<b>Actual rating 3.5 stars</b>

I started out really enjoying <i>The Pink Hotel</i>. The descriptions were beautiful and I felt the characters were well done in that they seemed like real people. Unfortunatley, I just found myself bored most of the time. I may also have just found the subject matter too much of a bummer right now (the intense divide between upper and lower class people just doesn't scream 'beach read).
I do think Jacobs is a very talented writer, but this one just wasn't what I was looking for.

A book full of entitled rich people to hate. I had hoped to like Keith Collins but he too was u likable most of the book. Overall, an interesting read.

I was drawn to this novel because I have always been fascinated by the Beverly Hills Hotel. Of course, Liska Jacobs has a lot more on her mind than palm fronds. What is initially a social satire turns deadly serious and that’s when it left me. What seems cinematically oriented doesn’t catch as dramatically on the page. Still, Jacobs has a fine eye for character and ambitious intentions. A promising debut.

The Pink Hotel was very thought provoking story that definitely brought to mind the expression that “Nero fiddled while Rome burned”. The main characters are a newly married insecure couple who are invited to the hotel for their honeymoon. Keith’s hoping to be offered a position there. His wife, Kit, is very naive and several people at the hotel take her under their wing. What happens when California’s wild fires are raging out of control with curfews in effect but the super rich gather at the hotel where they need constant entertainment will keep you shaking your head in disbelief.
While Keith and Kit keep this story grounded, I enjoyed many of the other characters. In my mind the main focus was the dichotomy between the workers that keep things running and the Uber rich who need to constantly push the limits to alleviate their boredom. The parties were so hedonistic, but will linger in my mind for quite some time. The ending made me very sad, especially for the old woman from the laundry.
Many many thanks for Lisa Jacobs who kept me entertained for hours, MCD, and NetGalley for affording me the opportunity to read an arc of this soon to be published book.

Not a terrible a book but I couldn't get into it at all. A swanky hotel in Los Angeles serves as the setting for this book about a newlywed couple and the rich guests they mingle with while the city burns and riots rage outside the walls. Uninteresting characters and very little plot/action just made me bored. Sadly this wasn't for me. LOVED the gorgeous cover though. DNF @ 55%.

Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for early digital copies in exchange for my honest review.

The Pink Hotel is a summer book. FSG decided to release it in July, it’s a vacation book, it’s sunny, it’s warm, you almost get tipsy from all the martinis and champagne that is consumed in this book, but don’t let this fool you: TPH is not an easy summer beach read. Depending on how you spend your summer this book may drag you differently into this unsettling setup of a novel in a quite uncomfortable way. Maybe you read this by the pool in a posh hotel, maybe you are a guest, or maybe you are a hospitality professional, maybe you are a Have or a Have-Not in society, maybe you are vacating at a place where there is political or societal unrest right outside of your hotel.

I have read the ARC (thank you NetGalley!) in gray, late winter, thousands of miles from the setting of this novel, Los Angeles, and I think beneath the warm and shrill color palette of this novel is something much darker and monochrome. You have the wildfires in the background, which have the potential to turn the colorful and glamor into dark ashes, you have the memories of the black & white Old Hollywood lingering in every corner, and from page one this novel is on a trajectory to disaster. It’s a novel of catastrophe in the tradition of J.G. Ballard, where the inner space, the psychology of the characters, turns the setting into your worst fears and nightmares, in this case about the huge divide in society in class and wealth.

While I was absorbed into this novel, I felt like I’m on the Titanic, and I can’t find that line anymore, but at some point, Richard says the hotel was unbreakable or something, no matter what happens outside (fires, riots) it’s safe. Like the Titanic was unsinkable. Maybe not a very subtle, but very powerful hint to what is coming.

The novel does a lot of interesting things with point of view and characterization, and to be honest I have no idea how the author did this, but she did it to great effect. The narrative is precise and to the point, but it’s also meandering around the characters, snail-like, especially around the newlywed couple at the center of the novel. Sometimes they appear as a “they”, “the newlywed couple”, “the lovebirds”, “the Collinses”, sometimes as a “husband” or “wife”, we see them as individuals, Kit and Keith, and sometimes in some in-between states, your old name attached to a new family name: “Kit Collins”. These two characters approach and drift apart. Some readers may need a more traditional way of storytelling to connect to the characters, but I thought this was fantastic and added another narrative layer to this story. With all the grand themes in the background, this novel contains a lot of micro-stories, especially a story about marriage, identity, and the power dynamics in a marriage.

