Book Club

[lork]

The mid west (Kansas!} has been "snowed in", so I've been reading a lot.  Elin Hilderbrand's Winter Street, Winter Stroll and Winter Storms have really hit the spot!  These novels are all Christmas oriented, and take place on the ritzy east coast. . .They also all include bad weather!  Each chapter is devoted to one of the many characters/extended family members.  This gifted family has so many situations (from Mama running off with the visiting Santa Claus to little brother being captured in Afghanistan) and really, doesn't every family face all kinds of drama. . . Life just goes on and on. . .Anyway, I'm down to the final volume, Winter Solstice. . . These books have been a wonderful diversion, and hopefully Spring is just around the corner!  

[SWEET]

---

@lork wrote:

The mid west (Kansas!} has been "snowed in", so I've been reading a lot.  Elin Hilderbrand's Winter Street, Winter Stroll and Winter Storms have really hit the spot!  These novels are all Christmas oriented, and take place on the ritzy east coast. . .They also all include bad weather!  Each chapter is devoted to one of the many characters/extended family members.  This gifted family has so many situations (from Mama running off with the visiting Santa Claus to little brother being captured in Afghanistan) and really, doesn't every family face all kinds of drama. . . Life just goes on and on. . .Anyway, I'm down to the final volume, Winter Solstice. . . These books have been a wonderful diversion, and hopefully Spring is just around the corner!  

---

@lork 

One of my all time series and I'm not big into Xmas books!  I gave all of them 3 stars.  There was not one that was better that the others to me I guess.  I have to read my reviews again to see. 

I've loved every one of her books (except couldn't get into the Paradise series (at least the one I read) and still need to read Swan Song.  She has a new book coming out with her daughter (looks sort of like Young Adult), The Academy. 

[FranandZoe]

---

@lork wrote:

The mid west (Kansas!} has been "snowed in", so I've been reading a lot.  Elin Hilderbrand's Winter Street, Winter Stroll and Winter Storms have really hit the spot!  These novels are all Christmas oriented, and take place on the ritzy east coast. . .They also all include bad weather!  Each chapter is devoted to one of the many characters/extended family members.  This gifted family has so many situations (from Mama running off with the visiting Santa Claus to little brother being captured in Afghanistan) and really, doesn't every family face all kinds of drama. . . Life just goes on and on. . .Anyway, I'm down to the final volume, Winter Solstice. . . These books have been a wonderful diversion, and hopefully Spring is just around the corner!  

---

@lorkI loved those books and that family.  Really hated for the series to end.

I've loved all of Elin's books that I've read.

[nwbabs]

Finished Kingmaker: Pamela Harriman's Astonishing Life of Power, Seduction, and Intrigue by Sonia Purnell yesterday. It was quite the read down the rabbit hole with the author's meticulous research on the life of Pamela Digby Churchill Hayward Harriman. 

A laundry list of mostly last century world political and industry leaders and events are aired out in the book due to their association. The seemingly exhaustive read, on many levels, shines a bright light on the life of a woman with many attributes.

Thank you @Sooner for mentioning this book back in December. Cheers!

[CANDLEQUEEN]

---

@dmod nj wrote:

Hi

Thank you, @icezeus  , for this month's thread.  

Thank you all for posting.  I like finding new authors for me to check out.  

I started to listen to Beg, Borrow Or Steal from Sarah Adams.  I think I may give up on it. It's not pulling me into the story.  I liked the other two in this series, but this one.........well..........I'm not sure. 

I listened to the Morning Glory series by Liz Talley. She is a new author for me. I enjoyed them all. I recommend them all.  Some themes throughout the series were finding put what you want to do, not going along with family expectations, and finding love when you don't expect it. 

I LOVED Kennedy Ryan's, Before I Let Go!   It could be intense at times. The story was real, raw and sad at times.  HIGHLY recommend this story.  Kennedy Ryan is a new author for me. 

Up next for me are the following: 

To Sicily With Love, Jennifer Probst  

The Shack, Joanne DeMaio

---

@dmod nj Thanks for the review of Kennedy Ryan's Before I let Go, it is on my TBR list way at the top.....I have never read abything by this author, but am looking very forward to getting it!!!

[dmod nj]

@CANDLEQUEEN  I hope you enjoy it.   

[SWEET]

Finished Mazeltov by Eli Zuzovsky.  I tried at least 4 times to win this on Goodreads and I finally did.  I was so disappointed.  I can't explain the book because it was so fractured.  You can see the plot on any book site.  I hardly give out 2 stars to books I finish but this was one of them. 

[spumoni99]

I finished the Cher memoir last week, it was very interesting. I am looking forward to part two in November.

I am now listening to an audiobook called "The Elephant Whisperer".  This is also very good, I love elephants.  This man wrote two books and after he passed away his wife wrote a third book about Thula Thula game reserve.

[pateacher]

I am reading Little Souls  by Sandra Dallas for  March book club.  It is set  in the 1918 Spanish Flu outbreak in Denver during WWI.  Brought back some unpleasant memories of Covid and the difficulty medical institutions had in keeping up with the pandemic's onset, especially in larger cities.

One of the main characters is a nurse who endures long hours in aiding flu victims.

Domestic abuse also plays a role in the plot.

Next up: Marie Benedict's  Queens of Crime

[smoky22]

I finished Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers.  The cover makes it look like a cozy.  It isn't.  It's about a journalist investigating a woman's claim that her daughter is the result of a virgin birth.  And then the story becomes more than that.  It is interesting (in a way) but I took nothing away from it except maybe you need to take your happiness where you can from small pleasures. I can't say I'm glad I read it.