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.
This story is perfect for the season – especially if you’re in the mood for a little romance, slight suspense, and blizzards. Oh, and wonderfully familiar faces from the 
This is a powerful, timely story featuring the relationship of Mary and Joseph before and through Jesus’ birth. While it is a fictional account, it stays true to Biblical events and poses a few “what-if?” scenarios which portray Mary and Joseph in a relatable light. It deftly communicates the wonder of God’s plan, the ordinary people like Mary, Joseph, you and me that He chooses to use. It’s highly recommended, especially to read this time of year!
Both comfortably read as a standalone novellla AND a return to Rachel’s famed Royal Wedding series, this book spins a modern-day Christmas fairytale with enchanted moments of Divine light. It’s a perfect story for the Christmas season with down-to-earth characters. I enjoyed the second-chance storyline and the way it directs the characters to seek God’s plan for their dreams.I loved the moments of Christmas tradition and the way they were beautifully tied in with an emphasis on the gift of Christ at Christmas. The happily-ever-after ending left me smiling!
Retired hall-of-fame football coach Jimmy Westbrook never imagined anything would come of his labor of love—building a wedding chapel for Collette Greer, the woman he fell in love with in 1949. But now a realtor wants the land the chapel sits on, and he sees no reason to hang onto the past.
The Green Mockingbird 