“The Princess Bride” Book Discussion and Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting Recipe

Buttercup is an “impossibly lovely” milkmaid living on a farm in the fictional city of Florin. There is a farm boy named Westley who loves her, and says so with every utterance of his famous quote “As you wish.” He travels to America to obtain a fortune so he can marry her, but his ship…

A Wrinkle in Time Book Discussion and French Toast Cupcakes Recipe

Synopsis: Meg is hot-tempered and awkward at school. The only person who seems to really understand her is her odd youngest brother, Charles Wallace. He is exceptionally intelligent and eloquent for his age, but then, both of their parents are brilliant physicists. His father, however, Charles Wallace has never met. Sent away on a government…

The Lost Castle by Kristy Cambron

A castle in a forest inspires the stories of three women, scattered across centuries. Adeline is engaged to a Duke in 18th century France, though her opinions are more aligned with the “rabble” than the wealthy aristocracy to which she will belong. But when the Duke’s castle is burned by angry serfs, and Adeline as…

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier

“Rachel, my torment.” Philip Ashley lives in a Cornish manor with his Uncle Ambrose who essentially raised him. Both men are contented bachelors until a woman named Rachel lures Ambrose into a sudden marriage that ends tragically. When Rachel returns from Italy alone, Philip is determined to be quickly rid of the witch and her…

The Address by Fiona Davis

The Dakota in New York is America’s first luxury apartment building, designed by the architect Theodore Camden. In 1884, a woman working at a hotel named Sara Smythe earns Theo’s respect and admiration, and he hires her to be the managerette of his new apartments, set to rival New York’s famous Fifth Avenue. But their…

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Daniel Sempere is a ten-year-old boy whose father owns an antique bookshop in Spain. His mother died when he was young, and nothing of note had occurred in his life until his father takes him to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a secret library that contains forgotten or protected stories. He is to select one…

The Child by Fiona Barton

Emma is an at-home book editor, riddled with anxiety, cowed by her domineering mother, Jude and her unusual upbringing. She wishes she knew who her father was, and struggles to forgive her mother for kicking her out of the house as a young teenager. Jude never got over the subsequent loss of her charismatic boyfriend,…