The Quilting House: A Hickory Grove Christmas

Hickory Grove #5

by Elizabeth Bromke

A weathered family barn, a second chance at love, and the quilt that wove them together...
It's winter, and Liesel Hart needs a project. Single and over the hill, she's more likely to turn to the convent than to find a date for the Christmas tree lighting. But when her friend's daughter reaches out with questions about Liesel's favorite passtime, she sees a chance to reinvent herself... until a family secret comes knocking like the Ghost of Christmas Past.
Gretchen Engel has a simple open a craft store. But then her ex-boyfriend comes home for Christmas, bringing a winter storm with him. Now Gretchen is stuck in the Hickory Grove Inn with her ex and a Christmas shopping list a mile long... how can she pull off a business plan if she can hardly manage the holidays?
Becky, Fern, and Maggie, and Greta are close friends and happy locals, and their cherubic children are starring in this year's Nativity play. But a critical prop is missing... and the show can't go on without it.
Will the group of six find the time to patch together a cozy friendship? Or will they run out of hot cocoa first?
Take a trip to the heart of America and fall in love with Hickory Grove's quirky residents who work hard, enjoy the simple life, and always put love first. Each title is a standalone read.
The Book One The Christmas Book Two The Book Three The Innkeeper's Book Four The Quilting Book Five

Genres: Christmas, Fiction

142 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2020

About the author

Elizabeth Bromke is the USA Today bestselling author of The Summer Society and The Innkeepers and over 30 more titles set in the heartland.

Across her works, readers will find buried family secrets, slow-burn sweet romance, and, of course, the true meaning of home.

Come for the quaint houses, stay for the beautiful writing. Elizabeth is about to be your next favorite small-town storyteller.

Share your own story with her at elizabethbromkebooks.com

Reviews

[Mara]

We're back in Hickory Grove and it's Christmas time. The Hickory Grove Inn is bustling, Little Flock church is preparing for the Nativity play and Liesel Hart is preparing to go out of town to visit newly found relatives. Until a snowstorm blows into town trapping Liesel, Gretchen Engel and several others at the Inn.

This sweet holiday read weaves the story of how Liesel learned to quilt from the mother who adopted her, in with the present day, as she teaches Gretchen how to quilt. One of Liesel's prized quilts also saves the Nativity play and she helps Gretchen realize her dream of opening her own business--with her help the converted barn becomes The Quilting House.

It was so nice to see all the residents of Hickory Grove--Fern, Maggie, Becky, Luke and Greta--again. It's like catching up with old friends. With all the wonderful descriptions I felt as if I were there during the snowstorm, watching the tree lighting ceremony at Fern's house (aka The Christmas House) and watching the Nativity play. I loved all the advice Liesel's mom gives her during their quilting lessons, and the author gave us a Christmas treat by giving us more than one happily ever after.

I received a complimentary copy to review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in my review are my own.

[Yahaira]

This is such a nice story!

[Nancy]

5 stars

Every quilt has a story. You just need to listen! This is such a nice story in which I enjoyed reading.

[Christy]

Never does Elizabeth Bromke fail to draw me into the lives of the characters in her books. This book is about a character that I met in a previous book and wondered about several times. I loved reading her story and being introduced to new characters along with updates about some old characters as well. Let me just say, that proposal.......!!!!! It was a perfect Christmas read!

[Linda Campanale]

Excellent

Can't stop reading this series. Would feel like leaving old friends!
If you're struggling now during these unprecedented times give them a chance!

[Christi Barron]

One of those books that make you feel good.

2020 has been full of crazy days and unkind events. This book is exactly what I needed to feel good about humanity, friendship, and community. Excellent characters and setting. I can't wait to read the rest of her books.

[Karen]

I received an ARC of this book from the author, Elizabeth Bromke, via Bookfunnel and this is my voluntary and honest review. This is an enjoyable and cozy read about residents of Hickory Grove and how a home town craft shop named The Quilting House came into existence with Liesel and Gretchen becoming business partners. It all starts with Liesel learning how to quilt from her Mother who had adopted her when she was an infant. That first baby quilt came into play many years later when a blizzard and a power outage brought several of the town residents together when stranded at the Inn but cleared up enough for the town Christmas festivities to go on with some additional events added. I recommend this book and I enjoyed getting to know the characters in this small town. It has a HEA ending which is always a plus for me.

[Pam Vogt]

What a great story about friendship, love, learning the craft of quilting and the towns people coming together. Liesel learned to quilt from her mother. Now Liesel would share that talent with Gretchen. Through the story it was fun to learn about all the steps which go into making a quilt. Liesel makes a generous offer to Gretchen. Love is in the air. You will have to read this great story to see if Gretchen can get her dream to come true. I voluntarily reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book.

