This story is if the present and the past. .. Firstly this type of book is not my favourite as I often have problems keeping up with 2 stories.. this was true if this book. ...bit it could be my preferences.
The characters are full bodied and I loved the ghost dog..
I enjoyed the book and it was a pleasure to read. .. I found the ending a bit rushed but this was not to the detriment of the book.

Tilly was a carefree child growing up with her mother in Queenie's hotel in Brighton but then her mother snatched her away from it all and sent her away to boarding school. The grown up Tilly becomes Tilda and instead of being happy and carefree is reserved and unhappy. At the start of the book her mother has just died and although they were not close Tilda goes to clear her stuff out and finds a diary....... will she finally get the answers to what happened in her childhood.

A lovely book that draws you in from the start, as with all the other books by this author, I loved the characters especially Queenie and there were twists along the way to keep you interested

Fab book! I loved the way it went back and fore between the present and the past, the present making more sense of the past as it went on, making me see it in a completely different light.

Books are often described as ‘heart warming’, and this one definitely was. I was glued to it, looking forward to finding out all the secrets of Tilly/Tilda’s life. Quirky enough for interest, descriptive enough for...well, for joy. Thank you, Ms Hogan!

I read this book in one sitting because I was so engrossed in the story.
It starts with Tilly going to Brighton to clear out her mother's flat after her death. She is forced to look back on their relationship and to see things differently after reading her mother's diaries. The story goes back and forth between Tilly's childhood and the present day. The voice of Tilly as confused child is funny and poignant at the same time. Brighton is almost a character in itself with a strong sense of place.
This book made me think about the way that relationships between children and their parents are often different from the way children remember them. In examining why her mother had seemed distant Tilly discovers how much her mother had protected her, and grows in confidence as an adult. Queenie Malone is a larger than life character who rescued Tilly and her mother when Tilly is about 7, but her influence endures.
The story is almost magical in parts, but it is also true to the way that newly orphaned adults go through the stages of grief. I cried more than I'd like to admit while I was reading this, but it was cathartic. I would recommend this book. I must thank the publisher for supplying me with a copy of this book in return for an honest review. #netgalley #QueenieMalone'sParadiseHotel

This is a thoroughly engaging and enjoyable story, that pulls you in to the point that you THINK you know where it is going, but it goes somewhere quite different. The author has found an intriguing way of blending a range of genres and storytelling techniques that make this feel fresh, without feeling hackneyed. The characters are interesting and relatable in their quirks.

The book focuses on two characters, Tilly and Tilda - both telling their story of relationships with and the subsequent loss of a parent, with a slightly supernatural twist added in. Tilly, a young child, tells her side of the relationship with her imperfect mother, with the impact of this reflected on by the adult Tilda dealing with the aftermath of her Mother's death. The discovery of her Mother's diaries amongst her belongings allows Tilda to hear her side of decisions made, all while Tilda allows herself to, possibly, fall in love.

The initial lightheartedness of Tilly's story draws you in, allowing you to fully feel the impact of those events in the adult, Tilda. It was a very clever way of juxtaposing the two and giving the reader the chance to observe the ripples of decisions made, through both regret and happiness.

Originally on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2672234396

Thank You To Netgalley & Publishers For Granting My Request To Review This Book.

I Had Already Read “The Keeper Of Lost Things” By Ruth Hogan And Thought She Was An Amazing Author And “Queenie Malone” Cemented It.

This Book Was Divided Into Two Sections, “Tilly” & “Tilda”. Both Are The Same Character But At Different Times In Life - Tilda Being The Character As An Adult.

What Struck Me Most About This Book Was The Array Of Characters: Churchgoers, A Mental Health Sufferer And A Drag Queen To Name A Few.

At Times This Book Had Me In Tears And In All The Feels. It Was A Personal Emotional Rollercoaster. It Was Enriching To See The Characters Grow And The Little Twists Were Revealed In All The Right Places.

My Favourite Character Had To Be Queenie - A Smaller Character In The Book But The One I Felt Had The Biggest Persnality/Presence. What A Caring & Resilient Person

A great storyline, highlighting complex family relationships, particularly those between mother and daughter. Ruth, somehow,manages to see the world through a seven year old’s eyes. I just loved the misunderstandings and I chuckled so often at the way she saw, and understood life, particularly her forays to church with her neighbour! Ruth’s descriptive writing means that I will never see some things in the same light! The development of obsessive compulsive behaviour beginning on the disappearance of her father, and dealing with a life that contained a drunk or drugged mother is so well portrayed. So many complex twists to this story kept my mind engaged and interested in ‘what happens next?’
Such an interesting storyline, and in depth understanding of a child’s point, of view make this a must read.
I can’t wait for Ruth’s next book.

This is a fabulous book, beautifully written and completely absorbing from beginning to end. It tells the story of a little girl called Tilly, and her difficult relationship with her mother, Some of the story is set in the present when Tilly is dealing with her mother's effects after she has died and some of the story is set during her childhood. The parts that were written through Tilly's eyes as a child were especially moving and I was completely engrossed In fact, this is one of those books that kept me awake until the early hours as I just couldn't put it down until I had finished. I loved it so much that I immediately bought the previous two books by this author.

