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I've always shied away from resort holidays offering me the opportunity to 'experience' the 'real' local culture because it sounds like a con that disrespects the tourists and the locals and locks both into a Disney Land dynamic where 'the locals' are as authentic as Mickey Mouse.

This book gives me a view of how a resort works that re-inforces my prejudices:

Event Management at the resort curates the presentation of a fictional island and fictional islanders to the tourists, creating a narrative around 'Natives' welcoming Columbus when the islanders are all descendants of African slaves and the original islanders were long ago sent to die working in silver mines.

Here's how our main character, Myrna, describes her work at the resort: 

'My ID tag said nothing but "Maid" but it was also my job to be silent and visible only when the tourists wanted to see me. "At work2 meant not just a place or a time. A being. A not being.'

by Stephen King

After watching and enjoying the movie made from this book many times, I had to read the source material. The story wasn't actually changed much for the film version apart from details about character's thoughts always being easier to convey in books.

I enjoyed the read a lot, but have one complaint. He kept giving spoilers for the upcoming chapters! It's something I haven't seen King do in any of his other books that I've read. He would finish a chapter with "and then X happened." All suspense was deflated, even though I knew what was coming because of seeing the movie.

Still, this is one of those not-Horror stories with supernatural overtones that King does so well. The story of John Coffey and his special ability to 'help' people is a King classic with good reason and translated to film well.

The last few chapters diverged a little more from the movie and went into more detail about what happened to various characters and that was interesting, although one issue was left unresolved unless I missed a detail.

As King books go, I think it's one of his best despite the spoilers along the way. I'm kind of glad I saw the movie first on this occasion though. I don't think the eerie supernatural scenes were depicted as intensely as I know King can do, or maybe I'm just spoiled because the movie did it so well.

I came for the laughs, but stuck around for the heart. Hovland has a way with emotions that brightens every romance she writes. Do Me a Favor is more than a laugh out loud kind of read. Sadie and Roman remind readers that to get to the humor, we have to address the heartache. With an empathetic ear and a sometimes heavy heart, Hovland pulls off the ultimate takeover. In a time of constant uncertainty, she finds a way to bring about a smile.

This is book #2, in the Mile High Happiness series.  This book can be read as a standalone novel.  To avoid spoilers, and to really understand the series, I recommend reading these in order.

Lilly is not known to have a one night stand.  When she does actually indulge, she feels free and like it was the right thing to do.  Later, she finds she is going to run in to Lincoln repeatedly.  

Lincoln is glad to see Lilly again.  He was wondering what made her leave without any clue.  When they seem to be running into each other all the time, he hopes he can convince her to give them another shot.  Or will he be friend zoned?

Such a steamy and fun story!  I loved each and every page in the time I was reading this book.  There was humor, and sexy times, and so much unexpected.  I found myself cringing or laughing out loud.  I really hope we see these characters again, they are a great pair.  We also got to see some already well loved characters from earlier in the series.  This is a great read.  I give this a 4/5 Kitty's Paws UP!

***This ARC copy was given in exchange for an honest review, by Netgalley and its publishers.