27 | July | 2020 | Berit Talks Books

Happy Monday afternoon all!

Excited to share with you today my review for this delightful book! This was such a heartwarming and humorous story about family and friendship, I absolutely loved it.

My Thoughts

Humor, heart, dogs, and sheep.Amy Poeppel has written a wonderfully whimsical story of family and friendship. Bridget is excited to spend the summer in her summer home in upstate Connecticut with her new boyfriend Sterling. A nice quiet summer with just the two of them. That is until Sterling ends things over email and Bridgets adult twins show up with crises and without notice. Not only that her 90-year-old father has just announced his pending marriage, and guess who’s hosting the wedding? Suddenly Bridgets quiet summer has turned quite chaotic. Thank goodness for her good friend Will! Bridget and Will have known one another since college. Most people assume they have been romantically involved at some point, but they truly have only ever been friends. Bridget plays the cello, will plays the piano, and they make up 2/3 of a trio. It’s that third member, that third chair that keeps changing.

This was the perfect title for this book not only was the trio constantly in search of the third chair, but the book itself had a constant changing of characters. At first I had a little trouble keeping track of who was who, but it did not take that long to get into the rhythm of the story. The book really highlighted the complexities and chaos of family life. Each character in this book brought something special and necessary to the table. There were so many humorous moments some involving sheep and chickens, some not. But my favorite moments of the story were when all these crazy characters were together, truly never a doll moment. Amy Poeppel’s descriptive writing style made me feel like I was right there with these characters. A well told story packed with characters I grew to adore.

This book in emojis 🎼 🎻 🐈 🐕 🐑 ☔️ 🏚 🍷

*** Big thank you to Atria for my gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own. ***

About the Book

Amy Poeppel, the “quick-witted and razor-sharp” (Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of Daisy Jones & The Six) author of Limelight and Small Admissions has created a “profound, delicious, and soul-stirring” (Caroline Leavitt, author ofPictures of You) novel in MUSICAL CHAIRS, acharming story of role reversals, reinvention, and sweet synchronicity.

Classical cellist Bridget is preparing her country home for two months of romance with the man she hopes to marry when he emails to cancel not only the vacation, but the relationship entirely. Shortly thereafter, her adult children arrive unannounced, with their literal and emotional baggage. Her summer is suddenly much messier than she anticipated.

Her once-empty nest is not only full, but also falling apart. As she begrudgingly repairs her heart and her home, her tenuous foundation cracks further: her father, a famous musician now in his late 80’s, announces his engagement to a longtime friend of the family; and the violinist hired to reinvigorate her chamber trio backs out.

The Forsyth Trio, comprised of herself, her best friend Will and an always-changing third person, has informed much of Bridget’s life since Juilliard. She and Will are compatible, committed, loving, and to people’s constant shock, totally platonic. The group’s demise would distance Bridget from Will, an unnerving possibility that feels more and more imminent as they struggle to fill the open position.

Unlike the symphonies her father writes, and she plays, Bridget learns that life cannot be perfectly arranged. It’s messy and uncertain, but so incredibly full.

About the Author

Amy Poeppel is the author of Musical Chairs,Limelight and Small Admissions, which was first performed as a reading at the Actors Studio. Amy has worked as a stage actress and teacher and now lives with her husband and three sons in New York City and Frankfurt, Germany.

Have a beautiful day filled with hope and books! XOXO Berit🦋

About the Book

A group of young women from Smith College risk their lives in France at the height of World War I in this sweeping novel based on a true story—a skillful blend of Call the Midwife and The Alice Network—from New York Times bestselling author Lauren Willig.

A scholarship girl from Brooklyn, Kate Moran thought she found a place among Smith’s Mayflower descendants, only to have her illusions dashed the summer after graduation. When charismatic alumna Betsy Rutherford delivers a rousing speech at the Smith College Club in April of 1917, looking for volunteers to help French civilians decimated by the German war machine, Kate is too busy earning her living to even think of taking up the call. But when her former best friend Emmeline Van Alden reaches out and begs her to take the place of a girl who had to drop out, Kate reluctantly agrees to join the new Smith College Relief Unit.

Four months later, Kate and seventeen other Smithies, including two trailblazing female doctors, set sail for France. The volunteers are armed with money, supplies, and good intentions—all of which immediately go astray. The chateau that was to be their headquarters is a half-burnt ruin. The villagers they meet are in desperate straits: women and children huddling in damp cellars, their crops destroyed and their wells poisoned.

Despite constant shelling from the Germans, French bureaucracy, and the threat of being ousted by the British army, the Smith volunteers bring welcome aid—and hope—to the region. But can they survive their own differences? As they cope with the hardships and terrors of the war, Kate and her colleagues find themselves navigating old rivalries and new betrayals which threaten the very existence of the Unit.

With the Germans threatening to break through the lines, can the Smith Unit pull together and be truly a band of sisters?