A book to re-read every summer – or any other season. It goes best with a martini in reach. Fantastic!

Liska Jacob's latest— THE PINK HOTEL, exuberantly lively and amusing, is a satire of the überwealthy and an inside look at the haves and the have-nots.

Keith and Kit Collins work in California managing Keith's uncle's small town restaurant and inn. At a hotel conference, the couple, the Belmonts, invite them to honeymoon at their renowned Beverly Hills' The Pink Hotel.

They, of course, are out of their element at the opulent hotel with guests rich and famous.

Keith is enamored with the hotel, and the lifestyle and desperately wants to be a part of the finer things of life. His wife is happy with what she has. Keith decides to extend the honeymoon to try and snag an assistant manager job at the hotel.

Not much of a honeymoon for Kit with Keith working and sucking up, she spends time with a partying young socialite who's also staying at the hotel. Keith wants to break through his middle-class title and jump into the elite, and Kit is happy to return home and stop pretending.

Keith is a jerk and develops a crush on Richard's mistress, Coco. Sean, a construction worker helping with the hotel expansion at the hotel, likes Kit after she faints and lands in his arms.

Meanwhile, outside the hotel gates, wildfires have taken over California. The hills are burning, riots are breaking out, and gas masks and lockdown are mandated.

The hotel closes its doors to outside guests, and everyone is stuck inside. The staff must work harder to contend with all the wealthy clients and cater to their every extravagant wish and demand.

As the fear and anxieties heighten, the hotel, guests, and staff are pushed to their breaking point, and tensions run high. Outside, the world is aflame.

Like The Great Gatsby, a close look at class, privilege, class disparity, greed, social status, money, love, and relationships. As in F. Scott Fitzgerald's Gatsby, an outsider looking in to attain status no matter the cost.

From eccentric characters to the wealthy, sarcastic, wit, and snarkiness—an entertaining romp.

There are also parallels between what is happening inside the celebrity hotel and the outside world with climate destruction, much like our world today. A story of socio-economic divisions and environmental impacts.

I listened to the audiobook, which was somewhat nerve-wracking with the grinding, high-pitched, drama-filled voice to match the character's storylines. I did not find the audio enjoyable. I would recommend the reading copy versus the audio. The audio was narrated by Tavia Gilbert—I usually enjoy her narrations; however, in this case, not so much.

The novel would be for those who enjoy satire (humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in contemporary politics and other topical issues) and Hollywood hotel drama-filled stories. #CoverCrush

I also enjoyed the author's note regarding the social movements which inspired the book. Look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you to #MacmillanAudio and #NetGalley for an ALC to listen to, enjoy, and review and a digital ARC #FarrarStrausandGiroux

I preferred the e-book.
4 Stars: e-book
3 Stars: audiobook

Blog Review Posted @
www.JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 3.5 Stars ✨✨✨ 💫
Pub Dat: July 19, 2022

Do you judge a book by its cover?
Gotta be honest - I do it ALL THE TIME. And this gorgeous cover is why I chose to request this book from NetGalley - I saw someone post it on instagram and I immediately wanted an advanced copy. I didn't even read the blurb - eek! The cover and title immediately made me think of the famous pink hotel in Waikiki, the Royal Hawaiian Resort, where I would soon be going to visit, and I knew it would make a great picture to post with my review!
Now rereading the book’s blurb, this sounds like a book I’d really enjoy - a small town recently married couple become stuck along with the excessively rich guests at a fancy hotel during a time of environmental and social unrest in LA. So I would have requested it if I had read the blurb!
I almost DNFed at ~35% last night - I was so close. Nothing was happening and I hated all of the characters and I felt like I was wasting my time reading the book. But I forced myself to take a step back from the book and read some of the positive Goodreads reviews to help me see what I was NOT getting that others were enjoying. The writing is heavily satirical, filled with social commentary about where the ultra rich choose to focus their time and resources - and how the laws of the land like curfews do not apply to them. Instead of focusing on the plot, I returned to the book this morning with the goal of focusing on *how* the author satirized the rich wasting their money on increasingly asinine parties and celebrations while the town was literally burning down outside the gates of the hotel, along with how the small town characters were unknowingly swept into their own fraudulent personas with their increased time in the vicinity of the uber wealthy guests.
Oh and my favorite character was Norma Jean the pet capuchin who literally sh!t all over the hotel.
The Pink Hotel is available now and it’s a wild ride that you may enjoy - I’d love to hear your thoughts if you decide to read it! Thanks to Farrar, Straus and Giroux and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion - it was a challenging read for me, but I appreciate the work and effort I had to put into finding my way through Liska Jacobs’ book!

