Book Club Reviews and Menus (Month 5) – See what I’ve been reading this month and check out a sample menu to enjoy with your friends at your next book club meeting.  I am always looking for new recommendations and would love to hear what YOU are currently reading…please leave a comment with your favorite suggestions!  Click here to subscribe and receive next month’s reviews sent directly to your inbox!

Here is a sample Light and Refreshing Menu to serve at your next Book Club meeting:  Feta Honey Crostini, Greek Chicken Salad with Pita Croutons, Fruit Skewers with Honey Yogurt Dip, & Fat Free Blueberry Lemon Muffins.

 

A Man Called Ove | by Frederik Backman

This book has everything – tears, laughs, charming characters, and great writing style.  No matter who you are, you will relate to something in this book.  What a beautiful story of a man who lives and loves uniquely, and in the process touches so many different people.  I just discovered this author and am so excited to read more from him.

 

Under the Wide and Starry Sky | by Nancy Horan

This is the fictional account of Robert Louis Stevenson and his early years as an author during the time he meets his future wife.  Another historical love story for those who are intrigued by the personal lives of famous classic authors.  I have to admit, I am still working on this one but so far, so good!

 

The Rosie Effect | by Graeme Simsion

In this sequel to The Rosie Project (where professor Don Tillman searches for a wife using rather unconventional methods), the story of Don and Rosie’s next chapter in life is played out.  When Rosie announces she is pregnant, Don panics and wonders how a baby will fit into his highly structured life.  Don is such a loveable character, despite his extreme quirks and misguided efforts, that you can’t help but root for him.  Another witty and heartwarming book by this author.  A fast, funny read!

 

Next Month’s Selections:

Here’s To Us | by Elin Hilderbrand

Amazon Description: Laurel Thorpe, Belinda Rowe, and Scarlett Oliver share only two things; a love for the man they all married, Deacon Thorpe–a celebrity chef with an insatiable appetite for life–and a passionate dislike of one another. All three are remarkable, spirited women, but they couldn’t be more different. Laurel: Deacon’s high school sweetheart and an effortlessly beautiful social worker; Belinda: a high-maintenance Hollywood diva; and Scarlett: a sexy southern belle floating by on her family money and her fabulous looks. They’ve established a delicate understanding over the years–they avoid each other at all costs.

But their fragile detente threatens to come crashing down after Deacon’s tragic death on his favorite place on earth: a ramshackle Nantucket summer cottage. Deacon’s final wish was for his makeshift family to assemble on his beloved Nantucket to say good-bye. Begrudgingly, Laurel, Belinda, and Scarlett gather on the island as once again, as in each of their marriages, they’re left to pick up Deacon’s mess. Now they’re trapped in the crowded cottage where they all made their own memories–a house that they now share in more ways than one–along with the children they raised with Deacon, and his best friend. Laurel, Belinda, and Scarlett each had an unbreakable bond with Deacon–and they all have secrets to hide.

Before the weekend is over, there are enough accusations, lies, tears, and drama to turn even the best of friends–let alone three women who married the same man–into adversaries. As his unlikely family says good-bye to the man who brought them together–for better or worse–will they be able to put aside their differences long enough to raise a glass in Deacon’s honor?

The Lake House | by Kate Morton

Amazon Description:
Living on her family’s idyllic lakeside estate in Cornwall, England, Alice Edevane is a bright, inquisitive, and precociously talented sixteen-year-old who loves to write stories.

One midsummer’s eve, after a beautiful party drawing hundreds of guests to the estate has ended, the Edevanes discover that their youngest child, eleven-month-old Theo, has vanished without a trace. He is never found, and the family is torn apart, the house abandoned.

Decades later, Alice is living in London, having enjoyed a long successful career as a novelist. Miles away, Sadie Sparrow, a young detective in the London police force, is staying at her grandfather’s house in Cornwall. While out walking one day, she stumbles upon the old Edevane estate—now crumbling and covered with vines. Her curiosity is sparked, setting off a series of events that will bring her and Alice together and reveal shocking truths about a past long gone…yet more present than ever.

A lush, atmospheric tale of intertwined destinies from a masterful storyteller, The Lake House is an enthralling, thoroughly satisfying read.

Circling The Sun | by Paula McLain

Amazon Description: Circling the Sun brings to life a fearless and captivating woman—Beryl Markham, a record-setting aviator caught up in a passionate love triangle with safari hunter Denys Finch Hatton and Karen Blixen, who as Isak Dinesen wrote the classic memoir Out of Africa.

Brought to Kenya from England as a child and then abandoned by her mother, Beryl is raised by both her father and the native Kipsigis tribe who share his estate. Her unconventional upbringing transforms Beryl into a bold young woman with a fierce love of all things wild and an inherent understanding of nature’s delicate balance. But even the wild child must grow up, and when everything Beryl knows and trusts dissolves, she is catapulted into a string of disastrous relationships.

Beryl forges her own path as a horse trainer, and her uncommon style attracts the eye of the Happy Valley set, a decadent, bohemian community of European expats who also live and love by their own set of rules. But it’s the ruggedly charismatic Denys Finch Hatton who ultimately helps Beryl navigate the uncharted territory of her own heart. The intensity of their love reveals Beryl’s truest self and her fate: to fly.

 

 

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