Customer Reviews

The Winter Lodge (Lakeshore Chronicles, Book 2)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In Avalon, New York weekly food columnist Jenny Majesky mourns the loss of her grandma Helen, who died two weeks ago. Gram along with her late spouse Leo raised Jenny with love after her biological mother deserted her as a small child; she never knew who her dad was until recently. In spite of the townsfolk who pay their respect, Jenny feels alone. She suffers from insomnia and depression that leads to anxiety and panic attacks; her only haven is the Sky River Bakery that she inherited with Gram's death.

A fire breaks out in Jenny's residence while she visits the bakery. Chief of Police Rourke "Loverboy" McKnight panics thinking she is inside as all his years of pretending indifference melts away with the inferno. Once he calms down, he realizes she is at the bakery. He goes there, hugs her tightly and takes her to her fiery home. Rourke then takes her to his home to recover and get her house in order. Their failed past relationship leaves both wondering how they will survive their time together and even more so how will they survive their time apart after they separate as they are and have always been in love.

This is a terrific character driven contemporary romance that must be read on a full stomach because the recipes will have the audience baking all sorts of pastries. The relationship between the baker and the cop is fun to follow as each insists they're not in love, but everyone knows otherwise. Whereas Jenny meets her biological father and half-sister that adds apprehension to her issues; that also takes away from the prime plot of an amusing debate between two wonderful protagonists each pondering whether love is enough to forge a permanent relationship.

Harriet Klausner

If you read "Summer at Willow Lake" you will be sure to love this one as well. I was a little skeptical when I heard about the book, but once I started reading it, I could not put it down. I woke up early to read it and stayed up late. It is a simple book, yet keeps the attention of the reader. I look forward to Susan's next book, which will be a continuation of all the characters thus far from the two books. This is a must read if you like a little romance in a small town atmosphere.

Susan Wiggs has a very easy style of reading. But also compelling enough to keep you turning pages. The Winter Lodge is a "sequel" to Summer at Willow Lake but you don't have to read the first to enjoy the second. She has good character development and believable plots. A good book for a Sunday afternoon or a day at the beach.

I adored this book, and the author pulled everything together so well in the end I was amazed. Perhaps if Daisy hadn't stolen so much of the story I would have given it five stars. Susan Wiggs was so smart with this book, with so many loose ends joining and answering so many questions. I believe this one stands alone better than others in the series.

Sorry, this is a long review!

Though this is book two in the Lakeshore Chronicles, it is the fourth one I've read (after books one, four and five). There is more focus here, thank goodness, though the author still couldn't help but dish out yet another annoyingly oversized helping of one of the most annoying teenagers to go to print, dispersing this helping throughout the book and breaking up what would otherwise have been a much more engaging story.

I'm going to go on a rant later on, so I'll say this first. For the most part I loved this book. It's a little slow-moving sometimes, a little over-long, but I stayed up until the sun was rising reading this thing.

This really has been my favourite in the series so far. The book has a much clearer focus than the others. Wiggs' habit of jumping all over the place in the timeline was less frustrating to read than it was in other entries to the series, and I actually found myself equally as interested in every part of the main characters' story. And I really cared about them. It was a heartbreaking situation. Though gosh it would have been nice if these adults could have got their stuff together faster and jumped into the relationship they both wanted. Wiggs' style is to keep her characters apart for most of the book, and the hero and heroine never resolve their issues until the very end. It seemed a little forced here, in such a long book, when the issues keeping them apart in the present day were extremely minor.

The author keeps you turning the pages by dropping little hints here and there, forcing you to read on, not playing all her cards at once. While I could guess some of what was coming, I was pleasantly surprised by other parts of the story.

So. Rant.

There are three main characters in this story. And only two are relevant to the plot, while the other is simply there to set up future books. This one did need a little trimming, and cutting the random - and pointless - Daisy chapters out would have done it. It's like Mel in the Virgin River series - the author is playing favourites and it's messing with the quality of the books.

As I've stated in my other reviews, I hate Daisy so much I can't always force myself to finish reading her parts. Seriously, what person in their right mind can be expected to care about an alcohol swigging, pot smoking, sexually irresponsible little brat of a spoiled rich girl who lays the blame for her despicable personality on everybody else? Honestly? I certainly don't. And she's a Mary Sue to boot - everybody else in the book thinks she's the best person to ever have existed, and quite happily shoulder the responsibility for her irresponsibility. It's nauseating. I'm sorry, Ms Wiggs, but divorce is a very common thing, and using that as an excuse for any and all behaviour just doesn't cut it.

The thing was, other characters we got updates from fitted into the main plotline, but Daisy was yet again out there in a world of her own, hogging the limelight for no particular reason. It yanks you out of the story and then you have to readjust when the hero and heroine finally reappear.

Wiggs does repeat herself quite a lot, and I think the book would benefit from being a bit shorter. Her books appear to be longer than others in this genre - Robyn Carr's Virgin River books, for example - and I think they suffer for it. Jenny and Rourke had the same few conversations over and over, and Jenny kept thinking the same thoughts throughout the story - almost identical, word for word. Once we've been introduced to a character - Joey, for example - we don't need to be reminded of his life story and his connection to all the characters every single time his name is mentioned.

