Review by
Heather
The Suite Life
What could be more exciting than living in a glamorous, vintage New York City hotel? According to fifteen-year-old Scarlett Martin, for whom this is a reality, there’s actually quite a lot.
Set in the classic Art Deco Hopewell Hotel, Suite Scarlett opens with what promises to be an exceptionally boring summer vacation for Scarlett—especially when compared to the plans of her wealthy, jet-setting friends. Instead of finding a job, studying abroad or going to camp, Scarlett is stuck helping her family run the failing hotel.
Scarlett’s summer takes a turn for the interesting, however, when on her fifteenth birthday she inherits responsibility for the Empire Suite along with a demanding guest, Mrs. Amberson. After falling for her brother Spencer’s gorgeous actor friend, Eric, and secretly helping Spencer to pursue his acting career against the wishes of their parents, Scarlett’s life couldn’t get any more complicated … or could it? When everything in Scarlett’s life starts falling apart, she learns that the show must go on.
Although there was quite a cast of characters to get to know in Suite Scarlett, once I had the names down the story flowed quickly. Even more lovable than the characters alone are the relationships that are built between them. In particular, Scarlett and the quirky, comic Spencer had a close and meaningful connection that rang true to life.
And while Scarlett may have found living in the Hopewell to be boring, I found reading about her life fascinating. Each of the book’s four acts open with a short historical anecdote about Art Deco or the Hopewell Hotel that helped set the backdrop to Suite Scarlett’s theatrical plot. However, while the Art Deco/Hopewell business was interesting in a historical sense, it sometimes took away from the realism of the story. If Scarlett’s family is really so broke that her parents need the children to stay home and help run the hotel, is it really responsible to stay there? Child labor seems like a bad option. The information is also at times completely irrelevant to the plot. For example, the section about a guest’s accidental suicide does not connect in any way to the narrative.
All in all, Suite Scarlett is a fun, fast escape to New York. Read this book if you are interested in: sibling relationships, Art Deco, the history of New York City, first love, curly hair, unicycles, or Broadway.
