"Thriller" is a genre that promises to keep readers on the edge of their seats, and this definitely delivers. From the very first page, the tension is palpable, and the plot twists and turns in unexpected ways, making it difficult to put the book down. The characters are well-developed and the author does an excellent job of keeping the reader guessing as to who can be trusted and who is hiding something. The pacing is spot-on, with just the right amount of action and suspense to keep the reader engaged. The writing style is gripping and evocative, making it easy to visualise the scenes and feel the emotions of the characters. The author's attention to detail and ability to create a believable world adds to the overall experience of the book. Overall, this is an excellent example of the thriller genre. It's a page-turner that will keep readers guessing until the very end and is sure to satisfy fans of the genre. Highly recommended for anyone who loves a good suspenseful read.

The E-Book could be improved and more user-friendly, such as links to the chapters, no significant gaps between words and a cover for the book would be better. It is very document-like instead of a book. A star has been deducted because of this.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

3.5/5.

Ten years ago four students visit an abandoned hotel but one of them disappears and has never been seen since.
Now three of them are revisiting the hotel for a media story to see if they can find out what happens to their friend.
This story is creepy and will keep you guessing.
Thank you to NetGalley and HQ for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

The synopsis of The Hotel, by Louise Mumford was giving me Gothic mystery vibes. I was in the mood for something dark and brooding, so I dived straight in.

Ten years ago, four 18 year olds decide it would be a good idea to take themselves off to a deserted Gothic mansion after dark. Situated on a steep cliff, allegedly haunted by those who died there over 100 years ago. As you can imagine, it wasn’t a great plan. The lives of those four teenagers will never be the same again.

Bex, Leo, Richard and Oscar, names that will never be forgotten by The Ravens. The cult like fans of this tragic recording, and subsequent short film, shot by two cameras at the time.
Leo disappears, falling over the edge of a cliff. Ten years on, the footage they took has taken on a dark infamy. There is a huge fan base, with a Comic-Con style annual gathering. As the anniversary approaches, the three remaining are tempted back to Ravencliffe, by a production company, planning a TV special.
The writing paints the eerie, atmospheric Ravencliffe Hotel into the reader’s mind. The three deaths that have occurred, have almost become modern folklore. Each one adding to the bad luck myth that the building and grounds have garnered.

I wanted to love this book, but sadly it fell short for me. The promise that I felt from reading the synopsis didn’t materialise. I felt the pacing, certainly in the first half, was slow. I desperately wanted to get stuck in to the story, but the words slowed me down. I appreciate that the author was scene setting, and building tension; but I felt there was more than was necessary. The ending, the culmination of all the build up, also felt flat, disappointing somehow.

I know there will be many readers who will love the eerie, slow burn, scene-setting writing style, but it wasn’t for me. 3⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ten years ago, four students set out to make a film about a mysterious hotel on a deserted island off the coast of Wales. It ends in tragedy though when one of them disappears. The film becomes a cult, rather like the Blair Witch Project and the three surviving students cope in different ways with one becoming almost reclusive and another milking his fame for all its worth. What will happen when they meet up for a filmed tenth anniversary reunion.

What I liked: The atmosphere is great. Creepy, dark, threatening. I liked the character of Bex and I enjoyed how the story came together in the end.

What I didn't like: At times, I felt that the story became a little repetitive.

Overall an enjoyable read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Wow what a cracker of a book. No way could I put this down.

Secrets within secrets, this book has it all. Do you believe in ghosts? This might be the time for a rethink.

This would make a brilliant film, come on all you producers get this one signed up.

I had high hopes because the premise sounded great but it was too predictable, repetitive, and convenient. I finished it, but grudgingly.

I was so excited to get my hands on an ARC for this title but sadly the excitement stopped there.
The story is so slow paced and didn’t seem to grow.
It had the potential to be a spine tingling novel which kept you reading with intense intrigue but unfortunately the only thing that intrigued me was why it was lacking in structure and story.
With many thanks to NetGalley and
HQ for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

The Hotel by Louise Mumford was a great thriller/mystery. What really happened ten years ago at the abandoned motel? Part Blair Witch Project, part Agatha Christie, can Bex figure out what happened to her best friend before it is too late?

I read this in one sitting. One. Sitting. I started it and was immediately hooked and needed to know more. Brilliant and such a page turner!

Four of them went to the hotel
Only three of them came back.

How can that not make you want to read this book. And that is what caught my attention. But I must say that unfortunately the hype for me just wasn't there and I found this a slow read with not enough momentum to get me overly excited. The characters were good and the setting really did set the scene with much description (maybe too much sometimes) to get you into the moment.

All in all an okay read but I can say it is not a favourite but there was enough scares, thrills and suspense to keep me reading.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and HQ for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thank you for allowing me to review this book. I found that although I enjoyed it in the finish I took a long time to get into it. Four students visited Ravencliffe Hotel to explore and discover if the ghost stories etc they'd heard were true. Only three of them returned, with the lost Leo a mystery! He was presumed dead. Ten years later, they were invited back by a film company who wanted to investigate further. With mixed feeling, they agree. Bex the most reluctant and a childhood friend of Leo the missing student does so only because of a lighter she received in the post.
The story is written in the 2 timelines, which can be a little confusing but not unduly. The main characters are interesting, particularly Bex. The description of the hotel setting is quite vivid and therefore easy to imagine it's hidden mysteries. If you enjoy this sort of suspense story then this could be for you.

