The war with Hybern has ended and now the city of starlight must be rebuilt. Feyre is looking for her new purpose in this time of peace, as well as a way to create and find peace. Nesta, however, is more bitter and self-inflicted with loneliness than ever, and not even Cassian, whom she risked…
Category: winter reads
“The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe” Book Discussion and Orange Marmalade Roll Recipe
Lucy is the youngest of four children who have been sent to the English countryside to live in a large, old manor house with an elderly gentleman until the bombings of London in WWII have ended. While exploring indoors on a rainy day, she crawls into a deep wardrobe, and out into the land of…
“Winter Rose” Book Discussion and Apple Blackberry Pie Bites Recipe
Winter Rose by Patricia A. McKillip “I walked through a storm and fell asleep in an empty house; when I woke there was a dead man beside me…” Two sisters are preparing for harvest to end and winter to arrive, one is engaged to a farmer, and one is as wild as the autumn winds…
“Once Upon a River” Book Discussion and Easy Apple Cinnamon Buns Recipe
Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield At winter solstice in the Swan at Radcot, a weathered pub beside the Thames river, where stories are told and retold round the bar and a roaring fire, a man washes up, banged-up and nearly dead, with a very young girl, as lifeless as a mannequin. Until her…
“One Day in December” Book Discussion and Chocolate Cupcake Recipe With Chocolate Mousse Topping
A single, sarcastic girl makes eye contact across a crowded bus station with a handsome boy, and wishes she got off the bus and got his number. Then the girl—Laurie—spends the next year searching for him in every pub in London. A year later at a Christmas party, Laurie’s best friend, Sarah, brings home Jack,…
“Shmelf the Hanukkah Elf” Book Discussion and a “Donut” Cupcake Recipe
Shmelf is a new elf employed by Santa to look over the list of nice kids. He notices that some nice kids are not on the list for Christmas presents! When he asks why, Shmelf is told that these children are Jewish and they celebrate Hanukkah, a holiday when their parents give them eight nights…
“A Christmas Carol” Book Discussion and Citrus Spice Cupcakes Recipe
“Marley was dead: to begin with”—one of the greatest opening lines of a novel. Ebenezer Scrooge, money and mortgage lender, miserable miser, and wretched soul despises Christmas and anything to do with the happiness he has lost. Then the ghost of his former work partner, Jacob Marley, comes to warn him of the greater sorrows…
“Jane Eyre” Book Discussion and Orange Almond Cardamom Cupcakes Recipe
Jane Eyre is an orphaned governess who develops romantic feelings for her employer, Mr. Rochester, a man ensconced in tragedy. Sent away to an orphanage as a child by her cruel aunt, Jane’s attachments in life have been few. At Lowood, she gains a friend whose perspectives enable Jane to reign in her anger and…
Christmas at Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan
Polly and her adorable puffin Neal now live in the lighthouse on the Scottish island of Polbearne with her boyfriend Huckle, the beekeeper. In the mornings, she wakes early and goes down to the cold bakery and starts up the oven for fresh bread and pastries the locals will devour. Christmas is no exception, with…
“The Cafe by the Sea” Book Discussion and Lemon Raspberry Jam Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
The Cafe by the Sea by Jenny Colgan Flora works at a law office and lives in a cramped London apartment, seeking to escape her childhood memories of farming on a small, cold Scottish island. Mure is a place that now only holds flashbacks of her mother who passed away, the awful thing she said…