Hard to keep track of as so many characters, nut enjoyable

Thank you Netgalley for a copy for an honest review

Spoilers ahead probably. Nora's mother sells her salon which had been an informal meeting place around the neighborhood leading Nora feeling unmoored. Nora goes off to stay at a lodge where after a one night stand she finds herself pregnant. I don't really know how to relate the details for the rest of the plot because this book was such a mess. It starts off with Nora being pregnant and then seeming to say she is writing a book for her daughters and then jumps back in time to explain how she gets pregnant but meanwhile in the time frame of the past it has passages also going further into the past to tell us about her grandmother's tragic love story. There are so many inconsistent jumps in time in the book and such a disjointed story line the whole time I was reading it I had to try to orient myself to what was happening. The passage of time wasn't equal, one second we were moving days then next years. There was such an overabundance of characters and they added nothing to the story line. Like the whole thing about how her father had just been held hostage by a women after having a brain injury for years, that was some Stephen King Misery shit but it didn't really add much to the novel, it was just thrown in there and the whole time I was like what the hell. Also why did this story have to follow Nora over decades anyways. I just can't stand reading books where the plot line doesn't really go anywhere and we have to endlessly follow the characters. Definitely one of the worst books I've read in a while.

Set adrift when her mother sells the salon which has been a neighborhood institution for decades, Nora Rolvaag takes a camping trip, intending to do nothing more taxing than roast marshmallows over an open fire and under a starry sky. Two chance encounters, however, will have enormous consequences and her get-a-way turns out to be more of a retreat from her daily life than she ever imagined. But Nora is the do-or-die-trying daughter of Patty Jane, who now must embrace the House of Curl’s slogan: ‘Expect the Unexpected.’ There are a lot of characters to keep track of but it's a good story overall about new beginnings.

I did not like this book at all. It was annoying. I could not finish reading it. Did not care for any of the characters.

Patty Jane’s House of Curl was one of my all time favorite books in the 90s and I prayed Lorna would write a sequel worthy of Patty Jane one day and she has! She has the ability to make a reader laugh and cry simultaneously. To appreciate this story fully I do feel one should read House of Curl first. Congrats Lorna Landvik and Happy Pub Week! “Expect the Unexpected!”

Thank you to Net Galley and University of Minnesota Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This is a sequel to Patty Jane's House of Curl, which I haven't read, however I don't think you need to have read it in order to follow this book. It may be easier in terms of keeping track of all the characters and their back stories though. I thought that this book was a little all over the place with way too many characters and stories to follow and it made for a little bit of a clunky read. The book is full of lively and quirky characters who fill the story with lots of humor, sadness and love.
After Nora's mother sells her salon, she finds herself adrift, unsure of what to do with her life. And as she sets out to find herself, her story takes her places she never could have imagined. And this inspires the other members of her family and her friends to follow suit. What happens is a fun and entertaining tale of finding new beginnings after one part of your life ends.

A very interesting tale that held my attention all the way through. Great plot, twists and turns & the writing kept me hopping! Thanks for the opportunity with this ARC!

I enjoyed "Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons" but I endured this novel. It was meandering, it went forwards and back in time, and I should have quit but I was just too damn stubborn to not finish it.

Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley! I enjoyed the characters and the humor in this book, but it got a little hard to keep track of everyone and the ending was rather weak.

This was a good follow-up to Patty Jane's House of Curls there were some laughs and some major ugly cries but a good story none the less. If you read Patty Jane I'd highly recommend this one.

Patty Jane! Landvik definitely returns to what she does best, utilizing her skills with a very character driven book.

Lorna Landvik delivers a lovely reprise of the characters we met and adored in PATTY JANE'S HOUSE OF CURL. This novel delivers the story of Nora, Patty Jane's daughter, as she tries to find her path after leaving California to return to Minnesota. This was a delightful and heartwarming story and I was thrilled to learn more about how Patty Jane's life turned out..

How I love her books and characters! They make you want to up and move closer to them. Well written and fun!

This book follows generations of women across Minnesota and Norway. It begins with a one-night stand on a camping trip that results in the conception of triplets. After that, Nora's grandma receives family news that require her to go back to Norway and Nora decides to go with. From there the story moves backwards and forward in time and offers an amusing cast of characters that seem straight out of a Fannie Flagg book.

A warm, comfortable kind of story with great characters, first loves, old flames and family dynamics. Once in a Blue Moon Lodge follows a family over two decades – Nora, her mother Patty Jane and her grandmother Ione. It’s the sequel to Patty Jane's House of Curl, but works as a stand-alone novel. There is a large cast of characters, and the timeline is hard to follow at times, as it jumps from past to present. Nevertheless, it’s a very enjoyable beach read.

The tone of this novel compared with its predecessor was so different and so dark. I remembered *Patty Jane's House of Curl* as having humor mixed with drama. This book was just drama and depressing. I was so disappointed!

Once in a Blue Moon Lodge is a sweet, light-hearted read about a woman who decides to take a camping trip to get away from it all. But several chance encounters lead her on an unexpected path and she ends up following her grandma to Norway, uncovering her grandma's history as well as finding her own way forward. The novel has a lively cast of characters with connections to Scandinavia and Minnesota. My own criticism is that the writing is choppy at times, as it moves between so many different characters.

Also, I didn't realize that it's actually a long-awaited sequel to another book (Patty Jane's House of Curl, which was published in 1995) and I would have read that one first had I known. However, Once in a Blue Moon Lodge is still an enjoyable read, even if you don't have the backstory on the characters from reading the first book. It's a sweet read, but not one that I would say is particularly memorable after you turn the last page.

Patty Jane's House of Curl remains one of my favorite of Lorna Landvik's books. When I received a copy of Once in a Blue Moon Lodge from Net Galley in exchange for a review, I was thrilled! The same characters I grew to love in House of Curl show back up in Blue Moon Lodge, except about 20 years have lapsed. I do think reading Patty Jane's House of Curl first would benefit readers as the timeline was a little hard to follow, and the segue's took me by surprise/ Ultimately, I loved the continuation of the story, especially that of Ione's past. She is the ultimate, uber-grandmother, and learning more about her was truly a wonderful thing.

I wish Nora, Patty Jane and Ione lived close by me; they are people I would love to be around and in my life. Simple, sweet, strong, kind, determined, yet always willing to fight for the underdog or the underprivileged. Life is simple, but complex for them, and they seem to live their lives to the ultimate best, but stay true to themselves. Once in a Blue Moon Lodge was a sweet, fun, easy-to-read enjoyable book.

Patty Jane's House of Curls is in my top 20 favorites of all time so imagine my excitement to hear Lorna Landvik wrote a sequel. Unfortunately it was way too corny and just plain boring.

I'm so disappointed. I do not recommend

Nora has a one-night stand on a camping trip and winds up getting pregnant with triplets. Wow!! Lorna, you have hooked me again!! Right from the very first page and you never let me go! What an awesome sequel to Patty Jane's House of Curl. 


ONCE IN A BLUE MOON LODGE  is a heart warming story of family and friendship that is incredibly moving. The cast of characters are a bit out there, but extremely appealing and watching them go through all of the joys and sorrows of their lives is an emotional roller coaster ride that will have readers much laughing out loud as well as reaching for the tissues. This wonderful sequel to  Patty Jane's House of Curl can easily be read as a standalone, but I totally recommend reading both of these heart tugging novels.