Winter Solstice
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4.4 • 1K Ratings
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
*The USA Today Bestseller*
Raise one last glass with the Quinn Family at the Winter Street Inn.
It's been too long since the entire Quinn family has been able to celebrate the holidays under the same roof, but that's about to change. With Bart back safe and sound from Afghanistan, the Quinns are preparing for a holiday more joyous than any they've experienced in years. And Bart's safe return isn't the family's only good news: Kevin is enjoying married life with Isabelle; Patrick is getting back on his feet after paying his debt to society; Ava thinks she's finally found the love of her life; and Kelly is thrilled to see his family reunited at last. But it just wouldn't be a Quinn family gathering if things went smoothly. A celebration of everything we love--and some of the things we endure--about the holidays, WINTER SOLSTICE is Elin Hilderbrand at her festive best.
Follow the Quinn family through the entire Winter Street Series:
Winter Street Winter Stroll Winter Storms Winter Solstice
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hilderbrand's engaging 20th novel follows the Quinn family and their loved ones as patriarch Kelley Quinn succumbs to cancer. After he and his first wife, Margaret, divorced, Kelley quit his high-paying trader job and moved their three children from Manhattan to Nantucket. He later married Mitzi, with whom he ran the Winter Street Inn and had a fourth child, Bart. As a child, Kelley and Margaret's daughter Ava clashed with her stepmother. Now that she's grown, Ava turns to Mitzi for advice on how to deal with her boyfriend's difficult son. Meanwhile, after Mitzi and Kelley's Marine son, Bart, went missing as a POW in Afghanistan for two years, he returns home with PTSD. His parents find a ray of hope in 22-year-old Bart's romantic interest in 19-year-old Allegra Pancik. Bart's disgraced decorator sister-in-law, Jennifer, who overcame a pill addiction, ditches a high-paying client after he propositions her sexually, but her family's precarious financial situation requires her to find another gig fast. The clan attempts to navigate their issues as Kelley's situation worsens, and the family must find a way to come together in a time of need. Hilderbrand is a quality storyteller who keeps the reader riveted, and her characters come alive on the page. Though she's skilled at building up tension, problematic situations are sometimes too easily resolved (for instance, Allegra's love seems to miraculously cure Bart of his PTSD). Readers who enjoy bittersweet family stories will be charmed.
Customer Reviews
Beautifully Written!
Winter Solstice is an amazing and beautifully written novel, about living, loving, and weathering the storms that show up in life. The author draws the reader deep into the heart of the Quinn family, a healing, blended family from Nantucket. Kelly Quinn is dying from brain cancer. He is fortunate, though, to have a good relationship with his children, his current wife, Mitzi, and his ex-wife, Margaret. Although Margaret and Mitzi are cordial and work together now for the children and Kelly’s sake, that had not always been the case. Margaret’s children, Patrick, Kevin, and Ava have all lived under Mitzi and Kelly’s roof for years; along with Bart, Mitzi and Kelly’s only child. All of the children in this book are grown and struggle with some very adult issues.
The author’s writing is sharp and descriptive. She effortlessly places the reader deep into each character’s life. I came to know the characters intimately and cared for them all. I felt their pain, their struggles, and their joy. Because the author covers a wide range of topics and difficulties, readers will easily be able to identify with some of the character’s experiences; such as love and betrayal, choices and consequences, selfishness and sacrifice and forgiveness and acceptance. Nobody is perfect, and everyone must live with the consequences of their decisions. Pain is a part of life, but so is joy, acceptance, and love.
I had a hard time keeping the characters straight at first. But, once I did, I couldn’t put the book down. Winter Solstice is an in-depth, enjoyable, and well-written read.
Thank you, Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley, for my advanced review copy.
10/10
Her best work.
So Touching!
I absolutely loved this series of books. I really felt like I knew this family. I have never cried reading a book, but this one made me!