The Book Club Hotel by Sarah Morgan unfolds a heartwarming tale as Hattie, a resilient young widow managing Vermont's Maple Sugar Inn, crosses paths with lifelong friends Erica, Claudia, and Anna during the Christmas season. Amidst the challenges of running the inn and navigating personal struggles, the women's lives intertwine, fostering transformative journeys. The narrative beautifully explores the dynamics of friendship, resilience, and the magic of new beginnings against the backdrop of a charming winter wonderland. The novel skillfully blends romance, mystery, and bibliophilia, offering a delightful mix of personal growth, unexpected romance, and the cozy allure of a bookish haven. While pacing nuances may arise, The Book Club Hotel stands as a heartwarming celebration of love, friendship, and self-discovery, making it a perfect read for those seeking a feel-good escape during the holiday season.

I just finished The Book Club Hotel by Sarah Morgan. I rarely award five stars, but this was a keeper! Three friends approaching age forty also encounter crossroads in their lives. When they get together for their annual book group week, they confront issues from the past and make plans for exciting new adventures in the future. It does have a happy ending! When kids, dogs, and Christmas are involved, there is a lot to love. This is a clean read without strong language, descriptive intimacy, or graphic violence. This book is a wonderful Christmas read and full of warmth and love.

I received this novel from the publisher and from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

The Book Club Hotel is, at its heart, a story of enduring friendship between three college roommates approaching their forties, but it’s also about the power of love in all its forms: romantic, platonic, maternal, and familial. As a bibliophile, I also appreciate that it’s about sharing books and how an annual tradition that Anna, Claudia, and Erica share began twenty years before when they decided to swap books of their preferred genres and then discuss them.

For the first time, after postponing their summer gathering due to the devastating break-up of Claudia’s 10-year relationship, they decide to meet close to Christmas. The surprise is that take-charge Erica has chosen a quaint Vermont Inn run by the young widow and single mom Hattie rather than the typical urban boutique hotel, and this uncharacteristic move has her friends worried. Claudia has just lost her job as a chef in CA and Anna is feeling anticipatory grief about her twins leaving for college, so it’s inevitable that their week will be full of some hard conversations, surprising revelations, and much soul-searching. Morgan deftly juggles all four women’s stories and the emotions they struggle with while navigating the unpredictable path of love.

Morgan is always dependable for gifting readers with a Christmas story with warmth and heart. In The Book Club Hotel, she’s offers up three different romances including friends-to-lovers and a long-term marriage that affirms that enduring love does exist while also acknowledging, through Claudia’s story, that there is power in loving yourself and focusing your attention on your passion rather than on a person. Treat yourself and pick this one up.

I received this ARC from Canary Street Press through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are strictly my own.

The Book Club Hotel is a heartfelt and charming book filled with Sarah Morgan’s signature warmth. The setting was just perfect for a cozy-christmas read. I wish the Maple Sugar Inn was real because I’d love to go there!

The story is about friendship, love, and books. Each year Claudia, Anna, and Erica reunite for their book club holiday. The three friends are very different in personality and how they live their lives but are brought together by their friendship and love of books. I loved their stories and the development of the characters.

The friends meet up at the Sugar Maple Inn for their annual book club meeting. Unknown to them, one of the friends has a connection to the owner of the inn.

Hattie is a widow with a young daughter who is trying to keep the inn running while being a single mother and is close to breaking point. Hattie wants to make everything perfect for her guests but when Claudia, Anna, and Erica arrive things begin to fall apart quickly.

I have loved all of Sarah Morgan’s books and especially loved The Book Club Hotel. I loved the relationship between the friends and how they all helped Hattie when they saw she needed help. Hattie’s daughter was an absolute delight!

Where there is romance in the story the focus of the book is on the friendships of the women and their journeys in discovering their paths.

I highly recommend adding this heartfelt book to your holiday reading list.

Thank you Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the advance copy. All opinions are my own.

Review will be posted to Goodreads, BookBub, Amazon and Pinterest on 11/13/23

Three friends travel to a copy hotel in Bermont at Christmas. The three usually met up in the city like Boston but this new location was picked for a very specific purpose. Hattie is running the hotel on her own after losing her husband. A wonderful touching Christmas themed novel.

