Choose your first Nikola Hotel book by the relationship you want to follow. The Blakely books move from Ivy and Asher to Aubree and Noah; Paper Love moves from Abbi and David to Jane and Alex. Dark Ivy keeps Eden and William across two volumes, so begin with Wenn ich falle before Halt mich fest. These are different reading commitments, despite all three series having two books.
Lost Girls adds another distinction. Breathing for the First Time is already published, while Hiding for the Last Time is scheduled for 11 December 2026, according to the author and German publisher checked on 25 October 2026. The publisher explicitly describes the second volume as independently readable. It introduces different central characters; it should not be mistaken for an already available continuation of Darcy’s romance.
The titles below identify the verified German editions. English words such as Ever, Blue and Lost Girls appear on German books too. They do not establish an English translation. This guide compares official premises and series information rather than pretending to review novels firsthand or promising their endings.
Blakely: return to a family, then change the romantic focus
The publisher’s sequence is It was always you, followed by It was always love. In the first, Ivy returns to the New Hampshire family setting and encounters her stepbrother Asher again. The second turns to her friend Aubree and her other stepbrother, Noah. The connection is concrete: friendship and family link the people, while the central romantic pairing changes. Rowohlt’s Blakely series page identifies the two positions.
That makes the first title the sensible introduction if your interest is the brothers and their surrounding relationships. You meet this circle through Ivy before approaching a friend’s experience within it. This is a recommendation for preserving introductions, not a claim that the publisher guarantees that every later scene requires the first book. Changing protagonists and offering an entirely independent, spoiler-free experience are separate propositions.
The practical choice between the premises is more specific than picking a favourite brother’s name. Ivy’s starting situation concerns coming back: a place, people and a family history already exist for her. Aubree’s concerns going somewhere after a public upheaval. One invitation is a return to an emotionally loaded home; the other is a search for somewhere to retreat. Ask which starting movement interests you before examining matching covers.
The official description of It was always you identifies a step-sibling relationship. That detail belongs in an honest recommendation because it can determine whether someone wants the book at all. A general promise of an emotional family romance would hide the more useful distinction. Similarly, Aubree’s setup involves a student party, expulsion and a photograph circulating online. Those are publisher-premise subjects, not a complete account of what occurs or how the narrative handles it.
Suppose a friend recommends Aubree because the idea of escaping a humiliating public situation appeals to you. You can keep that particular interest while deciding whether to begin with Ivy for context. You do not have to pretend the first heroine’s circumstances are identical. Conversely, if you arrive for Ivy and Asher, recognise It was always love as a shift of attention rather than buying it solely to obtain another full book centred on the first couple.
What the handlettering adds to the decision
The described German editions contain illustrated sayings: the first book specifies twenty full-page handletterings, and the second twenty illustrated sayings. Hotel’s first-book page and her second-book page document those features. They are interior design elements within the novels, not twenty extra stories or another stage of the brothers’ sequence.
For someone who likes pausing over lettering, the physical page can be part of the attraction. For someone choosing an audiobook, the attraction may instead be the relationship premise. Both choices make sense, but they concern different experiences. Do not assume the graphic treatment transfers unchanged to every screen, recording or translated edition. Check the format you want without letting decorative interest obscure whether Ivy’s or Aubree’s situation is the one you wish to enter.
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Paper Love: a shared creative language, two different pairs
Read the numbered Paper Love route as Ever – Wann immer du mich berührst, then Blue – Wo immer du mich findest. Abbi and David are the focal pair in Ever; Jane and Alex take that role in Blue. The publisher’s Paper Love page supplies the order. A change from Ever to Blue therefore means more than a change in colour or subtitle.
Ever’s premise begins with Abbi in rehabilitation after a car accident and introduces David Rivers as a physiotherapy student involved in her care. Blue’s places Jane around her diner job and introduces Alex, a politics student. The useful contrast is care and physical vulnerability versus work, bereavement and a difficult connection in ordinary social space. Those starting circumstances give you something firmer to choose on than an assumed difference in romantic intensity.
