What happens when five women who are strangers meet in an airport bathroom, and after being stranded by a surprise storm, decide to get a suite together in a five-star hotel?

Well it could have been a fun story, full of women finding out how much they have in common, laughing at each others stories, reveling in their womanhood, motherhood and sisterhood.

Instead the majority of the story wound up being a bunch of nagging and nit-picking women constantly griping at one another, rolling their eyes, bemoaning their decisions to ever share a room with one another.

Patti was probably the most likable of the characters for me initially, although later on Holly became quite likable as well, and over time you begin to see the appeal of each woman. After all, we are all beautiful in all of our flawed glory! The characters were developed quite fully, so that I could begin to identify with them. We've all known these women in our lives. Most of us would see a little of ourselves in each of them.

It was probably the middle of this story that I enjoyed the most. My problem in the beginning was the constant nit-picking and griping by all of the women. About halfway through the story, the plot just took a pretty preposterous turn. At that point, soon after losing my annoyance with the characters for their intolerance of one another (and soon after enjoying the turn in the characters attitudes), I became instead annoyed with the author for throwing so many different storylines into the story that it became the "Perfect Storm" of preposterousness.

I had great hopes for this story, but in the end it was just "eh".

I feel kind of confused after reading this book. The cover and title made me think it would be somewhat of a chick-lit book, as did the first 3/5 of the book. But then suddenly it turned into a mystery and fantasy story and went downhill from there. I really liked the premise of 5 complete strangers waiting out a storm in a hotel room together, and that's why I enjoyed reading the first half of the book. I even laughed out loud a few times. But then everything got turned around and I lost track of what story I was supposed to be reading.

Not to mention the typos that actually made it difficult to read the book. I've never read an ARC before, so maybe this is to be expected, but there were not only minor spelling errors but actual main characters' names being misspelled and mixed up. I had no idea what was going on a few times which definitely took away from the flow of the story.

I was prepared to be somewhat disappointed in this book, because there are so many negative reviews. I have to say that I, once again, love Radish. Granted, with two absolutely stellar books (IMO - Annie Freeman, and Elegant Gathering)we are bound to like some of her work a little less. And yes, some of this was a stretch, but it's FICTION, it's reading for PLEASURE. If I wanted a dose of depressing reality, I'd watch the news.
There were a couple places I was disappointed, primarily when, instead of describing a scene, the reader is told, "it's just the way you would imagine it." I don't want to imagine it - I want you to set the scene; I still get plenty of opportunities to visualize and use my imagination. Because of this type of thing occurring in the book, I'm giving it a three star rating - but that's a strong three. For Radish's once again famous take on female relationships, and the reminder of the fun and power we all should harness, I would like to give it a four or more.

I forgot how much I love Kris Radish. The "shelter-in-place/lockdown/quarantine/all-hell-has-broken-loose" left me in a spot where I just couldn't snuggle up with a book, and I am an avid reader. During a conversation with one of my dear EDL (you have to read the book to understand) girlfriends, I remembered a book I have had forever I hadn't read yet. I went on a hunt and found it. This book was published in 2010, so woo hoo for being a book hoarder. It was everything I needed. I love this book so much I sent the last paragraphs of the Prologue to friends, daughter, granddaughter, and some women I don't even know. I am thankful for estrogen and the sweet string that connects all women.

After reading "The Elegant Gathering of White Snows", I was looking for another book about female friendship (making up for in books what I lack in real life). I struggled through the 1st three-quarters of this book, but some crazy twists that I didn't see coming livened up the ending.

I'm glad I finished it because it was really in the ending that I found the parts that make me enjoy Kris Radish's work; the printed word version of feelings I've been having as a woman, a mother, a professional, and a wife. I look to Kris to reassure me that what my heart feels isn't outlandish or crazy or stupid and so far, she hasn't disappointed.

So all in all, I enjoyed the story but wish it had moved a bit quicker or maybe with a bit more organization in the beginning.

I barreled through this book over the weekend, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Granted, there are elements of the story that are highly implausible, but who cares? What is suspension of disbelief for if not for reading (and enjoying) the most outrageous of stories?? This is total escapist reading...fun, entertaining, crazy, well written (yay!!) and satisfying in the end.

This one starts out a little slow, but by the half way point I was hooked. There are so many unexpected twists in this book; while the ending is what you hope for, the journey is reader's bliss.

This was a GR win but I really could not get into this book. I didn't get to know any of the characters and therefore I found them all unlikeable. The story is confusing when it switches from each character and I found myself having to go back a few pages to try to figure out which character is which. Maybe this book would have been better if it was written by each character's point of view.

I won this book in the Goodreads giveaway. I had a hard time getting through it. I felt the characters were poorly developed and inconsistent in their behaviors. One thing that also bothered me was that a lot of the metaphors were over the top and seemed almost cheesy. It was mentioned several times how crazy the women felt it was that they had stayed in the hotel with each other, yet they did it. Also, the whole fbi thing was a little unbelievable. Overall, I did not develop an attachment to the storyline.