Kathleen Gilles SeidelReviews

Rating: ★★✬☆☆ (2.5/5 Stars)
Title: The Last Snowfall
Author(s): Kathleen Gilles Seidel
Character(s):
― Lacey Berryville: Brunette, Hazel Eyed
― Nate Forrest: 29 years old, Brunette, Green Eyed
Setting: Forrest, West Virginia
Tag(s): Romance, Contemporary
Content Rating: ―
POV: Third Person
Smexy Level: ―
Favorite Quote(s): N/A
Overall Opinion:
“The Last Snowfall” was a cute read but didn't engage me enough to continue to the end. I liked the overall flow the author was able create with the writing and the lead/secondary characters seem likable but I found myself skimming a few pages to get to a 'good’ part. Furthermore, I will definitely consider picking this back up again in the future.

I have read this book several times and always discover something new in it. For example, it gave me a better understanding of people who live away from cities and are blue collar and why they might vote for Trump. Seidel is a terrific writer and has a deep understanding of people and of America.

Another excellent contemporary roman from Kathleen Gilles Seidel. I always like how she writes characters. They feel like real people that I would like to know -- most of them. They act in ways that I can understand. She does great with the backstories even in a short spice. If there is a sequel I would like to read it but I doubt there will be because all three snowboarders have books. But there is still the mysterious Lailah.½

I haave had this in paper for the longest time but I didn't read it. I don't know why because I love Seidel's books. This turned out to be an excellent one. It had a brilliant way of interspersing history with the contemporary period of the characters. While it was clear to the readers why the two main characters would get together, it was not clear to them for legitimate reasons. What made the book really special were the book's secondary characters (calling them that is a disservice) and the careful attention that Seidel always pays to building a picture of the community that the characters inhabit. She makes it achingly clear what that world is even to someone who has never lived in that environment. Although this book was written quite awhile ago (2002), it has aged well.½

This book was odd. I loved the setup (takes place on the set of Regency soap opera). I loved the hero and heroine when I met them. Everything seemed like it would be lovely and sprightly and interesting. And then... the entire emotional arc of the hero and heroine's journey together is told rather than shown. Seriously. They have their "overcoming the Big Misunderstanding" moment via a script-- as in, literally, the heroine writes a script for the scene, shows it to the hero, and then literally walks him through the emotional revelation he's supposed to have. So odd.

4 stars for the first half, 2 stars for the rest.

This is one of Seidel's older books which I have read several times over the years. Her writing is fantastically good. She makes her characters feel real, like people you might know. But she also opens up a world view of a small town you might never have lived in. The people in the book have their own stories but the romance is there, realistic and warming.½

Autumn’s Child by Kathleen Gilles-Seidel
Stand ingTall #3

Slow beginning that almost had me give up on the book but knowing that I have enjoyed this author’s books in the past I plugged on. With more than one thread to the story it was a bit of a puzzle about who Autumn even was till much further into the book. There was the sort-of romance and second chance for Ben and Colleen to achieve a HEA. There was the issues of inheritance and some getting more than others. There was the issue of family and adoption and blood. There was a huge media circus with crazies running around. There were friends that came to visit. For some reason I just could not get into this book and really had trouble relating to the characters. I did not see what Colleen and Ben saw in one another or why she was still interested in him as to me he seemed rather selfish. Anyway, I did finish the book but do have to say that I much prefer other books that I have read by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Lyrical Shine for the ARC – This is my honest review.

2-3 Stars½

What I learned the most from this book is that I am so happy that my friends are this anal about our children or their school. We help at the school, but we don't obsess about it!

I also learned or remember that this is the way girls could be at our schools when i was growing up. There were the Populars and sometimes you could feel left out of activities that you so wanted to go to but may not have had the right hair, the right clothes etc... Until we moved to Ocala I can honestly say that this didn't happen so much at my children's schools. Now, don't get me wrong, there were popular kids and not popular, but on the whole, all the kids got along and had "big" parties so as not to insult anyone!

It intrigued me to think about what would happened to my kids had we sent them to a private school.

