The Guest with Claws

Monster Hotel, Book 1

De: Ella Maven

Narrado por: Sofia Willingham, Brandon Utah

I've never met him before . . . so why do I feel as if I've known him all my life?

Scoring a job at the exclusive and secretive Hotel Castle Verna is exactly what I need to pay off my debt and avoid a punishment I might not survive. The guests are a little eccentric, but they are great tippers. All I have to do is ignore the strange sights, smells, and sounds coming from the guest rooms, and I can remain gainfully employed. Simple, right?

Except there's one guest at the hotel who's always watching me with his mismatched black and white eyes. Half his face is covered with a black mask, and his stare sets my skin on fire. I don't know him . . . and yet I feel known with every stolen glance.

Strange happenings are going on at the hotel, and each day, I fall deeper into a world I never knew existed. And the guest who's watching me? He isn't who I thought he was . . . but then again, neither am I.

Contains mature themes.

©2023 Ella Maven (P)2025 Tantor Media

Alien monster love story

Summary bit
The story is a romance with alien monster twist. The main male character looses he’s love and spends his days killing. The main female character spent her life having pains and built up doctor bills with little outcome of what the problem is. She takes a job at a rich hotel with monsters in human form. She ignores the oddities of them. But always feels eyes on her. One room delivery introduces her to the lead male who she fears and feels a connection with. After a ballroom party, things get worse and the only person to help her is the mysterious man. Soon secrets come out about herself and the world around her. Death follows them and only the truth about the past will set them free.

Main character reviews
The lead female was a damaged gal who’s looking for a way out of her debt. She comes off as weak and strong at times. Depending on the situation. Most the time she’s really likable. Other times, I found lack of fondness for her.
The main male character is also a damaged man who hates himself for past choices. He finds a new woman who he can’t stop watching. Comes off as a cute stocker guy at first then grows to more tormented grumpy guy, then protective but still tormented. Hes a killer of monsters who has body trophies but does not come off as psycho. Damaged hero mostly.

My views on book.
The storyline is pretty good. The author has added in splashes of the past, present, and future plans in a good bend. Everything is smoothly told. The growth of the story and the characters is great. You get an idea of there past. Then seeing the growth throughout the book makes everything great. The romance of the main characters is a bit of a battle. They have a bond but none sees it at first. Then all the circumstances that happen around them add to the hardships of the building love. They both have body image issues. He’s body is damaged. She is over weight. To see the troubles they go through to get past this. Adds more to the story. Steamy scenes are added in the story nicely. Little fast pace. They barely know anything about each other before the heated foreplay starts. Full blown steam happens farther down the line. Mystery/Surprise of it was ok. I was able to guess it all outcomes out. But I have read more books than the normal person so maybe thats just me.

Narrators reviews
The authors did a great job. Both were able to convey emotions in their words and bring the characters personality is alive. Her voice matched the females character vary well. As well did the male reader.
They both came off very smoothly and all the readings. The main reader was my favorite in some ways.

Would I recommend this book?
Yes this was not a bad one. No abusive love. Man who can treat woman good. Which I love. Romance was good also. I liked how the past played out in the future. Made everything seem like fate. Steam was also top notch. Added in storyline without the porno vibe but also not so little to where you would suggest this to a teenager. Definitely for an adult.
I do feel like you were able to figure out the ending of this book just within the first 45 minutes, which did not make it bad. Just not my favorite. There is an alien theme to it but I did not get that feel. More of a monster theme. Maybe I’m just confused on that bit. Altogether I do recommend this book.

Lanis and Nessa

New series from Ella Maven and it didn’t disappoint! I loved every minute of this Monster Romance, the interesting bond the MCs had with each other was unique. I also really enjoyed the narration.

Alien John Wick at the hotel for assassins!

