The Wake-Up Call by Beth O’Leary

Title: The Wake-Up Call
Author: Beth O’Leary
Publication: Berkley Publishing, paperback, 2023
Genre: Romance
Setting: Present-day England

Description: Izzy and Lucas work at a boutique hotel where they are rivals who never stop squabbling. When the hotel owners admit they are struggling financially and may have to shut down, Izzy and Lucas are forced into a temporary truce to save their beloved Forest Manor. Izzy is very outgoing and treats the guests as dear friends so they love her; in fact, because she has no family she would be devastated if the hotel closed. Lucas is more reserved, studying hotel management in every spare moment, but is charming in his own way and extremely competent. Initially, they were friends but when Izzy shared her romantic feelings for him in a Christmas card and he laughed, her budding love turned to hate. Their efforts to save the hotel include selling everything they can find from the hotel’s lost and found, which surprisingly includes several abandoned rings which turn out to be quite valuable. All this rivalry and occasional collaboration is exactly what is needed for two intense young people’s simmering attraction to turn into a relationship.

My Impression: The Flatshare was O’Leary’s first book, an improbable but cute story that became a bestseller (and a movie) about two people who share an apartment on different shifts and never see each other, falling in love via post-it notes. This book reminded me of the musical, She Loves Me, which was inspired by Ernest Lubitsch's 1940 film, The Shop Around the Corner, starring Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart. Admittedly, I don’t like plots based on a ridiculous misunderstanding, but this is an appealing story about working together for a common goal and overcoming self-doubts while building a relationship – even if they see things very differently:

I do one last sweep of the lobby to check it’s all in order and then grab the key to the lost-property room . . .

“Chaos,” Lucas says as I unlock the door and step into the small amount of available floor space on the other side.

Boxes and boxes of stuff. A rocking horse. A collection of broken teacups, once used for afternoon teas here. An old projector. An absolute plethora of umbrellas.

So yes, it’s kind of a state. But it’s also kind of a treasure trove. My heart lifts as I cast my eye over it all. If I fixed up that old rocking horse, we could definitely sell it for at least eighty quid. Mending the teacups won’t take long, and people will go crazy for that cutesy 1950s pattern on them. We might be able to raise some real money from all this. Mrs. SB is a genius.

“We should decide how and where we want to sell each category of item,” Lucas says, rubbing his mouth as he scans over the contents of the room. “I’ll start a spreadsheet.”

I ignore him and dive in. The first box is labeled “tatty books” and the second “coats left behind in 2019.”

I hear Lucas mutter something in Portuguese behind me, and choose to believe it is an expression of delight and excitement.

It is through Izzy’s dedication to these hidden treasures that the hotel is saved – that’s a spoiler but you never really doubted it, did you? Who else likes this enemies-to-lovers theme?  Coincidence: one of these covers has a quote by Carley Fortune, whose book Meet Me at the Lake I just reviewed!

Source: ARC provided by the publisher.