Book: Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson

Book Info: Published by Brilliance Corporation; downloaded from Overdrive, via the county library

Genre: YA/Contemporary

Find out more: Goodreads~Barnes And Noble~Amazon~Maureen Johnson

Goodreads.com Summary: Her new summer job comes with baggage

 Scarlett Martin has grown up in a most unusual way. Her family owns the Hopewell, a small hotel in the heart of New York City, and Scarlett lives there with her three siblings – Spencer, Lola, and Marlene.

When each of the Martins turns fifteen, they are expected to take over the care of a suite in the once elegant, now shabby Art Deco hotel. For Scarlett’s fifteenth birthday, she gets both a room called the Empire Suite, and a permanent guest called Mrs. Amberson.

Scarlett doesn’t quite know what to make of this C-list starlet, world traveler, and aspiring autobiographer who wants to take over her life. And when she meets Eric, an astonishingly gorgeous actor who has just moved to the city, her summer takes a second unexpected turn.

Before the summer is over, Scarlett will have to survive a whirlwind of thievery, Broadway glamour, romantic missteps, and theatrical deceptions. But in the city where anything can happen, she just might be able to pull it off.

I thought Suite Scarlett was just okay.  High school me probably would have loved it, but unfortunately, 26 year old me did not.  There was something that made me think of The Suite Life of Zach and Cody.

The story itself was kind of interesting- a rundown hotel that’s not doing too well.  We only learn a handful of things about the hotel, none of which stuck with me.  The characters were boring, and while I thought the relationships between Lola, Scarlett and Marlene were interesting, their relationship with their brother Spencer got annoying.

By the end of the book, I was pretty annoyed with both Spencer and with Eric, who is Scarlett’s not-boyfriend.  They both acted like idiots, especially Eric.  Mrs. Amberson was over-the-top, but she probably had the most depth out of everyone.  What is a little sad is that we don’t know a lot about Scarlett, even though she is the main character.

As for the narration itself, it was okay.  The narrator did pretty well with the voices, and while her voice got really annoying by the end of it, her voice is how I would imagine Scarlett’s speaking voice.  Still, I’m glad I listened to it, because otherwise, I might have given up on it.

It gets a 2 out of 5.  It was just okay, and while I’m slightly curious as to how things work out for the Hopewell Hotel and its inhabitants, I won’t be rushing out to read the next book anytime soon.