The Heartbreak Hotel is a beautiful exploration of family bonds, obligation and grief. It’s thoughtful and tender and tough in places, but so comforting.

Louisa (Lou) has just broken up with pop singer Nate, and all she wants from him is to be able to stay in their house, a rental in the Colorado Mountains and symbolises security and stability and safety for her. Nate agrees, but it’s not going to be simple. Lou is broke. She needs to get certified as a counsellor before she can practice but she failed her certification exam, just as she found out Nate had been unfaithful. She is treading water as she can’t sit the exam again for another six months.

After an itinerant childhood with sister Goldie and their feckless mother, Lou has settled in this old house and she is determined to stay put, even though she can’t afford the rent. The house has six bedrooms and plenty of charm, so she approaches the owner, Henry Rhodes, and offers to run it for him as a B&B in exchange for getting to live there rent free. Henry reluctantly agrees and gives Lou six months to show she can make it work. Henry visits increasingly often to help out and fix things in the house and a slow connection grows between them. After some drunken brainstorming with her bestie, Mei, Lou names it the Comeback Inn – somewhere to stay to get over a breakup. The guests are delightful, offering some light relief, warmth, wisdom and company for Lou and Mei, who stays there after her own breakup. Lou is doing her best with what she has and she works hard to make the B&B a success.

We find out quite early on that Lou and Goldie’s mum has been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, and that her behaviour with men, money and reliability, while not exactly her ‘fault’, had long-standing and disastrous effects on he daughters, regardless of where the blame lies. I felt for Lou; she is navigating her breakup with Nate, learning how to run a B&B, entertaining the guests, dealing with Goldie, fielding emotional weight from their mother, and falling in love with Henry.

Lou and Goldie have overcompensated as adults for the scars they received in their childhoods. Goldie parented Lou when their mother wasn’t able to, and while the relationship between the sisters is strong, the roles they established as children have soured their ability to see each other clearly. The love is there, but it’s very complicated. Goldie berates Lou for supporting their mother, and then expects Lou to do exactly that. Lou gets her validation from helping people, so while the B&B is perfect for her, it’s also entrenching behaviours that are no longer serving her.

Henry has his own pain and his own secrets, and while we can see how he adores Lou, he’s not able to open up to her. Lou is a caregiver, so she can’t fathom this. And of course, there’s the whole question as to whether Lou wants to love Henry, or to save him? Lou knows she must also address the way Goldie treats her, and deal with their mother’s next crisis.

The Heartbreak Hotel is beautifully plotted. All the secondary characters have a job to do (including the house) and events take place over six months, so it’s not instalove for Henry and Lou. Ellen O’Clover pulls all the strands together without oversimplifying the struggles the main characters face. While there is growth for Lou, it’s not just about Henry. The romance between them is a slow-burn and I loved their chemistry, and the ways that they initially fight against their attraction – until they start to fight for each other. When they finally give in, it’s tender and delicious.

The ending is perfect – please, trust the process and enjoy this emotional romance!