Irene is on the verge of ending her life after a tragedy. She doesn’t, and instead runs away by boarding a van full of strangers bound for Central America. She ends up at the enchanting La Llorona hotel and connecting with its owner, Leila. When Irene finds herself unexpectedly running the hotel, she realizes that although it’s beautiful (on a hillside overlooking a lake, beautiful gardens, intricate architectural detail, a volcano in the background), it’s in desperate need of repair and rarely has any paying guests. But Irene feels there’s nothing for her back in the US, so she takes on the challenge of reviving the hotel, building close relationships with people in the village and hotel guests, and experiencing joy, triumph, betrayal, and hardship along the way.

CW: Suicidal ideation, child death, rape, infertility. These aren’t pervasive themes in the book but they are present.
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This was a beautiful story that pulled me through a range of emotions. There’s found family, but unlike your typical upswing found family story, this one has both ups and downs, because even your chosen family can break your heart. This story is also about a found home, a deep connection to your space, the pride and joy in making it your own. It’s also about starting over - can you really? Or does the past always have a way of catching up to you? Resilience is also a big theme from the beginning when Irene decides to keep going in her own way rather than ending her life. At one point late in the book she says “I did what I’d always done. I got on with my life,” which was so simple, but also profound and sad because really what else is there to do? Later on, Love in the Time of Cholera features, which is a book I love, and I was reminded of a quote from it that always hits me: “She felt the abyss of disenchantment.” My only criticism of the book is that the middle dragged a bit where Irene meets a bunch of different people who don’t end up playing huge roles in the book. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨💫 (4.75)

This book is listed as magical realism but besides a couple of events that are kinda unbelievable coincidences I would not call this magical realism at all.