This historical romance audiobook by Diana Biller, narrated by Carlotta Brentan, was one of the most fun listening experiences I've had in a while!
Maria Wallner is trying to return her family's Viennese hotel, once known for its intrigue and catering to the well-connected, to its former glory. Eli Whittaker is an American agent sent there to discover who is selling American codes across Europe. Their worlds collide. Sparks fly, even if Eli has found himself entirely out of place in a world he finds frivolous, and Maria has little time for entanglements or the assassins suddenly trying to kill her.
A lush, atmospheric historical romance set during ball season in 1870's Vienna, full of danger, mystery, political plots, humor, complicated families, and trysts. This was my first book by Biller, but it will not be my last! I loved the characters, the period detail, and the exciting plot. Maria and Eli were well-developed characters with palpable chemistry, and the secondary characters were also memorable.
This story translated SO well to audiobook format. Brentan's narration was amazing! She brought every character to life, slipping easily into different accents, genders, ages, etc., even within conversations and scenes. If you like spicy historical romance, you'll want to check this out!
Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to review this ALC. I enjoyed it!
Available now.
My steep was Black Orchid from Mariage Freres, a black tea with vanilla and dark chocolate flavors, and it's decadent!
SYNOPSIS:
Diana Biller's Hotel of Secrets is chock full of banter-filled shenanigans, must-have-you kisses, and romance certain to light a fire in the hearts of readers everywhere.
During ball season, anything can happen— even love.
It’s ball season in Vienna, and Maria Wallner only wants one thing: to restore her family’s hotel, the Hotel Wallner, to its former glory. She’s not going to let anything get in her way - not her parents’ three-decade-long affair; not seemingly-random attacks by masked assassins; and especially not the broad-shouldered American foreign agent who’s saved her life two times already. No matter how luscious his mouth is.
Eli Whittaker also only wants one thing: to find out who is selling American secret codes across Europe, arrest them, and go home to his sensible life in Washington, DC. He has one lead - a letter the culprit sent from a Viennese hotel. But when he arrives in Vienna, he is immediately swept up into a chaotic whirlwind of balls, spies, waltzes, and beautiful hotelkeepers who seem to constantly find themselves in danger. He disapproves of all of it! But his disapproval is tested as he slowly falls deeper into the chaos - and as his attraction to said hotelkeeper grows.
"A beautifully researched and emotionally complex experience, Hotel of Secrets is an opulent slice of Viennese tradition as rich as a torte and as layered as a complicated line of Strauss. With intrigue and danger that nips on the heels of its luscious waltz, Biller’s lush and atmospheric escape is dolloped with romance and the deep, complicated and sigh-worthy characters that always shoot her to the top of my auto-buy list." - Rachel McMillan, author of The Mozart Code
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