Hotel Angeline is a very special novel. Why do I say so? Well, it’s special because it’s ONE story and was written by 36 authors live on stage. Yes you heard me right. The novel was written live, in front of audience. The result? Messy? Plot-less?

No… it’s nothing new messy or plot-less. In fact, the result was a brilliant, wacky, exhilarating and polished novel. The outcome of it was so wonderful that I wished that I was a part of it somehow, someway. You see, as an aspiring author, I’ve participated in various crazy writing events like NaNoWriMo and Script Frenzy. Those are events that will require you to churn out words for one month so that you can have a novel/script to hold by the end of the month. But what I’ve been doing is nothing in comparison to these 36 authors. What they did was outrageously crazy and challenging. Imagine writing about 150,000 words with your other fellow writers live on stage for just a week. That’s just… insane!

Any authors in the right mind would back out from this challenge… cuz if you’re going to churn out words like that… it’s definitely not going to be your best work. But these crazy people proved to us all that it’s possible and the outcome is even better than a well thought, well-planned novel that possibly took years to be completed and published.

Anyway, just so you know, Hotel Angeline  is brought to the readers by Seattle7Writers, which created “The Novel: Live!” event.  It’s one of a diverse range of not-for-profit, author-focused organizations receiving support from Amazon.com for programs dedicated to developing new works and new voices. Watch the video on how the idea of it comes to life.

Fifty percent of the proceeds from Hotel Angeline go directly back to the writing and reading community. Seattle7Writers will use these proceeds to award grants to worthy nonprofit organizations making a difference through literacy programs and support of the local arts.

Below is my review for Hotel Angeline:

Title: Hotel Angeline

SubTitle: A Novel in 36 Voices

Publisher: Open Road

Pub Date: 3 May 2011

ISBN:9781453212318

When I requested this book for review in Netgalley, I am not quite sure what to expect, considering that it’s one story written by 36 authors live. Yes… it’s just one story…not a collection of story. I was rather skeptic a with the end result even before I began reading.

I wondered if it will even have coherence, but much to my surprised, it’s not only decipherable, but the story is amazingly well written and I’m pleased to say it’s one of the best novel I’ve ever read. It’s highly entertaining, inspiring and not to mention, unpredictable in a good way. I was really hooked on the story and i find it hard to put down. This book, is a gem, a treasure and definitely a keeper.

If you’re a reader who is bored of the conventional novel with predictable plot, you might want to try reading Hotel Angeline. I daresay that you won’t be disappointed and will crave for more. I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars for not only the effort done by authors, but also for the sheer brilliance of it.

Book description:

Thirty-six of the most interesting writers in the Pacific Northwest came together for a week-long marathon of writing live on stage. The result? Hotel Angeline, a truly inventive novel that surprises at every turn of the page.

Something is amiss at the Hotel Angeline, a rickety former mortuary perched atop Capitol Hill in rain-soaked Seattle. Fourteen-year-old Alexis Austin is fixing the plumbing, the tea, and all the problems of the world, it seems, in her landlady mother’s absence.

The quirky tenants—a hilarious mix of misfits and rabble-rousers from days gone by—rely on Alexis all the more when they discover a plot to sell the Hotel. Can Alexis save their home? Find her real father? Deal with her surrogate dad’s dicey past? Find true love? Perhaps only their feisty pet crow, Habib, truly knows.

Provoking interesting questions about the creative process, this novel is by turns funny, scary, witty, suspenseful, beautiful, thrilling, and unexpected.

Hotel Angeline is a masterpiece of:

For more information on this project and where you can buy the book, please CLICK HERE.

I received a digital copy of this book from Open Road Publisher via Netgalley. I was not compensated in any ways for writing this review and I was under no obligation to write a positive review for it.