Winter Book List #1
I made two must read winter book lists this season. I picked a plethora of genres for these lists. A few are cozy holidays vibes, a couple are mysteries, plus there are the obvious “I’m trapped in winter situations”, and some are just excellent stories to cuddle up under a blanket and get lost in.
Enjoy! I hope you find something to snuggle up with in the coming months.
Book Number one: A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy
Purchase here: https://amzn.to/48OdxTp
I was first introduced to Maeve Binchy probably more than twenty years ago by my dear friend Annette. I began my Binchy reading journey with Circle of Friends. Do you remember that movie in the mid 90’s, with Minnie Driver? Well it’s based on Maeve Binchy’s book. So good.
If you love an easy read where quirky Irish characters might fall in love or redesign a holiday Inn, then this one is for you. Stoneybridge is a small town on the coast of Ireland, where everyone knows one another and has opinions about what the others are doing. Chicky Starr decides to make a mansion into a restful Inn. She is helped by Rigger who has a past as a bad boy, and Orla, Chicky’s niece. The Inn fills up for a week and Binchy’s storytelling has us captivated with humor and joy.
Link to purchase A Week in Winter here: https://amzn.to/48OdxTp
Book Number Two: The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon
In 1908 Sara Harrison Shea was found dead in a field behind her house soon after her own daughter died. Present day Ruthie lives in the same house with her mother and sister, Alice. When Alice goes missing Ruthie begins to discover things from the past. One of them being an old diary of Sara Harrison Shea under the floorboards. Can Ruthie stop history from repeating itself and find her sister?
Readers say of this book that it is a page turning psychological thriller with complex female characters and ghostly secrets.
Link to purchase The Winter People here: https://amzn.to/3Z2fsAl
Book Number Three: Always, in December by Emily Stone
Josie has a routine every December of sending a letter home to London after she lost her parents years earlier. But this year as she heads to send off her mail an interaction will change the course of her life. She collides with a handsome stranger, Max, who also wants to avoid the Christmas season. They spend the day together and Josie believes this could turn into something good. Until Max disappears without a word. Max had good reasons to to stay, and to go. Over the year they run into each other multiple times and in places across the world. They must decide if fate has a hand in this relationship.
Amazon says: A devastating, romantic, life-affirming love story. Always, in December will stay with readers/listeners long after they’ve finished the last chapter.
Link to purchase Always, in December here: https://amzn.to/4fB2m2M
Book number Four: In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende
Richard Bowmaster is a lonely professor living in Brooklyn when a huge snowstorm hits the area. His car hits Evelyn Ortega an undocumented woman from Guatemala. Soon she comes knocking on his door asking for help. He seeks advice from Lucia who is from Chile. All three of their lives intersect and become shaped by one another. Isabel Allende visits themes of love and justice in the world around us.
Readers say: A sweeping novel about the meaning of home, characters are heartfelt and raw in a timely story.
Link to purchase In the Midst of Winter here: https://amzn.to/48Og6Vx
Book Five: Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson
I have read multiple Sadeqa Johnson novels, and I love her storytelling. It is obvious she does research when writing books with a historical edge. This one is no different.
Born on a plantation in Charles City, Virginia, Pheby Delores Brown has lived a relatively sheltered life. Shielded by her mother’s position as the estate’s medicine woman and cherished by the Master’s sister, she is set apart from the others on the plantation, belonging to neither world.
But this special treatment will come to an end. When her promised freedom is taken away from her she is sent to a slave jail in Richmond Virgina where she is forced to barter love and freedom.
Readers say: This story is an immersive, captivating and intricately weaved together story of historical fiction.
Link to purchase Yellow Wife here: https://amzn.to/48Og6Vx
Book Number Six: Winter Street by Elin Hilderbrand
This is book one in a winter series of four books. It is a quick read and fun to get lost in the characters and their small town drama.
Kelly Quinn owns an Inn on Nantucket with his 2nd wife Mitzi and some of his children. Christmas is coming and Kelley is looking forward to getting the family together, but is feeling the stress of no guests at the Inn. And then things get worse when he walks in on Mitzi kissing Santa Claus, George the guy who's playing Santa at the inn's annual party. At the same time Kelly’s three older children each are battling their own dramas, and his youngest son is unreachable in Afghanistan. Kelley's ex-wife, nightly news anchor Margaret Quinn, might need to save Christmas at the Winter Street Inn.
Amazon readers say: Winter Street is heartwarming, entrancing and emotional, with likable characters and good pacing.
Link to purchase Winter Street here: https://amzn.to/3YMezuD
I’m working on list number two, I would love to hear your favorites. Please comment here with winter/holiday reads you love!
Happy Winter reading.