I was happy to be approved by NetGalley, the publisher and author to “finally” get to read this wonderful book. I had actually given up hope of being approved. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

I really enjoyed this holiday book by Sarah Morgan. The setting of Christmas at Maple Falls,Vermont sounded so inviting. I want to go there!
The story just pulled at my heartstrings in so many ways.
The characters are likeable after you get to know each and every one of them. A favorite amongst them was certainly Delphie. If you read the book, you will know what role she plays in the story.
You get old and new friendships, Christmas, reunited family, clean romance along with a love for books.
A must read!

3.5 stars rounded up! I’m not much of a romance reader and while predictability in other books bothers me, it was just what I needed in this book. Where the mechanics of the writing or even the plot were weaker, the atmosphere came through. It’s a perfect Christmastime, Hallmark kind of read.

Thank you to Net Galley and Harlequin Trade / Canary Street Press for the advance e-copy.

I love the cover of this book. It feels so cozy. This was my first book from this author and it was delightful. Great characters. I’ll be reading from her.

I love books involving “found” family, especially when the book is set in an interesting location. “The Hotel Book Club” is one of those books. The hotel is the Maple Sugar Inn, located in a remote village in Vermont. It is run by a 28 year old widow, Hattie, who lives there with her 5 year old daughter, Delphi. She is having a hard time coping with running the inn alone while suffering grief over the loss of her husband.

Erica, Anna, and Claudia, former college roommates now in their 40’s, reunite at a different hotel once a year to discuss a book and unwind from the stress of daily life. This year, Erica, a high powered corporate executive crisis manager, chooses the Maple Sugar Inn, an unusual selection for her, since she usually favors sleek, modern hotels in big cities. Her friends will soon discover that Erica had a specific secret reason for choosing the hotel.

The three friends are each going through unique challenges at this time in their lives: Claudia, who moved from the east coast to California to live with her boyfriend of the last 10 years, was recently dumped by him and then shortly afterwards she lost her job as a chef in a local restaurant. Anna’s twins are getting ready to go away to college and she is feeling anxious about missing them and finding a new purpose in life besides being a mother. Erica, who avoids long term relationships with men since her father left her and her mother when she was as an infant, is starting to have feelings for a man she has been casually dating for several years. She is also dealing with the secret which drew her to the inn.

When they reach the charming inn, the three friends along with Hattie grapple with their individual crises. With help from each other, the women soon find solutions to their problems, and discover strengths about themselves that they never knew they had.

This was a heartwarming book with fully realized characters whom the readers will come to love. It was one of those books where the characters are so endearing that you hate for the book to end because you will miss them. The Hotel Book Club was the first novel by Sarah Morgan that I have read but it definitely won’t be my last.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for providing me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I have enjoyed many a festive tale about women and Christmas authored by Sarah Morgan, and The Book Club Hotel was no exception. The best part of this particular book was the inn in which the protagonists were staying. I’d love to move into such a place! That said, while the setting was purportedly Vermont, there were insufficient details to persuade me that Ms. Morgan has herself visited there. Also, the book should have been edited for the American audience. Little details such as referring to “cookery books” instead of “cookbooks” caused some of the character descriptions to ring a bit false and detracted from the story. That said, this was a merry, light read akin to watching a Hallmark Christmas flick.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for a complimentary ARC. I read a physical copy of the book I had already purchased. Opinions are my own.

I received a free e-arc through Netgalley. This is about a lot of things: relationships (platonic and otherwise), growing older, and books. I enjoyed it quite a bit and thought it was well-written, showcasing a variety of problems and supportive friends.

The Book Club Hotel is a wonderful read with a big surprise. The hotel’s owner is trying to keep her late husband’s dream alive by smothering her own vision. The three members of the book club have their own private issues which suddenly become their strengths when these four ladies are put to the test. Sarah Morgan’s books never disappoint. I voluntarily reviewed an advance copy of this book from NetGalley. Most highly recommend.

I absolutely loved this book. All the characters are struggling with change. Together, they each confront their own changes. It’s a beautifully written. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough.