If the rehabilitation premise attracts you, consider what you want from it. Perhaps you are interested in a protagonist for whom everyday movement has become difficult, and in the trust involved when another person assists her. That is a hypothetical reader preference, not a claim that the novel provides medical instruction or portrays every aspect of recovery accurately. A romantic premise involving treatment also raises questions of professional roles; it does not make the story a neutral example of real-world clinical practice.
If Jane’s situation attracts you, the relevant starting tensions are different. Her mother has died, she is avoiding home, and the diner is important to her immediate circumstances. A reader may prefer that everyday workplace setting to a rehabilitation environment. Another may be interested specifically in two people whose encounters are difficult to interpret. Neither reason establishes that Blue is gentler, more explicit, happier or less troubling than Ever. Those would require different evidence.
The safest first route for someone planning both is the publisher’s order. The change of focal couple helps explain why the two premises feel distinct, but it does not by itself certify that reading Blue first preserves all background information. If you possess Blue already, decide whether your priority is that particular pair or encountering Paper Love from its opening. Our guide to standalones and interconnected romances explains the wider difference between understanding a book and preserving earlier discoveries.
The two paper-related features documented for these editions are a flipbook and origami folding instructions. Hotel’s Ever page and her Blue page identify them. A flipbook involves movement produced by turning through a sequence of images; origami instructions invite folding. That is a different kind of encounter with the object from looking at a full-page piece of lettering.
Someone who enjoys doing something with a book’s visual material may therefore find Paper Love especially interesting to investigate in print. Someone who prefers uninterrupted reading may care little about those activities and choose on the couples instead. Neither response is a verdict on the prose. Also, the existence of folding instructions is not permission to assume that pages must be removed from the novel: follow the actual edition’s instructions rather than inventing a craft procedure from its promotional description.
Dark Ivy: keep Eden and William together in sequence
The order is Dark Ivy – Wenn ich falle, then Dark Ivy – Halt mich fest. Unlike the pair changes above, these titles follow Eden and William. The publisher explicitly calls the second a continuation of the first. This is the clearest place to protect sequence: a reader interested in their relationship should begin at the beginning rather than selecting the second subtitle as a separate romance. Rowohlt’s Dark-Academia-Duett page confirms the two positions.
The opening premise introduces Eden Collins arriving at Woodford Academy with a scholarship and wanting to belong. William Grantham III belongs to the social situation she encounters. That makes Dark Ivy a choice about entering an institution and negotiating a new social environment, alongside its romantic relationship. It is a different invitation from returning to the Blakely family or meeting someone through treatment or a diner.
You can compare those entry situations without demanding plot revelations. Are you more interested in a home that already carries history, a place where physical recovery shapes daily life, a workplace that becomes a refuge, or an unfamiliar academy where belonging matters? These are four distinct reasons to open Hotel’s books. They do not require ranking one heroine’s difficulties against another’s or turning vulnerable circumstances into a competition for the darkest story.
Once you choose Eden and William, avoid the longer synopsis for Halt mich fest until after the first volume if surprises matter to you. Continuation descriptions naturally refer to conditions produced by the previous book. You need the title and position to plan your reading; you do not need to inspect the later crisis to prove that volume two exists. This guide deliberately leaves that aftermath out of its comparison.
The dark-academia designation also needs to do the right amount of work. It identifies the publisher’s framing and the institutional atmosphere, not a guarantee of supernatural events. The author separately lists Rabenblut, whose official premise does introduce a very different imaginative element. Do not combine that title with Dark Ivy merely because both can look mysterious. Hotel’s authorship is not evidence that their characters share a world, and an academy label alone does not assign a novel to young adult fiction.
For a broader discussion of academic atmosphere and institutional power, see dark academia and romance. Use that background to formulate your own questions, rather than importing every feature of the aesthetic into Eden’s story. An appealing campus mood does not establish a specific teacher–student pairing, a secret society or a fantasy system in an individual book.
Both Dark Ivy pages describe blackout poetry in the interior. The first and the second refer to that feature. In general, blackout poetry reveals selected words against obscured surrounding text. The visual selection differs from both illustrated sayings and sequential flipbook images. That is a useful reason to compare available interior previews if you enjoy visual writing; it is not an invitation to infer extra narrative chapters or the exact function of every poem without seeing it.
