Emma's Review: The Lemon Tree Hotel by Rosanna Ley

Reviewed by Emma Crowley

A story about love, family secrets, and a little piece of heaven . . .

In the beautiful village of Vernazza, the Mazzone family have transformed an old convent overlooking the glamorous Italian Riviera into the elegant Lemon Tree Hotel. For Chiara, her daughter Elene and her granddaughter Isabella, the running of their hotel is the driving force in their lives.

One day, two unexpected guests check in. The first, Dante, is a face from Chiara's past, but what exactly happened between them all those years ago, Elene wonders. Meanwhile, Isabella is preoccupied with the second guest, a mysterious young man who seems to know a lot about the history of the old convent and the people who live there. Isabella is determined to find out his true intentions and discover the secret past of the Lemon Tree Hotel.

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Author Interview: Rosanna Ley

Today is paperback publication day for Rosanna Ley's latest novel The Lemon Tree Hotel and it's my absolute pleasure to invite her back to the blog to join in the celebrations.

Hi Rosanna and welcome back to the blog.  It's been a few years since you last visited us so can you give readers a quick recap/intro to yourself and your writing journey.
Thank you! My novels are published by Quercus and you can find more information about me on my website: rosannaley.com

I write books that focus on relationships and character journeys with a hefty dollop of delicious destination thrown in. There’s often a bit of history and a bit of mystery but basically I’m most interested in what makes people tick. I enjoy travelling to different places and exploring new cultures and love writing about these in my novels.

Your latest book is The Lemon Tree Hotel and centres around the Mazzone family and their boutique hotel, can you give us a brief introduction to them? 
The hotel is an old convent – which has a fascinating history and a secret past - that has been restored by Chiara’s parents. Chiara runs The Lemon Tree Hotel with her daughter Elene who is the chef and her granddaughter Isabella who works front of house as manager. It is an elegant and much-loved characterful hotel with a great focus on peace, tranquillity and excellent cuisine. (Sounds perfect, huh?!) These three strong women however, have very different ideas on how The Lemon Tree should be run. Add to this the marital dynamics and the arrival of two guests who have very unexpected agendas, and the family tension rises…

When starting to plan your books which comes first, characters, location or the plot?  And how much research do you do before you start the writing process? 
Sometimes it’s the characters, sometimes the plot, sometimes theme, sometimes location that’s the beginning point. For The Lemon Tree Hotel it was location because the cinque terre area on the Italian Riviera means a lot to me and I wanted to write about it. I also wanted to write about a hotel, so this was the perfect location.