I was given an advanced reader copy of this book to read. I loved it. It was a great book to read as it gets close to Christmas as all problems in the book get resolved at that time. I received it yesterday and finished it this morning so it is not a hard read.

I love Morgan’s books and her newest title was a great read.
I could read her writing every single day and never get bored.
I was anxiously waiting for this approval and I’m beyond thankful for the opportunity.

The Book Club Hotel by Sarah Morgan is a well crafted, engaging and well-paced story.
I absolutely loved being at the Maple Sugar Inn in Vermont with these four characters who are all interesting and unique and I had a wonderful time with them on their journey. These engaging, well developed characters in this storyline warmed my heart. The characterization is spot on with a whole slew of characters that are genuine, multi-layered, unique, and intriguing.
Sarah Morgan always writes the most heartwarming, compelling, mesmerizing and amazing stories.
The perfect holiday read of friendship and romance.
A fantastic women’s fiction holiday read just in time for the cheery holiday season.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Canary Street Press for the opportunity to read this ahead of its publication date in return for my honest review.

This book was the perfect feel good story with some great girl power, romance & love. Reading this book got me in the Christmas spirit!!

Def need to read this with a side of your fav holiday drink and a cozy blanket!

The Book Club Hotel is my favorite Sarah Morgan book so far. She has a way of always creating a magical story.
Three lifetime friends always get together once a year and read a book and spend time catching up for a week in a hotel . They have always helped each other with whatever good and bad came up in their lives. This year is different though as the inn they stay at is run by Erica’s sister whom she has never met.
This story is full of heartache, love, and new beginnings . The holiday setting makes it a delightful read.

Way too Hallmark for my taste. It was overly predictable and cringe at times, so I couldn’t really get into it.

Thank you for approving my request to read this book. While I was waiting for the approval, which I didn’t think I was going to get, I read it from a different source and finished it. This was my review:

A perfect cozy read for this time of the year. It’s a story about the idyllic Maple Sugar Inn (who wouldn’t want to stay at a place like this!), book clubs and four women who work together to find the best parts of their lives. I was hoping for a bit more “book club” but this was a great book.
I believe this is my first Sarah Morgan book but I’m going to definitely look for more!

Each year as Christmas approaches, I look forward to Sarah Morgan's Christmas/Winter book. This year's The Book Club Hotel didn't disappoint. Three lifelong friends, Erica, Claudia and Anna, get together every year for a girlfriends' book club holiday. They weren't able to do it in the summer, so it will be in December this year, just before Christmas. They usually head to a high class hotel or resort, but Erica has chosen an Inn in Vermont, The Maple Sugar Inn operated by single mom, Hattie. Her husband died a couple of years earlier and she has tried to keep their dream alive as well as take care of their five year old daughter, Delphi. All four women are dealing with something: Hattie keeping the Inn running and dealing with grief, Claudia was dumped by her fiancé and lost her job in California, Anna is worried about her twins heading off to College and if her relationship with her husband is in trouble and Anna's issue is dealing with family, but you have to read the book to find out what it is about.

I loved the setting of the Maple Sugar Inn. I have never been to Vermont, but it is on my bucket list. All of the women are relatable and I liked them all, even if I didn't like what they did. Anna is amazing with kids and I loved seeing how she interacted with Delphi. Claudia is at a crossroads in her life and doesn't know what she wants to do. She steps in to help Hattie with the cooking and loved it. Anna was the one that was the hardest to connect to. She was uber-successful, but unhappy. She had a mystery to solve and that added some mystery to the story. Hattie was the one I empathized with the most. She was widowed so young and was trying to honor her husband's dreams, but it seemed that she kept running into issues. She was a great mom and had done a wonderful job with Delphi, but seemed to have blinders on when it came to recognizing her own talents and achievements. As each of the women opens up and shares their issues, this group rallies around and supports each other. I really enjoy stories of women supporting one another and growing in their strength and self-concept. This is a story of family, friendship, finding your place, realizing what you want out of length, finding your strength and following your dreams on your own terms. The story takes place at Christmas, so there are lots of festive times as well making this a wonderful holiday story.