This is an old book by one of my favorite authors and I can believe I haven't read it before. The characters are so interesting and so authentic with their successes, failures, and growth. Seidel is extremely insightful about people and it reflects in how she draws her characters. The prose is great -- I never wince. But the biggest plus is that she takes ordinary people and puts them in an environment that you may not be familiar with, e.g., The Iron Range in MN and makes you understand how that environment and its culture shaped them. It also helps you better understand some of why people act the way they do today.

Excellent book. Almost everything from Kathleen Gilles Seidel is excellent. She understands what makes people tick and she creates wonderful characters, each unique. No paint by numbers people, like Krentz does. This is part of the snowboarder series (Standing Tall, Book 2). You understand why the central male character sometimes feels less than his brother or others and how he turns that around and makes something of himself that he is proud of.½

This is a great book. Seidel is always a favorite of mine. She write terrific prose but it is the insight that she has into people's motivations and actions that is almost always right on. It really helps me understand people in my own life. This book, which is one of her best, helps me to understand the people (the good people) who voted for Trump in a way that a newspaper article cannot. I've reread this book at least twice and I never fail to enjoy it and learn something new. Even though it was written in 1986 and some things are dated (no cell phones and computers) it is still as fresh and relevant today.

The Last Snowfall by Kathleen Gilles-Seidel
Standing Tall #2

Mixed feelings on this one. I love this author’s books read LONG ago and keep hoping to connect with her newer books in the same way but this series so far has felt less deep and more difficult for me to connect with. In some ways this book, though romance, feels more like a New Adult romance and that is not my favorite genre because the issues the characters and couple tend to face are not ones I can relate to as easily.

In this book Nate Forrest has returned to the town he grew up in to meet a friend then later head off to another friend’s wedding. A snowstorm lands him on the doorstep of veterinarian Lacey Berryville and the ride out part of the storm together. Nate decides to return to town after the wedding to see if the connection he felt for Lacey might prove to be more and meets a rather cool Lacey when he goes to say hi. For some reason Nate wants to revitalize his old hometown even though he doesn’t really feel ties to the town and has spent more years away from than in it. There is some push-pull between Lacey and Nate and some work problems Lacey has to deal with and both have backstories from childhood that impact their relationship development but all in all it is rather predictable and really slow growing before they manage to figure out how to end up together for the long haul...maybe.

I had trouble connecting to Lacey...for some reason she didn’t seem as warm and open as a woman I would imagine Nate falling for. I liked Nate and warmed up to him more though at times he seemed a bit immature. I wasn’t sure what purpose Pete and his wife played in the story. All in all it was an okay read but it did not warm my heart like “Don’t Forget To Smile” that this author wrote decades ago. There is one more book in this series and I will give it try when it comes out.

Did I like this book? Yes
Would I like to read more by this author? Definitely
Was it my favorite book by this author? Probably not
What was my favorite book by this author? Don’t Forget to Smile

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington – Lyrical Shine for the ARC – This is my honest review.

3-4 Stars½

Very sweet small town romance. Somewhat dated but a nice family (ala Kowalski's). Beauty pageant now bar owner falls for local boy.

I love how detailed this author writes her characters. You feel like you know them, you feel like you see characteristics of people you know in them, therefore you really care about what happens to them.

Darcy has been single about three years. Her youngest son is a senior in highschool, her oldest son about to graduate college and head to graduate school...in the midst of all these big life changes, her oldest son proposes to his girlfriend. This leads to Darcy meeting and interacting with her exhusband's new girlfriend.

The new girlfriend jumps into the wedding planning and takes over in major ways. You'll probably be very happy if you don't know someone like her in real life.
When she's rude to Darcy, and she can be very rude to Darcy, you will rightfully be very irritated with her.

The scene is definitely set for a very interesting year of wedding planning and a very interesting wedding.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters are so well written and so well rounded. I love when a story is mostly character based, especially when the characters are so interesting and loveably.

Gwen and Hal get married, both of their spouses have died within the past few years and neither expected to fall in love so suddenly.

They each have grown children, Gwen has Jack and Holly. Hal has Phoebe, Ian and Amy.
Each year Hal takes his family to a summer place by the lake. This year, of course, he takes Gwen and they encourage her children Jack and Holly to come too.

Every person on Hal's side is very used to their place in the family and how things should be done (for them, things should be done the way they're always done). Phoebe is the oldest and feels very untethered since losing her mom and is holding tight to being the oldest sister. Meanwhile, Amy is the youngest. She's a world famous Olympic athlete but in her family she feels like an afterthought.