Netgalley gave me a free copy of the ebook in exchange for my honest review. What a wild ride! The Pink Hotel isn't what I expected, but that's ok. Kit and Keith are on their honeymoon at a fancy, bougie hotel in LA during the height of a wildfire. You watch them spend a week with the guests and staff of the Pink Hotel, and dang do they do a lot of loathsome and crazy stuff. This definitely seems like satire, shedding light on the horrible things rich people do because they are bored and have too much money (although they have trauma and feelings just like everyone else). This read a bit like a movie, just watching $hit hit the fan and everything burn up around them (literally). I don't know if this book was entirely for me; it's hard to tell if this was a purposeful style of writing or just not that well done. It kept me reading, but I would only recommend it with forewarning.

Wow, what a look at the rich and famous and how they behave while staying in the Pink Hotel in Los Angeles. When LA is threatened by wildfires, young couple Keith Kit must stay ahead not only of the fires, but also the outlandish demands of their famous hotel guests. Good read!

Nobody was more excited about this book than me. I was excited to get and advance copy fromNetgalley and FSG. I also have been staying at The BHH for close to 25 years. I knew it wasn't a bio of the hotel but expected it to be a fun romp of this storied and cherished hotel. Sadly, the novel was a disappointment. It's about a newlywed couple Keith and Kit who stay at the hotel while the fires of LA are raging outside their door. It tries to be a novel of have and havenots and just ends up being a not very believable story. For people who have never been to the hotel this may be a fun read. I like this writer so was surprised I couldn't get more involved with the characters and the storyline.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, MCD and Macmillan Audio for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of this novel by Liska Jacobs, narrated by Tavia Gilbert - 3.5 stars!

Newlyweds Kit and Keight Collins are spending their honeymoon at the Pink Hotel, an exclusive hotel in Beverly Hills, partially paid for by the general manager. Kit and Keith come from a small town where they work at a much-less glamorous hotel and they are not prepared for this opulent lifestyle or what it might do to their marriage. Kit is ready to relax and enjoy and isn't comfortable with all the excess and classism apparent in the hotel. Keith is viewing this as a job interview and the general manager uses him to help out, while promising him a future, one that Keith is desperate for. Then wildfires sweep in and everyone is confined to the hotel.

While the narration was good and I liked the storyline, I found it hard to like any of the characters or be too interested in their lives. The plot line of the staff vs guests was interesting, with so much elitism and classism on display. The satire was enjoyable too, with dogs dressed up for events, and the wildfire was the perfect spark for changing course. But all in all, I just wasn't real invested in this one, as much as I loved the cover and premise. You may love it, so give it a go!

As much as I loved the premise of this book and found parts of it interesting, it just wasn’t for me. Super sad to report! The writing style just didn’t jive with what appeals to me.

However, I do see that many will enjoy this book- and I don’t doubt I will be hearing about it often!

Thank you for the opportunity.

Based on the premise of the plot, this book had SO much potential. Unfortunately it fell short of my expectations. It was a slow book, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the narration was a bit all over the place. Thank you netgalley & the publisher for the ARC, in an exchange for an honest review.

This writing in this book is incredible—stylish and lush, really evoking the unique atmosphere of The Pink Hotel itself. The somewhat omniscient voice was a bit hard to get into, but it grew on me as it went. We follow newlyweds Keith and Kit Collins as they embark on what they think is their honeymoon at The Pink Hotel, but is actually a job tryout for Keith. We see the world of the rich guests pervert their relationship as fires and protests build outside. The setting was outstanding, and although I wish there had been a bit more plot, especially in the middle, the book built to a very strong and visceral conclusion. I absolutely want to see this movie, and read more from this author!

1.5 stars. Started and stop this book three times. They say 3rd tines the charm. Was excited and was looking forward to reading. The overall story was so convoluted and disjointed. Hated the characters and cared nothing about them or their situation. The writing was confusing and didn't flow like most stories. This one of the two main reasons I kept restarting the story. It was a good premise, just wasn't executed properly. Don't know if I would be interested in reading more from this author.

