What a FABULOUS month for reading! I read 3 books in less than one month, mostly because the 3rd book in the series was due sooner so I had to kick it in gear. I read the complete Winter Series by Elin Hilderbrand in January and loved every minute of it! 
The series is a light but warm family drama, perfect for winter and the holidays. It follows the Quinn family each year around Christmas at The Winter Street Inn on Nantucket, owned by Kelly and Mitzi Quinn. Each of Kelly’s 4 kids are very different, Patrick is a successful investor on wall street, Kevin not so successful and still living at home, Anna does what she loves teaching music in school at Nantucket though also still lives at home, and finally the youngest Bart joined the Marines and was just deployed to Afghanistan. Kelly’s first wife and mother the his oldest 3, Margaret is a big time news anchor that the world watches every night. I’m sure you can only imagine how all these characters stories might unfold!
Winter Street – I enjoyed meeting the Quinn family in book one, each of them so sweet. That is until you are introduced to their crazy! This dysfunctional family is just so relate-able, they’ll have you smiling and laughing in no time. Winter Street only opens up the chaos that ensues including a federal crime, someone sneaking off with Santa Claus, a secret couple and unplanned baby, too much alcohol, and endless Christmas carols. Sounds like every family Christmas, right?
Winter Stroll – Book two picks up with the Quinns for another holiday season! There is a family member missing, one in jail, two secretly hooking up, another with a new baby and a commitment to marriage, another is addicted to painkillers, and finally someone is caught up with two lovers! There is no shortage of drama this holiday season, that is for sure 😉
Winter Storms – Since these were marketed as a trilogy this is the last book in the series and begins to wrap the story up. The Quinns overcome their troubles, they find love, they gain hope, they are joyful, and they all come together as one big, happy, still slightly dysfunctional, family. I truly loved the ending pages of this book and was a big fan of the way Elin left it open for the reader to use their imagination.
I must say as much as I was happy to have read the series I still wasn’t wanting to quit the Quinn family…thankfully Elin shared this on social media, bring on another Christmas with the Quinns!
And because I can’t leave you without a few favorites from my week…Ron worked from home on Tuesday since he was sick so I received sweet snaps like these all day 🙂
I made sausage stuffed squash for dinner one night and it was a big hit! I didn’t really follow a recipe, just halved my acorn squash and put it in the oven at 400. While it was baking I cut up carrots, red & green peppers, onions and basil. When I thought my squash was about 20 minutes from being done I tossed my veggies in a pan with olive oil, after about 10 minutes I added in my ground sausage and just before it was all done I added spinach. I took out my squash before I had added in the sausage to let it cool then just scooped everything into the squash and topped with some cheese! It was perfect and so easy!
And this is my ABSOLUTE favorite!
I need to read her books, everyone talks about them!! That squash looks amazing!
Thanks for stopping by Cara 🙂 yes you must read her books, I haven’t read one I didn’t enjoy! The squash was AMAZING, my husband isn’t a huge fan of veggies and he LOVED it! I called it a win 😉