I've loved Maggie Stiefvater for ages, but with this book I gained a new type of appreciation. This book had so much heart! I could feel the author's love for the setting and time period. Superb, historical fiction and magical realism lovers will enjoy this one!

Thank you, NetGalley and Viking Penguin for allowing me to read this book early. The opinion in this review is my own.

This is the first adult novel by the author of the Raven Boys cycle. It’s a historical fiction set in 1942. June works at the Avallon Hotel and Spa and through some dealings with the owner of the hotel, the Nazi’s are aloud to reside there in luxury while June and many of the female workers need to care for the Nazi’s like they would any guest.

This was a rough start for me to get into. It took a while, but it did get better after the first twenty percent. The writing is well done and is accessible to all ages, even though this is an adult novel. The plot was compelling, but it wasn’t as fast-paced as I would’ve liked, but that might be due my limited experience with historical fiction.. The ending was great, and I do recommend reading this book, but be prepared to pace yourself.

An interesting read from Maggie Stiefvater, and her first adult work, too. Historical fiction with a touch of fantasy that Stiefvater manages well.

I wanted to love this but it just didn't really fully work for me. I liked the characters and the historical setting was compelling but I wanted more about the water and the magic.

God, I love everything Maggie Stiefvater does. The Listeners was absolutely fantastic! The author wrote a story that was so well written I found myself flying through the pages, unable to put the book down, pondering what would happen next. My favorite piece of this entire story was how believable the characters were.

The writing is clear and clean, and very immersive. The book hums along at a good clip, but the pacing makes sure we're given time to breathe between plot-intensifying moments. The story was absolutely engaging and the work that went into the settings was noticeable and superb. I felt absolutely transported and I'm so incredibly glad I was able to read an arc of this story.

This hooked me right away. Intriguing characters with multiple story lines to keep you reading. A lot of things to think about!

Stiefvater's latest is technically for adults, though I think her teen fans will also like it. It takes place at a strange and mystical resort hotel in the Appalachian mountains, at the dawn of WW2, that the US government has taken over to house important...prisoners? Diplomats? Enemies? Most are a mixture. The leads are the hotel's concierge, a young Appalachian woman with a murky past, and an FBI agent...with a different but equally murky past. As in all of Stiefvater's books, the world is a strange and unknowable place and people even more so. More mysteries were left unexplored than I would have liked but I still found it a compelling read.

Loved this book though I feel a bit like my dream of writing a book set at the Greenbrier has been scooped. I enjoy Maggie Stiefvater and I knew I'd enjoy this one set at a familiar location. Such an interesting plot and mix of characters!

This did not fit my usual genre, and it's actually one I don't read often. However, this historical story hit me differently. I enjoyed the setting and characters. Stiefvater has crafted a novel that will be great for Book Clubs. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I never did read the Raven Cycle but I was immediately interested when I saw Maggie Steifvater was publishing an adult debut! I am a huge historical fiction fan so this was right up my alley!
Buckle up as we follow June the GM of a luxurious hotel called The Avalon which is offer a refuge from the chaos that is World War II. June must face the challenges of hosting Nazi diplomats while also maintaining the elegance and charm of the hotel. This authors righting is extremely poetic and left me feeling as if I was sitting in a fancy hotel in the Appalachian mountains. Loved the blend of historical fiction and suspense and well as romance. As well as the unexpected twist of the supernatural.
Highly recommend and am glad to try Maggie Stiefvater for the first time!

This was a bit of a slow burn, but once the characters got under my skin, the sweetwater kept whispering to me, "read."
The Avallon hotel is known for the luxury service provided to all guests who can afford to stay there. This is in large part to the General Manager, June, and her staff. And the magical waters running under the hotel. June has worked her way up from housekeeping and runs a tight ship. Her staff is a happy family as she works to provide for them all. But in 1942, life at the hotel changes. Foreign diplomats arrive as "guests." The State Department and FBI provide watchful eyes over the German, Japanese, and Italian guests as they await a boat to take them back to their home countries.
As June works with the waters to keep the hotel running with these changes, she reflects on her past and makes some decisions for her future.
Like the Raven Cycle, The Listeners has an underlying current of magic in the water, but the real magic lies in the relationships between the characters.
Readers who read The Raven Cycle as teens will appreciate this more adult story from Stiefvater. And anyone who likes a character driven novel with a bit of history, magic, and dachshunds should give it a read!

I love Maggie so much but this book felt a little confused. I really enjoyed the social commentary but the magic aspects of the story were pretty confusing. Sometimes it felt like nothing was happening and it dragged.

In her first novel for the adult market, Steifvater taps into an emotional historical moment just after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Readers follow June Hudson, the manager of the Avalon Hotel and the muse to its mysterious waters, as the hotel is taken over to house enemy diplomats, including Nazi party members and Gestapo officers, but also the families and children of those diplomats. As June tries to navigate her responsibility to the hotel, her staff, and these unexpected and unwanted guests of the hotel, she also finds herself drawn to the FBI agent in charge of the operation. In The Listeners, Stiefvater's masterful storytelling and wonderful ability to tap into the unexpected and unexplained forces in the world and in the human heart create a riveting and hopeful novel perfect for our times.

