Hotel Bars and the Art of Being Conscious

A "Top 100 Notable Indie" of 2021 —Shelf Unbound

Consciousness, experience & existence, friends & lovers, alcohol, meaning, life's journey—all the good stuff—are rolled together in this Gen X, coming-of-middle-age story. Driven in equal parts by characters, plot, and ideas, this book should not be missed.

"For those who enjoy an intelligent escape, Hotel Bars provides a thought-provoking and entertaining read... The story is well-plotted and colored with entertaining detail..." —BlueInk Review

"Delp's prose is smooth..." —Kirkus Reviews

"There are interesting insights about big questions throughout... Characters leave after last call a little more enlightened..." —Foreword Clarion Reviews

After dropping off her only son at a Swiss boarding school, independent and self-sufficient Daisy becomes a hotel bartender in order to pursue experience and search for meaning, looking to explore life's next stage. She befriends Coop, an advertising executive and bar patron, who is also a recent empty nester. Together, they attend a consciousness conference at which Daisy reconnects with Bianca, a neuroscientist and Daisy’s college roommate from many years prior.

The brilliant and hyper-connected Bianca, once a rising star in the neuroscience world, has semi-secretly worked on the development of mind-control drugs for the last two decades. She is recruited by a billionaire software mogul to help free his niece from a Japanese cult.

In parallel storylines, Bianca battles the cult and Daisy undertakes a backpacking pilgrimage to find the meaning of life. The intertwined plots explore the nature of consciousness and its implications for the human experience.

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