Chilly Reads to Enjoy While Curling Up in Front of the Fire

Due to the especially cold weather, it is a great time to grab a book and curl up by the fire. I selected some chilly reads to go with the weather.

What Happened to the McCrays? by Tracey Lange – The queen of compelling family dramas returns with her best novel yet, a story that is both heartwarming and heartbreaking. Several years earlier, Kyle McCray fled his hometown of Potsdam, New York leaving his ex-wife and father behind. When his father suffers a stroke, Kyle reluctantly returns to help, but dreads his homecoming after abandoning his family and the town. As the story toggles between the past and the present, Kyle’s life with his wife Casey unfolds in both timelines. While home he also gets drawn into coaching the middle-school hockey team, and these scenes in the story are standouts. Lange’s relatable, everyday characters who struggle to make their way in the world will resonate with readers who will see themselves in the people she writes. The themes of grief, mental health, relationships, aging, and community that are woven throughout the book are evergreen and relevant to everyone. Have tissues ready, because What Happened to the McCrays? is a tear-jerker at times. It will be a great fit for fans of family dramas and compelling stories. 

Once Upon a Wardrobe by Patti Callahan – Callahan’s beautiful, magical, and captivating new book, Once Upon a Wardrobe, delves into the question of what inspired C.S. Lewis to create Narnia. Megs Devonshire studies math and science at Oxford and relies on facts versus intuition. When her terminally ill brother, George, becomes infatuated with a new book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and implores her to find out how Narnia came about, Megs finds herself visiting C.S. Lewis, an Oxford don, and his brother Warnie, hoping to answer George’s questions. Instead of providing her answers directly, however, Lewis tells her stories about his own life growing up, which she then relays each weekend to George. While Megs struggles to find the connections, George helps her understand the stories that Lewis relates and how they led to the creation of Narnia.

The Winter Orphans by Kristin Beck – Employed by the Swiss Red Cross, nurse Rösli Näf runs the colony of Château de la Hille, a dilapidated castle in Southern France, serving as the caretaker to over 100 refugee children who have fled the Nazis. When the Nazis invade that area of France, the children are once again in peril – especially the older ones, who once they reach 18 face deportation and ultimately death. Rösli and volunteer Anne-Marie Piguet come to realize that the only way to save the teenagers is to ferry them out of France through Nazi-occupied territory. Using a mixture of real and fictional characters, Beck chronicles the trials and tribulations the women faced as they worked to smuggle the teens out of France to safety in neighboring countries. The Winter Orphans brings to life the courage and bravery of everyday people during World War II.

We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer – Eve is home by herself when Thomas and his family knock on her front door. Thomas explains that he grew up in the home Eve and her partner, Charlie, recently purchased. While she initially hesitates, Eve is a people pleaser and eventually allows the family in to look around. As soon as the family enters the home, strange things start happening, including the disappearance of the family’s youngest child somewhere within the dwelling, and the family refuses to leave. The eeriness factor is off the charts; We Used to Live Here is dripping with dread, tension, and a fun creepiness factor that kept me turning the pages, but it wasn’t so scary that I couldn’t sleep at night. Kliewer also sows doubt about whether Eve is actually experiencing these events or whether it might all be in her mind, which kept me guessing and crafts a spectacular ending. The book is being adapted for Netflix with Blake Lively starring as Eve.

For more book recommendations and bookish thoughts, see Cindy’s monthly Buzz Reads column, her award-winning Thoughts from a Page Podcast or follow @ThoughtsFromaPage on Instagram.