This book is told in two back and forth timelines. One timeline starts 10 years ago when four friends decide to explore Hotel Ravencliffe, filming their adventures for a student project. Only three return after Leo disappeared never to be found. Little did they know that their amateur film would become a cult following. The second timeline begins in the present. Bex, Oscar, and Richard are approached by a local filming agency to revisit Hotel Ravencliffe and relive their story. Bex jumps at the change never believing that Leo had disappeared and believes Leo maybe alive hiding from the public. Once at Ravencliffe, accidents and unexplained events seem to be telling them the ghosts that roam the Hotel doesn’t want them there.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me an advance read. I enjoyed this book, however I found I was nearly half way through before it grabbed my attention. There was far too much lead up, some of which wasn't relevant. An excellent idea but it fell a little flat and all the build up didn't quite lead to the explosive ending I was expecting. Still worth a read though for an interesting idea.

I received an advanced copy of this book from HQ via NetGalley.

Four students travel to Ravencliffe, an eerie abandoned hotel perched on steep cliffs on the Welsh coast. After a series of unexplained accidents, only three of them leave. The fourth, Leo, disappears and is never seen again. A decade on, the friends have lost contact. Oscar is fame-hungry, making public appearances and selling his story. Richard sank into alcoholism and is only just recovering. Bex wants to forget – until one last opportunity to return offers the chance to discover what really happened to Leo. But as soon as they get to the hotel things start going wrong again. Objects mysteriously disappear and reappear. Accidents happen. And Bex realizes that her former friends know far more than they are letting on about the true events at Ravencliffe that night.

This was by far the slowest book I have read this year. It was not an 'I can't put you down' type of book and I found myself struggling to be interested in the story. The upside of the book was Bex, even though she had a shotty personality that did not make it very far off the page. I had guessed the ending pretty much since the beginning of the book.

Most of the action in the book takes place in the deserted Ravencliffe Hotel and grounds on the coast of Wales. Built on the edge of the cliff in Cardigan Bay in the late 1800s, it was to be a new spa resort for visitors to come on the planned extension of the railway line to Cardigan. Just as the hotel was to be finished in 1880, the extension was stalled and the hotel owner was left in serious debt as a result. He died tragically soon after and the hotel fell into disrepair before ever taking in guests.

In modern day a group of four teenagers, Bex, Leo, Richard and Oscar, having just done their A Levels including Media Studies, set out for an adventure to make a film in the creepy, uninhabited hotel. The adventure proves to be more extreme than planned and only three return with Leo not having being seen since, dead or alive. The edited film becomes a cult film and RavenCon, an annual convention in London, becomes a fan favourite where fans meet to discuss the events leading up to Leo’s disappearance. In current day, RavenCon 10, on the 10th anniversary of the making of the film, is set to be a big event with promises of a special guest.

Having got me gripped with the premise this book was looking really promising with the setting of a creepy gothic hotel and Leo’s disappearance to be solved. However, I found myself frequently confused as there was a lot of description about the hotel layout, grounds, cliff face paths and steps, tunnels and caves which I wasn’t always clear about. This left me puzzled at times as to what was happening and what the significance of certain things were to the overall plot. I found the pacing slow at first and then choppy in the second half as I struggled to visualise what was going on with the various pieces of action in the hotel and grounds.

With thanks to NetGalley and HQ Digital for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Fantastic story that keeps you on tenterhooks throughout.

Edge of the seat doesn't even begin to describe it....

The Hotel was everything I wanted it to be! Bet this one is going to be insanely popular come this summer!

The Hotel follows of group of four teenagers and amateur film-makers as they venture to Ravencliffe, a creepy abandoned hotel complex. Of the four of them that go, only three come back and the footage they took becomes a hit film with a cult following. 10 years on and the survivors are convinced to go back to Ravencliffe to film a '10 year special' where they are hoping to find out what really happened to their missing friend.

I really loved this book! It was wonderfully creepy and it drew me in right from the first chapter. Ravencliffe was a brilliant setting for the story and I could picture it so clearly, with the crashing waves around it, the maze full of secrets and the eerie statues.

The Hotel was set over two timelines - one in the present day and one 10 years previous. This allowed us to gradually learn what happened all those years ago and worked so well in this book.

I can totally see this being made into a film/series and think it would work really well on the screen.

My thanks to NetGalley and the Publishers for sending me this ARC in return for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest and fair review.

Four teenagers visit 'The Hotel' and only three return. To start with I found it to be a bit of a slow starter, however from about 60% onwards, it became fast-paced with multiple plot twists and kept me intrigued. The plot twists weren't always obvious and that continued to keep me hooked as I kept imagining different outcomes.

Initially I really had to persevere with this book, but I'm glad I did as when it picked up it really kept me guessing. The vivid descriptions aided my ability to build up an image of the Ravencliffe Hotel and the surrounding grounds. I'd recommend to others and would encourage others to allow the slow start, as the rest is a promising read. 3.5/5 stars.

Four students went to an abandoned hotel to make a film. Only three of them came out. Ten years on, there is a plan for a reunion and the chance to find out what really happened. However, when the three return to the hotel, things start to go really wrong, and it becomes clear that someone knows more about what happened than they are letting on. An exciting and original read.