Some people love small scale places that they share with few other guests, offering lots of privacy.

FORBES: 10 Most Romantic Hotels & Resorts In North America

In this tight, discreet narrative, which drifts from one memory to another as if love had its own time-scale, the author movingly describes how Jim freed the narrator from the phantoms of her past and the righteousness of her family and friends.

ECONOMIST: Recent French fiction

How much would you love a hotel that serves your martini on a silver tray while a full-scale riot rages outside?

FORBES: Editor's Note