Review: Suite Scarlett - Maureen Johnson

From Maureen's site:

The Hopewell Hotel is small Art Deco “jewelbox” in New York City. The hotel has a grand past, but a somewhat dusty and broken present, with pigeons breaking into the rooms, chandeliers with more cobweb than glass, and constantly exploding toilets. Guests are rare, but it does have one constant set of inhabitants... the Martin family.

Scarlett Marin is the third of the four Martins. Scarlett is fifteen, blonde, and broke. Her friends are gone for the summer. And she’s got this one curl that exists just to stab her in the eye and blind her. Welcome to her life... (For more click here.)

Summary from B&N:

Her new summer job comes with baggage.


Scarlett Martin has grown up in a most unusual way. Her family owns the Hopewell, a small hotel in the heart of New York City, and Scarlett lives there with her four siblings - Spencer, Lola, and Marlene.

When each of the Martins turns fifteen, they are expected to take over the care of a suite in the once elegant, now shabby Art Deco hotel. For Scarlett's fifteenth birthday, she gets both a room called the Empire Suite, and a permanent guest called Mrs. Amberson.

Scarlett doesn't quite know what to make of this C-list starlet, world traveler, and aspiring autobiographer who wants to take over her life. And when she meets Eric, an astonishingly gorgeous actor who has just moved to the city, her summer takes a second unexpected turn.

Before the summer is over, Scarlett will have to survive a whirlwind of thievery, Broadway glamour, romantic missteps, and theatrical deceptions. But in the city where anything can happen, she just might be able to pull it off.

My Thoughts:
I loved this book. From the realistic portrayal of family interaction to the crazy antics of Mrs. Amberson, I was hooked. I kept reading to see what was going to go wrong next, or what Scarlett would be doing for Mrs. Amberson next. I loved Eric, with his southern charm & manners. I'm still mad at him though. You'll have to read the book if you want to find out why. If I were to pick one boy out of this story for me, I'd have to go with Scarlett's brother, Spencer. He's one of those charismatic characters that make you want to be there while he's practicing so you can have a good laugh. He seems like an all round sweet guy. I thought the characters were very well written. This is a story that is very character driven.

The sequel came out Feb 1st & I'm dying to read it!