Hotel King: An Enemies to Lovers Romance

California Suits, Book 1

By: Claire Marti

Narrated by: Vanessa Edwin, Tim Paige

Everyone knows not to mix business and pleasure. Don’t they?

Entrepreneur Ryan Michaels never loses. Well, except that time a few years ago when he lost a promotion to spoiled rich girl, Charlotte “Charlie” Ray. Now he’s forced to hire his nemesis to secure funding to develop a string of luxury boutique hotels. Not only does she not fit his corporate vision, but she’s too damn attractive for her own good. And his.

Working as VP of sales and marketing for a luxury hotel is Charlie’s dream job. Too bad her boss is Ryan Michaels, the same pompous stick-in-the-mud that she remembers. If he tells her that this project is his legacy one more time, she might scream. Or maybe kissing him will get him to shut up?

Because that’s the other thing. The sizzling attraction between Ryan and Charlie is impossible to ignore. But everyone knows not to mix business and pleasure. Don’t they?

Hotel King is the first book in award-winning and USA Today best-selling author Claire Marti's new spinoff contemporary romance series, California Suits. The series will follow the adventures of five best friends who are opening a string of luxury boutique hotels from La Jolla to Monterey to Beverly Hills as each one finds true love…usually where he least expects it.

©2021 Claire Marti (P)2021 Claire Marti

Fun Group of Friends

Claire Marti was a new to me author when I was given the chance to listen to the audio version of this book. California Suits follows a group of friends and their way to becoming captains of their industry. If this pilot book, we learn about the tension between Ryan and Charlie. They were former coworkers but unsure of the reason why, one of Ryan's investors pushes for him to hire Charlie, despite not liking her marketing style.

Overall, it was an endearing story. You can't help but root for the success of this new hotel and for Ryan and Charlie to find common ground.

The audio version was narrated by Vanessa Edwin who is so great at portraying strong female characters yet show vulnerability. Tim Paige narrates for Ryan and I thought that he did an awesome job at it.

Awesome start to a new series!

Awesome start to a great series! I loved this story! Ryan and Charlie were a fun enemies to lovers couple. I loved the setting of both the beautiful hotel they were renovating and La Jolla in general. I felt like I was somewhere I had never visited but it felt like home. I liked that this was essentially a second chance romance even though the initial relationship between Ryan and Charlie was as competitive co-workers and not a romantic relationship.

The narration by Tim Paige and Vanessa Edwin was top notch. Claire Marti crafts a wonderful, romantic, creative story. I can’t wait for the rest of the California Suits series.

What a great series opener.

Ryan is in the precipice of realizing his dream of opening up a chain of boutique hotels with his brother and best friends. When a major investor pulls out, Ryan finds another, but it comes with strings.

Charlie is thrilled to have been hired as a vice-president of the Hotel Kings group to help with the opening of their flagship hotel. She’s worked so hard for this chance. She’s mystified as to why Ryan hired her since he bucks every suggestion she makes.

The more they work together, the closer they become until the chemistry between them cannot be denied. But when secrets are revealed, will either of them get their dream?

Tim Paige and Vanessa Edwin do a magnificent job with the narration bringing you into the story, keeping you hanging on for each chapter.

I can’t stop listening

Love love love. I am half way done and I am already sad it going to end.

Strong hate to love vibes!!

Hotel King is my first by Claire Marti, and it will not be my last. Enemies to Lovers romance is one of my most favourite tropes and this one did not disappoint. Charlie and Ryan’s story got off to a pretty rocky start, when years before becoming a successful hotel entrepreneur Ryan was passed over for a promotion that was in turn given to Charlie. Although reluctantly he has no choice but to accept it and move on. Years later, his most prominent financial backer turns out to be Charlie’s Dad and he is requesting that he hire Charlie as a condition of his continued financial support. Although he doesn’t want to, Ryan feels backed into a corner he has no choice but to agree. Even though a few years have now passed you would never know it, because the hate to love vibes were strong between these two. The sexual tension and intense chemistry between them was off the charts. They often butt heads and Ryan was completely frustrating and unwilling to compromise but Charlie is the winner in my book. She was a force! Despite never really knowing what version of Ryan she was going to get she never hesitated to go toe to toe with him and stayed strong in her business ideas and choices. Not only is Charlie smart and intelligent, she is gorgeous, feisty and independent. She is successful in her career and has worked hard to get where she is. When they finally give into their feelings, things heat up in the bedroom, but how will they balance their personal and business life before everything implodes? Narration- I loved listening to the story narrated by two of my favorites, Tim Paige and Vanessa Edwin. Vanessa has a powerhouse of a voice, showcasing her character's confident, sassy side perfectly. Tim does a great job portraying the broodiness of his character. I also loved his passionate and romantic side in the intimate moments between Ryan and Charlie. Overall, this is a great book, and I look forward to more in this series to come.

