I adore Lily King and found this collection of short stories to be an excellent example of her mastery. The characters in some of these stories will stay with me for a long time.

Lily King's latest book is a book of short stories. Some I liked, some I did not. A few stories were written so well, I felt like I was feeling firsthand, the emotions of the characters. Most of the stories seemed to have a common thread of broken families and looking for acceptance/love.. Unfortunately I had a hard time staying focused and was getting lost or confused in a few of the stories that I had to reread 2 to 3 times.. Some I figured out, Some I didn't get, but maybe that was the intention of the story? Thank you #NetGalley and # FiveTuesdaysinWinter for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I’d recommend this well-written and varied collection of short stories by Lily King. I became a fan of this author after reading Euphoria, and this book did not disappoint. It was easy to become engaged with these characters and their interesting stories. My favorites were When in the Dordogne and North Sea.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Grove Press for the advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King is a collection of 10 beautiful, surprising and heartbreaking stories with real characters about love, loss, family, marriage, betrayal, and LIFE. Different people (ages and sex) in Different situations at Different times. I enjoyed it, loved it. This was my first read from the author. Now, I'm a Lily King fan.

Creature
A 14-year-old girl takes a babysitting job, goes to stay with a family for two weeks. She falls for the wrong man.

Five Tuesdays in Winter
Mitchell is Bookseller, a single man with his daughter. Kate works at his bookshop, and he secretly falls for her.

When in the Dordogne
One of my favorite stories, A young boy, before entering high school, spend the summer of 1986 with Ed and Grant. Two college boys who be with him when his parent wasn't home.
“It’s gone. It’s over. You can’t find it, stroke it, coo over it. Time has stolen it away like it fucking steals everything. In rare instances, like yours, that can be a good thing.”

North Sea
Oda and her twelve years old daughter, Hanne go on vacation in a village near the sea. For the first time after her husband died, She tries to have a conversation with her daughter.
"But for so long now when someone asked how she was they loaded it with pity and braced themselves for her reply as if she had the power to hurt them with the truth".

Timeline
A story of a girl who moves to live with his brother to left her wrong choice behind, And her friendship with their neighbor, a single mom.

Hotel Seattle
The relationship of the two best friends is ruined because one of them is homosexual and after few years, he sees married and middle-aged Paul.

Waiting for Charlie
My next favorite story. Charlotte had had an accident, so badly damaged that not yet to consciousness. Her grandfather tries normal speaking to her.
"It was too much. There was too much unnecessary loss. There always had been".
This was a very beautiful and heartbreaking story.
"Tried to pray. He’d never learned to pray. All he knew how to do was beg".

Mansard
Frances's father back after few years. When she has 4 children and the last time she saw him, was at her wedding.

South
Marie-Claude didn't want their children to know why their father left them. But, Flo heard too much, and she's not happy with her mother's secrets. She should choose her vacation with her father and his girlfriend in a hotel, or her mother in a friend's house.
"Sometimes it feels there is nothing about her life her children cannot uncover, cannot redefine".

The Man at the Door
She has three children and one of them only a baby, she tries to find some time to write. In meanwhile a strange man shows up at her door with her unfinished book.

Many thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for giving me the chance to read Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King in exchange for an honest review.

This is a beautiful collection of short stories that are all raw, intimate and certainly melancholic. There is an under-lying sense of nostalgia throughout some of these stories, if not all, and a certain sense of heartbreak that lingers throughout the book. Touching, surprising, and filled with love and loss, Lily King's writing is stunning and her characters tragic and ordinary while also quite extraordinary in their own ways as well. The title story, "Creature" and "When in Dordogne" are stand-out favorites from this collection for me.

Thanks Netgalley and Grove Press for the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review.

I loved these stories. Each entry in this diverse collection immerses the reader into a self-contained world filled with well-defined characters and interesting choices. King accomplishes the rare feat in short story writing of making each story seem like enough as it is - none felt too short or too long; each was perfectly balanced and satisfying. I particularly appreciated the first story, Creature, which set the tone for the rest of the collection, a through line perhaps best described as, “Bad thing may happen, but they do not have define who you are.” I appreciated the warm light that King shined through each of these stories. Highly recommend.

Many thanks to Grove and NetGalley for providing a copy of this wonderful collection in exchange for an honest review.

I liked this book. Writers and Lovers was one of my favorite books of all time, and I can't wait to see more from this author.

A beautiful collection of short stories that are raw, intimate and captivating – albeit with a melancholy undertone. What really elevates this book is that you’re instantly drawn into each story, on account of the exceptional writing and such well-developed characters. I wasn’t anticipating that the short stories would carry so much intensity, I found myself really taking the time to reflect on each one upon completion. And in most cases wishing each was a novel within itself as I could have easily consumed more.

I was first introduced to Lily King last winter with Writers and Lovers (one of my 2020 favorites) and have since gone on to read Euphoria. The stories in Five Tuesdays in Winter, her first short story collection, were so delightful to read and her knack character development shines (especially given how short some are!)

Of the ten stories, favorites included: Five Tuesdays in Winter, Hotel Seattle, When in the Dordogne and Creature.

Thanks Netgalley + Grove Press for the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review. Loved it!

4.5 stars

A nuanced, moving collection of stories. Lily King is one of my favorite authors and I loved this one!

If you’ve read and loved any of Lily King’s novels, this collection of short stories is not to be skipped; if you’re new to this author, this is a wonderful place to begin. There are ten stories and each one is captivating and meaningful in its own little world.

