Until Winter Comes Again

Men of Cane River #6

by Mary Jane Hathaway

One magical bookstore, two best friends, and a whole cast of interfering busybodies determined to help true love happen!

Despite her miserable childhood, Flannery Beaulieu has always loved Christmas, and celebrating Christmas in idyllic Natchitoches, Louisiana is very the best of all. The carols, twinkling lights, smell of simmering gumbo, and the sound of zydeco music can't be beat. But when Flannery moves into a beautiful apartment over an old bookstore, her orderly life becomes a lot more complicated. She’s not only the pet project of every matchmaker in the city, but her best friend is acting like he doesn’t even want her around.

Remington Becket would never go a day without talking to her, even when he’s halfway across the world. Handsome, bookish, and as happy to be single as she is, Rem is like her other half.
Now, even though he’s living in the apartment right next door, Flannery is sure Rem is avoiding her.

It's shaping up to be the absolute worst Christmas on record and by the time a once-in-a-century blizzard hits, Flannery suspects moving back to Natchitoches― and into the apartment over By the Book― was a terrible idea after all.

But By the Book isn’t just any old bookstore. It’s a place where faith is real, grace is present, and the miracle of true love happens every day... if only Flannery has the courage to take a risk with her heart.

Fans of Jenny Hale, Fannie Flagg, Susan Mallery― or anyone who loves a Christmas story filled with a strong community, beautiful scenery, and romance― will delight in Mary Jane Hathaway’s newest romantic comedy about best friends who discover they've loved each other all along.

Approximately 220 pages and includes recipes!

The Cane River Romance Series

The Pepper in the Gumbo -- Book One
These Sheltering Walls -- Book Two
Only Through Love -- Book Three
A Star to Steer By -- Book Four
The Boundless Deep -- Book Five
Until Winter Comes Again -- Book Six
To Look On Tempests -- Book Seven (coming spring 2017)

Other books by Mary Jane Hathaway

Pride, Prejudice and Cheese Grits -- Austen Takes the South Book One
Emma, Mr. Knightley and Chili-Slaw Dogs -- Austen Takes the South Book Two
Persuasion, Captain Wentworth, and Cracklin' Cornbread -- Austen Takes the South Book Three

Leaving Liberty
All the Blue of Heaven
Purple Like the West
Season of Joy --Denver Mission Book One
Season of Hope --Denver Mission Book Two
A Home for her Family --Denver Mission Book Three

Romance Grows in Arcadia Valley (boxed set)
Spring's Blessings --Arcadia Valley Book One (releasing Jan 2017)
Summer's Glory --Arcadia Valley Book Two (releasing Feb 2017)
Autumn's Majesty-- Arcadia Valley Book Three (releasing August 2017)
Winter's Promises -- Arcadia Valley Book Four (releasing January 2018)

Genres: Christmas, Romance, Contemporary, Christian Fiction, Fiction, Christian, Contemporary Romance

265 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2017

About the author

About the Author: Mary Jane Hathaway is the pen name of an award-nominated writer who spends the majority of her literary energy on subjects un-related to Jane Austen. A homeschooling mother of six young children who rarely wear shoes, she’s madly in love with a man who has never read Pride and Prejudice. She holds degrees in Religious Studies and Theoretical Linguistics, and has a Jane Austen quote on the back of her van. She can be reached on facebook at 'Pride, Prejudice, and Cheese Grits' or her regular author page of Virginia Carmichael (which is another pen name, because she’s just that cool).

Reviews

[R.J. Rodda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Christmas romance full of literature quotes. Best friends Flannery and Rem rent the 'magical' neighboring apartments above the book store. Will they fall in love like all everyone else have? All their friends and family hope so.

It is sweet watching this romance come together (although, honestly Rem, man up!).

This is part of a long running series (that I haven't read) and all the other couples brought together by the bookstore feature. Lots of secrets are kept, all the couples face problems that are quickly resolved by the end of the book.

Needless to say there is a lot going on here but it is an enjoyable journey.

[Lucinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love

It comes in many different ways. The couples who are already married, the upcoming marriage and the two people who have been friends forever finally admitting they love each other more. The new baby & all the rain.

[Vkcrochet · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good to read of faith in difficult times.

Faith can keep people putting one foot in front of the other in the most difficult times. This book shows how a town can demonstrate this

[Josephine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Should read in series

Read books in order. While I did read a previous book on the series, it was long enough ago that I didn’t remember he characters, and there are so many characters that I couldn’t keep them straight. The southern culture different and fun to hear about. Its a story that has a bit of depth because each character has their own mini story.

[PN · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a quick and cute holiday read. I`ve only read one another Cane River book so I wasn`t familiar with anyone other than Alice and Paul before reading about Flannery and Rem. But I have another one that I got a bit ago on my Kindle, so once the holidays are over and I`ve quit all my holiday reads I will be sure to pick it up.

