Review: Do Not Disturb

Do Not Disturb by Tilly Bagshawe
3.5 stars

Reason for reading: I loved her previous books

Book description: "Honor Palmer has always been a fighter. First, for her father's love, approval or even just his attention. When that failed, Honor switched her efforts to saving the family hotel that shares her name. Palmers, a beautiful old jewel of a building nestled on the coast of the Hamptons, used to be the most glamorous destination in the world. Now Honor wants to restore its reputation, its glitz and its guestlist. But there's a new boy in town with a different plan. Lucas Ruiz is no stranger to struggle. He's worked his way up from the grimy hotel laundries of Ibiza, via Sweden and London, and now as manager of the new hotel on the block, he wants to bring modern boutique-chic to the States. He's got no time for the faded traditions of Palmers - or the ball-breaking girl who's trying to save it. As Honor and Lucas prepare to go head to head to get the rich and famous checking in, the locals are busy checking out the backstairs gossip. Blackmail, adultery and the dirtiest of dirty tricks are all in a day's work behind the scenes of the five-star facades."

First line: "Over my dead body! D'you hear me? You'll take Palmers over my dead body, you scheming, greedy, little - "

My thoughts: I didn't like this one as much as Bagshawe's Adored and Showdown. I didn't find it quite as, well, novel. The influence of my beloved Jilly Cooper (whom Bagshawe says is "is one of my heroines and I'm sure that her books have influenced me") is even more obvious here than in the last two books, even down to having a very long cast of characters outlined at the start of the novel. But it was still a fun read.

I love fancy hotels, so having that as a setting appealed to me. I'd love to stay at Palmers. The foiling of Tisch, the hotel magnate villain, was interesting - his brand of evil was pretty timely and not something run-of-the-mill and he was outed in a funny scene. As with all good bonkbusters, the romances are all predictable and there's lots of sex. It was a perfect end-of-summer read.