I have previously read Ruth Hogan’s The Wisdom Of Sally Red Shoes and enjoyed it, especially Ruth’s storytelling, so was excited to read this.

Again, the writing is one of the highlights of the book. The narration splits between that of a 6 year old child and that of an adult and I loved the contrast between child and adult perspectives. The story itself is very straightforward with no mystery or surprises. Instead the focus is on the great array of characters and exploring family relationships. It also deals with mental health issues really well.

My only issue is the narration changed between first and third which stopped the story from flowing quite as well as it could have.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book.

I loved the last two books from Ruth Hogan so was looking forward to reading this book.

I normally read a book in a couple of days but this was a toil and the first 40% took age to get into. The books tells of Tilda and her younger self Tilly. Whilst they are the same person the child who is free spirited and funny is replace by Tilda who is more uptight uncomfortable in her own skin. Her childhood is shaped by her experiences and the relationship between mother and daughter is a difficult one.

Tilda returns to Brighton to clear her mother’s possessions after she passes away and what she fines is her mothers diaries.

Sadly this book wasn’t for me, but the story was interesting and took you on a journey, just not my cup of tea.

Thanks you to the author, netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was laughing out loud early on when Tilly was enjoying her bus ride. It is an art to view the world through the eyes of a 7 year old and thought provoking. It was a clever idea to use Tilly as the 7 year old and Tilda as the adult although it took me a long time to realise Eli was a ghost - I thought they had named successive dogs by the same name. Some amusing anecdotes from Tilly leading to obsessive behaviour as Tilda. Well thought out story.

Meet 7yr old Tilly.  A wonderfully curious child besotted with her Dad.  She loves nothing more than spending time with him, playing games and learning about all the wonderful things he has to tell her, (some much to her mother's dislike) . Suddenly Tilly's dad has to go away, and she misses him terribly.

Meet Grace, Tilly's mother, a women already suffering with mental heath issues she feels more and more left out by the closeness of her daughter's and husband's bond.  When her husband leaves she doesn't quiet know how to cope.  Struggling to connect with her child she sinks more and more into depression turning to drink and pills to alleviate the pain.

Grace turns to an old friend, Queenie, who runs a hotel in Brighton, here she finds an offer of work and safety and moves Tilly and herself in.

The novel is split between the story of Tilly as a child and present day Tilly now called Tilda as a 46 year old adult arriving at her mother's flat to clear out her belongings after Grace's death.  She finds her mother's old diaries where Tilda and the reader discover together the answers to so many questions Tilda has held onto in regards to her childhood. In particular why she was sent away so suddenly to boarding school.

I loved the dual narrative.  The socially awkward Tilda. A loner who turns to 'her dog' for company, and the wonderfully comical young Tilly. The parts of the book where she misinterprets some things that people tell her had me laughing out loud.

'Tilly and Karen were just in the middle of a game of hairdressers, when her mother came into the garden to fetch Tilly and take her home.  Her mother looked tired and her eyes were red, but Tilly was reluctant to leave their game just when she was hearing about Karen's 'lazy, good-for-nothing husband making a pass at the bottle-blonde trollop of a barmaid down the pub while her hair was being given a pretend shampoo and set.  She had no idea why Karen's pretend husband was playing football with a barmaid, and why it made her a trollop.'

I loved the part in the book where they are living at Queenie's hotel with all of the wonderful characters.  Like the beautiful little stories we are told in The Keeper of Lost things that help explain the objects that are found and kept, the story of Queenie's hotel is just as enjoyable and I could quiet easily read another book just on this.

I found it a wonderful read not only because it shows us how our experiences as children can change the adults we become, but also from a parents perspective, of how our decisions can make such profound differences to our growing children's lives.  How a parent can think they are doing something for the best but proves to be the wrong move. How whatever they do and however wrong they may get it it is done for love.

A moving read that I would highly recommend.

I received a copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

As a little girl, Tilly's mother moved them to Brighton to live at Queenie Malone's Paradise hotel, where she was the happiest she'd ever been, until her mother sent her away to boarding school with no explanation whatsoever. Split between her childhood and adult life, the two storylines of the book both lead up to an explanation of this sudden event. Lots of mysteries run through the book. How did her father die, why did they leave so suddenly, why did her mother send her away?
Young Tilly is delightful. She's so funny and lively. She mis-hears so much with hilarious results, like wanting to be a virgin because she thinks its a greengrocer. Or the way she sings 'Hark the Herald', apparently something to do with David's tea... She's also convinced that stamp collecting makes you a pervert. The way Tilly loves things without prejudice makes me want to see the world that way too. As an adult, Tilda seems to have lost all that innocence. She has spent her life thinking that her mother didn't really love her and that her father died when she was little. I really felt myself hoping she would somehow find her young self again.
This was my favourite of Ruth Hogan's books so far. Lots of humour from Tilly, plenty of emotions and wonderful feelings. There are so many charming characters such as Queenie herself, her mother and Geronimo. The occasional secondary points of view are a bit unusual but they work to help to explain what's happening, particularly when you're first seeing things from Tilly's slightly distorted view.

