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Suite Dubai
Against all odds, Rachel, an unemployed college grad, lands a job at a new 5 star hotel in faraway Dubai and finds herself caught between a boss who seems to loathe her and the young, handsome owner of the hotel - Prince Khalid Al Zari. Thousands of miles from home and in a culture she doesn't understand, she tries to convince her coworkers, and herself, that she deserves her new position, that she can throw a grand opening for a King.
Suite Dubai is both an epic love story and a story about finding out who you are and how you make a place for yourself in the world.
Suite Dubai is both an epic love story and a story about finding out who you are and how you make a place for yourself in the world.
- GenresRomance
57 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 23, 2013
1 person is currently reading
20 people want to read
About the author
Callista Fox
2 books4 followersFor years I lived the life of a Nomad, moving to Saudi Arabia with my parents when I was just 8 years-old. There are no upper grade schools in Riyadh so my parents put me on an airplane bound for Nicosia Cyprus and a boarding school called TASIS. Because of terrorist attacks, bomb threats and my own silly mistakes I went to four schools in four years. One in a small village in Austria and one in Salzburg. I love stories about outsiders and tend to write my own about girls who have just moved someplace new, strange and a little scary.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 30, 2015
Original review at That Artsy Girl's Book Blog
This review will be a short one because, well, this book is a pretty short one. I mean, there are only three chapters. I guess it is more like an intro to a story and that the author would publish more chapters later. So, anyway, this book was surprisingly good. I mean, the writing was very vivid and the storyline is pretty intriguing too. The only complaint I had was that I found the main character, Rachel to be a bit whiny. I mean, she is twenty three years old and she doesn’t have a job. She applies to a lot of places, but gets rejected mostly. She finally gets a job at a posh hotel in Dubai (not by herself, I might add, but by the recommendation of a sheik). And she doesn’t seem grateful at all. She whines that she didn’t make a good first impression on her superiors even though it seemed to me that all was not bad. Then she whines about being in a strange country where everything is strange. Of course, it is going to be strange in Dubai because it is a different freaking culture! Then she whines that the owner of the hotel, who is a Prince incidentally, didn’t smile back at her when she smiled at him. I mean, he must have other important, I don’t know, “princely” things to do, right? But, no, Rachel seems pretty self-involved about the whole thing. BUT. The book was well-written and I found myself wanting to read the subsequent chapters. If you can ignore the whininess of the main character (and I found that it was not that hard a task because the whininess only makes it presence rarely), I can definitely say you will enjoy the book. I hope in the next few chapters, we get to see Rachel evolve as a character and maybe I would love to know more about the other characters too – Samantha, the Prince, Hamid, Kritika etc.
This review will be a short one because, well, this book is a pretty short one. I mean, there are only three chapters. I guess it is more like an intro to a story and that the author would publish more chapters later. So, anyway, this book was surprisingly good. I mean, the writing was very vivid and the storyline is pretty intriguing too. The only complaint I had was that I found the main character, Rachel to be a bit whiny. I mean, she is twenty three years old and she doesn’t have a job. She applies to a lot of places, but gets rejected mostly. She finally gets a job at a posh hotel in Dubai (not by herself, I might add, but by the recommendation of a sheik). And she doesn’t seem grateful at all. She whines that she didn’t make a good first impression on her superiors even though it seemed to me that all was not bad. Then she whines about being in a strange country where everything is strange. Of course, it is going to be strange in Dubai because it is a different freaking culture! Then she whines that the owner of the hotel, who is a Prince incidentally, didn’t smile back at her when she smiled at him. I mean, he must have other important, I don’t know, “princely” things to do, right? But, no, Rachel seems pretty self-involved about the whole thing. BUT. The book was well-written and I found myself wanting to read the subsequent chapters. If you can ignore the whininess of the main character (and I found that it was not that hard a task because the whininess only makes it presence rarely), I can definitely say you will enjoy the book. I hope in the next few chapters, we get to see Rachel evolve as a character and maybe I would love to know more about the other characters too – Samantha, the Prince, Hamid, Kritika etc.
June 10, 2013
Normally I don't real serial novels but I love exotic settings so I gave this a try. I'm glad I did. The book is laugh-out-loud funny and I found myself really feeling the main character. Her character is well-developed and her reactions to the hotel, the prince, all believable. The writing is quite good:
"The farm was better than she imagined it. The morning of the race she awoke early and sat in a wicker chair on the porch, wrapped in a quilt, watching the horses graze. She wrote about them in her notebook how they were vague and then vivid in the fog that settled on the pasture. The smell was thick and sweet, and later, days after she got back home, it hung in the air near her duffle bag."
