This book consumed me and I mean it in the best way possible! It was an emotional read about two people coming together after previously experiencing heartbreak and loss in their lives. I didn't want the book to end and that is how much I loved this book!

The book follows Louisa who finds out her long term boyfriend of six years had been cheating on her. When he moves out, she realizes she was dependent on him financially, and she must find a way to be able to afford to pay rent on the house they have been living at for the past four years. She is able to convince her landlord Henry, that she can turn the house into a bed and breakfast for people who had suffered heartbreak.

I really loved Louisa and she genuinely loved taking care of others, even if it came at the expense of not expressing her own feelings and asking for help. We find out why the rental house means so much to her and wants to continue living there. The house represented safety and stability that she lacked as a child and even later on.

Henry is an amazing MMC. His willingness to be there for Louisa radiates through all his actions. We see he is hiding sadness behind his kind eyes. While it's evident it's physically and emotionally painful for him to be at his old home, but he is willing to put aside his own feelings to help Louisa. He becomes a constant at the house whenever Louisa needs help with an emergency. The fact he was there for her whenever she asked, it became evident he represented the stability Lousia had always craved in her life.

This book dealt with some heavy topics but the author handled them beautifully. There are some twists in the book that took me by surprise. It is a beautiful story about heartbreak, grief and finding love after loss.

Thank you Berkley Publishing Group and Berkley Romance for this ARC. All opinion expressed are my own.

5/5, I love me a good tender yet sad book and this one delivers!
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the opportunity to read and review this book

This was such a beautiful and romantic read. I’m so glad that I read this one. The author did such a wonderful job of handling the topic of grief in all of its forms and finding love after loss. Louisa was such a relatable character and I saw so many pieces of myself in her. I loved Louisa and Henry and all of the guests of The Comeback Inn. I would highly recommend reading this when it releases!!

Thank you Berkley and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

This book is about so much. It is about healing, it is about loss, love and coping with it all in a healthy way. And I love that. When Lou finds out that her wealthy boyfriend, of years, was cheating on her she goes on her way to healing. The one thing she wants out of the past relationship is the home they shared in Colorado. It is one they actually rented… The problem…she can’t afford to live there on her own so she goes about a plan to turn it in to a B&B with the permission of her landlord.
Henry Rhodes is someone she hasn’t had a lot of contact with and he doesn’t come to the house often. But surprisingly he is a lot younger than she thought he would be. When she explains the situation she talks him into her plan.
This book really turned out to be so much more than I thought it was going to be I laughed, I cried, I was frustrated. It made me feel an array of emotions and it will be one that I will be thinking about for months to come. While the beginning of the book was nothing really new to the genre I think the rest was something special and really something to write home about. I will say though it was frustrating reading about how Lou is with her sister and mother. I do feel like the ending helped a lot with how she was with them in the middle of the book and helped wrapped it up. I would 100% try another book by Ellen O’Clover after this!

Thank you to Berkeley for the complimentary copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Let me take a moment to breathe ... and tell you how wonderfully tender & breathtaking this book is. One of my most anticipated reads of this year, and it exceeded all my expectations!

When Louisa's boyfriend breaks up with her and she can't afford to rent out the gorgeous house in the mutains of Colorado, she comes up with a plan - to convince her landlord, Henry, to let her stay for free in exchange for renting out the house’s many rooms as a B&B.

I honestly dont know where to begin with praises. It was poetic, emotional, romantic, & satisfying as hell. Louisa & Henry's journey was all-consuming. I loved how there were several revelations that made the plot even thicker. Some characters have the power of stealing the spotlight in the most quietest way possible with their actions, & these 2 were the perfect example of that.

The whole concept of a Heartbreak Hotel was intriguing & clever and the side characters bought so much life to the story! Cant recommend this book enough.

Thank you Berkley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Berkley Romance & Netgalley for the eARC!

5 stars!!

I truly need everyone to read this book & will probably be recommending this book for the rest of the year. If you're looking for a sweet yet emotional read this year, look no further, this is the book you need!!!

I absolutely loved this book and all the characters. I felt very connected to each and every one, especially Lou. Seeing her overcome and get through family issues, along with her first real heartbreak made me so emotional!! I think this is the first book of the year I actually cried while reading!

I loved her relationship progression with Henry! But oh my gosh 😭 Henry's back story absolutely broke me!!! I'm so happy they did find their happily ever after together in the end though! I loved seeing them overcome their individual struggles together & I felt like it made their relationship stronger in the end.

