Suite Scarlett (Scarlett, #1)

by Maureen Johnson

From top-selling author Maureen Johnson comes a fresh, funny novel about a girl, her hotel, and an unforgettable summer.

Scarlett is the third of four children in the Martin family. The Martins live in and manage a shabby hotel in NYC that dates back to the 1920s. When Scarlett turns 15, she is put in charge of one of the hotel's 27 rooms—the Empire Suite. Into this room moves Mrs. Amberson, a failed 1970s starlet who has returned to New York to write her memoirs. Soon, Scarlett is taking dictation, running around town with Mrs. Amberson, and getting caught up in her Auntie Mame-meets-Bianca Jagger adventures.

• ISBN13: 9780439899277
• Publish Date: 1 May 2008
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Out of Print: 10 May 2015
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Scholastic US
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 368
• Language: English

Reviews

[readingwithwrin]

“Well, what now? You have no job. I have no job. Wanna play Jenga?”

When Suite Scarlett starts we find out that the family is having more money trouble then the children realized which means that Scarlett and her siblings will have to help out more. What this also means is that now that Scarlett is old enough she will now get a guest to take care of. What she doesn't expect is to get so involved in her guests life and end up becoming said guests personal assistant. As a personal assistant to the guest she first starts off by becoming the guest memoir writer, and errand runner. Some what thankfully though the guest ends up getting caught up in Spencer's (brother) theater/acting life and ends up taking over that and helping her brother be able to have a small acting career. I'm not going to say anything else about this because this is what the main part of the story ends up being about. (Which I think is why I ended up losing interest.)

With this though we also have the side mini stories of Lola (sister) and her boyfriend having troubles and Spencer and Scarlett hating the boyfriend caused problems as well. Then, we also have Marlene who is the baby sister who is also a cancer survivor and doesn't really like anyone besides her parents, Lola and Lola's boyfriend. Lola is a character that I liked and didn't like a lot due to the fact of how she just made Scarlett's life living hell whenever Scarlett got talked into taking her anywhere. Last, but certainly not drama free we also have Eric who is in Spencer's friend/acting partner. Eric is a character I really wanted to like, but I just never fully trusted him. While I ended up having good reasons for not trusting him it also made me sad for Scarlett because of the way he treated her. I am glad she ended up slightly standing up for herself in the end I just wish she had stuck more to it.

I really tried not to compare this story to Maureen's other series (Shades of London) which I know we shouldn't do, but we all know it still happens. Sadly this one just didn't hold my attention as much or make me want to know what was going to happen next. I did enjoy the story and I found it interesting at times, but a lot of the time I was just not interested. I might read the second book in the series, but as of right now I'm not sure if I will or not.



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