Not for me as a reader. Intriguing premise but I found it difficult to connect with the story and writing style.

This magical realism book shows us many stages of grief and guilt. I liked Max and Eve’s story, how they saved each other constantly. Max with the guilt of having to kill his friend in war , Eve with the guilt of losing her little sister when she was 4.
The reason I gave it 3 stars is that the book doesn’t really explain the concept of the octopuses and how Eve was capable of opening up the door when she was little (does she have magic? Was it because she already went to the hotel?) I felt that some things were not explained that were important to the story.

This book is devastatingly beautiful, I’m honestly struggling to sum up my experience in reading this novel. All the feelings all at the same time.

I thought I was getting myself into a cozy fantasy book and instead got so much more. It’s a raw look at grief, forgiving yourself, and finding happiness and love in the most unexpected places when you need it most. Finding your joy in all of the timelines, even when you don’t know what it is you’re looking for.

My heart hurt with the grief and guilt that Eve carries for so long, alone. Only for things to get rebuilt in the most magical and wonderful ways. This book had me all up in my feelings and my heart so full and raw at the end.

I don’t say a lot of books are 5 stars, but this one checks all the boxes for me. Even if I didn’t really expect what I was getting into. It was so much more. I often read books very quickly, but I kept finding myself pausing and thinking while working my way through this one. After all, what is time really?

2.5 stars

Oke I want to start by saying that I think O am just not the right audience for this book. The story didn’t make sense for me. The magic was never explained, which is oke for some books. Like yeah there is magic, accept it. But here it didn’t make sense to me. The book is set in the real world, everything is normal, except for this hotel. Where did it come from? How did it exist? The tattoo?? Why octopuses? I just don’t get it. I also didn’t like the main characters, they felt flat and the romance wasn’t enjoyable and felt unnecerrary. They could have been friends and it read almost the same. The writing style was good though and easy to read and I did like the hotel setting. I just didn’t like the relation of the hotel to the rest of the world and how it fit in it.
Thanks Del Rey for the arc.

I received an arc from Netgalley in exchange for a honest review. The magical surrealism in the book was amazing. The hotel causes the two main characters to time travel. Both characters are from different time periods and they meet and fall in love. The book was amazing and I didn't want to put it down. It kinda give me night cirus vibes with the magical elements.

The White Octopus Hotel is a magical realism story about healing the past in order to find the lost parts of yourself.

Eve Shaw is an art appraiser who meets a mysterious stranger with the same name as her favourite composer born more than a century ago. When Eve decides to travel to the abandoned Octopus Hotel tucked away in the Swiss Alps, she is transported back in time to the 1930s where she and her favourite composer are time traveling together through the magical hotel. When a tragedy from Eve's past comes back to haunt her, she will have to decide whether revisiting the past is really such a good idea after all.

The White Octopus Hotel was an imaginative whimsical story about the power of guilt to keep us stuck in the past. I loved the concept about a magical hotel that is full of extraordinary people and objects. I would have loved to have had more information on the hotel, such as its origins and how it became magical. There was a lot of octopus imagery throughout the story which I believe was was used to represent the entanglement theory, regeneration, and the unconscious. There were a few twists and turns that surprised me in the best way possible and I liked the ending. There was a quirky aspect to the story with some of its strange magical elements that balanced some of the heavier themes in the book such as death and PTSD. I loved the creative concept of this book about a magical hotel which to me was a metaphor for the transience of life.

This book reminded me a little of Tower of Terror, the film Somewhere in Time, and Hotel Magnifique by Emily J. Taylor. If you are a fan of time slip stories with a fantasy twist, I recommend checking into the The White Octopus Hotel by Alexandra Bell.

*The White Octopus Hotel* is a beautifully atmospheric tale of love, loss, and second chances, weaving between two different times and two very different lives. The parallel stories of Eve and Max—one set in 2015 and the other in 1935—come together in a magical hotel high in the Swiss Alps, where fate may have more in store than either could imagine. A poignant and evocative novel that left me reflecting on the paths we take and the choices we make.

"The White Octopus Hotel" by Alexandra Bell
5/5 stars
This book is absolutely incredible. It is perfection and I have no notes. This is one of the easiest 5 star ratings I have ever given, especially for an arc.
The White Octopus Hotel explores the lives of two people living centuries apart, that keep finding their way back to each other through one magical hotel. It explores their heartbreaking pasts and the things that haunt them through a series of time-jumps and flashbacks that are perfectly executed. The magic is whimsical and mysterious, and the author's writing is incredibly descriptive. I was truly walking the halls of the White Octopus Hotel along with Eve, our FMC.

This book explores love and loss, and guides us through the idea that the things we hold on to just might be keeping us from the future we could have.
This one goes down as one of my favorite books of all time, and I will be collecting every copy I can once it publishes.
Goodreads review is live. I will be posting a review to Instagram, to be posted closer to the publication date, no later than the end of August, and I will post a review to retailer sites once published!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Del Rey, Random House Worlds, Inklore for the e-arc approval in exchange for an honest review!

The White Octopus Hotel is a hauntingly beautiful exploration of grief and self-loathing.
With prose that shifts between languid and urgent, it follows Eve on a time-traveling journey to a mysterious, otherworldly hotel in search of meaning and redemption.
A quiet melancholy lingers throughout the story, inviting readers to contemplate the far-reaching consequences of our choices. It's a book that lingers in the mind long after the final page.
Thank you NetGalley, Del Rey, Random House Worlds, Inklore and Alexandra Bell for this ARC.

