil, family turmoil, romance, intrigue and a crime. I think my overall feeling is that there was a lot going on in this book. I never really felt a strong connection to a specific character because there were so many of them. Hotel Portofino kept my attention but I think it would play better as a mini-series on television where the characters could be better developed.

Sorry to say I did not finish this book. From the first page I knew this wasn't a book I wanted to read...this is the second time I tried but didn't make it through.. I gave it a second chance since there are times a book doesn't "hit" you right away. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Confusing, boring and too many characters. My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Hotel Portofino is set in Italy during the 1920's. It is the story of Bella Ainsworth and her family during a time of great change.

I wanted to read this novel because I saw that it inspired an upcoming PBS Masterpiece series that looks really interesting. The novel was engrossing, and I found the stories of the different Ainsworth family members very interesting. This was a different time and place for me too, so I loved visiting the Italian Riviera in this novel.

Set in a small, family-owned hotel catering to the idle rich, Hotel Portofino captures life between the two World Wars. Proprietress, Bella Ainsworth, is foremost in a cast of characters, most of whom hale from England, dragging with them their quirky ways and deep-seated snobbishness. Bella is congenial and kind, her husband, Cecil, a drinker and a wastrel, her son, Lucian, deeply damaged by the war, and her widowed daughter, Alice, resentful and mean-spirited. Revolving around various love interests we meet Nish, who harbours a forbidden love for his fellow soldier; young debutante, Rose, the prospective bride; the nanny, Constance, who is secretly attracted to Lucian, despite his higher station in life; and Paola, the Italian maid.
The novel explores relationships, family and love, all fraught with undercurrents, making the tranquility of life in scenic, rural Italy less than idyllic. Appearances must be maintained despite duplicitous behaviour, hidden agendas, misconceptions and petty jealousies. Scenes play out in small vignettes in which people see or hear things, then colour the incidents with their own interpretation.
The story is set against a background of Mussolini’s Italy in which racism, Black Shirt thugs, graft, family secrets, and small-town politics abound. As Bella tries desperately to cater to her family’s and guests’ many needs, her attempts to keep her hotel afloat are threatened by Mussolini’s minions. An interesting story of class distinction and day-to-day lives in politically tense times. Recommended.