Pearl Harbor has just been bombed and our main character June Hudson is the general manager at a luxury spa hotel located in West Virginia. In very unique and beautiful prose, Stiefvater tells the story of June and the hotel and what the horrors of war can do. I wish this novel had been for me because I do love historical fiction. However, one of my dislikes is magical realism, so that is one reason why this one just didn't work for me.

I did not connect with the characters and because the writing was extremely descriptive (albeit beautiful), the pace was slow. Now, if I had really felt deeply for where the plot was going, I might have overlooked the pacing, but it just felt like it dragged and dragged. The one word that kept returning to me was that this was just .... odd. Not bad, but rather strange.

This book, which centers a West Virginia luxury hotel during World War II, has an atmospheric setting and stunning prose. I haven’t yet read this author’s well known YA series, but from this book alone I can tell they are an excellent writer.

Unfortunately, although it has an interesting premise and is certainly well-written, this story ultimately missed the mark for me. The characters felt flat and didn’t grip me, which meant that I wasn’t emotionally invested, and even by the end of the book I still didn’t feel like I had a good understanding of their motivations. The underlying mystery elements were not nearly intriguing enough to hook me either, and I found the ending to be quite lackluster with no satisfying buildup or payoff. There is an element of magical realism in this book, but it too felt underdeveloped to me. In essence, this is a vaguely historical fiction book but is pretty much all vibes with not much plot. Some readers might be into that, but it just did not work for me in this instance.

I can’t speak to the final copy of the book, but there are also some errors in the German in the digital proof I read that really bothered me.

Thank you so much to Viking Penguin for providing a digital Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review!

I have been a fan of Maggie Stiefvater for years, but oddly, I’m more a fan of her than her writing. I like certain aspects of her writing, but I never seem to really connect with it, and this book is no exception. The Listeners has a promising premise—fancy hotel in rural America is forced to accommodate Nazis and other possible enemies of the US, magic and kinda dark things ensue—but I was frustrated by story. Because, frankly, nothing happened. There was a lot of buildup and hinting at magic and mystery and love, and then there was almost no explanation, no climax, and the book ended on a slightly weird glimpse into the future of a side character who didn’t get enough development. I didn’t even realize how big the hotel was meant to be until at least halfway through, when the stores inside were mentioned. I needed more detail, more magic, and maybe less dachshund.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an E-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love Stiefvater's writing and will let her take me anywhere.

It's been a few weeks since I finished reading The Listeners, and its atmosphere has stuck with me. The writing was moody, observant, and sharp. I loved the two core characters, though I was left with the odd sensation that while we understood the story through their eyes, we maybe didn't get to spend enough time with them. Still: when this book gets going, it gets going, and it's one of my favorites so far this year.

I have been a fan of Maggie Stiefvater for over a decade now and she keeps getting better. There is something about her characters that just pull you in. You could read about them going through hard personal times or hard political times, or just them going about their daily lives, and I would EAT IT UP! I really enjoyed this and highly recommend it

Maggie Stiefvater has a magical way of writing- it is all too easy to fall into the world she has created. Her prose is beautiful and whimsical in way that is hard to forget. The characters she created were all endearing in their own unique ways, even as flawed as they were. The sweet water drew me into this book, but the Avallon and its cast were more than enough to keep me there.

The Listeners is, by far, one of the best novels I have read in a long while. I will most definitely be finding myself a physical copy of this book for rereading once it is published.

I really enjoyed this slow-burn historical by one of my favorite authors. I didn't realize it, but I've read something like nine Maggie Stiefvater books. I love her writing style, the way she blends mythic/fantastical elements with grounded realistic stories. I was very curious about what her first adult book would be like. I'm happy to report that it's authentically Stiefvater while exploring totally new territory.

I felt myself drawn back to this story and found myself thinking about it in between reading sessions. My mind really had fun chewing on the themes and story. The setting of the hotel was really expertly drawn. I enjoyed the complications that arose from the main conflict (Axis diplomats residing in an American luxury hotel during WWII), and the main character of June was a very effective, steady guide for the reader through the story.

My only quibbles were: I found Tucker a less satisfying, interesting character and didn't connect to his chapters quite as much. I also wish we got a little more clarity about exactly what was going on with the waters by the end. I was waiting for some solid information about exactly how they worked and what they were doing, but it was all a little vague, even in the end when the water became a major part of the plot.

Maggie Stiefvater is just a solid writer, whatever category she's writing in. She obviously did a lot of research, but the story still felt light and not weighted down by historical details. The characters were real and deeply explored, with a deft hand. I loved this book!