Hotel California

This is a collection of eight short mystery stories. Each story seems to flow together nicely, even with the Author’s varied writing styles. A new Jack Reacher story by Andrew Child, it was a nice surprise and I am big fan of this series. My favorite is, Hotel California by Jennifer Graeser Dornbush. The story’s theme was taken straight from the song by The Eagles. Penelope is a well written character. Penelope is an influencer who has dreams of becoming an actress. The beginning of the story her mother has a dream about her hair and at the end of the story, there’s something about her hair… an ominous ending. Loved it!

“Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the ARC”

The song Hotel California has been one of my favorites since the first time I heard it back in the 70’s (yes, I guess I’m old, lol) . So the title of the book instantly caught me attention. Then I saw it was a collection of short stories where each of the stories has the same name as a track from the classic Eagles album. Now I’m thinking, ‘hey that’s pretty clever’ but is that all it is, a clever marketing angle? Then I noted the authors! We’re talking seriously big names here: Andrew Child, Heather Graham, and John Gilstrap just to name a few…and to quote Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in Django Unchained, ’you had my curiosity, but now you have my attention!’ Long story short: I absolutely loved this collection of stories. The naming of the book and the story titles being named after the album’s track list is no gimmick. It’s absolutely brilliant. I loved every story, not a dud in the collection. In fact, quite honestly my only complaint is that they were just short stories. I would gladly have had the authors expand upon each of their stories to create full length novels. If you weren’t fans of these authors before you read/listen to this book, you will be afterwards. As for the audio narration, everyone involved did a phenomenal job. Thanks so much to Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for allowing me to listen and review an advanced copy of the audiobook of Hotel California.

Although I am not a fan of short stories, the eight authors of this anthology got my attention! Additionally they use the ‘Eagles’ “Hotel California” as a theme.
Since this is an audiobook I totally was hoping for some background music!!!

The authors are: Andrew Child, Heather Graham, Reed Farrel Coleman, John Gilstrap, Rick Bleiweiss, Jennifer Graeser Dornbush, Amanda Flower, and Don Bruns.

A great plus for me are the audiobook narrators as many are my favorite audio performers.
Scott Brick, Hillary Huber and January LaVoy are on the very top of my ‘like’ list. Also includes Patrick Cronin, Joe Hempel, Sophie Amoss and Richard Ferrone.

The first story is “New Kid in Town” a Jack Reacher story ~ narrated by Scott Brick.
I have always enjoyed the ‘Reacher’ stories ~ “No Plan B“ (Pub Day October 25, 2022) will be the last Reacher by Lee Child as he will be retiring. He states he wants to buy a new couch and kick back and read for the rest of his life!
However, Jack Reacher will still be around as younger brother Andrew Child who has co-authored with Lee Child will continue.

One of my fav stories in the group is ~“Pretty Maids All in a Row” by Heather Graham – Aww a creepy New Orleans murder mystery. I like psychological thrillers as well as dark and creepy.
Also like “The Hotel California” written by Jennifer Graeser Dornbush and narrated by my favorite audiobook performer ~ January LaVoy.

I want to thank NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for this early Audio Galley! Audiobook Publishing Date scheduled for July 12, 2022

I really enjoyed this collection of short stories. Some I loved more than others but overall was a nice quick read. I really liked the last one titled “Hotel California” for obvious reasons. Very fun. Thanks for the audio copy Netgalley for my honest review.

This was a great collection of short stores and I loved the theme. From the title to the song tracks, a pure joy to read.

A truly thrilling collection of stories. With action, mystery, suspense and thriller by authors well known for keeping you at the edge of your seat, this book didn’t disappoint. The narration also changed for each story and they matched the tone of each really well.

Eight short stories by some great writers that weave together rather well with titles of songs by The Eagles. Though they are well established, there are some authors that were new to me.

The first story is my first experience with Jack Reacher. I’ve neither read nor watched this character before. Never read anything by Child. “New Kid in Town” was a strong entrance into the journey. Jack Reacher reminds me of some other action characters I love. I’m not sure if I will read more of his books, but I think I may. Reacher is antisocial but seems to have a code. And he cannot pass up a chance to help.

Some other highlights:

“Wasted Time” by John Gilstrap. Politicians. Family. Murder. Really a stand out of the group. I need to read more by this one.

“Pretty Maids All in a Row” by Heather Graham. Another author I’ve heard of but never read. What is not to love about a story set in a New Orleans cemetery?