The Winter Garden is one of my favorite books. As soon as I finished reading it, I was eager for Alexandra Bell’s next novel. The White Octopus Hotel is one of my most anticipated releases of the year. I am so fortunate to have been able to read an ARC of this beautiful masterpiece. What I love about Alexandra Bell’s writing is how whimsical, emotional, and atmospheric it is. I truly felt like I was a guest at the White Octopus Hotel, watching the story unfold. While Bell’s writing is always enchanting, like The Winter Garden, this story has undertones of grief and sadness in it. It is done so well that I could feel my heart aching for our characters. One thing about me is that I hate time travel. The main reason is because it stresses me out. How one thing can impact another thing and become a domino effect. But I would read Alexandra Bell’s grocery list, so she is the exception. The time travel aspect helped develop the character’s relationships and made my heart ache for them even more. It worked wonderfully with the mystery of the story and the hotel. There is a beautiful love story in this book between two lost souls who find each other time and time again. It warmed my heart. I rooted for them till the very end. I loved the magic of this novel. I didn’t question why anything was happening. I threw out all logic and just let myself be lost in the story and its atmosphere. There’s ominous rabbits, enchanted objects, octopuses that come to life through drawings, and so much more. Though I may never be able to visit the actual White Octopus Hotel and experience its magic, I will always be a guest in my mind. I can’t wait to purchase a physical copy and experience the magic again upon its release.

This is a whimsical story about two people who “meet” at the White Octopus Hotel and it follows their journey through love and darks days. It talks about how they show up for each other through all the periods of their lives. It’s very whimsical and I really enjoyed it!

The way the story reads reminds me of “Emily Wildes”, that kind of factual cadence. The main female character, Eve, is so deep in her depression that she is pretty emotionless and it shows as you read it. The main male character, Max, is also in a dark place when he arrives at the hotel and it’s actually Eve who saves him after his trauma from the war.

The way that these two characters intertwine in time is so romantic. They appear in different decades in the early 1900s, even though Eve is from 2016. She is able to travel back in time to the prime of the White Octopus with a magic key.

The story was so refreshing and have a soft spot for time traveling romances (hello Outlander!) that I immediately gave this one 5 stars once I finished it.

This was mind bendingly phenomenal. From the writing, to the plot, the mystery elements and how intricately the whole puzzle came together.

The White Octopus Hotel will stay with me as long as I live. I am obsessed and so in love with these characters, their story and their love but more so the hotel itself and how the magic and whimsy brought it all full circle.

I would classify this as a cosy romantasy/cosy mystery meets a dash of Historical Fiction. It’s filled with hidden clues, questions and theories, time travel, reincarnation, soulmates, AMAZING MAGIC and an overwhelming feeling of Alice in Wonderland 🐇🐙

Absolutely cannot recommend this enough 🌟

This was a whimsical, intricate story involving time travel and I adored it. I finished it a few days ago and kept telling my husband “I wish I could go to the White Octopus Hotel” until he was sick of me! The story follows 2 people living in two different eras and their journey through their hurt and grief. It touches on so many *real* emotions and leaves no stone unturned by the end. The magical, whimsical world of the White Octopus Hotel will really make you wish it was real!

I normally stray away from time travel plots because I always get confused and have so many questions at the end. However, Alexandra Bell did an amazing job tying everything together and answering all of the questions I accumulated throughout the book. I really really really enjoyed this book!

** Thank you Del Rey Books and NetGalley for the Advanced Copy for my honest review **

Surreal, whimsical and charming with major Erin Morgenstern vibes.

The hotel really is the main character, and everything is described in such vivid detail, I wish I could book a room and traipse through the grounds.

Max's war-time narrative was much more interesting to read about than Eve's.

I didn't like Eve very much - she can't let go of something that happened when she was four years old, and some of the things she says and does were just so frustrating to read.


Even though I was iffy on Eve, I still enjoyed the love story with her and Max. It unfurled slowly and felt very genuine.

The ending left me slightly confused, and not everything was explained, but it fits in with the dreamlike qualities of the whole thing.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC!

The White Octopus Hotel is a hard book to summarize without giving too much away. At its core, it’s about two people from different centuries who meet in a strange hotel tucked away in the Swiss Alps. But beyond that, it’s about grief, memory, time, and the things we carry with us—whether we mean to or not.

There’s a quiet surrealism running through the story that I really loved. The hotel is full of oddities that feel both magical and meaningful: a horse stepping out of someone’s past, an octopus that insists on following Eve wherever she goes, doors that don’t always lead where they should. It’s whimsical in a way that feels deliberate, like the book is inviting you to lean into the strangeness instead of trying to explain it.

Eve and Max are the heart of the novel, and their dynamic is sharp, tender, and emotionally layered. Their interactions feel honest and human, sometimes messy, sometimes funny. And without spoiling anything, the people Eve encounters in the past—especially one in particular—add a deeper emotional weight to her time at the hotel.

This isn’t a fast-paced book, but it lingers in a way that matters. It’s soft without being slight, romantic without being cliché, and filled with small, meaningful moments that slowly build into something much bigger. I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.