ADORABLE LITTLE BEACH READ!!

An enemies to lovers beach read with all the feels, Hotel King will have you longing for a beach & a delicious California guy to fight with.

The first and only time Ryan Michaels lost at something or in this case to someone he never let it go. Now, years later he is still holding on that grudge and is about to come face to face with the woman he lost to. Charlie Ray is nothing like the woman he remembered from all those years ago. He always remembers her being objectively beautiful but now there is a spark there he is feeling for her that was never there before. Ryan just hopes that he can keep his feelings to himself before their already complicated working relationship gets even worse.

Charlie Ray has worked her whole life for this position, and she is not going to let some guy with a grudge stop her from achieving her goals. The chip on Ryan's shoulder seems even bigger now than it did all those years ago but there is also something else there too. It's as if he isn't being completely honest with her and when he starts to let his guard down it goes right back up. Charlie doesn't care how hot this man is he will not get under skin. Until one night he does exactly that and they tumble into bed leading to an even bigger complication Charlie never saw coming.

Vanessa Edwin & Tim Paige did such a wonderful job with narration. I've listened to several Vanessa Edwin narrations, and she always takes me back with her male voice because it is surprisingly sexy. This was my first full narration by Tim Paige and the way he did Ryan's voice was very calculated almost like I expected Ryan himself to be.

Hotel King was just an all-around feel-good romance that will have you longing for summer during these blistering cold months.

Former competitors become colleagues and lovers

Charlie (Charlotte) and Ryan and been in competition for a job years ago and Charlie won the job. There have been hard feelings ever since. However, circumstances have made Ryan hire Charlie for a key position in his company. He grudgingly hires her as the Vice President of Marketing. She has great ideas, but he's reluctant to take her suggestions.

Other managers in the company think he should follow her advice, or at least compromise. Each finds the other attractive and they begin a hot sexual relationship.

The story is well written and the characters are very likeable. There is strong sexual content so I recommend this book for mature readers.

I listened to the audio version of the book. There are two narrators and both do an excellent job.

The author provided me with a copy of the audio book. This is my honest review.

I loved it!!

I received an audible copy of Hotel King, and I fell in love with the story within minutes of listening. I loved the idea of what Ryan and his friends/ brother were building. He is coerced into hiring his old nemesis, Charlotte, aka Charlie, to be his Marketing VP. She had won out on a job they were both going for when they worked together in Turks and Caicos, and he's a little bitter. He's coerced into hiring her by one of his investors, who threatened to leave if she wasn't hired.
Their relationship starts very strained since she doesn't understand why he recruited her if he didn't want her to do the job she's being paid for. They butt heads from the beginning, but he starts slowly getting to know her, realizing just how attractive she is.

It has a great HEA... and the entire book (well after the initial head butting) was so sweet and romantic. What a great enemies to lovers book!! The narrators did a fabulous job keeping the story going great with the three E's: energetic, entertaining, and engaging. Great job!!

I received an ALC for my honest review.

Sparks will fly!

Claire Marti is a new Author to me, but I couldn’t pass up this one with Tim Paige and Vanessa Edwin narrating and production by Audibly Addicted. Hotel King is a well-written adversaries to lovers, feel-good story that starts out with Ryan keeping a secret. Charlie was promoted instead of Ryan previously, so he has a tremendous amount of resentment towards her. When he is forced to hire her on as VP that sets them up for a very difficult working relationship. Luckily, Charlie is an extremely intelligent woman who is really good at her job and is able to bring her ideas to the table and establish a connection with Ryan. He is a powerful executive now, but he comes from blue-collar beginnings, which has grounded him. When he drops his guard the sparks fly and this feel-good romance heats up exponentially! What happens in Beverly Hills… Tim Paige and Vanessa Edwin are both excellent performers who bring these characters to life. I enjoyed this and will look forward to the other books in the series.

Enemies to Lovers!

This was my first Claire Marti's book. This is the first book in the California Suits series, a spin-off series. Charlotte (Charlie) and Ryan's enemies to lovers romance, and slow burn romance, is fun, sexy, and sweet. They are both great characters. Vanessa Edwin and Tim Paige did a good job with the narration. Looking forward for more in the series.