From best-selling author Melanie Summers comes a seriously romantic, laugh-out-loud tale of a single mum and the man who restores her faith in love… disinheritance, Leo must find a job, rent a home, and grow up. With nowhere to turn, Leo moves to Santa Valentina Island, where his sister-in-law helps him find work as a bellboy at the Paradise Bay Resort. Little does he know that dealing with people’s baggage will make him examine his own. Will he check out or find that a long-term reservation is on his itinerary?
Twenty-six-year-old single mum Brianna Lewis (a.k.a. Bree) doesn’t believe in fairy tales—not after being abandoned by the father of daughter, Isabelle. A law student by day and concierge by night, Bree’s determined to give Isabelle the life she never had. Suddenly finding herself in dire straits, she converts her garden shed into a rental suite in hopes of climbing out of the financial hole she’s in. But when the only person interested in renting the suite turns out to be to Leopold Davenport, the ridiculously good-looking co-worker she loves to hate, she knows she must choose between being happy and being broke. But as she gets to know him, she discovers there may be more to him than flirty smiles and empty charm.
Can Leopold make the leap from ultimate playboy to become the man Bree needs in her life?
Will Bree allow herself to believe in happily-ever-afters or will she play it safe and hang a do-not-disturb sign on her heart?
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What a lovely book! The third in the paradise bay series, though it can easily be read as a stand alone.
The Suite Life follows the story of Bree, a young and very driven single mum who has big plans for life and will let noone get in the way of her reaching her goals. In order to make some more money, she rents out her garden suite to a young playboy who has been disinherited for 6 months. His carefree and juvenile ways a stark contrast to very serious Bree. But, she only has to tolerate him for 6 months until the purse strings are reinstated, right?
A funny, romantic and easy read with well developed characters.
What a wonderful book! I wish it went on forever!
Melanie Summers, ‘The Suite Life’, a Paradise Bay Romantic Comedy.
As a Hidden Gems ARC reader I received this book for free. And promised an honest review. Here it is. English isn’t my first language. Sorry for errors.
Rating: 4,5 stars (of 5).
In general: From clumsy employee to lover.
The main characters in this book are Leopold ‘Leo’ Davenport and Brianna ‘Bree’ Lewis. They have a strongly different social background. Leo’s family is aristocratic nobility, owners of a few big, European companies and he’s the youngest son, the black sheep of the very wealthy family. He has a bad boy reputation and appears regularly in the scandal press. Bree is a single mom, talented and very hard working at the exclusive Paradise Bay Resort on a Caribbean island, Santa Valentina.
After the umpteenth scandal that – again – damaged the Davenport family business Leo’s dad banned him to St Valentina, to his brother Pierce, a famous writer living on that island and just married to Emma, the chef of the Paradise Bay restaurant. He will loose his enormous heritage when he cannot renounce tabac, drugs, drinks and sex for a period of six months. And he has to earn his own living and lodging. So he becomes the employee of Bree Lewis, head concierge of the Paradise Bay Resort. She needs her job to save money for her daughter, the lovely, sassy Isabelle and to pay for her living and academic law study. Leo, who never had to work a day in his life of parties and exotic adventures all over the world, starts his very simple job with ‘two left hands’. That results in clients’ complaints to his boss, Bree. She takes her job very seriously, gets angry and wants him fired. But mediation of Emma, the Chef, (and Leo’s sister-in-law) leads to a second chance for him. He becomes more serious and functions better. Bree gradually learns to know (and secretly to admire) another side of Leo: Caring for clients and really trying to help her in her job. To raise more money she changes a storage room behind her house into a studio. Leo rents this sober accommodation as his home for 6 months.
So Bree and Leo meet often, at work and at home. Leo has a ‘good click’ with Bree’s daughter Isabelle and helps her family as much as he can so Bree will find time to finish her law study.
The author, Melanie Summers, describes how the relationship between Bree and Leo develops and that leads to a not unexpected happy ending. But for me it was especially enjoyable to read the highly funny dialogues between Bree, Leo, Isabelle and Bree’s aunt Dolores also living in Bree’s home. And empathizing with some wonderful extra characters like this aunt Dolores. The author creates too a lot of very funny scenes in and around the resort, Bree’s home and during the wedding of her sister. In general I (being an old European man) am not a fan of stories about an American wedding. In my opinion many American families (ambitious moms!) make a lot of hassle about these events in which appearance seems very important: bride party, groom party, wedding rehearsal, unhappiness about bridesmaid’s dresses, arguing about catering, colour of flowers and guest lists plus place at the dinner table discussions. I understand that a wedding is a special event in a son or daughter’s life, but pay so much attention to appearance…? And I didn’t quite understand why a self-confident woman as Bree, for such a long time is giving in to the sometimes extreme wishes of her marrying sister and the other bridesmaids. But all this was swept away by the many very funny parts of the book and the with feeling and insight written developments in the personalities of the main characters.
R.Huiszoon.
Melanie Summers delivers again. A Suite Life is a great addition to a fantastic series. Witty, fast paced, and full of emotion, the book grabs you from the start and pulls on your heart strings. Bree and Leo make a fantastic couple and you can’t help but feel Leo’s joy of life jump off of the pages. Well developed characters and lol moments…Fabulous read!
Take one single, soon to be lawyer, mother, add in a precocious four year old girl, an eccentric 71 year old bachelorette (her words) aunt and three mischievous felines plus one recalcitrant poor playboy who’s finally pulled one prank too many and good old mom and dad have finally “cut him off”…what have you got? The makings of a delightful romantic romp from Melanie Summers. In the end notes Ms Summers states that she hopes Leo and Bree’s story made us laugh out loud and feel good. At least for me it did all that and more.
Leo Davenport needs to grow up and be responsible instead of always being the “life of the party” guy. Bree needs to learn to be a little less grown up, how to have little fun and not tie happiness to hard work and dedication. These two belong together and although there are a few bumps along the way, they get their very own HEA!
I have loved this entire series, but I especially enjoyed the characters and storyline in this book.
I liked Bree because she was a strong and determined woman, and I love that as a lead. However, I didn’t like how she was a little self-righteous and had such low self-esteem. But, I think she was super relatable because women have unrealistic expectations to live up to. That said, she was still likable and funny and willing to work on her flaws.
Leo was by far my favorite male character in this series. He was so charismatic that I could almost feel his energy. I loved his fun nature and ability to see the good in people. Also, he was so sincere with his compliments that it was swoon worthy.
Overall, this book was a fun read and I would definitely recommend it.