Most of the stories have an undercurrent of melancholy running through them. There’s a wistfulness and distinct sense of unease at the end of each story that reminded me that this was not the beginning or end of the characters’ stories, rather just a snapshot of their utterly complex lives. I read this book in several sittings, not overnight like I thought I would. The reason for that is that each story introduces characters so richly developed and going through such intense emotions that when I finished a story I felt the need to step back and ruminate, to spend a little more time with the characters whose stories I hungrily consumed. I highly recommend this collection for when you’re in the mood for something slow, lyrical, and vulnerable.

My favorite stories:

CREATURE
FIVE TUESDAYS IN WINTER
WHEN IN THE DORDOGNE
NORTH SEA
HOTEL SEATTLE

Moments of an ordinary life seen through a magnifying glass. There’s no other word to describe Lily King’s job here but bittersweet. In its ten short stories, we find realistic characters that go through love and loss in so many different ways and facets that it’s hard to not empathize with at least one of them. Or ten.
The Man at the Door is probably my fav one. It focuses on writing as a form of escape and subtly brings references to authors and other books. It’s also a bit surreal, but not as heavy as Hotel Seattle, another highlight about lost friendships and homophobia.

At times touching and others heartbreaking, this collection of short stories by Lily King is beautifully written. The stories feature realistic characters that are easy to identify with or sympathize with or connect with. I personally loved the title story, which features a single father who is a bookseller.

I had never read anything by this author, but I am looking forward to trying one of her novels.

Thank you NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for this e-ARC.

I wasn’t a massive fan of "Writers and Lovers" and was looking for something that would make me change my mind about Lily King’s writing. And this book did just that. “Five Tuesday in Winter” is a collection of masterfully observed short stories about love human desire in all its facets. Some of these stories are wholesome, others are quite raw and unsettling and although I personally favoured the latter, King undoubtedly excels in writing both styles. Some of my personal favourites were: "Creature" which follows a young woman's loss of innocence, " When in Dordogne" in which an overlooked teen finds comfort in the company of two unconventional babysitters and "Hotel Seattle" a keenly observed tale of repressed desire and toxic masculinity.

Thanks to Netgalley and Grove Press for the ebook. I loved Writers & Lovers, so I was happy to dive into these stories. And they’re wonderful. The first story, which takes up about a fifth of the book is a knockout. A young girl is a live in babysitter for a wealthy family and falls for a married, charismatic brother of her employee, but he shows how little he cares for anyone but himself as he carelessly toys with her emotions and eventually even her body. All these stories are so keenly observed and are shot through with moments of humor, but there’s also a heavy undercurrent of menace just below the surface. Fascinating stories of longing and upended expectations.

Book Review for Five Tuesdays in Winter
Full review for this title will be posted at: @cattleboobooks on Instagram!

Yet another remarkable page-turner by favorite writer Lily King. I was mesmerized by Lily’s perfect novel WRITERS & LOVERS. I equally adored her masterpiece EUPHORIA. FIVE TUESDAYS IN WINTER is a collection of wonderfully surprising short stories by Lily, each a gem in its’ own way. I loved, loved, loved this book. Thank you Grove Atlantic & NetGalley.

These stories introduce us to characters reacting to the chaos and consequences of their every day lives. Some are unsettling and others are exhilarating.

In “Creature” a fourteen year old girl took a babysitting job— a live-in summer job for two weeks.
The house was huge - a mansion with a beach nearby.
We meet the grandparents who hired Carol who wanted to give their daughter, Kay, a caretaking break ( to go to lunch with friends, get a manicure, a massage...adult time)....
Instead Kay ‘liked’ being with her kids ( Stevie and Elsie)....
So Kay and the babysitter, (Carol), took the kids to the beach ‘together’.
All was going well until uncle Hugh arrived.
A slow tension builds....Carol was the character who stood to suffer consequences the most....
a reminder of how innocent young girls tend to keep quiet and blame themselves at times they most need to speak up.

There are nine other short stories. All are exceptionally well written. I didn’t want to stop reading any of them.

In the title story, “Five Tuesdays in Winter”, Mitchell, a bookseller, (whose wife had wife left him), could find many things to criticize the employee he recently hired.
He was secretly falling for her. Kissing desires were huge.
Kate had recently moved to Portland from San Francisco to be with a guy name Lincoln.
It’s a wonderful - story - Kate ends up tutoring Mitchell’s daughter, Paula.....’Spanish on Tuesday Nights’.
Great story....with lots of grinning going on for the reader.
An excerpt I adored was:
“To the store, Kate wore faded untucked shirts and jeans slashed at the knee. He was often tempted to tease her, tell her that just because she sold used books she didn’t have to wear used clothes, but he thought she might snap back with a crack about the pittance he paid for her, so he refrained”.
Warning.... haha....the reader might get a craving for mushroom soup, lasagna, and chocolate. 🍫

Great stories — great voices of the characters - messy relationships, sharp humor, psychological acuity.....
Intimate storytelling with themes of love, desires, heartbreak, loss, brutality, daunting human struggles.... and a powerful look at the human heart ....written by the very skillful Lily King who knows how to craft a story brilliantly.

Thank you Netgalley, Grove Atlantic, and Lily King

This book was well written, it just wasn’t for me. These are the kind of short stories where you find yourself feeling a bit depressed at the end. My least favorite story was probably the first one, mostly because I felt myself having trouble focusing on it until the end. It was just a bit boring. I found the last story the most interesting as it was a bit surreal, in a good way. I’m sure many people will enjoy these stories, but I found myself almost skimming through it at times to get done.
Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for allowing me access to this eARC!

I enjoyed these stories as much as I enjoyed Writers and Lovers, and now I want to work my way through Lily King’s entire backlist. Some of these stories have been published previously, and I think must have been written a number of years ago, but they are love stories full of charm and hope and the characters feel real.