The Fifth Avenue Story Society - Rachel Hauck

Five people, with only tenuous connections at most, receive mysterious invitations to a Story Society meeting in a special room at the Fifth Avenue Library.  As they struggle to find out what or who could have brought them together, they begin to form relationships and find themselves looking forward to and depending on this strange group more and more.  Could they have been brought together to simply share their stories, or will they find a bigger purpose within the sharing?

This was my favorite Rachel Hauck book in awhile; I'm almost glad I didn't realize it was connected to The Writing Desk, because I didn't love that one.  However, this one was filled with such an amazing cast of characters, all of whom had compelling stories to tell, that I had a hard time letting go of them with the last page.  I found myself equally drawn into almost all of their points of view, and I was eager to see their secrets revealed and their wounds from their pasts healed. 

I give this book 4.5 stars; I still don't love the Gordon Phipps Roth storyline that carried over from The Writing Desk, but it was important to Jett's storyline.  Otherwise, I loved the interplay between the characters, and the tough choices they had to make with revealing the truths in their lives.

You can find The Fifth Avenue Story Society HERE.
You can find the author's website HERE.

I received a digital copy of this book, via NetGalley, from the publisher, in exchange for my honest review.

The Writing Desk - Rachel Hauck

Tenley Roth should be flying high; she's just won a coveted award for her debut novel that has sold very well, and her boyfriend has just proposed.  However, the award was one named after her great-great-grandfather, so she doubts the integrity of having received it, and now she's under deadline for a second book, for which she has zero inspiration.  On top of that, the mother who left Tenley when she was a child has now called imploring her estranged daughter for help through chemotherapy, just as her fiance wants them to fly to Paris.  Should Tenley take the chance to get to know her mother?  Can she find the seeds of a successful second novel in the hidden corners of an old mansion in Florida?  Or will she find something even better?

There are several intertwined stories within this book, alternating between the Guilded Age and Tenley's contemporary  life.  It always feels a little jarring to bounce between such disparate scenes, but I was intrigued and curious to find out how the stories would tie together.  I appreciated Birdie's determination in an era where women were seemingly content to be married off to the men their fathers agreed upon.  I didn't quite get Tenley's fascination with a robe and slippers that belonged to someone she hadn't known, but her struggles to find whether she was more than her family's legacy kept me rooting for her.  While I felt that the book contained too many character and scene shifts to really get invested in the characters lives, the link between the families and generations kept me guessing.

I give this book 3 stars; I think I could have been fully engaged in either Birdie's story, or Tenley's story, but the jumping back and forth just left me feeling disconnected from either of them a bit too much.  Maybe if their generations could have been written close enough that they could have actually met at the end, that might have helped solidify the relationship.  I have, however, enjoyed all of the previous works of Rachel Hauck's that I've read, and I will continue to look forward to any future novels!

You can find The Writing Desk HERE.
You can find the author's website HERE.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.

The Wedding Chapel - Rachel Hauck

Jimmy Westbrook, affectionately known as "Coach" to generations of Heart's Bend football players and fans, has kept a secret from most of the people who think they know him.  Sixty years ago, he built a wedding chapel on his father's land, for the woman he intended to marry.  Sixty years later, he's still single and figures maybe it's time to sell the chapel.  First, however, a magazine wants to photograph the chapel, and sends Taylor Branson, a former Heart's Bend resident, as the photographer.  Taylor's own marriage and family issues are tangled in knots, but she senses something in Jimmy and the chapel that needs to be settled.  Sixty years and 3 generations of secrets might bring more truth than anybody bargained for.

I was looking for a light romantic book to escape into for some easy summer reading, and a book called The Wedding Chapel seemed just the ticket.  However, much like the characters, I got more than I bargained for.  Without giving any spoilers, this book gives the reader a lot to think about regarding marriages and how lightly some folks enter into them, what gives folks the right to be called family, and how to change the family legacy one's been handed.  Even with the knowledge that a character is trying to change the patterns he lives out, he acknowledges that "it was hard to harvest words that were never sown."  The book also highlighted how seeing people you love work through their own difficulties can give you courage for your own.  "[Their] journey had righted a lot of relationships this past year and set a course for new ones.  But not without the tears that come with confession, repentance and forgiveness."  Even with courage to change, change is not easy or without consequences.

There were so many good things about this book, but there were a few that gave me pause and kept me from rating it higher.  Every character seemed to have secrets, and while they were hinted at heavily, not every secret was eventually revealed.  Also, while the author did a great job of taking the spotlighted relationships of her main characters seriously, there were several major issues, life choices, and character traits that were brushed aside lightly and almost winked at, as if not a big deal.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book.  I liked that relationships weren't perfect, and that there were consequences to misunderstandings and bad choices.  I also can't help but like a character who's "stuck more this place than Lorelai Gilmore is to Stars Hollow." Ahem.
I give this book 4 stars.

You can find A Wedding Chapel HERE.
You can find the Author's website HERE.

I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.