Gwen's kids are easy going. Jack is very loveable and he just wants his mom to be happy.

When Jack and Amy start to fall for each other, Jack knows his mom doesn't approve of them starting a relationship right now when this new family is still forming. Jack and Amy have to deal with their own feelings, while trying to figure out if everyone can be happy.

Although the cover turned me off a lot, the book was an excellent entry in Seidel's oeuvre. She is an excellent writer and understands people and makes them seem very authentic on the page. And interesting. One thing, besides the cover, that I disliked about this book is that it seemed too short -- more Harlequin length than women's lit. Although the main characters seemed very young, they did mature during the book. The setting was very fresh and the supporting characters were fleshed-out and made interesting. The background -- jury duty in North Carolina, snowboarding, graphic design and video game designing, gave depth to the book and made it more interesting. This isn't my favorite book by Seidel (Again and Don't Forget to Smile) but I can't wait for her next book. They seem to come at such distant intervals now.½

The Fourth Summer by Kathleen Gilles-Seidel
Standing Tall #1

Thrilled to see a new book by this author! That said, I think this book is rated on it being a NA genre rather than a contemporary romance. The story flips between the time the H/h were in their teens and their present ages of mid-twenties. So, my feeling is that it should be geared and advertised to that age reader.

Seth is a snowboarder who won the bronze medal at the Olympics in a clean sweep for America. He has been living a public life and also advertising his family’s board and other products for a decade. Caitlin is a graphic designer who works predominately on video games and book covers. The two spent summers together for a few years then suddenly were apart and have not seen each other for over a decade. When Seth and Caitlin are called home to sit on a jury they reconnect, talk, work together on issues that come up and try to decide if there is a relationship to pursue between them or not. The families of both Seth and Caitlin make appearances but the main story is the jury trial and the interaction between the jury members.

I felt both Seth and Caitlin were interesting characters with perhaps Caitlin the more mature of the two. Both did grow during the book and I can see them together as a couple.

Did I like this book? Yes
Would I like to read more by this author? Definitely
Was it my favorite book by this author? Probably not
What was my favorite book by this author? Don’t Forget to Smile

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books – Lyrical Shine for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4 Stars

Loved this book. Have it in paper also which I am now going to give away. Read it a long tome ago.

I could totally identify - being taken advantage of and even being looked down upon because of the decision to become a stay at home mom after having a good position in a good company for many years. Also, I absolutely agree with the cattiness and crap that goes on with teen girls these days...such nonsense, and yet they have no idea that these people will likley not matter by the time they are 21.

A book that waxes every bit as sentimental about small town life and family ties as about romantic love.½

Absolutely riveting story of a sixth-grade girl and her family, told through the eyes of the mother. Erin is (briefly) a "popular girl" and then her place in her group of life-long friends is taken by a new girl in school. Beyond the middle-school angst is the story of the mother trying to cope, when her own friends are anxious about hurting her OR siding against their daughters, and when her husband is mostly gone (heading a large trial team in an Enron-style trial far away from their DC home).

The mother, Lydia, is so well-told and so understandable (to me) that this could be the family behind me in line at car pool. I loved this story of their year.½

This author was highly recommended on discussion boards at AAR. I enjoyed this very much. A quick read.½

I liked parts of this book but there were just as many I didn't like. The main characters of the book are for the most part very unemotional. Their internal and external dialogue is very straight forward and lacking in nearly any feeling. I also didn't enjoy the family tension parts of the story. It just reminded me of why I don't enjoy family gatherings in general. I really liked the lake setting and the idea of a family that spends it's summers at a lake. Ultimately there wasn't enough depth to the characters in order for me to connect with them.

I came upon this book by accident; I was going through my parents’ library and found this one hidden under a pile of dust. I googled the book and since the reviews were great and the description sounded interesting I read it. Once I started it I couldn’t put it down.

The book is set in the world of soap operas. The hero, Alec, is a very famous soap opera star who after having a lot of troubles with his current show gets fired and starts working in another one. The heroine, Jenny, is the head writer of that show. They have an instant connection, he is attracted to her refreshing attitude and she is just plain nice and friendly, so they become fast friends. He is the first one to realize that his feelings have developed into something more, but the problem is that Jenny is in a very serious relationship with one of the show’s actors.

