Hotel Las Flores

by Kate McCabe

The Hotel las Flores in Tenerife offers sun, sea, sand and an escape from the humdrum of everyday life. But underneath the surface, all is not what it seems. There's Trish who has arrived with a pressing problem, and her oblivious writing-obsessed husband Adrian in tow. Mollie McGinty and her family are celebrating a win with a trip to Tenerife, even though she cannot stand the heat and her husband will not eat the food. Charlie Dobbins has made the trip to try to overcome his shyness with women. Bobby Bannon is escaping a public humiliation, and society hostess Monica Woodworth is determined to crawl her way back up to the top after a fall. What will happen when this quirky cast of characters all find themselves staying in the Hotel las Flores? Will they return home with a new outlook on life or even with someone new? One thing's for sure - nothing in their lives will ever be the same again.

Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit, Romance, Spain

385 pages, Paperback

First published May 23, 2005

Reviews

[Salome]

I hated this book throughout and only kept on reading on the hope that it would suddenly improve. The story is so boring and predictable that most school children would have done a better job at it. It is full of cliches, to the extend that even the London holiday rep in the resort speaks in cockney slang. Who on earth speaks cockney nowadays, especially when working abroad and dealing with people from all areas? It is ridiculous. The author goes into great lengths to describe what people are eating, drinking or wearing but just factually, like in a weekly magazine. When describing the holiday resort, it reads as if she's lifted the descriptions out of the web site of some tour operator. In conclusion, it will end up in the charity shop and to be honest, I feel sorry for the next person who will buy it.
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[Brenda Poulos]

On Holiday

This was one of the quirkiest, wildest story I have ever read. I enjoyed it immensely. I especially liked the characterization of the writer, Adrian.

[Beth Robinson]

This was a nice light read. It reminded me of a romantic comedy, just with the additional layers and ensemble cast that are easier to do in print than in two hours of screen time. I especially liked how what details McCabe focused on in various chapters depended on whose perspective it was written on.

[Fluffychick]

Took a while to get going and I found there were an awful lot of characters flying around and I couldn't rremember their nmes until they became more established, however, a pleasant read - not mind blowing and it was predictable, but easy holiday read.

[Lernturid]

This book is true to its cover. I enjoyed the suspense of the romantic intrigues and the easygoing holiday setting which reminded me of happy holidays.

I would have enjoyed the book more if the author had been more descriptive with the scenery and sights in Tenerife. The Spanish culture seemed to be reduced to strange food. I think this book will appeal more to Irish people as I didn’t understand the references to Irish food, places and celebs.
« He let his eye travel down the page and immediately got a shock. Cabra estilo Canario, Conejo, Pulpo a la Gallega. The whole thing was in Spanish…Pick something at random and hope it didn’t poison him ? »

I felt the characters were relatable and was gripped by the suspense created alternating from one character to another.

I would recommend this book if you are looking for a light, entertaining, feelgood book on love relationships and holidays.

[Marie]

It reminded me of how I feel when I read one of Agatha Christie's books, which is a good thing. Finished the book with a smile on my face and the nostalgic feeling that I went on a holiday at the Canaries with them.

That said, I did think it was predictable and many times unrealistic, especially on the love department, I know some people fall in love fast, but this book had several people falling in love in days and without any depth of conversation, all love of first sight, soulmate kind of relationship. The end was a bit rushed, trying to get everyone where they needed to be without telling us how they arrived at their decisions. Some of the characters were more exciting than others and I constantly found myself wanting to skip chapters and only read their p.o.vs, like Charlie, Trish or Monica, I would like to read more about them.



Overall it is a nice light read if you just want to pass the time without thinking to much.

[Judy]

This story has an ensemble cast that reminds me a bit of TV shows like Love Boat. As a result it takes a while to sort everyone out, but then it was a fun read. It was definitely divided into good guys and bad guys, including some you love to hate. Most of the story is set in a hotel in the Canary Islands, where all the different threads come together. The characters are all Irish and they seem to be written as stereotypical Irish for the most part (or maybe the Irish are like that?) The setting isn't fully explored as you would expect so you don't get as much a sense of the Spanish setting. All in all, a pleasant enough read, but not spectacular.

[Elizabeth Fellows]

Hotel Las Flores

Kate McCabe
The book starts off where there are so many characters introduced you have to keep thinking OK how are they connected. Several Irish folks who initially don’t know one another go off to Tenerife for a vacation in the same hotel. They come from a different walk in life, which adds interest to the story.
Trish and her writer husband are the main characters. The other characters play a large part in the book also. There are several stories within the one book, but the author does meld them together in the end. This book is written with humour and wit.

