A Castle in the Clouds Reviewed | Definitely Worth the Read

Published: January 28 2020

Pages: 336

Format: Ebook (ARC copy)

Tags: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Mystery

| Synopsis From the Publisher |

Way up in the Swiss mountains, there’s an old grand hotel steeped in tradition and faded splendor. Once a year, when the famous New Year’s Eve Ball takes place and guests from all over the world arrive, excitement returns to the vast hallways.

Sophie, who works at the hotel as an intern, is busy making sure that everything goes according to plan. But unexpected problems keep arising, and some of the guests are not who they pretend to be. Very soon, Sophie finds herself right in the middle of a perilous adventure–and at risk of losing not only her job, but also her heart.

| Book Review |

>The Good<

The Atmosphere: The story being set in an old hotel was really great! I love this kind of setting because it adds an air of uniqueness and mystery. There are so many quirky rooms and hiding places in the hotel, which lends itself to the mystery plot.

The Characters: This book has a fairly large cast of characters, but I really loved getting to know them all. Sophie, the main character, is so likeable! I could easily imagine being friends with her. She’s spunky, strong, and the perfect person to follow around the hotel. I loved all the hotel staff. Everyone has a distinct personality, which made it easy to remember everyone. I also liked both the two male leads, which is unusual! It made it difficult for me to decide who I wanted Sophie to end up with at the end!

The Love Triangle: Okay, so this is not something I would have expected to love. I don’t particularly enjoy love triangles because they’re just so overdone and I also don’t want to feel divided about who I want to end up as a couple. That being said, the love triangle in this book was really cute! It played out over the course of the book to hilarious results and I think that spark of humor is what made this love triangle bearable. Even though I had trouble deciding which couple I was rooting for, I was happy with how things ended, icing on the cake!

The Mystery: Even though this book has a strong romance element, it’s also a mystery, and I really enjoyed the mystery that Gier created in this book. The old hotel, the semi-magical cat, and the strange cast of hotel guest characters all led to a really fun puzzle to try to solve while reading.

>The Bad<

A Slow Start: This book took a while to ramp up. There was a lot of set up for the hotel, the staff, and the guests. After I while, I got the hang of who was who and was able to get into the story more. There was also a slow build-up to the mystery aspect, but once that plot got going, I was really enjoying myself!

My Rating

Content: 4/5 Stars

Literary Value: 3/5 Stars

Entertainment Factor: 4/5

Cover: 4/5

Total Score: 3.75/5 Stars!

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Definitely Worth the Read

This was a slow build to a fantastic finish. I loved the atmosphere and being in an old hotel with lots of unique rooms and hiding places. The cast of characters is really interesting and I liked getting to know both the staff and the guests. I love the main character, Sophie, who is strong, spunky, and really relatable. She’s the perfect person to follow around the hotel because, being a maid, she goes everywhere and talks to everyone.

I also love the cute love-triangle romance, despite my general dislike of love-triangles! The humor added that likeability that made the triangle enjoyable – plus I really liked both the male leads.

This is definitely a book I’d recommend to teens, especially if they like a little more to their romance books besides angst and tension. In this case, you get a foreign holiday hotel, a mystery, and a potentially magical cat! It’s a very fun read. Though it might take a bit to get into, once the ball gets rolling, it takes off! The finale is definitely worth the slow build.