This book opens with the most striking paragraph “My mother killed my father when I was seven years old.”

The reader is immediately drawn into Tilda’s story, as she goes to Brighton following her mother’s death. She has had a difficult relationship with her mother, and is trying to understand her past.
Tilda has various rituals that keep her grounded, and she also sees dead people.

Alongside this story is that of seven-year old Tilly (the young Tilda), who is trying to make sense of her world, when her father disappears from it.

The two stories draw you in. The young Tilly is charming, and I love the misunderstandings brought about by her youth, especially the fact that dead people go to Bermondsey before they can go to heaven.
Overall however, the book was far too sweet and saccharine for me, and the ending concerning the father and why Tilly had to go to boarding school unsatisfactory and rushed.

I’m sure people will love this, but it needed some bite to balance all the sweetness.

Thanks to Netgalley and John Murray Press for the opportunity to read this book.

This book tells the story of Tilda as she goes to sort things out at her recently-deceased mother's flat. As she returns to the place where she enjoyed happy times in her childhood, which were cut short abruptly when she was sent to boarding school, the past is stirred, and when she discovers her mother's old diaries, she is able to discover her mother's perspective and, at last, understand the truth of the events that drove a wedge between her and her mother all those years earlier.
The book is partly told from Tilda's perspective as an adult, and partly from her perspective as a child, when she was known as Tilly. A few extracts from her mother's diary are also included.
I found it an enjoyable and poignant story with lots of humorous touches and a memorable cast of characters. It is well-written and engaging to read, and explores the complexity of family relationships well.

I know the old adage is never judge a book by its cover but I totally did with this one. Having never read any Ruth Hogan before I wasn’t sure what to expect but I really enjoyed it. Tilly is trying to sort out her memories of her mother with her mother’s diaries and where she thought she was a cold, troubled woman her diaries reveal something completely different. With a great cast of characters dead and alive and
Brighton sings through every page a heartwarming and often amusing read.

A spell binding tale incorporating the supernatural and real life. It is the story of familial relationships and in particular those of Tilly (Tilda) and her mother Gracie. The story emerges through Tilly as a child relaying what happened through her eyes ;this being full of humour and pathos but also as Tilda the adult returning to Brighton after her mother’s death and piecing together through diary entries what had made her mother act as she did by removing Tilly from their home, moving to Queenie Malones Hotel in Brighton then subsequently packing Tilly op to her hated boarding school.
Ruth zhogan blends supernatural happenings (Tilly can see ghosts and in particular her dog Eli), obsessive behaviour patterns and mental health issues into an enchanting story that I found difficult to put down. There are a plethora of enchanting characters to help unravel the difficult relationship between mother and daughter.

Absolutely thrilled with this book. It certainly is what I would call a 'snuggle up and read' book. Beautifully written, it is so descriptive x

4.5*

This is the story of Tilly and her fraught relationship with her mother. We come to know Tilly at two pivotal points in her life. Firstly, we meet her when she is only six and her beloved father has moved away from home to work. Her mother clearly has some kind of health issue and young Tilly is often left to fend for and amuse herself. We also meet Tilly as an adult, now known at Tilda, when she goes to clear her mother's flat following her death. Having been sent away from her beloved Queenie's Paradise Hotel to a boarding school she hated, her relationship with her mother has always been distant. The discovery of her mother's diaries though, may help Tilda unlock the secrets of the past.

Ruth Hogan writes about relationships so brilliantly. In this book she really dissects the relationship between mother and daughter. Tilly's mother was not a character it was easy to warm to and it is not until well into the novel that you realise why she behaved as she did. I loved the young Tilly and all her misheard and misunderstood phrases. Ruth Hogan captured the child's voice and thoughts so well, such as when she misheard phrases from hymns and prayers. The way the author linked the past and the present was so clever. For example, Tilda finds the key she needs to open a locked box and then young Tilly is using a different key to unlock her father's shed. Small details like this made the story move smoothly between the time periods.

There is a varied cast of supporting characters who add so much to the story: Queenie, Joseph Geronimo, Daniel, Miss Dane, Aubrey and Austen. The latter two make only a brief appearance but I immediately liked them. All the characters help and encourage Tilda to face up to her past and, most importantly, to look to her future. There is a supernatural element to the story too, something which Tilly had in common with her father. She is not haunted by the ghosts of the past though. Instead she finds them a comfort.

Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel is a beautifully written book and a moving exploration of relationships, not just between mother and daughter but also between friends. It is full of charming characters and the town of Brighton seems a vibrant character in itself. Once again, Ruth Hogan has crafted a poignant and compelling novel.

I wanted to read this book as I had read The Keeper of Lost Things by the same author. It took me a while to get into the book - although I liked the characters, I felt it was a bit confusing for the first third of the story. It grew on me and by the time I was half way through i was hooked, though I wouldn’t be surprised if some people didn’t persevere which would be a shame. Tilly was a treat though at times it seemed hard to believe she and Tilda were the same person.
All in all I enjoyed the book but the first half would have benefited from being a bit shorter.