Somehow I got
A Private Hotel for Gentle Ladies mixed up with
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency in my head, and I stayed confused until I was starting to read it, then I read the cover copy and was like whaaaat genteel porn what? I don't even remember buying/swapping for this one.
It turns out Ellen Cooney has NOT actually written genteel porn -- at least not in this novel -- although there are a couple of mildly explicit (does that make sense?) sexual references in
A Private Hotel.
Eh, it was okay. I enjoyed Cooney's writing but the story just seems . . . stuck? I don't feel like it goes anywhere. I liked the female characters but disliked almost every male character, and I especially disliked the ending.
Reading this book felt like a two-hour ride to nowhere, one where you're okay with the scenery but end up taking a nap for most of the trip.