The recipes found throughout the story give the book a cutesy feeling that's too much for me. I suppose I should expect it in a cosy sort of small town series - and it definitely appears to be a gimmicky trend in this style of writing these days (recipes, knitting patterns, whatever in the middle of a novel) - but gee did it ever interrupt the flow of story!

I thought I couldn't read any more Lakeshore Chronicles books after the train wreck that was Fireside, but this one really was a joy to discover. I've been forewarned about the next book in the series though, so I'll see how things turn out with that one...

This is another excellent boook by Susan Wiggs. As usual, she keeps your interest throughout the book. You do not want ton put the book down.

I just read "Summer at Willow Lake" and could not wait for this one to come out.

After reading SUMMER AT WILLOW LAKE (you can see my review on amazon) on my kindle I had to read THE WINTER LODGE. I was hoping for more Olivia & Connor and was disappointed at first but I quickly got over the disappointment. New to the genre (I read mostly kids and YA since I work in a school library) I'm not used to the multiple threads and spin-offs but nevertheless THE WINTER LODGE had me enthralled. While 400 pages is a lot to finally bring a couple together the recipes and articles Jenny shares makes me want to bake, the back stories make me see there is so much more to the people of Avalon and the writing is accessible and fun. Susan Wiggs' stories make me fall in love with her leading man every time. First Connor. Now Rourke.

She makes me root for them and hope they get passed whatever barriers are in their way to finding true love. And I look at my husband and realized how lucky I am.

For fans of romance with a little mystery thrown in. For people who like a quick easy read. To learn about what it is to live in a small upstate New York town this book is for you. You don't necessarily have to read SUMMER AT WILLOW LAKE first because Wiggs backtracks enough to fill you in.

Where to begin, this book touched my heart maybe because it copied a portion of my life growing up. I think the way Susan Wiggs brings this book together is brilliant. This is a must read for the hopeless romantic out there. Happy reading.

This is the second book of Susan Wiggs' that I've read so far, after loving everyone from Summer at Willow Lake. I bought this ebook straight after reading book 1 of the series, mainly because I absolutely loved Olivia and Connor and their beautiful relationship. I wanted to know what happened to them next, even though I knew the second book is not about them. After a few pages, I was so into Jenny and Rourke's story that I "moved on" from dwelling on Olivia and Connor's love story.

This story had enough twists and turns and heartwarming moments to keep you gasping and anticipating what's next. I liked the easy, yet complicated relationship between Jenny and Rourke. I just wish they became more open to admitting their feelings to each other earlier in the story rather than at the end. It seems as though we've waited all this time, we knew they were meant to be, but we never got to see the dynamics in their relationship after they admitted their love for each other. Yes, the epilogue gave us a glimpse, but looking at the timeline between the epilogue and the next book, Dockside, it feels rather awkward.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed this book thoroughly, it tied up some loose ends pretty well. I enjoyed this more than book 1 in the series, mainly because there was not a lot of introductions to characters that took up a lot of time in book 1. This time around, we knew a lot of the characters, so you can appreciate them and where they are coming from more clearly.

Overall, this is a superbly written book. I loved 95% of it (the 5% being the number of chapters dedicated to Daisy. I'm sure Daisy has some more significance in future books, but it was a bit of an overkill within Jenny's story). This is the perfect book for winding down after a long, hard day.

This is the second book in the Lakeshore Chronicles by Susan Wiggs. It is the continuing story of the Bellamy clan and the summer camp they own in Upstate New York.

The Winter Lodge is the story of Jenny Majesky and Rourke McKnight. Like Olivia and Conner before, Rourke and Jenny met at Camp Kioga when they were children.

Jenny was raised by her grandparents after her mother disappeared when she was a child. This book explores Jenny's history with her family, as well as her newly discovered relationship with the Bellamys.

The story also touches on the relationship between Rourke and Jenny, but it was by no means the main focus. It also gets very convoluted towards the end and was slow to start.

According to the back of the book, Rourke and Jenny are snowed in together at the Winter Lodge at Camp Kioga. This never really happened. Yes, there was snow and Jenny was staying at the Winter Lodge, but they weren't snowed in together as far as I could tell. If anything, they are forced to stay together after a fire claims Jenny's childhood home.

This book also continues the story of Daisy Bellamy and her father Greg, which I enjoyed immensely. I like that the characters carry over in meaningful ways. Often times with series books, the characters that show up in subsequent books are static and don't add anything to the overall story. That is not the case with these characters. Even Phillip was changing over the course of the story.

My main problems with this book were that it was kind of slow, there was not enough interaction between Rourke and Jenny, and the ending was weird and didn't seem to fit with the rest of the story.

Overall, I enjoyed the book but it was not my favorite. I'm working my way through the series and so far I'm enjoying it.

This is actually the first book in this series I ever read, and it was a nice book. I read another Wiggs book (not part of a series) and the writing style was overall fluid, and this book is no different. It might seem a bit farfetched to some, but the story is overall enjoyable. The main character here is Jenny Majesky, and I rather like her a lot. The flashbacks really flesh out the story, and as an extra treat, there's a few recipes for yummy things in here (including kolacky) I have since then read a couple of others in this series, but this title remains my favorite. A solid and enjoyable read at 4/5 stars.