#netgalley #bookreview #thepinkhotel

I loved the book cover, thats what initially got my attention. The description also sounded great. It follows a newlywed couple Kit and Keith who get a free stay at The Pink Hotel. Amongest the raging wildfires, Keith decided to take this opporunity to do everything he can to become an employee at the hotel.
The imagery of the hotel was amazing. I pictured the hotel to be so chic and glamorous thanks to the descriptions.

However, I did have a hard time with the plot. I was a little unsure where it was going at times. This could have also been me trying to antcipate what would happen next. I found none of the characters were very likable, except for Kit, but only at times.
My favorite part was the last chapter, it was jam packed with drama.
Overall, the experience seemed to fall a bit flat. The writing and imagery was great.

Thank you to Netgalley & Farrar, Straus and Giroux, MCD for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

"Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."

Keith Collins will do anything to improve his lot in life. Just married, he and his wife Kit are invited to spend their honeymoon in the ritziest hotel in Beverly Hills, The Pink Hotel. What Kit does not know is that Keith is using this trip as his interview to become the assistant manager there.

The couple come from a small town and are a little out of their league socially with the powers that be at the hotel. The rich and posh laugh at their lack of finesse, but will toy with the attractive couple to their amusement. Keith redoubles his efforts to impress, making excuses for his wife’s lack of sophistication, all the while letting them see him sweat and seemingly sabotaging his brand new marriage.

Apocalyptic brush fires are torching Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, and most of the surrounding area. Riots and lootings are breaking out while the upper echelon of society flock to the hotel for entertainment and distraction. They are appalled that members of their staff, their maids, gardeners, and cooks have the audacity to not show up for work while the city burns.

The decadence is laid on pretty thick and it is a little hard to root for anyone involved. There are more demons registered here than in Dante’s Inferno. There is too much time spent in this suffocating environment while waiting for the outside world to make its presence felt. I finished the book but nearly took the fire escape. Apologies to #TheRealHousewivesOfHell

Take Their Money Take Their Power, the graffiti says.

Thank you to Farrar, Straus and Giroux, MCD, and NetGalley for providing the advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Pink Hotel is unfortunately a disappointing story about the ridiculously wealthy as they stay at the Pink Hotel in Beverly Hills. The preview was interesting and I looked forward to reading this, but I couldn't find anything likeable about the characters and their behavior.

Recently married Keith and Kit Collins head to the Pink Hotel after meeting the Beaumonts who run the hotel. Keith is excited at the prospect of being interviewed for a job their, unfortunately while they are on their honeymoon. The honeymoon is doomed from the start with Keith basically auditioning for the job due to being short staffed, raging fires in the background and wealthy people so unhappy with their lives they create more drama and problems for everyone around them.
Keith is inconsiderate to plan this while Kit is supposed to be supportive of his decision. At one point he says I am doing this for us, there was no us, it was for him.

Sorry, but this was not for me.

Timid bride Kit and her ambitious groom Keith travel from a small town to honeymoon at the lavish Pink Hotel in Beverly Hills. More interview and audition for Assistant Manager than honeymoon, Keith spends most of his time ingratiating himself with the manager and uber-wealthy clientele, many of whom have sought refuge at the hotel when wildfires forced them to evacuate their homes. And yet, as they are accustomed to a certain lifestyle, the hotel is closed to “outsiders” and the VIP occupants expect to be catered to and entertained.

Thus begins a week-long bacchanal, all the while the winds continue to blow, firetruck sirens can be heard beyond the hotel walls, ashes fall like snowflakes, helicopters pass overhead, and TVs throughout the hotel show news coverage of spreading wildfires, rolling blackouts, erupting riots and looting. One after another, the overworked staff give up and flee the premises, leaving the guests to their own devices.

This level of indulgence, oblivion and debauchery can only end badly.

I found the overall (forgive the pun) slow burn of this satire a bit difficult to get through, and my interest in the mostly unlikeable and unrelateable characters was low and only slightly improved by the end, but like the very alluring cover, the descriptions of the hotel itself were captivating, and the mental images they created drew me in and made me feel like I was right there.

MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux via NetGalley kindly provided me an ARC of this book, which I have read and reviewed honestly.