This is a heartwarming story about a group of friends and their families…with a sprinkle of romance and an adopted Border Terrier for good measure!

Mo, Michael, Martin, Malcolm and Craig all come from very different backgrounds, but find themselves living and working closely together, at The Buckley Hotel in central London.

The Buckley Hotel has been closed for a luxury refurbishment and these five young people – along with ‘The Boss’ John and his devoted PA Avril – have just four months to recruit and train all of the staff and get everything ready for the grand reopening of the hotel.

Along the way…they all become close friends, we meet their families and there’s plenty of tears, laughter and romance.

Hamish the Border Terrier joins them to live at The Buckley…he steals their hearts and makes their ‘family’ complete.

We learn that Mo and Michael knew each other briefly over 10 years earlier and it soon becomes clear to their new friends that they still have chemistry. The question is…will they ever do anything about it, or will they need a helping hand?

My Review

I really enjoyed reading The Buckley Hotel, but ultimately I am used to books with more drama. Traditionally a story requires a ‘dramatic arc’ which ‘refers to three main sections: exposition, climax, and dénouement, which are connected by rising action at the beginning and falling action towards the end.’

Having studied creative writing, it’s hard to ignore these three things. In this book we have a group of people – Mo, Michael, Martin, Malcolm and Craig – who all start work at the hotel at roughly the same time – and they gel immediately. Lovely, but no tension.

They work together (I hope there’s going to be a Slimming World club at the hotel as they’ll certainly need one after all the cake and biscuits), eat together, go to the pub, win the quiz every Sunday night, and generally become besties after about five minutes.

It’s not real life. I once disliked a colleague so much that I am killing her off (metaphorically speaking) in my novel. But the characters are all lovely, the setting is gorgeous, and the story is, well, nice. An easy holiday read.

However, it had SO much potential. A couple of events could have been really dramatic. Malcolm’s family situation was so sad and could have had me in tears, but it resolved itself far too quickly ‘not with a bang but a whimper.’ Then there is Grant. That could have really created an arc of its own.

It was still heartwarming and great fun. I loved the introduction of Border Terrier Hamish, and of course fluffy, white, pooch Melody. PLEASE let them have puppies together in the next book. Or maybe Buster will be Dad Dad.

Many thanks to the author for a review copy and to my ‘buddy’ readers for sharing their views.

About the Author

“I have had the absolute privilege of being the ‘Mum Mum’ of two Border Terrier boys… Hamish who sadly passed away in 2021 and now Archie who he sent to us to mend our hearts ♥️

When writing my very first book – New Beginnings at The Buckley Hotel – it was therapeutic and healing to include Hamish as a ‘character’ in the story 📕

It’s a very light hearted, easy read…the kind of book I like to read myself.

I’m currently writing my second book in this series, which is a Christmas book featuring the same characters, with the special addition of ‘wee Archie’!

AUTHOR PIC