70 // “With music as a guide for the synchronized movement of the group, knots untangle, and the dancers glide. Such is life.”
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MUSICAL CHAIRS is a delightful comedy-of-errors detailing a modern family’s summer in their home in Connecticut. it was funny and well-executed, and it has a little bit of everything: interesting family dynamics, strong friendship themes, secrets, love, heartbreak. if you’ve enjoyed @amypoeppel other books, you’ll love this one! 4/5⭐️—I liked it! Out July 21.
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thank you to the publisher @atriabooks for sending me an early copy of this book!

I love Amy Poeppel's books and Musical Chairs is no exception. You can't go wrong with this story of a messy, modern family of musicians in a rambling Connecticut house for a summer. It's simultaneously clever and hilarious, and jam-packed full of relatable characters who keep the reader turning pages. Grab yourself a cocktail, find a deck chair, put your feet up, and just enjoy.

Thank you Atria Books and Netgalley for the free review copy. This was such a fun summer read about family - the one we’re born into and the ones we choose.
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Ensemble casts stories really go one way or the other for me. I find myself either becoming disinterested by all of the characters or I want to be welcomed into their fold by the end of the book. This was the latter for me. Although there are a lot of characters to follow, I didn’t find it confusing and I appreciated that they all revolve around the central character of Bridget. A dilapidated house in country, quirky characters, and not knowing where the relationships would lead, all helped make this a win for me.
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4 Stars - I really liked it. I’d recommend picking it up when you’re wanting to just relax into a story. Not a musician? Not a problem. This won’t feel over your head if you didn’t attend Juillard like the characters in the story. Pick this up for an enjoyable summertime story!
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Great read, really loved the story and the characters. It was about lots of different relationships, it is about real issues but is also a really fun read. I recommend!

Thoroughly enjoyed this book which gave me all the good vibes. It is set over a summer. The two main characters are Bridget and Will, members of a trio who can't find a committed third member. We read about Bridget's family, Will's new relationship, and past events with the trio. The story does include a large cast of characters. This book is full of charm and a great read!

4.5/ 5 stars

Musical Chairs is my first book by this author. And I really enjoyed it.

I'm not exactly sure what genre Musical Chairs falls into. To me it felt like a combination between Women's Fiction and Chick Lit.

The story focuses on Bridget, her friends and family. She is 50+ and has come to a crossroads in her life. The book takes place over the summer. And it was charming and funny and really fun to read.

The main narrator is Bridget (3rd person POV). The second main narrator is Will (3rd person POV). He is Bridget's best friend. But there are also a lot of other narrators that narrate only 1 or 2 chapters.

Bridget has two kids, Isabelle and Oscar. She plays the cello in a trio (Will plays the piano in the trio).

She has a rundown house in Connecticut where she is spending the summer. This book takes place over June, July and August.

This is basically a summer full of surprises with so many people coming and going from her house. I really liked her friendship with Will. And everything to do with her father. The story was funny and very entertaining. And this was such an enjoyable read!

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

I liked reading this book. I enjoyed it. I wouldn’t go out and tell my friends it‘s a must read, but if they were interested in it based on the synopsis, I’d say go for it.

The book revolves around Bridget Stratton, daughter of famed musician Edward Stratton, and her friends and family as they prepare for her father’s wedding over the course of one summer. Bridget is the hub of the wheel and the rest of the ensemble cast are the spokes. Each of the ‘spoke’ characters experience drama and conflict over the summer, and for most of them, the struggle feels authentic. In the case of Bridget, her “conflict” is typical of the musician trope - should she get a steady job or continue on as a gig worker. Except for her, she’s loaded with family money so the decision, and the fact that she “has to” make a decision at all, feels like opposite of genuine conflict. I think this is why I felt like nothing really happened in the story (though of course things do happen).

Despite this perceived lack of conflict (or maybe because of it), I’m finding myself thinking about Bridget and her circle well after finishing the book. I’m left wanting more than the author gave me amount their journeys and what happens next. For this reason, I’m bumping my rating from 3 to 3.5 stars.

Random aside, I think synchronicity would make a better title than Musical Chairs, which was mentioned in passing but didn’t play a massive role in the story... maybe I missed a metaphor or something though!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy.

Musical Chairs has us spending the summer in Connecticut with the Stratton family. Bridget, the main character, is experiencing a lot of things people can relate to: her 20-something kids have come home to live with her, she’s divorced and having dating challenges, her father is aging, and she’s not sure what direction to take with her career. Of course, her challenges are somewhat softened by other extenuating circumstances you’ll learn about, and there are twists on these themes to make them a bit unusual.
I loved Musical Chairs. It’s a well-developed story with interesting characters and lots of laugh out loud lines. Ms. Poeppel is a very clever writer. In particular, I loved the character of Jackie, and you especially see the author’s comic skills with her beginning in chapter 9.
Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for the introduction to Amy Poeppel (I’ve just purchased her first two books), and the opportunity to read Musical Chairs in exchange for an honest review.

