The Book Club Hotel by Sarah Morgan

4*

The Book Club Hotel is, at its heart, a story of enduring friendship between three college roommates approaching their forties, but it’s also about the power of love in all its forms: romantic, platonic, maternal, and familial. As a bibliophile, I also appreciate that it’s about sharing books and how an annual tradition that Anna, Claudia, and Erica share began twenty years before when they decided to swap books of their preferred genres and then discuss them.

For the first time, after postponing their summer gathering due to the devastating break-up of Claudia’s 10-year relationship, they decide to meet close to Christmas. The surprise is that take-charge Erica has chosen a quaint Vermont Inn run by the young widow and single mom Hattie rather than the typical urban boutique hotel, and this uncharacteristic move has her friends worried. Claudia has just lost her job as a chef in CA and Anna is feeling anticipatory grief about her twins leaving for college, so it’s inevitable that their week will be full of some hard conversations, surprising revelations, and much soul-searching. Morgan deftly juggles all four women’s stories and the emotions they struggle with while navigating the unpredictable path of love.

Morgan is always dependable for gifting readers with a Christmas story with warmth and heart. In The Book Club Hotel, she’s offers up three different romances including friends-to-lovers and a long-term marriage that affirms that enduring love does exist while also acknowledging, through Claudia’s story, that there is power in loving yourself and focusing your attention on your passion rather than on a person. Treat yourself and pick this one up.

I received this ARC from Canary Street Press through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are strictly my own.

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman

5*

Nina Hill, die-hard bookworm and trivia champ, lives a relatively solitary life in Los Angeles surrounded by books both at home and at work. Her favorite friend is her cat Phil with whom she has two-sided conversations, a consequence of her over-active imagination and loneliness. It’s not difficult to see that her need for structure and extreme social anxiety are the result of abandonment, first by the father she never knew and then by her successful, globe-trotting mother who left parenting to a nanny. Her “anxiety was like her anti-superpower, the one that came out unbidden in a crisis.” So what’s she to do when, on the cusp of her 30th birthday, she learns that her father has died and left her an inheritance and a motley group of relatives? Add to the mix a trivia adversary, who occupies too much of her thoughts and whose presence seems to cancel out her anxiety, and her carefully constructed life starts pulling apart at the seams. Is the possibility of belonging and loving worth the risk or will she push everyone away to keep safe in her cocoon?

Waxman uses a third-person narrator who invites readers into Nina’s quirky, humorous thoughts and life accompanied by a cornucopia of wacky friends, family and the unique character of the City of LA. It’s a thoroughly engaging story with many LOL moments and a sweet romance, too. Highly recommended.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Berkley Publishing Group through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.