[Deanna Green]

disjointed

I found this book disjointed although it did come together in a tidy bow at the end, which seemed to wrap up very quickly. However most of the book was jumping from one person to another every chapter. If you don’t mind that you’ll probably really like the book, but for me it got boring keep going over their histories etc. For me there were too many characters, and could have been broken up into a series and been easier to follow. I do like the authors style of writing though

[Susanne]

Another of my 'read on the phone while in waiting rooms', hence the longer reading time. Quite readable, even with the vast cast of characters, although I often found myself confused about who they were and where they fitted in if it had been a while since my last session.
A sweet, feel good story of multiple Irish tourists staying in a 3-star hotel in Tenerife. Feel free to cheer for the 'good guys' and hope the highly irritating fall on their faces - you'll enjoy seeing just desserts meted out.

[Christine Hunter]

A vacation in Tenerife sounds wonderful especially when you do a last-minute booking.

People who know nothing about one another are thrust together, each with their own itinerary, goals, and dreams. But life has a way of interfering. When a door closes, another one opens and all you have to do is recognize it and walk through.

Life will change for these strangers, some for the good and some for the not-so-good. But, boy, what a ride.

[Mallory]

Started and stopped this one more than a dozen times. It just had a hard time holding my attention. I think it was the flip flopping between all the different characters in each subsequent chapter. I kept losing track of who was who and what their issues were in the beginning. Finally it all started coming together and the end actually ended up being okay. But a lot of it just felt like contrived Hollywood happy endings wrapped up in a big shiny bow. Overall not worth the effort to read.

[Avalon]

Hotel fun

The characters with their individual stories all meet up at the Hotel Las Flores and new friendships are formed. A lonely wife whose writer husband has no time for her, a family of four the wife organised as father and son not talking and son wanting to go to NZ to live, a young couple ... Light fun read

[Dianne Selwood]

I felt like I was staying in this lovely hotel on Tenerife, and wished I could meet all these people there, the only reason I didn’t give 5 stars was because it was a little predictable. But thoroughly enjoyed this perfect holiday read

[Kris Kuebel]

Relax and enjoy

This was an interesting cast of characters that all have a back story with some drama. Each of them go through a transformation during their stay at Hotel Las Flores and come away with a large group of new friends and life adventures.

[David Tietz]

In the end everything turns out as it should

An amusing read with a cast of very quirky characters with a mix of life changing problems. All characters are on holiday on an Island of of Spain and meet each other and their lives are changed forever.

[Hanau]

Beach read

This book is about sudden life changes and empowering one another. And that you can make new friends for life when you’re living through a crisis. Easy read with depth to it.

[Katja]

It's a light read with a lovely feel good story line, but i took me two tries to read it top to finish.

[Leona]

A very easy but enjoyable read.

[Lillian Cooke]

Good read

It had a lot if twists and turns which kept it interesting. For folks from Ireland the location was excellent

[pat goode]

Good story

I really Enjoyed this book.love the description s ofFensive ,love it there,liked testifying ,the characters were lovely and the friendships gres

[Tracy Clarkson]

After reading quite a few of Kate's books this was not my favourite.

[Jackie Simons]

Read 9/22

[Barbara Biddle]

Fascinating way how this works out

A wonderful story of small town life full of plenty of surprises as various characters are developed. Was hard to put down.

[Marcia]

good book

This book was a really fast read for me. I truly enjoyed the characters in the book I hope there’s more to the story. Would recommend.

[Linda Ahlen]

Entertaining

It was entertaining and a cute story. I wanted to find out what happens to all the characters. Good read!

[Kathi Bryan]

fun story

Fun, believable characters and I really enjoyed how the author tied the lives of all of them together. Interesting location, too.

[Barbara Birchall]

A fun little holiday read. A feel good book. The nice people end up better than the nasty ones

[Jillean Ansley]

Didnt finish this book. Too many problematic characters, i kept getting lost as to who was who and the story became boring. I guess it sorted itself out in the end but by 25% I had had enough.

[Fiona]

I really enjoyed this and have put it on the ML if anyone is interested. I loved the way the first few chapters were dedicated to telling each character's story and set the rest of the book up nicely to weave their interatcions together with a very satisfactory outcome!