She walked back through reception with the intention of finding them when she noticed, to her left, three men coming through the front entrance. It was the prince, with his two companions, who were both older, both with dark beards and traditional clothing. Even in the bright sunlight he looked young, elegant in his suit. His head was turned to them, speaking to them and she noticed the line of his forehead, the slope of his nose. One of the men nodded and the other, the heavier of the two, laughed. The prince took another step, and then turned his head to see where he was going and caught sight of her. He recognized her. Just as she smiled at him, his gaze shifted away and the three of them walked right past her.
I gave it four stars because I wish I had more of the story. When will the next part come out?
"The farm was better than she imagined it. The morning of the race she awoke early and sat in a wicker chair on the porch, wrapped in a quilt, watching the horses graze. She wrote about them in her notebook how they were vague and then vivid in the fog that settled on the pasture. The smell was thick and sweet, and later, days after she got back home, it hung in the air near her duffle bag."
She walked back through reception with the intention of finding them when she noticed, to her left, three men coming through the front entrance. It was the prince, with his two companions, who were both older, both with dark beards and traditional clothing. Even in the bright sunlight he looked young, elegant in his suit. His head was turned to them, speaking to them and she noticed the line of his forehead, the slope of his nose. One of the men nodded and the other, the heavier of the two, laughed. The prince took another step, and then turned his head to see where he was going and caught sight of her. He recognized her. Just as she smiled at him, his gaze shifted away and the three of them walked right past her.
I gave it four stars because I wish I had more of the story. When will the next part come out?
July 29, 2013
This is my first serial novel and it epitomizes what "new adult" literature is all about: a girl leaving the security of home for the first time ever (not counting college here), finding her own way in the world. I love that she moves overseas, and I think that the author did a great job capturing the mixed emotions and challenges associated with arriving in a new and unfamiliar country.
I happen to know exactly how this feels and I actually think Rachel should be thanking her lucky stars that at least everyone she meets speaks English and she only has herself to worry about! Oh, and she instantly has an amazing suite to live in with world-class meals prepared for her. So yeah, I guess I'm not feeling her pain quite as much as I should...;o)
I am anxious to see how she continues to adapt, the changes that will ultimately take place within her after this eye-opening experience, how the grand opening will go, and of course, what's going to happen between her and the prince. I think Ms. Fox did an excellent job of sucking me in and now I need more...and soon! Fortunately, the second part of the series, Party on Palm Island, is already out and I'm looking forward to reading it when I get the chance.
I happen to know exactly how this feels and I actually think Rachel should be thanking her lucky stars that at least everyone she meets speaks English and she only has herself to worry about! Oh, and she instantly has an amazing suite to live in with world-class meals prepared for her. So yeah, I guess I'm not feeling her pain quite as much as I should...;o)
I am anxious to see how she continues to adapt, the changes that will ultimately take place within her after this eye-opening experience, how the grand opening will go, and of course, what's going to happen between her and the prince. I think Ms. Fox did an excellent job of sucking me in and now I need more...and soon! Fortunately, the second part of the series, Party on Palm Island, is already out and I'm looking forward to reading it when I get the chance.
May 4, 2013
everything was going great until about 80% into the book the editing went completing haywire, as if chunks of the story went missing, it had a great beginning but the editing got completely messed up towards the middle............
UPDATE!(May 4th 2013)... i've received a re-edited version of this book and i'm now realizing it's the first part to a series, so this book is quite short with a cliff hanger at the end, but overall the story was good, & i'm looking forward to part two
UPDATE!(May 4th 2013)... i've received a re-edited version of this book and i'm now realizing it's the first part to a series, so this book is quite short with a cliff hanger at the end, but overall the story was good, & i'm looking forward to part two
May 5, 2013
This book is simply beautiful. The language is measured, evocative, and beautifully realized and the reader is instantly transported into Rachel's world - and all that Dubai and the Prince have to offer. This book will not only appeal to anyone looking for a good love story but also anyone who loves, or hopes, to travel. I read it in one sitting and can't wait for more!
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April 29, 2013Unimpressed with this story. There were words missing, and there was no indication that this book ended or that I was reading the synopsis of the next one! Really no body to this story.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews