Noelle is a hotel cleaner. However she is not your run of the mill cleaner. She has a secret- she can't stop herself from taking things from the rooms. She doesn't take anything valuable just little insignificant things- a set of tweezers, a hair clip, a lip gloss- & she logs each thing & where she took it from. This proclivity has meant that she has moved around a lot. Hotel 21 is a five star establishment. On her first day she finds herself in the seventh floor group. The key to her success has always been to get in with her group so that should any suspicion be raised they will stand up for her. Hotel 21 however is nothing like she has experienced before. The group are a mixed but close one & take Noelle to their hearts. Can she change after all this time. This was a lovely book. Noelle had had a very rough time & could understand why she took things. The other characters were wonderful too. Thanks to Netgallery & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

I am so in love with this book! The characters, the plot and the writing style was just perfect. I found myself laughing, sad, happy, angry and every other emotion in between. Noelle has my heart and I will protect her with my life! She deserves the world and I will never stop thinking about her and her story. This debut novel by Senta Rich is a must read for every reader. Thank you Bloomsbury Publishing for sending me this ARC! *please check TWs before reading*

Contains minor spoilers* I first saw this recommend on Bloomsbury UK Twitter profile. The comps really intrigued me. I think they describe the novel well (as above) and will attract the readers familiar with those and who will appreciate Noelle’s story. I found it really interesting and unusual what the author did with Noelle’s kleptomania. The buzz of taking something and not getting caught making Noelle feel happy because she doesn’t know what happiness is. Kleptomania as a result of childhood trauma giving Noelle’s life meaning until she meets Phil, Rose, Mali and Gaby. Interesting take on identity and how Noelle calls herself “always a fake Noelle”, how she chooses what Noelle to be in each hotel, how she’s taught herself to cry or blush on cue to avoid getting caught. The author connects this back to Noelle’s mother, which I thought was very smart. By the end of the novel, I felt that Phil’s character has been left a little obscure. I wasn’t sure about her motivation towards Noelle. Why did she really want to help her? Why was she so shallow with her romantic relationships? Fatima, for instance, kind of appeared and disappeared in this sense. There was a hint at Rose and Phil’s past romance, which wasn’t fully explained. However, I really liked how the author put a spotlight on each of the Magnolia girls and how it intertwined with Noelle’s character arc. Overall, given Noelle’s personality and her avoiding getting too close to people, what the reader finds out about Phil and her new friends is plenty compared to Noelle’s previous relationships (aside from her mother). So I think Phil remaining a bit of a mystery is in line with Noelle’s personality as she is the narrator and the POV character, who only learns how to let people into her heart. This was a really great read and I would definitely recommend it! I’m glad I saw this on Twitter :)

I found “Hotel 21” a curious read, focusing on female friendship, loneliness, kleptomania and the power of survival. The main protagonist Noelle, started out as intriguing but I did find her to be quite naive for a girl, who was clued up on telling lies, stealing from hotel guests and surviving a troubled childhood. But it was this naivety that helped shape Noelle as she met friends which caused her to rethink her life and addiction to pilfering. What I did enjoy reading about Noelle though, was her home life when she was a child and the abusive relationship she had with her mother. Did this shape her into the person she is now or is it the need to find true friends which cause her to steal? It was also intriguing to see into the mind of someone who needs to take something from someone, sometimes as obscure as a button from a shirt and how the sense of emotion doing this drives her to continue doing it. Hotel cleaning staff are often overlooked and not given a lot of thought, they appear on a morning, clean up after the guests and disappear again like the ‘Elves and the Shoemaker’. It was interesting to read how their attitudes can differ towards the tasks, what their working conditions are often like and the rivalry between the staff that can occur when there are more prestigious rooms to clean over other less important ones. “Hotel 21” is a slow-burn novel, character-driven with an insight into hotel life from a cleaner's perspective. Written by Senta Rich a talented debut author, this was an excellent first novel for fans of women's contemporary fiction.