When I say this is quick, I really do mean it. The story itself takes place over a few days and Flannery and Rem quickly move from friendship to love. Don`t get me wrong; that is one of my favorite tropes in romance novels. Always has and always will be. However, here I felt it was a bit rushed and not fully developed. The story depended too much on their history, which we knew very little of, without any real insight or a clear path to how their feelings for each other changed.

There were also a lot of breakaways from them to focus and catch up on the other couples to see how they were doing and where they were. While you expect some kind of follow up from the other stories when that content becomes even with or more than the actual story, it grates. It is one of the reasons that I haven`t really enjoyed any of the recent BDB books by JR Ward. Here it seemed to want plant seeds for future books in the series (as I am unsure if this is the last one) but what it ultimately did was short change the main romance.

Another thing was that this is one of the few books I have read in awhile where the issues literally would have been solved in the first few chapters had the characters just communicated with each other. Yes that would have made for a very short story but after so many chapters of misinterpreatation and miscommunication I wanted to reach into the book and shake both of them. Some miscommunication in romance novels is understandable and serves to drive the plot. Here it served to make a longer story or at least try to. But, again we couldn`t really focus on their love since we were getting all updates on the ones from earlier in the series.

Still, I enjoyed the story and tore through it in two days. It has been awhile since I read a book that quickly so that speaks for itself. It was exactly what I needed as a break from the real world and to prepare for the holidays. My biggest complaint is that I wish we had more of Flannery and Rem`s story rather than the catch up for the other couples and that is what kept this from being a four star book.

[Darwin E. Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok I am a 60 yearold guy, I got this for my wife as I am more of a hard boiled detective/war story kind of fellow. But the real bookstore with cats aspect hooked me so I thought what the heck I give it a whirl before sharing it with Barbara.

Mrs. Hathaway's description of the old bookstore and all the detail had me wishing I could wonder and explore such a charming old building, imagine a bookstore with fireplaces and cats, my kind of heven for sure.

And as much as I am pained to admit it, by the end of the book I was rooting for Rem and Pippi to get their collective heads out of you know where. Now I wont be making a habit of reading romance novels, just not my thing, but honestly I have to say I am "glad" I read this one. The tight knit southern family/community spin reminded me of when I was a young kid gowing up, I'm a Yankee born and bread but my dad's family was a lot like the folks the author writes about and I grew up in small towns in the midwest. Nice to find another "good" christen author also.

Mrs. Hathaway also writes her characters with such genunie down to earth realness that it takes no time to start careing about them, she seems to be an author with some real life experiance's. I admire an author that writes good solid characters, you can have the best plot in the world and it will still sink without solid characters. So I write this in the last few hours of my 60th birthday and to the author - thank you Mary Jane for such a good birthday read!

[Maria Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably rounding up from 3.5 stars.

The book description is a little deceptive because it sounds like Flannery and Remington actually live next door to each other but in fact they don't. Flannery is planning to move in next door but it doesn't happen during the story so that was a little weird.

I chose to read this at the absolutely wrong time. I needed a Christmasy book to listen to while I wrapped gifts so I had my Kindle read it to me. The problem with that is that the story takes place in Louisiana and my Kindle voice guy is British. Totally wrong accent for the story. Bad choice. I think the story would have been better if I'd read it myself instead of listening to it.

That being said, the story was pretty good. I cared about the characters although it might have been easier to follow if I'd read the other five books first. There were a lot of characters in this book to try to keep straight. Getting to know them and their stories in the previous books would have been better. (And again, reading it myself might have made it easier as well).

I liked this story well enough to be interested in reading the other books in the series.

The book is clean and the religious themes are mild-not a huge part of the story.

[Laura Van Nice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a lovely story of long-time friends each wondering if they could be more, both wishing for it, but neither wanting to risk the friendship that was so precious to them. Their vulnerability was so authentic and sweet, I completely understood why they were so hesitant and yet I cheered for them to find their way. I like the way Mary Jane Hathaway writes characters; Flannery and Remington are no exceptions. They are well rounded, complex characters I couldn't help but like.

The is a stand alone, but if you've read any of the others in the series, you'll enjoy catching up with all the different characters from Cane River and seeing how their different stories continue to play out.

This was a sweet, tender little love story, well worth the read.

[Melody · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, maybe the rating isn’t fair...

But I didn’t realize how many storylines and characters from past books would carry over to this one. I’ve only read the first one, so I didn’t get a lot of characters or their references. It was more annoying to me that the other people’s stories kept interrupting the main one. If I had read the rest of the books first, this wouldn’t have been an issue.

Also, maybe it’s just the Kindle edition, but there were a lot of grammatical errors. Some sentences didn’t make sense until I had figured out what they had typed up wrong. *sigh*

3 stars. Mayyyybe 3 1/2.

[Kelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Got this free on kindle so I didn’t read any of the earlier books in the series. Maybe that would’ve made a difference in how I felt about it, but as it is, here’s my take... the perspective and story line changed between about 15 characters which made it feel like it lacked focus. I just couldn’t really connect with any of the characters because I was just trying to keep up as it all bounced around. It was also super weird how every person walked around quoting literature or poetry like that was normal. Like I said, maybe if you read the series in order it wouldn’t feel this way, but as a stand-alone I pretty much only finished it because I hate to leave a book unfinished.

[SK · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like Mary Jane Hathaway's "Pepper in the Gumbo," which was first in the Cane River series, "Until Winter Comes Again" moved extremely slow for the first half of the book. Ms. Hathaway jumped from one couple to another, chapter upon chapter, probably trying to "tie-up" all the loose ends and relationship stories from the series. I can see the author has a talent for writing, but I did not care for her "lily pad hopping" style. This story would be far more enjoyable, if it had focused solely on Flannery & Remington and the magical bookstore that seemed to bring couples together. I will think twice before taking the time to read another book by this author.

[Tanya · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cozy, cute book full of tales of friends in a small town. It was well-written and I enjoyed all the literature references and quotes. While this is a book that could be read as a stand-alone novel, I feel like I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I had read the previous books. Other characters (from other books) were just as much the main characters as Rem and Flannery. Hence, I wasn't as invested in any of them them because each of their stories was explained in a few pages instead of reading an entire book about them. And I'm not as interested to read the other characters' books because I know pretty well what happened from reading "Until Winter Comes."

[asleepybookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book so much more than I did. I loved the others in the series and I enjoyed catching up with the characters from the previous stories but it was just overwhelming to me to switch back and forth between all the characters. I ended up skimming most of the last half of the novel. It may be because it's been so long since I read the first novels in the series. I do recommend it but read the other novels first I don't really consider this one a stand alone.

[Vicki Cottingham · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the storyline and the relationship between Rem and Flannery. Couples from previous books in the series were mentioned, which made it confusing as to who was who and how they were connected. Perhaps a page of explanation of who was who at the beginning of the book would have been helpful. However, it was still an enjoyable read for Christmas.
It would also have benefitted from more editing as there were a few mistakes that should have been picked up on.

[Kristine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the book

This book was definitely different than the rest of the series but I loved it. I loved all the different stories going on at the same time. I think this author is fabulous. I still contend that she needs a new editor but even the terrible editing didn't take away the love I have for all the characters in this series. Very highly recommend.

[Sue Ferryman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strong Community

It had been awhile since reading most of Cane River series. It was hard to keep up with all the characters. Also there were scenarios that did not have resolutions. The characters were warm and a closely knit group. Lots of quotes from books and poetry. So much inside conversation & info I felt like an outsider.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another wonderful book in the "Cane River" series. This is more like a very short novella of the 2 main characters and then includes POV's of all the couples of the first 5 books + Fr. Tom. I wanted to read more about Flannery and Remington. But it is good to read about other couples and where their life is at. The whole story happens within a span of 3 days.

[Susan Matthews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Until Winter Comes Again

This was the first book I read in this series. Not knowing all the characters I was confused by the names. Two of the women had men nicknames. The plot seemed slow.

[Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Friendship and Love

Very uplifting. The mixture of literary quotes throughout invokes the sense of the characters. The history of the area along with the nasty weather binds the wonderful tale of friendship and love.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love all the different, but positive relationships and relationship problems that are depicted in this book. Each person and marriage has its own path and pattern and I love how the author shows that.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading about Cane River and By the Book once again. However, I would not recommend this book if you haven’t read the previous books in the series. There are just too many characters and previous storylines to keep track of.

[Karla Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Return to Cane River

I loved reading 'Until Winter Comes Again' it was so nice to hear about what was happening with all my favourite Cane River couples and be introduced to two more. It was just the thing to perk up my week.

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Until Winter Comes Again

Until Winter Comes Again by Mary Jane Hathaway is my first to read in this series. I enjoyed the By the Book bookstore with all who are connected to it. I always like quotes from other authors books. So an enjoyable read.

[Mandi Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don’t read if you haven’t read the first books

This book is hard to get into this if you haven’t read the preceding books. It is a story about several characters/couples in town. And one new couple. There is a happy ending but it’s hard to get there.

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

the story is one where you find people in a southern town trying to keep the history they were born with .

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Classic --miscommunications about feelings keeps lovers apart

[Cat Brennan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Until Winter

I did not understand the connection of the title to the stop. Had a hard time keeping the characters straight.

[Donna Peake · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had a hard time keeping up with the names of the characters and their genders. Think I will read another one of the series to give the author another shot of hooking me.

[Sonia Santos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great insight

This book entails the lives of many individuals and how they intertwine one with each other. I loved the Creole language intermixed within the story.