I absolutely urge you to pick up this book this September, you won't regret it!!

This book earned 5 stars from me not only because it was so heartwarming, but also because it made me cry...multiple times and that is not easy to accomplish. Both Louisa and Henry, as well as many of the side characters are working through heartbreak and trauma. Some more concealed than others. When Louisa's famous boyfriend breaks up with her, the only way she can stay in the house she loves is by asking the closed-off owner (Henry) if she can turn it's many rooms into a bed and breakfast. Louisa's vision is to turn the house into a B&B for the heartbroken. While Henry originally agrees but seems to want nothing to do with it, he slowly seems to change his tune. Throughout the book the characters help each other look at their situations in a different light, learn from mistakes, and how to let go and move forward. I would recommend this book!

The Heartbreak Hotel follows twenty-six year old Louisa as she navigates life post breakup from her rockstar boyfriend. Unwilling to leave their spacious home but unable to afford staying there on her own, Luisa convinces her landlord Henry to let her turn the home into a B&B. While not licensed yet educated in mental health therapy Luisa’s B&B becomes a haven for the lovelorn and she and her guests find the path to recovering from a broken heart comes in many forms.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the opportunity to read and review this book which I am giving 4⭐️.

I really enjoyed this book, I finished it in only a few hours. I enjoyed Luisa and Henry and almost all of the side characters in this book. I really thought I knew what was going to happen with her ex-boyfriend, Nate, I was surprised to find out that I was wrong. The only reason this book isn’t being rated any higher is because of how truly unlikable Luisa’s mother and sister were and because the book did slide into rather heavy handed sappiness at the end that was too much for me

I will make sure to post a review of this book on my social media (TikTok and YouTube) closer to its release date.

title: The Heartbreak Hotel

author: Ellen O'Clover

publisher: Berkley

publication date: September 23, 2025

pages: 384

peppers: 3 (on this scale)

warnings: mental illness, alcohol use, family trauma and child neglect, childhood illness and death

summary: When Lou's famous boyfriend leaves her for another woman, her most important ask is that she get to keep their rental house. Unfortunately, she can't afford to pay the rent. She comes up with the idea to start a bed and breakfast retreat for the  brokenhearted, but she needs permission from her standoffish landlord, Henry.

tropes:

fix yourself first
famous ex-boyfriend
it's over before it's over
home isn't a building
family trauma


what I liked:

great scenes in the house
dialogue
best friend
found family
cute nephew
several mentions of Bernese Mountain dogs

what I didn’t like:

nothing

overall rating: 5 (of 5 stars)

As always, you can click on the photo above if you want to buy the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book! After her famous musician boyfriend breaks up with her, Louisa hatches a plan to remain in the house that she's been living in with him for the last few years. It's the only place that's ever felt like home, but she can't afford the rent. She's waiting to become a licensed therapist, but can't get the testing done yet. After helping her friend get through a breakup, she realizes she can make the house into a bed and breakfast that caters to those with a broken heart.

I loved the cast of characters in this book and how Louisa went through such a great story of self-discovery. This one made my heart happy!

I like the premise of the book, a getaway place to heal from heartache sounds like an amazing place to be. However, the choices that Lou makes, made me want to hit her over the head with a book. Goldie, Lou, and their mother have a very toxic relationship, and honestly I feel all of them should go low or no contact. Other than that weird family relationship, the friendship between Lou and Mei kind of seemed forced, and Henry and Lou’s relationship felt more like a weird rebound/easy/fallback relationship than something that could last. How Lou helps others in her life, that was a special personality trait that I wish more people had, just without the doormat situation. I appreciated seeing the heartbreak healing process through Lou, minus falling into another relationship so quickly. Overall, decent book that didn’t exactly jibe with me, but might be a book for others to enjoy.

this had SO much potential 😭 this was gorgeous and so cozy, so sweet, so lovely- for the first 50%. but then the actual romance began and that’s when everything seemed to fall apart…there are some dark themes in this book that i think were attempted to be handled with levity due to it being a trad romance but i think some topics here needed more nuanced balance and discussion because if your fmc is an *aspiring* therapist, wouldn’t she have handled this with more care for someone that she loved and is trying to begin something with?? idk why it didn’t sit right with me.

Warm and soft, this book felt like curling up in front of a fireplace bundling in a blanket with a hot cup of tea.