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💙💚💜❤️
Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📙📘
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏
Character development: 😟🙁☺️🤓
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Dual Narration

The heroine: Nessa - she had an interview for a job she really needed at an exclusive place called Hotel Castle Verna. She was nervous, sweating and had her borrowed heels glued together. The job is the best paying job in the city, but she knew someone who had died before their interview. So, she was posing as that woman, since she had the same first name and all. She had a ton of debt from hospital bills and still had chronic pain. She was on the verge of being homeless since the powers at be around the world fell. She knew she would be sent outside the walls of what was once Chicago, to the debtor prison labor camps if she didn’t get this job.

The Hero: Lanis - he had a penchant to obsess which made him good at his job. His obsessions usually had a death sentence which he was responsible for carrying out. He immediately became obsessed with the new human employed at the hotel. He was a 400-year-old Malice whose people came from a far away galaxy a long time ago. He has one clawed hand, is half covered in the skin of his enemies, and he is never without a mask over the lower half of his face. He is a killer for hire that had been ostracized by his clan. He had promised himself he would never be responsible for another person after the last time didn’t work out well. He only takes lives now.

The Story: Nessa got the job for an entry level position in guest services at the hotel. Which meant she would have to deliver things to guest rooms. One of the rules was that if she worked at the hotel, she lived there and had to get permission to leave. Another rule was that she would be terminated if she looked into any of the guest's packages. The whole air of the place was secretive and formal. Nessa found out that her belongings were already at the hotel and that she had been hired the moment she walked into the hotel.

The hotel is well described, especially the lobby which sounded very baroque. There is also an eclectic mix of unconventional characters and creatures. As Nessa worked, she began to feel that every guest has something a little off about them. Some have big teeth, some seem to make things disappear and others had terrible smells coming from their rooms. Lanis begins to stalk Nessa as soon as she arrives at the hotel, though he is protective of her. He wanted to make sure she was safe. All the guests at the hotel were part of the Malice assassin network.

The setup absolutely glimmers with eerie elegance and emotional depth. Ella Maven constructed a richly layered dystopian-gothic world with high stakes, strange rules, and a heroine who’s equal parts desperate and brave. Let’s unpack some of what’s working brilliantly—and tease out a few elements that are possible in the story.

🌒 Tension & Atmosphere

The baroque grandeur of Hotel Castle Verna layered over Nessa’s desperate, scrappy circumstances creates a tension that’s both visual and visceral. Her chronic pain, stolen identity, and looming debtor prison give her a fragile dignity that’s easy to root for. The mystery of her immediate hire and the guests’ sinister peculiarities heighten that trapped-in-a-gilded-cage sensation. Chilling and captivating.

🩸The Hero: Lanis

Lanis is brutal, otherworldly, and wildly compelling. That obsession trait, especially when paired with his vow to never care again, makes him dangerously magnetic. His clawed hand half-covered in enemy skin? That’s pure, macabre poetry. You’re laying down serious Byronic vibes. The internal conflict is there—he wants to watch over Nessa but can’t (or won’t) admit why. That push-pull could be the emotional fulcrum of the story.

🌀Their Dynamic

This could easily become the kind of relationship that plays with control, distrust, and reluctant intimacy. Their chemistry has the potential to smolder quietly, especially if Nessa proves more resilient or unpredictable than Lanis expects. I loved to see Nessa slowly realize that Lanis isn’t the only monster—but he might be the only one on her side. There is also some uncertain recognition between them that hinted at something more going on.

The one thing I really didn’t like about this story was also something that was central to the story so though I didn’t like it, I don’t know how it could have been any different. However, I have never understood why romance authors are so fond of the “scarred Hero” trope. I don’t mind Heroes that are scarred on the inside, but I just don’t get why authors seem to love having Heroes that are disfigured by scars in some way, and this Hero had so much more than just scars. I like the way the disfigurement doesn’t matter to the heroine, but really who wants to imagine a Hero who is horribly deformed in some way? I like a handsome Hero. Though I did really like the originality of this story.

This audiobook was narrated from multiple perspectives, done in dual narration by Sofia Willingham and Brandon Utah. Sofia Willingham isn’t one of my favorites, there is something about her voice or tempo I just don’t really like, though her voice is soft and not bad. Brandon Utah has a fairly deep, gravelly voice which I liked.