Lost Girls: separate the next pairing from the publication date
The publisher introduces Lost Girls specifically as New Adult, rather than treating the college setting as an automatic young-adult classification.
As of 25 October 2026, the German publisher dates Breathing for the First Time to 16 September 2025. Its official premise concerns Darcy, her controlling husband Jason and her encounter with Ellis while contemplating escape. Hiding for the Last Time is announced for 11 December 2026 and centres on Blake Whitney, Bexley College and lecturer Matthew Hunt. The Lost Girls series page separates their positions and marks the second as independently readable.
This matters for a reader looking for another same-couple duet after Dark Ivy. The shared Lost Girls banner does not mean Darcy and Ellis remain the central pair in the next book. It also matters for someone who wants a whole two-book set immediately: an announcement and a preorder are not a completed publication history. The author’s homepage confirms the December date; release plans can change after this check.
Darcy’s starting situation warrants plain language. The official premise describes monitoring and punishment by her husband. Choosing this book for a story about leaving a harmful relationship is different from choosing it because a football-star spouse sounds glamorous. The football context describes part of her circumstances; it is not enough to recommend the novel as a light sports romance. This does not supply a complete warning list or describe the resolution, but it keeps the recommendation faithful to what is publicly stated.
Blake’s announced premise concerns returning to college with gaps in her memory and an unexplained difficulty with a lecturer. That gives interested readers a reason to note the future title without constructing an explanation for the memory loss, guessing the relationship’s outcome or treating publisher questions as answers. If this is the pairing that attracts you, save the precise title and recheck its release record when you are ready. Reading Darcy first can be a choice to enter the series in order, while the publisher’s independence statement allows a different entry decision later.
The advertised first-printing edge decoration belongs to the edition decision. It does not turn either Lost Girls volume into a third novel or establish that a later printing lacks the story. If the finish matters, verify the exact copy. If your priority is reading Blake now, decoration does not solve the more basic question of whether her volume has been released.
Discuss the books without mixing reading experiences
For a shared reading, the changes of couple give you a useful invitation. With Blakely, propose meeting Ivy on her return before comparing Aubree’s arrival in the same circle. With Paper Love, the difference between physical care and a workplace setting lets you discuss which circumstances drew you toward each protagonist. These are questions about your interest that need not reveal either relationship’s destination.
With Dark Ivy, agree to finish Wenn ich falle before discussing the presentation of Halt mich fest. With Lost Girls, separate a discussion of Darcy’s published novel from expectations about Blake’s announcement. Readers can talk about anticipation without pretending to know a future text. Each conversation then has a clear subject: an available novel, a continuation needing context, or an announced premise whose actual reading experience cannot yet be assessed. Friends can also choose different Hotel starting points without confusing that preference with a disagreement over the official sequence.
Leave with a relationship plan, not an accidental duplicate
Keep the shared words in perspective: the Ivy in a character’s name does not turn the Blakely introduction into a Dark Ivy prequel. Identify the people and the series together. A familiar word can guide a search, but it cannot establish the narrative connection your reading plan needs.
For a first Hotel choice, write down the people as well as the title: Ivy and Asher in It was always you; Abbi and David in Ever; Eden and William beginning in Wenn ich falle; Darcy in the published first Lost Girls volume. If a friend names Aubree, Jane or Blake, you can now locate that recommendation without confusing a new pairing with the next stage of another relationship.
Then match language, full title and series position to the edition. A translated product description is not proof that the novel itself has been translated, and an English-looking title is not a language field. Retain the verified German title when asking a librarian or bookseller to identify a corresponding edition; do not create a literal translated title and assume a publisher has used it.
Finally, choose the visual experience only if you want it: lettering for the described Blakely editions, paper movement and folding for Paper Love, blackout poetry for Dark Ivy. A second format can offer a different way to encounter the same novel without supplying a new installment. For a separate romance choice after deciding which Hotel relationship interests you, browse the Alisson Bento book catalog.
