A Christmas Feast and Other Stories by Katie Fforde

 

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 As I've said before Katie Fforde is one of my go-to authors when I want a comforting read. 

I was pleased to find this collection of short stories from 2014 a few months back, and have faithfully kept my promise not to dip into it until the Christmas season arrived. 

However, I ripped into it a few days ago, and as the author promises in the forward, these short stories are perfect for those times you want to read but can't settle down for very long. A bite here, a bite there of stories involving women during the holidays in a variety of settings: Scotland on New Year's Eve, moving into a new cottage the day before Christmas Eve; going away on a post-Christmas vacation with a partner that seems to have lost his spark. 

Each story is short: anywhere from ten pages up to 25 or so. Just enough to whet your appetite. It was fun to read stories where romance bloomed in a short time, in a variety of circumstances. Who knew you could meet the love of your life bumping into his cart in a grocery store? Or, failing to do your PR job correctly with an author book signing, and deciding to track him down to sign bookplates to redeem yourself--and instead, finding out he's not so bad, after all. 

I found myself reading stories before bed, at lunch, while waiting for supper to finish cooking. They really are quick reads with guaranteed charming endings. It was refreshing to read a collection of stories and to take a break from a longer novel. 

Thanks Katie Fforde for delivering a lovely collection of stories centered around Christmas. Perfect for anyone who likes a bit of gentle romance.

Rating: 4/6 for short, contemporary Christmas stories that help set your mood for the holidays. Take a break from your busy days and read one while the cookies bake!

Available in paperback. 

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A Christmas Feast and Other Stories by Katie Fforde

It's December!! Holiday Reads are in the House Wahoo!

Reading holiday novels in December has become an annual tradition for me and something that I look forward to every year. I usually accumulate a few in November and have to sit on my hands to keep myself from not starting them before Thanksgiving. I managed to only read one ahead of December, so I consider that a big win for me. 

Here's what I'll be reading to get myself into the holiday mood:

I haven't read any of this series, and I'm not starting with the first one, but I don't care! Love me some Jenny Colgan. 

A sweet little non-fiction book about achieving comfort at home, American hygge style. 

I'm returning to Charleston again for a ghostly tale in my favorite series. 

Saw this at the bookstore and it was an impulse buy. Don't know much about it! 

 I have a love/hate relationship with Anita Hughes. Her novels are so outside of my reality, but I can't seem to stay away. 

Returning to Ireland for Christmas. Love this series. 

Christmas and romance go together, and I can't resist it. 

I'll probably be reading more than these, too. I'd like to try some cozy mysteries with a holiday theme. My Christmas tree is up and decorated, I'm working on the rest of the house (forcing myself to keep it simple!), and I'm ready to be on the couch with a cup of tea (I love tea AND coffee), a blanket, and some mint chocolate Hershey's kisses. Bring on the holidays!

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It's December!! Holiday Reads are in the House Wahoo!

Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak

I took a break from my lighter holiday reads to read Seven Days of Us. I'm on the fence about this novel; not sure just how much I liked the novel, even after finishing it and letting it sit with me for a bit. 

The Birch family is gathering for Christmas, and it's a Christmas with a little twist.  Olivia, oldest of two daughters, is returning home from Liberia after spending weeks there treating patients of a horrible epidemic-the Haag, with a fatality rate of 80%.  Due to her return from Liberia, and possible exposure to the Haag, Olivia will require a quarantine for seven days.  This means Olivia and her family: parents and younger sister Phoebe will be in isolation over Christmas. Spending the holiday at their country home, Weyfield Hall, is something none of them are really super excited about--but it's tradition!

There's a whole lot going on in this small family.  Father Andrew is a restaurant critic who is bored with his career and increasingly fond of his days as a correspondent in Lebanon, before his growing family required he give it up. Mother Emma has just been diagnosed with cancer, and has decided to keep it a secret until after the holidays.  Phoebe, the spoiled younger sister, is newly engaged to George, and busy thinking about her wedding, but not really much about her marriage.  There's also Jesse, a young man from California who is in England searching for his biological father.  Guess who that is?

The novel covers the seven days of the quarantine, which run to just before Christmas, to December 29th.  Olivia's got a secret of her own:  she was intimately involved with another doctor in Liberia, which was forbidden.  If they are found out, it could mean a lot of trouble.  While she waits with her family, taking her temperature everyday, hoping she wasn't infected with the virus, all sorts of things are happening.  Jesse is nearby, trying to gather the courage to try one more time to meet Andrew; Andrew is trying to figure out how to respond to Jesse's emails, and explain his unfaithfulness to Emma in 1980, when they were first together.  Emma is trying to keep the whole family together by cooking a lot and forcing herself to be jolly.  Phoebe and Olivia have a less than happy relationship, and aren't very interested in getting along this Christmas, either.  But things happen, secrets are exposed, and people finally start to have conversations that help to create a lot of change not only in each person, but in the family dynamics.  I'm leaving out a big piece of the puzzle, because I  don't want to give the whole plot away.  