ARC review; expected release 7/12/22

Hotel California is a collection of eight Mystery-ish stories based upon the classic Eagles album of the same name.

As with most anthologies there is a mix of stories that enjoyed and others that left something to be desired. All and all I enjoyed the collection as a whole.

I listened to the audio version and each story is narrated by a different artist, some i was already familiar with and others were new to me, but all gave a solid performance.

The Stand out stories for me were:

Wasted Time by John Gilstrap: This told a story of raising political star, who happened to have a murderer for a brother. When his brother is released from prison early he is forced to reluctantly face his brother and his past while trying to stay out of the public eye.

Pretty Maids All in a Row by Heather Graham: This was a atmospheric murder mystery taking place in New Orleans that is creepy and well written.

Of Note:

There is a new / passing of the mantle Jack Reacher story; I’m not super familiar with the Reacher books but I believe this is the first entry with Andrew Child taking over his brother.

Hotel California’ by Jennifer Graeser Dornbush: This wasn’t my favorite but it’s style is unique as it takes lyrics right from the title song and incorporates them into the story in a way that makes sense if not completely seamless.

Big thanks to Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for providing me with a chance to get in on this book early. I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This is a collection of short stories with titles from Eagles songs but they are gritty and good. Murder and mayhem and even some switching identities but make sure to listen/read to the end. The last story is Hotel California and is riddled with lines from the song and will give you a whole new twist to the song the next time you hear it.

I loved this anthology of mystery short stories by various authors. Many of the stories were crime mysteries, which isn’t my favorite sub-genre. There were two stories that really stuck out for me of which I enjoyed above the others, “Pretty Maids All in a Row” by Heather Graham and “Hotel California” by Jennifer Dornbush. Overall, I loved that the stories each were about an hour long and it was great for my long commutes to work.

Thank you to NetGalley, Blackstone Publishing, and the various contributing authors for allowing me to listen to this gifted audio copy in exchange for my honest review.

This is a collection of 8 short stories inspired by my favorite song of all times, Hotel California.
So, obviously, I had to read it! I enjoyed all of the stories, but the first, New Kid in Town by Andrew Child, and Hotel California by Jennifer Graeser Dornbustle were my favorites. I couldn't help but smile at every direct reference to the lyrics inserted in Jennifer's text, I tought it was so cool and well done! I read this as an audio book, and the narration was great.
I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Each tale has you thinking you know what will happen and then something happens that you didn’t quite expect. It isn’t that it is 100% unexpected, it just wasn’t what you “typically” expect in a story. So word of advice—have NO expectations, because even if you do expect it and guess right, there will be something that happens that you weren’t counting on. My favorite story in it has to be the titular story “Hotel California” I gasped out loud a few times, especially towards the end because while I was expecting it, I wasn’t expecting it quiet like that.

Wow! I really, really enjoyed listening to this audiobook! It hooked me from the first chapter and kept me glued to my seat!

This is a collection of short stories with titles from Eagles songs . I am not an Eagles fan but a love a good short story collection and this did not disappoint. I am sure Jack Reacher fans will enjoy this short story by Andrew Child. I was happy to see Amanda Flower featured in this collection as I only know her from her cozy mystery books so, her story was a pleasant surprise.
The last story is Hotel California by Jennifer Graeser Dornbush. and had a unique way of inserting lyrics from the song into the story.
The narration was fantastic as it featured some of the top audiobook narrators in the industry.

**Received this ARC for review in audio from the publisher via NetGalley**

Imagine the Eagles album ‘Hotel California’, pick a song from that album, now write a short crime story using that songs title and one line of lyrics in the story. That’s what the writers of Hotel California have done. I don’t know if that was their process when they wrote these stories, but I think it’s incredibly imaginative and and such a unique concept!

I listened to the audiobook version and it does not disappoint. Each narrator seems to fit each story and brings each one to life. Each story is different with the the theme of crime, Eagles song title and lyrics of that song title to tie them together. Between dark, creepy, mysterious, surreal, and action packed there is something for every crime fan.

This was a fun listen. All short stories that were thrillers and even some that left you hanging! I really enjoyed all the different authors and narrators.

This collection of short stories was phenomenal. Some were better than others, but they were all really well written. They are longer stories than one would think of as a short story, but still a great length to read in a sitting. My favorite was The Last Resort, although the new Reacher story and the title story were both excellent as well. Highly recommend. I found new authors I will read from now on as well as old favorites.