I have never read a novel by Amy Poeppel before but after reading MUSICAL CHAIRS I sure am glad that I did. I was hooked on these people from the very first pages until the very last. I felt like I was their friend and as I finished the book, I was a little disappointed that I had to move on with my life without them. I predict that many others will feel the same way. MUSICAL CHAIRS is so much fun and it has a beach read feel, with just a little more heart and soul.



Wow, all I can say is, this story kept me giggling! You will find yourself laughing out loud as you are reading MUSICAL CHAIRS by Amy Poeppel . She will have your emotions all over the place. Once I started reading, it was very hard to stop! The twists and turns made it impossible to put down, as I had to know what was going to happen to Bridget! What an awesome story. All of Amy’s characters feel genuine and relatable and put your emotions on one heck of a roller coaster ride. As you are reading, you will find yourself cheering for all of them, praying they can work out their problems and be happy once again. Amy Poeppel does a fabulous job connecting so many different people in such a special way, and that includes all of the characters, not just the main two.

MUSICAL CHAIRS is a funny story that will hold you hostage until the very last page. Once you start reading, it will be very hard to put down! You also won’t be able to stop yourself from laughing at Bridget and the situations she gets herself into! I felt a connection to each character in this story in different ways and couldn’t help but relate them to people that are in my personal life. Being able to relate and fully understand what they were all personally going through was sometimes heartbreaking. Amy Poeppel sure knows how to hook the reader with an awesome story. I can’t wait to read more by Amy.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Atria Books through Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

What a cast of characters! This story had so many threads it could easily have a prequel or sequel, but it also had enough to satisfy on its own.

This book truly had a little of everything. There’s Bridget, the main character who is the mother to twins born more than 20 years ago via artificial insemination—she thinks. Bridget’s musical partner is Will, and everyone assumes Bridget and Will are partners in more than music. They’re not. Now summering in Connecticut, Bridget is joined by Will (of course) and her twins, but at her father’s estate not far away are her father, his housekeeper, Bridget’s sister, and her father’s new assistant.

The whole cast has their own unique issues to process and get through this summer. Will Bridget finally find love? Can Will find a new love after swearing off of marrying again? Will Bridget’s son and his husband reconcile? And with Bridget’s daughter quitting her job in Hong Kong, what will she do next with her life? There’s always something happening in this book, and of course it all has to wrap up before the climactic wedding at the end of the book.

Overall, I’d give this book 3.5 out of 5 stars. With so much happening, this could easily have expanded to more than one book about the same group of people, but this book still wraps up all the loose ends nicely. It was a nice summer read and escape to a dreamworld instead of a regular life.

Thanks to Atria Books, Amy Poeppel, and Netgalley for my gifted copy of Musical Chairs! This book comes out on July 21st. The complete synopsis is in the comments.

I adored this wonderful story of a family in today’s world. There are so many intricate and dynamic relationships, both between family members bound by blood and choice. Poeppel succeeds at giving each relationship the time and attention it deserves. It takes a few chapters to learn about the different characters and figure out who is who, but once I got that down, all was well.

Change is a primary theme in Musical Chairs. You see it come up in several different plot lines, and see how the characters all reckon with change in various ways at the different points they’re all at in their lives. That was fascinating, and is worthy of a great book club or buddy read discussion. If you’ve read it, I’d love to know who you think changed the most through the course of the book (in a DM to avoid spoilers, of course).

If you’re in need of an escape and/or a chuckle at someone else’s family, grab Musical Chairs and curl up somewhere comfortable. You’ll be glad you did! I’m personally looking forward to grabbing Amy Poeppel’s other books in the near future.

Sometimes we need a change. That’s the theme at the heart of this highly readable story. I don’t think I’ve read anything in a while that mimicked real life so closely…the planned perfect summer that turns chaotic in the blink of an eye, the planned career that changes unexpectedly, the relationships that seem perfect upended while new ones bloom.

This was a charming book that kept me wanting to know how all the people fit together. A delightful summer read!

Amy Poeppel's upcoming release, Musical Chairs is a fun and entertaining novel with a large cast of characters all dealing with their own problems over the course of a summer in Connecticut. If you're looking for a light summer read, I think you'll enjoy this book.

