The Suite Spot by Trish Doller Narrated by Sarah Naughton

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I received a digital copy of this audiobook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book opens on a trigger warning which I appreciate as sometimes there are some topics one just can’t deal with on a particular day or ever depending on your situation. 

Here are my trigger warnings. Single mom/unplanned kiddo/minimally involved dad. Parent abandonment. 1st generation Americans. Minor racism - more reflecting on experience of a character not racism on the page. Divorce. Child death. (In the past) Custody battle. Sexual harassment/assault (no rape).

Own voices representation - Our heroine is indicated to be plus sized. Her mother is a German immigrant. Our hero is half Japanese - his mom is a Japanese immigrant. He has a sibling with an African American spouse. 

Steamy though there is some fade to black. Its like the first minute is on the page so there is some beyond pg-13 info but not a lot. So not very steamy but there is some steam. 

Some pieces of this felt too easy, the mental/emotional work that needed to be done may well have happened during some of the fade to black moments but not a lot of it was on the page so there were a few things that felt like they may have not been “earned”. I think this could have been remedied by employing alternate narration between the leads.

My other problem with this is that (and let me preface this by saying I’m a mom with anxiety and I have 2 small children) This mom leaves her 3 almost 4 year old asleep in an unfamiliar house on a couch with an unfamiliar cat (I have a cat, love cats but an unknown cat here) and goes outside for a length of time with no baby monitor, no other adults around, no mention of - the windows open so I’ll hear her etc. My anxiety would never let me do this. I’ve got a video monitor on my kiddos while they sleep at all times. Maybe that’s just me but it felt very jarring every time she did something like this. 

Anyway. I love a makeover project. There is a considerable amount of shopping and property make over which I always enjoy. This is a new girl in a small town making a home for herself, joining the community and gaining a found family which is generally fun as well. There were many amusing moments. There is beer brewing. There is a lot of fun and atmosphere in this book. There are kids if you’re not a fan of kids in romance books this is not for you. An enjoyable listen. The narrator was excellent.

4/5