This was the kind of romance novel, where not only do you get the most beautiful love story that makes you feel all soft and mushy inside, but you also leave feeling like you learned something, about yourself, about life, about what it means to be a true friend.

Equally heartwarming as heart wrenching, The Heartbreak Hotel introduces us to two characters, each with their own metaphorical ghosts in their closets and their journey as their work through their grief and loss together.

In the aftermath of a years long relationship, Lou is determined to take her life back, becoming the person her ex prevented her from being career and personality wise. Only, determined to stay in the house they lived in together, she needs to figure out a way to make up his portion of the living expenses. After hours of brainstorming and the involvement of a little bit of alcohol, the Comeback Inn was born. A place where others can escape and mend their wounded souls under the guidance of an (almost) licensed therapist.

Lou and Henry, her landlord, come to an agreement on the Inn's operations and before she knows it Lou is welcoming the broken hearted into her home.
As they are forced to work together for the success of the inn, Lou starts to realize that Henry might just need her help and the help of the Inn more than she'd ever anticipated.

I went into this book thinking this was going to be a soft lighthearted rom-com style romance, what I got instead was a crush on another wounded hot man and a snotty nose from crying.

Louisa & Henry our main characters story does contain some very sensitive subjects so it’s important to take a look at triggers, but it’s also incredibly sweet and a cosy read.

The last message in this book is one all should remember “every broken heart will keep beating, in the end. So will mine; so will his. So will yours.” 💞

you should read this if:
⋆ you love the tropes age gap, found family & slow burn
⋆ hot men who love animals & say things like “maybe I don’t want to call you what everyone else does”
⋆ scene stealing side characters
⋆ mental health rep

thank you netgalley for the arc 🫂

4.5 stars!

Ok I love that this was a romance but it was so much more than a romance🥹 finding yourself after loss of any kind is such a difficult and beautiful experience, and the author did SUCH a good job navigating through it all.

Plus the writing was just delectable yummy goodness! Idk what’s up with all my arcs and library holds being grief related lately but I’m here for it. I loved this one so much!

Thank you to NetGalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review!

This was the most perfect cozy read that gave me all the feels. I loved the setting and the unique premise. I was hooked into this magical world almost immediately and found myself rooting for Louisa from page one. She really resonated with me in the fact that we share similar features and tendencies such as figuring things out on our own, holding ourselves to impossibly high standards, trying to do the best for everyone and neglecting ourselves. I also thought the slow burn was the perfect trope for this, both MC’s needed the time to figure life out - to make mistakes, to be vulnerable, to be able be with each other fully. This book was romantic, it was beautiful, it made me cry. I will be thinking about the yearning and the writing and this story, setting, and these character’s for years. Truly so happy to live in a world where this book exists.

🏩 ARC Review:

5/5⭐️s

The Heartbreak Hotel made me feel all the things and now I feel that much like the characters in this book, I also now need a therapist.

We meet Louisa, an aspiring therapist, right as she’s going through a fresh break up. This leads to some concern about her ability to continue living in her current home with her ex moving out and on very little savings. She ultimately comes up with the idea of turning the home into a bed and breakfast for the broken hearted. She hosts grieving guest after grieving guest, with help from her slightly unwilling landlord Henry, while also slowly coming to terms with her trauma.

I went into this book expecting it to be a cute romance, while touching on some slightly heavy topics. Boy was I in for a surprise. This was a first for me by Ellen O’Clover and there were times where I was laughing, where I was crying, and where I was everything in between.

The main and side characters were written so well that I found myself invested in every little side plot and flipping through this book as quickly as I could just to find out what happens next.

This was one of the easiest 5 star reads I’ve read this year and I can’t wait to read more by this author!

Thank you Net Galley for the early arc 🫶🏼

I was enjoying this at first. Then we come across a conversation where two adults are teaching a young child what non-binary means. That’s when I lost interest in finishing the book.

Expected Release Date: 09/23/2025

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the early access. All thoughts in this review are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC! All thoughts are my own.

"I want to hold your hand at every crosswalk. If you'll let me."

STOP THIS WAS SO EMOTIONAL. This broke my heart into a million pieces and slowly put it back together. This was so beautiful. Healing. If you've ever had a broken heart, or are not okay.... Read this book.

I found this book to be an enjoyable read. The story kept me engaged from start to finish and had some moments that really stood out. Overall, it offered an entertaining reading experience.