Another emotionally satisfying, heartfelt story from Sarah Morgan. This is one of her Christmas stories, which readers are always looking for -- so double bonus! Hattie, a recently widowed mother of a little girl is soldiering on, running the Maple Sugar Inn, an establishment she started with her late husband. It is very difficult for her. When three old friends schedule their annual Book Club getaway for the week before Christmas at Hattie's inn, things start to change, for her, and for the three women who have been lifelong friends.

I truly enjoyed reading this book! The story is rather unique and not something I have read before, which I really enjoyed. It felt very cozy reading it and left me feeling good after reading. The changing viewpoints can sometimes be confusing, but that was not the case for this book. I wish I could visit this town and hotel for real!!

The Book Club Hotel by Sarah Morgan was so adorable! A charming little library with a picture perfect inn is the best set up for a cozy winter read. I also have to menion how much I love the beautiful cover! It was a very uplifting and feel good story. I loved the bond and friendship between the three girls, along with the alternating POV’s. They all had challenges in life that they were able to overcome and follow their dreams.

Friends since their college days, Claudia, Anna, and Erica meet annually for a book club week, where they temporarily escape the demands of their busy lives. Claudia is a chef at a top-notch restaurant, Anna is a stay-at-home mom of twins who will soon be off to college, and Erica is a high-powered businesswomen. While their trips usually involve discussing a romance novel in the summertime at a Caribbean beach resort, this year they are meeting at a quaint inn in snowy Vermont just before Christmas. Little do they realize that the changes in locale, timing, and genre are all harbingers of major changes to come. While these friends appear to have it all, nothing could be further from the truth. Each is at a crossroad, grappling with unsettling situations in their seemingly perfect lives, which leave them uncertain of what lies ahead.

The Book Club Hotel is an engrossing story with characters who learn what it means to be true to yourself and follow your dreams. Their strong, supportive bonds of friendship--and new personal relationships--demonstrate that second chances and new beginnings are not only within reach--they can lead to a more enriching and fulfilling future for each of them.

Story about a woman who is running an inn in Vermont with a young daughter after the passing of her husband. She has a temperamental chef and housekeeper hired by her husband who are making her life miserable. Then, 3 women book for a week long stay just before Christmas.

I received an electronic ARC from Harlequin Trade Publishing through NetGalley.
Morgan knows how to build a scene and wrap her characters in love and support. Readers meet three friends who are forty or close enough to forty; they met in college and have maintained their friendship since. Each year they connect and spend a week together as a book club. Events in their lives have moved their summer adventure to December and to an unusual location. Erica has booked a comfortable inn in Vermont. Anna and Claudia are surprised but thrilled as this is more their style. It's only after they check in that the reason is revealed and the story builds from this.
The chapters are told in rotating POVs from the three women and from one more woman - Hattie runs the inn and is coping with her own issues. An unexpected bond connects Hattie to one of the three and they find their way to being a family. Morgan slowly reveals more about each of the four as reader build capacity with them. They are flawed women who overcome life challenges and find ways to grow from them.
I appreciate the main characters being this age as they have experienced so much in their lives. This offers richer female character who have baggage and tragedy in their pasts and still move forward.
Lovely light read for a cold winter day. Humor, romance, female friendships, family.

Another great story from Sarah Morgan. The story contains many twists and turns which holds your interest from start to finish. With a library, a quaint inn, three long time friends and a young innkeeper trying to swim instead of sinking, this book has all of the emotions and good feelings that you are looking for. There are both laugh out loud moments and tearful moments which combine to make this story an amazing read. Thank you to Net Galley for the advanced copy of this book.

I have just started this NetGalley review title, and I already know it's a winner. What's not to love when you have a widowed, single parent mother, struggling with grief, and raising her child and keeping her late husband's dream alive. Then add a lovely inn, a wonderful library in the inn, a book club of longtime friends, and Christmas. I can't put it down! Finished! wonderful, fun read. Highly recommended. Plan to read more by this author.

