Best book to read during winter months...
594460
This book is fun to read even if you are a tycoon of gardening and a great place to find the best organic growing tips - using worm castings, simplest errors of not adding enough organic material to your soil (I am also a gardener who wants quick results, investing money in plants instead of soil, will change that now...)...  It is definetly one of the best gardening books I've read.
1799309
Cold Sassy Tree is a classic story that is so well-written that it appeals to all audiences.  The best way to read it is with your loved one. Alternate reading the chapters aloud and see if you can get through it  without laughing and crying! (Be sure to include your own Georgia  accents::)
694607
I thought this book was great!  It's got some mystery and romance all in one and won't disappoint! Definitely a must read for winter! It's got the cozy cabin and lots of snow!
3534672
The Coldest Winter Ever by Sista Souljah was an outstanding book.  I recommend this book for every young women to read.  Once you started reading this book you can't put it down.  And by the time you get to the end you realize you read the whole book and wish it wouldn't end.  I hope a part two comes out for this book because it was a wonderful book.  It always had you wondering of what was going to happen next.  It even got to the point where I tried to predict how Winter would react to certain situationw.  After reading this book I can definitely say Winter is surely the baddest chick you would ever meet.
1562823
Mary Lindeen has authored many non-fiction books for young children and beginning readers that are wonderful. This is a great book for children learning about the seasons, especially winter. It talks about winter activities, what animals do, about trees losing their leaves and the holidays (New Year's Day, Valentine's Day). It is a beginning basal reader that had realistic pictures to accompany the words. The text is short, perfect for emerging readers. The main facts are probably exactly what a parent or teacher would use to describe the season of winter. This would be a great companion book to "It's Winter, Dear Dragon" by the same publisher. At the end of the book there are activities a teacher or caregiver could do with the reader as well as a list of words used in the book.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
4107377
So very many emotions make their little appearances when reading this work to or with a child; joy, blissfulness, a warm fuzzy feeling which will drift the adult reader back to simpler times, and of course the delight of discover of a child and the memories you know that they, the child, will too be storing away for long wintery nights far into their future.

Cynthia Rylant is one of my favorite authors of children's books.  She simply has a way about her that naturally attracts the young and delights the child in all of us.  She has teamed up with Lauren Stringer on this one and I must say that this is truly a winning team...they are quite in tune.

This is the story of snow; all kinds of snow:

"Some snows fall only lightly,
just enough
to make you notice
the delicate limbs of trees,
the light falling
from the lamppost,
a sparrow's small feet."

You can close your eyes and just see and feel this delightful kind of snow, especially if you make just a wee effort and view it through the child part of your mind.

"The best snow
is the snow that
comes softly in the night,
like a shy friend
afraid to knock,
so she thinks she'll
just wait in the yard
until you see her.
This is the snow that brings you peace."

This work not only incorporates the very young, but the reader is given a steady flow of beloved parts of their lives; their animals, grandparents...family.  Both the writer and the artist have conveyed much love and much sweet caring throughout the work.

This is an ideal work to read to the little ones before bed time on a cold winter's evening.  The writing is peaceful; the art work soothing.

"And the snow,
while it is here,
reminds us of this:
that nothing last forever
except memories."

I have never read a book by this author that I did not like but I have to tell you that she sort of out did herself with this one...it is an absolute gem.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks
117998
I found this book to be prefect for winter reading and as the first book in the series. Excellent for the new year list.  A new fan, thank you Sylvain Neuvel.
2300914
This is the 3rd book the Caralyn and Mark Buehner has done together.  My favorite is snowmen all year, but they are all fun!  Each page has objects that are hidden in it, so besides being a fun book to read, you also get to find hidden pichures! I recomend this book to all ages!
3745180
I picked the perfect time to read this book. In the dead of winter, the tale of Vasya and her family kept me cozy and warm. While intense and thick with Russian culture, I could not put the book down (except when I had to to look up some phrases and references)

Throughout its pages, we see Vasya grow up from a wild witch child and into a woman. Her view on life impacts the whole story until the very end. While wild, she is also incredibly patient and loving which makes her a total badass cause I wouldnt of put up with half the shit she dealt with.

We see characters come and go throughout her life, some good and some bad, but the whole time her family structure holds true. Its refreshing to see a family unit that loves each other as much as them despite all the misfortune surrounding them without focusing on a teenage love story. Thats probably because in the time this story takes place, people didn't marry for love, but also Vasya was not interested in love save her love of the wilderness.

An extremely refreshing book that will slowly grip you and hold you tight, while you cry, laugh, get angry, and breathe a sigh of relief that theres a sequel already out and a third on the way!
640264
This is a very cozy, snowy, and warm romance novelette.  Shelly's flight home to Seattle is cancelled due to the heavy snow.  She and another passenger is forced to rent a car to get home.  She goes home to her loving and wonderful dad to spend Christmas with him.  She is snowbound . . .  Slade is also snowbound, but Slade is engaged to Margaret.  What a torture it is to be snowbound with a wonderful guy who is engaged to someone else.

I cannot imagine what it is like to live in Washington, with so much snow and cold weather.  But this book is full of warmth and love (her dad's home is warm and loving), hot chocolate, coffee, etc.

Riding through the snow on horseback sounded warm (emotionally warm), cozy, magical, beautiful, and charming.

Finding and cutting down a Christmas tree in all that snow sounded homy and lovely.  The whole little novelette was so cozy and warm.  Even though I don't normally read romance novels very often, I will read another book by Debbie Macomber.  (This is the first time I've ever read anything by her.)

