I was so excited to receive this book. I loved her past work and this did not disappoint! The characters were so well established, and the book didn't feel like anything else I've ever read. Loved it!

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.