⚠️ This is a full spoiler review. If you haven’t read Key Change yet — go read it first. We’ll be here when you’re done.
Book 2 in the Hotel Bellwether Series
Reviewed by CJ | Rating: 4/5 | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
📱 Ebook (Kindle Unlimited)
OPENING HOOK
A stalled modeling career, a bartending gig, and a three-day nanny job for a rockstar’s kid. Key Change is exactly the kind of quick, easy, beach-read chaos you want from a novella. And seven year old Annie steals the whole damn book.
THE FULL STORY — SPOILERS INCLUDED
Joelle is 27, bartending while also picking up odd jobs to make rent now that her best girlfriends have all moved out of their shared apartment with their own loves. Her modeling career stalled out, she’s nannying for a friend’s kid on the side, and without room mates, money is tight. That’s where Derek walks into the bar.
Derek manages a band that made it big a decade ago and hasn’t seen much success since; he’s also part owner of the record label. This local (to Jo) band is where his career started, so he’s personally invested in getting their upcoming comeback tour off the ground. He and Jo hit it off with a spectacular spicy good night together before she overhears him on the phone with who she assumes is a wife or girlfriend. Turns out it’s his ex-wife, and they’re frantic about finding a nanny for his seven year old daughter over the upcoming three-day leg of the tour. Upcoming as in, he’s leaving on a jet plane today.
Jo knows the band already because they play the hometown bar often enough that she’s friendly with all of them, and she just happens to have nanny experience (with references if needed). So when she hears the money on offer, she signs on for three days as nanny to Annie who ends up being one of the highlights of this book. They all head off to the Hotel Bellwether to make this nostalgia tour happen, and chaos ensues from there.
Jo is amazing with Annie, Derek can’t help himself, Jo can’t help herself, Annie loves her, Derek’s falling for her too. Everybody loves everybody. There’s even some ghost hunting because of the hotel’s reputation, a little ice cream haunt, and a lovely little pocket of family-like friendship energy running through the whole thing.
BEST PART OF THIS BOOK
Annie and the way she pulls everyone into her orbit — the band, Jo, even the tour staff — and takes to Jo instantly is what makes this book. That whole little makeshift family feels real not forced.
WORST PART OF THIS BOOK
Nothing major. Derek gets in his own way a bit because he’s hung up on the boss/employee line even though it’s only a three-day gig, and he’s also holding back because he doesn’t want to bring anyone into Annie’s life that she could end up losing. It’s a common romance trope, and it’s always a bit frustrating with loss being a reason to avoid ever being happy again as a pretty extreme reaction, but it didn’t ruin the read for me in this one like it does in others (if you can’t tell, it’s one of my least favourite plot features)
THE STEAM RATING BREAKDOWN
🔥🔥🔥🔥 — Spicy. Yes, there are sex scenes, and they’re explicit, not fade-to-black. A couple of standout spicy scenes early on kick things off. The romance is very central to the plot and this is a romance novella at its core, with the tour/band drama as backdrop.
THE ENDING — SATISFIED OR DISAPPOINTED?
Very satisfying. The grovel is a big one; Derek shows up two weeks after the tour with the band at Jo’s local bar (her friends dragged her out that night for fun, not work), the band sits down and plays a brand-new, haunting love song while a slideshow of photos from their weekend plays behind them, and then he gets up to profess his love. It’s a beautiful, well-done romantic gesture though admittedly felt like a lot given they’d only actually known each other for about four days when it all went down. Big swing, but it landed because that’s what reading is all about for me – escape from reality.
WOULD WE REREAD IT?
Probably not this specific book — but there’s a real chance I’ll revisit the entire series down the line and will definitely be checking out more titles from this author.
THE HOT TAKE
The ending grovel is fantastic, but that’s a massive, public, life-altering declaration after four days of knowing someone. It works because it’s fiction and it’s fun, but it’s a lot for my brain to process.
WHO IS THIS FOR
Anyone who wants a quick, low-commitment beach read with a fake-nanny setup, a rockstar-adjacent-but-still-glamorous love interest, and a kid character who’s actually great instead of annoying. Perfect for a weekend afternoon.
WHERE TO GET THIS BOOK
📱 Physical book
📖 Ebook
📚 More from the Hotel Bellwether Series
- Book 1 — Room Serviced by Roxie Noir | Reviewed by CJ | ⭐ 4/5 | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
- Book 2 — Key Change by Cara Dion| Reviewed by CJ | ⭐ 4/5 | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥 — this review
Ready for more reviews from CJ? Find More Here
Plot Twisted. 🔥
📱 | Series: Hotel Bellwether Book 2 | Genre: Romance | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