Summer Nights at the Moonlight Hotel

by Jane Costello

[Leah]

Jane Costello has been one of my favourite authors, ever since I read The-Nearly Weds. She's now written nine books (next year will be her tenth, which is insane to think of) and I've read and loved most of them, and the few I've still got to read, I'm sure will be amazing. Her latest is this one, Summer Nights at the Moonlight Hotel, and it's a wonderful read. One thing you can always rely on from a Jane Costello novel, is the romance, the laughs, and the quick, quick pace that keeps you flipping the pages. OK, that was more like three things, not one thing, but they're always a guarantee in Jane's books and that's what make her such a great writer.

I love lasses in books you feel like you can be friends with. Jane writes her female characters so well, you really do want to be friends with them, and Lauren is no exception, nor are her friends Emily and Cate. But I will say that, throughout the novel, their friendship is more that pushed to the limit by one thing or another, and the crises the girls go through could fill a whole series of books, and they mostly made me feel sad, especially what happens to poor Cate. I wouldn't even wish that on my worst enemy, if I had one, it's THAT awful. But Lauren was amazing, I love that she was a school teacher, and a school teacher who genuinely loved the kids she taught, it was amazing. And I loved the salsa classes, I have no rhythm, and two left feet, but I love to hear about dancing and the salsa classes sounded like so much fun!

There weren't many negatives in the novel. I do admit to being a tad annoyed at Lauren. She harps on, and on, and on, and on, and on some more about Edwin, and it was the least satisfying thing, ever. I mean he's called EDWIN for the love of Paul Hollywood. It would be sacrilege for a book to end with the lass going with a lad called Edwin. That is just not a hot name. Joe, on the other hand... I liked Joe. Joe is a good name. I loved Joe, let's be honest. Sigh. A man who can salsa dance - lovely.

I really enjoyed Summer at the Moonlight Hotel. It was a quick, fast-paced read, with typical Jane Costello humour and pop culture marks aplenty. Kudos to getting the Duncan from Blue line in, I love blasts from the past like that, although I preferred Lee, to be honest. Jane is such a good writer, reading her books are always such a pleasure and I wish she'd write quicker, because I'm already anxious for book ten. And one last thing, the setting was amazing. It's set in the Lakes, which sounds like an utterly amazing place to live!