This was such a wonderfully delightful book. It was heart-warming and humorous with a bit of mystery.

It tells the stories of five people from different walks of life who are dealing with some of life's problems and seek psychological guidance to handle their issues. They are referred to the Komodo Clinic for the Soul where their prescription consists of a cat to care for. The cats, each with their individual personality and temperament, guide the patients to better understanding of and handling of stressors in their lives.

The mysterious clinic, run by an unusual doctor and nurse, seems to disappear and reappear seemingly at will. It' only there if someone really needs their services.

I highly recommend this book for a nice light read, especially if you need a break from 'heavier' reading material. It is a good choice for book clubs.

This book is about a group of people working in a large retail store and their job is to unload merchandise and stock shelves before the store opened for business. Their department manager was a self-absorbed woman who felt she was on the fast track to be promoted into the position being vacated by the Store Manager. The workers have a plan to get her promoted so she’ll be out of their department and her current position would be open to one of them. The basic theme of the story is to keep reading until we find out who gets promoted.
The author did a good job of giving the reader a glimpse of the treatment of employees in the corporate America setting. It didn’t matter the workers had to work 2 jobs to make ends meet. The store’s “pat on the back for a job well done” mentality was sufficient compensation.
All in all, I feel this could have been told in short story form and not 275 pages.

This is the story of a young Zora who sews from childhood with her mother to make ends meet to help support her large family. She always dreamt of owning her own dress shop with her beautiful creations. During her journey, she has the opportunity to go to Hollywood and make gowns for Greta Garbo. She took over at the last minute for their original designer and made gowns that far exceeded the styles and beauty of the original designer. However, problems ensued as is the way of Hollywood and she lost all confidence in herself. Thank goodness that was temporary and she continued to strive for her goals.
This book also tells the fairy tale romance Zora has with a prosperous handsome Brit - Harley, who remained ever supportive.
I am a seamstress and costume designer and viewed this story from that perspective. Personally I would have liked the author to have given more detailed descriptions of Zora's creations to make them come alive. Also the Cinderella romance was sweet but kind of typical.
I think this story could be in the young adult as well as adult category as it is a story of never giving up on your dreams.

After reading Hotel Cuba, the characters and their stories remain in my thoughts and I want to learn more about their circumstances that affected so many struggling as they did. The author has taken stories from his own extended family. This story focuses on 2 Jewish sisters escaping Russia after WW1 to come to NY to be with their sisters and are turned away and sent to Cuba. The character development is so well described throughout the book and you keep knowing them better as you read. Some characters are a bit quirky and fascinating - a great addition to the story. You can visualize what life in Cuba was like during that time. You also feel for and empathize with the characters and their struggle to make a living while waiting to hopefully get safely to America. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and will definitely recommend it to my book club.

It’s been awhile since I read this book but what still stands out to me is this book brings the understanding of of the horrific circumstances immigrants from Central America are escaping. While we understand the immigration problem in our country, this book illustrates the other side of the problem. It will always be a top 10 favorite book of mine and I will recommend it to my book club.