[Tandy Oschadleus]

I received an ARC to read: this next installment in the Hickory Grove saga is filled with love, sentimentality, family, and yuletude cheer, as we continue to journey with the beloved characters from the small town as they discover the most important things in life. Liz's analogy with Quilting wraps the story in warmth and tenderness.

[Pamela Pavkov]

The Quilting House is a fantastic addition to the Hickory Grove series written by Elizabeth Bromke. I simply adored her characters and catching up on their lives thru this story. This story centers around Liesel and Gretchen. Both of these characters are considering what the future has in store for them. Liesel is a middle aged lady and Gretchen a young woman but when thrown together at Christmas during a blizzard they bond in unexpected ways. What they both have in common, however, makes for a great friendship. There are a couple of surprises within this story which makes for a great read. I love how the author wound this series into another one by her character of Liesel. I have enjoyed both series. I look forward to her next book The Boardwalk House in March

I was not given a complimentary copy of this book to read and review. I was not approached to post a favorable response. I have rated this story with five stars for meeting my expectations of a wonderful story that I can highly recommend to others.

Congratulations to Elizabeth Bromke on writing another inspiring story for her readers enjoyment.

[SusanwithaGoodBook]

The final book in this series. This one focuses on the older (50s?) woman, Liesel and a guy named Mark, plus the younger (20s) Gretchen and Theo. These characters appeared in the first four books, and honestly, I think without the first four you wouldn’t care a whit about any of them. They really aren’t very well-developed characters in any of the books (Gretchen is the best-known of them all, but you really feel like you only scratch the surface).

I’m glad to be done with this series and won’t be reading any more by Bromke. These aren’t as good as a Hallmark movie, and even though they’re short, they just aren’t worth my time.

[Jackalyn]

An okay story, but extremely poorly written. The bio indicates that the author is an English teacher, but her writing style is very bad. She seems to think that little snippets of thought and incomplete sentences are the way to write. I find the poor writing very, very distracting when trying to follow her thoughts. The story line itself was okay, but not anything above average. I need to be careful to NOT purchase any more of her books.

[Lisa]

Choppy and poorly written. It seemed that the author deemed women who were not married as not meeting their “real” purpose in life. I cringed through most of this! I gave it a 2 because it had quilting in it. Sorry, what about women who are fulfilled in other ways? Not everyone wants to get married and pump out babies. A woman is lost and wandering in life without a man? Ugh. Cringe-worthy indeed!

[Francine Warren]

A special Christmas gift

Loved the 2 intertwined stories. One in the past, teaching lessons needed currently. Sometimes it takes rethinking the stories or lessons we learned from our parents or grandparents to understand what is happening in our lives now. Quick read, take a few minutes to just enjoy the read!

[Elizabeth]

I listened to this as I cleaned my office space. Honestly, my first thought of the narrator was her tone was very annoying, but luckily that didn't last terribly long and I was able to get past it. The story started fairly slowly and it ended up being a cute story, but I'm not entirely sure I will read additional stories from the author.

[Camille Sandler]

Like quilting?

This book, like all of the other books by this author, we're a can't put down book. Her books are all about life and family. Really loved it. You will probably love it too.

[Delonna Oskouee]

I love quilting. . .

The title drew me to read it. I thoroughly enjoy seeing myself become more and more like my Mom and my Grandma. I'm like them in a lot of ways, and one of them is loving to quilt.

[Paula Genereau]

I loved this book. I love all Elizabeth's books. Just when you fall in love with one she comes out with one that makes you love it too. Loved this book.

[Kirstie Ibrahim]

I didn't enjoy this as much as the previous stories. It was ok but just didn't grab me as much.

[Steve Fawcett]

Good but choppy

There was a time jump I didn't catch until nearly the end of the book. A few characters were not explained well.

[Dawn]

Picked this up to read at Christmas, AND I’m a quilter. I’m curious to go back and reading the earlier books with same characters leading up to this book!

[Pam Silverman]

Cute easy read

[Barb Hay]

Review

Interesting the life that a quilt takes on after it is finished. I am also a quilter, so enjoyed the story.

[GreenBayTina]

A nice, wholesome quilting Christmas story with some relationship challenges and romance. I will probably read another book or two by this author.

[Kathie Reynolds]

Very good story about small town life.

[Patrick McCall]

Sweet story

The book is a wonderful escape from todays worries. No mayhem or murder, just sweet stories about life and love 💘

[Margy]

Fun story. Annoying narrator

[Kathie D]

Hoopla audio terrible reader in this series. The story was good, tied it into the Birch Harbor series

[Dkilwein]

Cute

Book about the life of Liesel which ties together her adoptive mother teaching her to make her first quilt and share with others.

[Tammy Becker]

A very sweet book!