I've enjoyed a couple of author Morgan's back-list, so happily requested "The Book Club Hotel" based mostly on the title & blurb. I was pleased & quite entertained with this tale of a young widow, Hattie, running an Inn & the three book-club guests she has over the holidays. Loved all the bookish references & the inn was quirky & charming! Recommend! My sincere thanks to Net Galley & the publisher for a complimentary DRC - my sincere pleasure to review it!

I thought The Book Club Motel would be right up my alley, but I ended up feeling disappointed. There was so much exposition that it felt like the story would never really start. Not a big fan.

This was an enjoyable story about friendship and leaning on others to help guide you through life. Hattie is a recently widowed mother of Delphi, age five. She is left to run the Maple Sugar Inn, a business that she and her husband dreamed about and made into a reality. Hattie is struggling to run the inn on her own and in the way her husband had wanted it. Meanwhile, Erica, Anna, and Claudia decide to meet for their annual book club vacation at the Maple Sugar Inn at Christmastime. Each one is going through her own struggles and this vacation allows them time to support one another. The location choice was made by Erica with a specific reason in mind, which we learn as the story unfolds.

This was a happy, east-to-read story and I highly recommend it!

Although I thought it started out slow, I quickly became invested in the lives of the characters. This book is a satisfying read to the end.

I am drawn to novels about books, bookshops, friendships and meeting challenges. So, I was excited to receive a copy of The Book Club Hotel after reading the blurb describing it as a novel about “the power of books to heal, and the enduring strength of female friendship”. I have belonged to a book club for many years, and am fortunate to have several life-long friends so felt this story would resonate on those levels.

However, from page one The Book Club Hotel read more like a romance novel, a genre I don’t read. Erica, Claudia, Anna and Hattie are nice women, the men in their lives were as expected and the challenges they faced were complicated enough that I found it unrealistic they would all be solved in one week. I found the story line predictable and that what I thought was going to happen did happen, well before it appeared in the book. I will add that the Book Club Hotel, as described, is a hotel I'd love to visit.

I would have rated this 5 stars if I read romance novels or liked Hallmark Movies. I gave it 3 stars as The Book Club Hotel is a nicely written quick read, filled with lovely descriptions of Vermont in winter.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin for the ARC ebook in exchange for my honest review.

The Book Club Hotel
By Sarah Morgan
Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
Canary St. Press
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
This was a fun book to read about lifelong friendships, book club outings, and all the fun and problems, in between. I recommend this for a “feel good” read.
4 stars

Once again, Sarah Morgan has written a novel with interesting and relatable women. It is set in a quaint small town at a beautiful country inn. Each one of the four main characters is going through a change in her life. There is a new love, new family members, an empty nest, the loss of a job and the end-of a long term romance. Hattie, Annie, Erica, and Claudia all face their challenges and make the necessary changes. This novel shows that often, things do happen for the best and something great happens when you least expect it. Furthermore, it shows that no one should settle for a mediocre life and everyone should live their own dreams. I have read all of Sarah Morgan’s novels, and I think this one is my favorite. I could not put it down once I started reading it and I felt satisfied with the choices each of the women made to move forward with lives. I highly recommend it.

A wonderful story about life, friendship, love and second chances.
Three long time friends since College days are hitting 40 and decide to take their annual book club vacation just before Christmas in Vermont this year. I loved every piece of this story. All are at different places in life and
looking at big changes.
Makes for a great read.

Great story of 3 women who have been friends for 20 years. They meet once a year to renew their bonds. The story centers on their meeting, a book club. They discuss a book chosen by the 3 of them and just enjoy each other for a week long vacation. The book club met at Christmas in this book and the 3 women all learned more about each other and themselves. Happy endings all the way around.

I have loved all of Sarah Morgan’s books and this is no exception. A story of friendship that lasts through the years. Three friends who met in college go every year to a book club outing. This year they went to Vermont and each had problems arise. I loved all of the characters but especially the little girl Delphi. A book that I didn’t want to put down.

The very definition of a feel-good read. And though it was set in the U.S. with 3 out of 4 of the main characters being American, it felt very British, with its "cookery books" and such. Still a fun, uplifting read!

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

There was too much whining in this book so I DNF. First the main character kept whining. Then some new character Erica started lamenting everything so I stopped reading.