Cozy, snowy, warm, charming, and beautiful.  Highly recommended.
3523679
Holiday books come and go, but Clear Moon, Snow Soon should become part of your Christmas reading shelf, especially if you have young children.  The winter blue cover with the hologram title is lovely and an invitation of beautiful illustrations inside.  The reader is not disappointed.  Illustrator, Guy Porfirio, has captured the wonderlust that a young boy has while waiting for Santa.  Rich, golden-hued colors reflect an evenings glow throughout.  A simple read, this is the definitive bed-time story book for December.  Rising Moon has always been know for publishing "beautiful" children's books and Clear Moon, Snow Soon is another visual winner.
4336109
http://readpicturebooks.wordpress.com

I find it rather difficult to find quality picture books related to winter or  to Christmas, but I finally found one! Snowmen At Work is such a great story about a boy who builds a snowman and then wonders what kind of jobs they do. Each of the following pages explores these different jobs including a dentist, a pet store owner, a teacher, or even a magician! The rhyming, rhythmic text of the story is incredibly enchanting and flows very well. I was surprised at how well the words rhymed, how nothing interrupted the flow of the story, and how fun this book is to read.

The text combined with fantastic illustrations is what really makes this book. The illustrations are brightly colored, cute, eye catching, and just plain brilliant! I just can't get over how everything is snow man related including the cute snow animals in the pet store. Not only are there tons of things to look at and discuss on each page, there are also wpid-new-doc-40_1.jpg.jpegsome hidden pictures including a rabbit, a cat, a t-rex, and a mouse that appear in every painting! This would be a lot of fun for older readers! Parents and children would have to work together to find these items on the pages because some are very difficult to find; I haven't even found them all.  Anyway, these are some of the best paintings I have seen in a children's book!

My son and I really enjoy this book and I am sure you will too! I highly recommend getting this for children 2 and a half and older as a fun winter time read! It will be enjoyed for many years!
2713353
I happened to read the English Girl first.  Then I went on to read The Rembrandt affair.  Silva does a wonderful job of weaving plots and "peeling the onion", so to speak.  Both of these books were great ways to escape the cold.  I went by my bus stop reading during my commute to work with both books at different times because I was so intrigued with the story.
4723681
Good books for a cold winters day. A little different put good. Reminds me of a Mary Jo Putney novel that I loved.
1198785
This is the third book I have read by Milford, I really have enjoyed her books a lot.  They are always filled with a wonderful sense of nostalgia, along with excellent mystery, and some magical realism. This was a magical book to read in the winter, especially over winter break.  This book is mainly a mystery but also deals with ghosts and adoption.

Milo (who is adopted) and his family run an inn in the middle of smuggler territory.  They host a number of interesting guests who are partaking in not so legal smuggling activities.  That being said they rarely have guests over Christmas break and Milo is excited to have his parents to himself.  That is when the bell rings for the first time...and then again and again.  Now it looks like Greenglass House is going to be packed with a number of quirky guests over winter break.

When peoples items start disappearing things really get tense.  Then Milo decides to join up with the daughter of one of the employees, Meddy, and try and solve the mystery of who is thieving. In addition to solving the mystery behind the thefts, they are trying to uncover the mystery of why all these quirky people are at Greenglass House over Christmas and how they all tie in with the history of the house.

This was a fun read that I would recommend if you are a fan of my mysteries with some magic in them.  This book takes place during a snowstorm and over Christmas break, so it makes it a perfect winter read.  I loved the descriptions of winter weather, being a Minnesotan, I could really relate to some of the winter problems they were having.

As with all of Milfords books this book has a sort of nostalgic feel to it.  All the characters are in this old house and they are fairly isolated because of the storm.  For a portion of the book they also don't have power and are forced to resort to using candles, etc.

I also really enjoyed the fact that Milo and Meddy decide to play a live role-playing game to solve the mystery.  They each make up character sheets and try to embody the personalities of their characters while they are solving the mystery.  In the past there has been a lot of hatred toward role-playing games in certain crowds, and I loved how this book showed  how helpful role-playing can be to some kids/people.  Milo truly benefits from pretending to be someone different for awhile.  He is able to go out of his comfort zone (he suffers from some anxiety problems) and learns how capable he is.

I also really enjoyed the quirky characters that showed up to stay at the house.  They all have secrets and at times the book has a bit of a Clue, who done it, type of feel.  I love that the characters start getting together to tell stories to each other after dinner at night.  This gives the book that story within a story feel as well.

There is also some discussion about adoption.  Milo is grateful for his current family but also really would love to know something about his birth family.  This theme ties in with another character who was adopted who shows up at Greenglass House in an effort to find out something about his birth family.

There are also some magical elements that come into the story in the form of ghosts.  However, I won't say more than that since how that plays into the story is one of the major twists in the story.

Overall this was a wonderfully magically story that makes a perfect winter read.  Its mostly a nostalgic mystery of sorts with some light magical elements.  I really enjoyed the setting, the descriptive writing, and the quirky characters.  This didn't get five stars because at times I had trouble engaging with Meddy and Milo. There were also some slow points in the story where I had trouble staying engaged in the story.  However, like all of Milfords book, this was an excellent story that really embodies well done traditional story-telling.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend for all readers middle grade and older.
3832823
I love Charles Dicken's works, and I think this is the best book for a warm Christmas season!
638073
Man, I  love the  Timeless Regency collections.  This book was a great read during the snowing and cold month of January. The three stories in this book all revolve around a "season in London" and yet they are all quite different. One has mystery and suspense , the other has sweet friendship building into romance, and the third is full of wit and humor.  Highly recommend this book.