The Reluctant Hotelkeeper

What a fantastic book! The book begins when the author has just sold-and handed over to the new owners-the hotel he has run for 35 years. Searancke then looks back at the not-so-easy road that led him to run his own hotel. Told in humorous vignettes, readers will enjoy this vicarious journey to hotelkeeping.

I am always ready for a good memoir set in a time and place that I am very unfamiliar with. I have read only a few but I end up enjoying almost all of them. This was one such story. The author chronicles his time as a hotelkeeper/owner/sometimes chef, which although began as a forced decision ended up being something that became an inherent part of him. The stories were all scattered over the timeline that the author ran that hotel and his learning curve, they are grouped together by incidents and move forward and backward in time. This latter aspect threw me off a little because I found it hard to keep my mind on the progression of the people in the story. I would have enjoyed it more if it had been chronological first and then incidents could have been narrated, but that is only a personal preference! The writing style is simple, to the point while maintaining the emotion behind the tale. This narrative spans more than two decades of the author and the times change around him as he keeps his hotel afloat and improving with the times. Some of the anecdotes were funnier than others but for the most part they were very informative and interesting. It is set in rural England and gives a window into lifestyles of people that I do not think I would ever be actually crossing paths with in real life, which is the bonus. I highly recommend this to readers of non-fiction who are looking for a lighter look into this lifestyle.

I do not usually read memoirs, but found this book intriguing so I decided to read it. And boy am I glad I did - this was a superb book. This is the third book by author J Searanke and it is a memoir of his 35 years helping run the hotel until his retirement. It was a very enjoyable book The descriptions were so vivid all you had to do was close your eyes as imagine them happening right before your eyes. I could just see myself enjoying a summer afternoon looking back at the splendor before me and thinking I was right there alongside Searanke as the renovations were taking place.

A fun, engaging, entertaining memoir of a hotelkeeper. Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

This was a very fun and informative book about the ups and downs of running a country hotel. The author originally went to help his parents at age 22. Their marriage was falling apart and their new venture, the hotel had become overwhelming. He had to learn the business fast in order to keep the place going. This turned from what should have been a two year stint into 35 years ,all for the love of this old building, which he transformed into a very sought after place to stay. I loved all of the stories he told about the people and pets that stayed there and the many learning curves he had to take, finding the right employees, and anyone else that was needed to run this place. It was fun to hear about the interactions with the people of the village, who would give him a hard time about a lot of things. This is well worth reading, so much fun, and very well written. I have read one other book by this author, Dog Days In The Fortunate Islands, which I loved and I have one more of his that I have not read yet.