The first thing that caught my attention was the writing, I can’t pinpoint what it was about it that I found to be so wonderful but it just flows. There is a lot of introspection in this book, the characters talk to themselves as much as they talk to each other, and even if is written in third person and you get both lead’s POV, it almost seemed that I was reading a first person narrative because you really get to know the characters.

Alec was sweet, hardworking, devoted and responsible, this wasn’t a conventional alpha male, he was very down to earth and realistic. He wasn’t afraid to show his feelings and to appear vulnerable. The best part about him was that he was a partner, he was in equal ground with Jenny, they were both successful and supportive of each other, he not only loved Jenny, he respected and admired her. The reason he got fired from the soap wasn’t that he was a troublemaker, this is no bad boy hero; on the contrary, he gets blamed for the failure of the show, the low ratings and everything that went wrong, and he feels very disappointed because he worked very hard for that not to happen.

Jenny was one of the sweetest, most likeable heroines I have read in a long time. She was a bit of a tom boy, she was an outsider her whole life and just wanted to feel like she was part of something, she had a great imagination and she was on first name basis with Georgette Heyer. Once you hear her backstory her character really comes into perspective, you get to see her flaws and insecurities and how she deals with them, she was far from perfect and that made her a lot more relatable.

The soap opera is set during the Regency era (hence the first named basis with Georgette) and if you are a fan of romances set in that period you are going to love this one. There is a bit of a story within a story in this book, and when you start reading about the soap opera you will laugh at all of the inside jokes, the show uses all the plot devices that you can expect from a regency romance and a soap opera.

There is a lot of humor, the book is not a comedy though, in fact there are some serious topics in it, Alec and Jenny have some drama going in their life, but they deal with it with humor and optimism. As I said there is a lot of introspection in the book, but the inner dialogue was fantastic, I laugh so hard reading Alec’s thoughts that is no wonder I fell in love with him, and I think that so will you. The cast of secondary characters is another part of why this book was so good, they were a blast and a joy to read.

The book is full of details about daytime television and soap operas; you can tell that Kathleen did a lot of research. I didn’t find it boring though, I believe it added to the story, but you might find the book a bit slow, I was very invested in the characters so maybe that’s why I enjoyed those technical parts, but it might not be your case.

The only thing that bothered me was that the “villain” of the story was a bit one-dimensional. He was Jenny’s boyfriend and friend since childhood and she loved him, but his behavior made him seem like a jerk. I understand that he needed to be unlikeable for us to root for Alec and Jenny, but he could have been more complex. Sometimes good people fall out of love without someone having to be a jerk you know? That is how life works, and I would have loved for them to fall apart because they weren’t in love anymore and because they were different people, not just because someone was an asshole. I couldn’t understand why she was with him in the first place, or why she stayed with him, and in the end he was the one who forced her hand into choosing Alec instead of being her who made the decision.

Overall this was a feel-good story. It was filled with incredible charming characters. It was funny, it was sweet and I have a new favorite author. This is an out of print book so it might be hard to get (I should know because I’m trying to get my hands on her other books) but if you can find them, they are worth it. Look beyond the publishing date, and the cheesy covers, this book wasn’t dated at all, and I’ve got a feeling that the same can be said about the rest of them. Sadly Kathleen is no longer writing romance, I think her latest books are more chick-lit than anything else, but this is an author worth reading.

SUMMER'S END by Kathleen Gilles Seidel is a contemporary read.A family affair indeed.When Jack Wells' mom marries Amy Legend's Dad the family is invited to spend the summer at the Legend's family retreat in Northern Minnesota. What occurs is an
expected affection between Amy and Jack.They agree to wait until summer's end to deepen their growing feelings and their passion. This story weaves family drama of two conflicting families together to make one family through marriage. While one family lost a mother the other lost a father,together they gain both a new mother and a new father.
There is grief,squabling with step siblings,bonding of two families and the transformation of these two families into one family by summer's end. A great summer read full of family drama,passion and step squabling.Any contemporary fan will enjoy this quick read.This book was received for the purpose of review from the publisher and details can be found at William Morrow,an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers and My Book Addiction Reviews.