I’m sharing a review today of one of the best stories I’ve read this year! The Fifth Avenue Story Society by Rachel Hauck is a contemporary inspirational story of redemption, hope, friendship, and restoration.
An invitation to join The Fifth Avenue Story Society gives five New York strangers a chance to rewrite their own stories.
Executive assistant Lexa is eager for a much-deserved promotion, but her boss is determined to keep her underemployed.
Literature professor Jett is dealing with a broken heart, as well as a nagging suspicion his literary idol, Gordon Phipps Roth, might be a fraud.
Uber driver Chuck just wants a second chance with his kids.
Aging widower Ed is eager to write the true story of his incredible marriage.
Coral, queen of the cosmetics industry, has broken her engagement and is on the verge of losing her great grandmother’s multimillion-dollar empire.
When all five New Yorkers receive an anonymous, mysterious invitation to the Fifth Avenue Story Society, they suspect they’re victims of a practical joke. No one knows who sent the invitations or why. No one has heard of the literary society. And no one is prepared to bear their deepest secrets to a roomful of strangers.
Yet curiosity and loneliness bring them back week after week to the old library. And it’s there they discover the stories of their hearts, and the kind of friendship and love that heals their souls.
I have enjoyed Rachel Hauck’s style of writing enchanting, modern-day fairytales with the slightest hints of supernatural threads. She balances believable situations and characters living out a fateful God-orchestrated situation. I particularly liked The Fifth Avenue Story Society for its unique faith thread which lends to a general market appeal outside of the inspirational genre.
This is one of those rare types of books where I became less aware I was reading a novel and instead fell headlong into the story, especially its vivid depiction of NYC. The multiple points of view tie together wonderfully and always transition cleanly, never feeling confusing or too much. While I enjoyed all of them, I really liked the main romantic couple and their arc of redemption.
While I expected The Fifth Avenue Story Society to be a literature-centric story in some ways, I was pleasantly surprised to see the story society concept taken much deeper. I LOVED this novel and will be counting it as one of my favorites by Hauck!
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy. This is my honest review.
The Green Mockingbird 
I agree with everything you said. I love this book too! Great review, Courtney!
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