Bridget and Will have been friends since college, seriously friends and no funny business! They have always been two parts of a trio. Their third has recently left and they are ready to replace them with a well known or up and coming that can elevate them and get them some new gigs, but before this starts they have a summer to decide their true feelings about their futures. Bridget goes to a country home in Connecticut and eventually her twins and even Will end up in this small town and together they spend the summer and all are making large life decisions.

With everyone in this book having major life upheavals, this book could have felt like a weighted story with too much drama, but it didn't. I loved that each character had something going on, but it all fit together and not all were conveniently solved in the summer.

Bridget and Will were great main characters. I easily connected with each of them and loved that there was a true friendship between a man and a woman with no hint at a relationship that is more than friendship. I loved that at their ages they were questioning their futures because these questions can happen at any moment in someone's life and it was a gentle reminder to be kind to those who may be making life changes at any moment.

I am excited to pass this book along to a lot of my friends and family. This book can get you to make some deep thoughts but also make you laugh! I love these kinds of books.

This was such a great book! I loved seeing the different perspectives of all the characters, and the writing was phenomenal. There were a few musical terms that I did have to look up, but honestly, weren't imperative to the plot. I was worried that the ending would leave me feeling stranded on a cliff, and yet, while not everything was tied up neatly with a bow, it did leave me satisfied.

Musical Chairs by Amy Poeppel, which releases July 21, is a brilliantly written novel that shows what a small world we often find ourselves in. It weaves together generations, old friends and new, and loves lost and found. It also highlights how loved ones, friends and family alike, move into and out of our lives like a delicate balancing act. It's never too late to start the next chapter of your life, and you can rewrite your story however many times you want.

This story hit all the right notes. See what I did there?

A story set at a country house in CT over the course of a summer. A story full of deep seeded friendships and family in transition. But it isn't one of those big, sprawling drama filled family sagas. There is drama, but it is infused with humor and charm. I just felt so content the whole time I was reading this book. It was a satisfying blend of tension and levity. I found myself laughing out loud on more than one occasion. While it wasn't a page turner, the very large cast of characters served as a steady beat that carried me through to the end.

This was my first Poeppel title and now I can't wait to explore her backlist.

This is my third read from this author and probably my favorite of her works . . . the framework and world of this book was so unique and I loved the characters. It was also a fast read, which means it kept my interested and had great pacing. The world of classical music isn't one familiar to me but I appreciated this niche as well as the bucolic Connecticut country setting. Definitely would be a fun summer read!!

Musical Chairs comes out soon on July 21, 2020, and you can purchase HERE. You can read my review of this author's other books (which are great!) here and here.

Halfway up the leafy, winding driveway, past the grove of ferns that were beginning to unfurl along the rubbly wall, Bridget's station wagon hit a pothole. The grocery bags on the passenger seat tipped over, sending lemons and onions to roll around on the floor of the car, while one of the suitcases slid from the top of the pile and smacked against the back hatch, upsetting the cats in their carriers. Bridget slowed down. Next to one of the granite boulders was a downed tree, directly under the electrical lines, that had left a debris field all the way to the spot where the driveway forked, the woodsier side leading o the guesthouse, s small Hansel-and-Gretel cottage with gingerbread trim and peeling white shutters.

This is the first book I’ve read by Amy Poeppel and what a delight it was! I would describe it as a family drama with multiple story lines and the father/grandfather is a famous musician.

Musical Chairs follows musician Bridget when her dreams of spending the summer in costal Connecticut with her bf don’t go as planned. Her bf ends their relationship, her adult twin children move back in with her and Forsyth Trio, the musical group that Bridget has been apart of, has to find a new member (again)!

I loved this quirky, fast paced read that kept me wondering what would happen next or who would enter the story line. There were quite a few characters that maybe weren’t needed but other than that, I throughly enjoyed this book.

The setting made this book even more enjoyable. I'm not musically talented but you didn't need to be to enjoy this book but I'm sure someone who is musically talented would enjoy it even more.

The relationship Bridget had with her adult children were really well written but I wish we would've learned more about their growing up.

It's a miracle I finished this book. The only reason why I kept reading was that I actually thought it would get better at some point... but it didn't.
This is about Bridget, a woman in her 50s (though this is not openly stated), who's going to spend summer away with her boyfriend, but he cancels last minute. Things start getting chaotic when her family members and friends end up spending vacation at the same house as her. Not only that, but her elderly father is also getting married soon.
When I requested this book, I thought it would be drama and romance heavy, but it wasn't. To me, it felt very uninteresting: there were way too many characters (to the point that it got confusing as names were dropped constantly), every mundane thing was described on page and not a lot of action goes on. I think it could've been edited to half its size and it wouldn't make much of a difference.
This is a book I'll probably never think about again, so I don't even know who to recommend it to.