2.5 Stars "This Vacancy in Room 10" is told from the viewpoints of two very different women. Both ended up at The Sycamore apartment complex, the dead-end, run-down motel-turned-apartment complex on the outskirts of Santa Fe, New Mexico, because of tragic events in their life which they had no control.
We hear from the alternating POVs of Anna and Cass. Cass is the motel manager, dumped by a successful realtor boyfriend, Reid, who refused to marry her and then traded her in for a younger trophy named Kimmy. She happens to be very handy and has the very unpleasant and depressing job of fixing up the worn-down units for low wages. She lives rent-free. She knows almost everything going on in those apartments behind closed doors.
Anna was married to Henry, an artist with a unit at the Sycamores to use as a studio. She puts her house on the market and moves into his studio to get some answers after he kills himself following a disturbing phone call to her when he confesses to committing a terrible crime. Was he forced to take his life, or is something more sinister happening at the Sycamore Apartments? Neither makes sense or sounds plausible to her. Yes, he was depressed, but Anna knew deep down in her bones that something horrible was going on and didn't believe that her husband would take his own life, much less murder someone. She intends to get to the bottom of what happened to Henry at whatever cost.
Daily life at The Sycamores is no treat, but there are the "pool girls," the kids, the other oddball tenants, and one man with a hair-trigger temper. However, someone there knows what happened to Henry, and soon, Anna finds evidence that she has no idea what Henry has been doing in this place.
I found the pacing of this story so slow I was easily distracted, and my mind wandered. I could not get fully invested and absorbed in this story. The pace was slow; revelations, the climax, and the resolution took this down several notches. It was a female empowerment trope with many repugnant men all around. It didn't ring true, and I found it all wildly unplausable and hard to suspend my belief and buy into the plot. Also, the characters did not feel realistic or believable, and I didn't like any of them, what they did, or how it all ended. The only person I was rooting for was "Sinatra." He was a clever boy, and my heart ached for him.
I listened and paired my e-arc copy with the audio. Brittney Pressley voiced Cass, and Stacey Glemboski narrated Anna. It was my first time listening to Stacey Glemboski, and I found her voice flat and monotone. When she narrated the male voice, it wasn't distinct from Anna. It was my first read by Seraphina Nova Glass. Even though I didn't love this book, I will try another one from her.
I want to thank Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with the e-arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
C. Sessions
Teri Jones
Kindle Customer
Cali Love
SPN_972