I read most of the novel not liking any of the characters. All, even Olivia, were self-absorbed, annoying, and one dimensional.  There is no neat conclusion, as you would expect.  Things improve, and people are changing, but the novel doesn't end with a lovely red bow.  That, I realize I like the most about the novel.  It also had me thinking about traditions, and why we keep plugging away at them, even when they just don't fit anymore, and it's time for an update.  I think traditions, like every other part of our lives, are meant to guide us, but should be able to change with the times and the people. The Birch family are trapped in their traditions.  It takes some pretty significant events to shake them up, but all for the better. 

Rating:  3/6 for a novel about family, traditions, change, and recognizing nothing stays the same.  I didn't connect with any of the characters, but I enjoyed the novel.

Available in hardcover and ebook. 

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Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak

Hot Flash Holidays by Nancy Thayer

Once again, I read the sequel and missed the original novel.  Hot Flash Holidays is the follow-up to The Hot Flash Club, but I didn't feel too left out by not reading it first.  

Hot Flash Holidays actually takes place over a year, beginning at Christmas, and ending the next year at Christmas.  Five friends, all in their 50's and 60's, begin Christmas with high hopes for happy times with family and friends. Marilyn, Polly, Shirley, Faye, and Alice are all at crossroads in their lives, but none of them are prepared for the ups and downs that life throws at them as their Christmas celebrations fall short of their hoped for good times.  It's an indication of what's to come in the new year, as each woman struggles to find what makes them happy, and balance what they want with the demands of boyfriends, grown children, and for Marilyn, an aging mother who comes to stay with her for an extended visit.  As the year rolls on, and all of the holidays come and go, will each of the women find that elusive "something" that they are seeking?

I have to say it did take me a few chapters before I got all of the characters straight.  I suppose if I'd read the first novel I wouldn't have had that problem.  But each woman's personality soon came through, and I could keep them all straight.  It really was refreshing to read about women of a certain age who still had to work through life's unexpected problems.  Boyfriends with performance issues, boyfriends who don't always say the right thing or show appreciation; children that move away and create lives that don't include their parents.  Trying to figure out how to handle an aging mother who may or may not be showing signs of senility.  All while still working and taking care of themselves.  

Life's problems don't begin in our 20's and magically come to an end in our 30's; we still have the same issues as we get older, but the drama is certainly dialed down and we're less willing to put our happiness last.

I enjoyed getting to know the members of the hot flash club.  This was my first Nancy Thayer novel, and I will certainly read more of her novels.  

Rating:  6/10 for an enjoyable sequel about friends who support each other through a year of ups and downs.  You don't have to read the first novel The Hot Flash Club to catch on quickly with this novel, but some may find it easier to keep the characters straight.  A fun read for anyone who enjoys contemporary women's fiction.  

Available in paperback and e-book.  Originally published in 2005 and reissued in 2016. 
  

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Hot Flash Holidays by Nancy Thayer

The Hundred Gifts by Jennifer Scott

Two days before Christmas and I'm delivering my last Christmas themed review.  I've had a great time reading books that remind me of the excitement and anticipation that always comes in December.  There's a tradition many people have of getting new pajamas on Christmas Eve; my tradition has always been having a new book to read for Christmas.  I may not get much time to read on Christmas Day, but having that book is important.  I remember getting books for Christmas from Santa, and carving out my spot under the tree to lay and read after the chaos of Christmas morning.  It was the one time of year that I actually received books as presents, and even though now I buy the book, it still thrills me to have a new book "under the tree".  

The Hundred Gifts by Jennifer Scott is about a woman who is at a crossroads in her life:  her children have both left the nest, her husband Gary is careening towards a mid-life crisis, and her weight keeps creeping up the scale.  Bren is pretty unhappy, and doesn't know what to do about it.  Visiting a local donut shop, she runs into a woman who is opening a business next door--a cooking class business--and Bren agrees to be the teacher for upcoming classes about creating an interesting Thanksgiving dinner.  She is a pretty good cook, but feels completely inadequate.  She convinces her mother and Aunt Cathy to join, sure no one will sign up.  An odd ball group of ladies sign up for the classes, and Bren has her work cut out for her.  

And then disaster strikes.  Virginia Marsh is a grumpy old lady who lives above the cooking class space, and won't put up with smelling burnt food and noisy people.  She ruins every cooking class by stomping down the stairs and interrupts the class with threats of calling the police and kicking them out.  She gives Bren serious doubts as to her ability to teach a class.  In the midst of this, and her husband's attempts to start a band in the basement, Bren is deeply unhappy.  She decides that perhaps Virginia needs some kindness in her life, and together the ladies decide they will give 100 gifts to Virginia.  Killing that annoyance with kindness, sounds like a good plan, right?  

Except the ladies don't know Virginia's story, and it is a sad one to tell.  That story, told alongside Bren's attempts to turn her marriage around and find a new purpose in life, make up the bulk of this novel.  Sometimes Christmas is a reminder of all we have lost, and what we used to have.  It is a time for reflection, and a time to decide how to begin again.  

This novel was not as light-hearted as I had expected it to be, but that didn't diminish my reading experience.  It was about ordinary people, in an ordinary time, dealing with ordinary problems.  And mostly it was about finding friendship in extraordinary places.  

Rating:  7/10 for a novel that uses Christmas as a background to explore friendship, life changes, and the power of giving.  

Available in paperback and e-book.

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The Hundred Gifts by Jennifer Scott