Rating: 
Summary: Winter Solstice is Winter Comfort
Review: Winter Solstice is a perfect read for the month of December or anytime you are looking for a bit of comfort in the written word. Set in Scotland during the month of the winter solstice, Rosamunde Pilcher creates a cozy, feel-good read with vivid descriptions and lovable characters. This is a novel that you will want to take your time with so that you can appreciate the writer's talent for artful description and spend the time getting to know the 5 central characters. This group of unlikely friends find themselves thrown together by unique circumstances and discover an instant kinship. You will feel a part of the family when you see what life is like inside The Estate House with Oscar, Elfrida, Carrie, Lucy & Sam who each bring to us their own set of troubles as well as delights. Pilcher explores the ups and downs of life; how we need to live it to its fullest and the comfort and importance of love.
Rating: 
Summary: A good read on a cold night.
Review: This book is the pefect book to read with some cookies and a blanket wrapped around you. The story starts out a bit slow but towards the middle of the book it really picks up and you feel like you don't want to leave the characters behind. I enjoyed almost all the characters alot, but I wasn't a huge Elfrida fan, she on times got on my nerves because she didn't seem to be as likeable as Lucy, Carrie, Oscar or Sam. Lucy would have to be my favorite person in the story. To see her change and be so much different then what she was wonderful. Carrie and Sam both were wonderful in how they both finally realized things in there life weren't as bad as they looked. Oscar was a man who had so much hurt in his life, but went through life with a newfound attitude and look on life. I want to know what happen to everyone. Carrie, Sam, Lucy and Oscar. I hope maybe there will be more about each of in another book. Overall this was a wonderful book, even though towards the begaining I wasn't to thrilled with the book, but at the end I was in love with the book and all the characters.
Rating: 
Summary: Not up to Pilcher's standards.
Review: I have read a few other books by this author and and found them to be engrossing reads. I want to say to anyone who is thinking of reading Winter Solstice to instead read her outstanding Coming Home instead. That is one of my aboslute favorites and is vastly superior! I was eager to read this newer novel , but saved it to enjoy around the holidays. I just could not be absorbed by this and found my self not really caring about the outcome. The characters lacked any depth, growth, and development. The story line was terribly slow and meandering. You realize how lacking a novel is when the most intersting character is Horace the Dog! A great disapointment. Pilcher is capable of so much more.
Rating: 
Summary: dreary winter tale
Review: I read "Coming Home" and "September" which I thorougly enjoyed. When "Winter Solistice" came out I was delighted, but as I read it I soon realized that it was quite predictable and somewhat repetitious. The main character, Elfrida, settles into a little cottage in the countryside. She is soon adopted not only by the small town, but soon becomes involved with Oscar, his wife Gloria, and their 12 year old daughter Francesca. Elfrida becomes quite fond of Oscar and his daughter who becomes a regular visitor to the cottage. Elfrida takes a short trip to visit a cousin in Cornwall, and while she is gone, Gloria and her daughter are killed in an auto accident. Following the accident, Oscar not only finds out that Gloria left the estate to her sons, by an earlier marriage, but the ensuing events not only become quite predictable but the method in which they are reported are repetitious, e.g. some events were not only recorded as they happened, sometime by several characters, but by
Elfrida's young cousin, Lucy, who recorded the events in her diary. I suppose I might have been interested in her diary entries had they been a bit more creative, but they were merely a rehash of what had happened somewhat like a log entry instead of a diary entry. Finally, as the book draws to a close Pilcher leaves some of the events hanging e.g. what happened to the Christmas plans of the characters (she had described in detail the search for gifts)and the value of Elfrida's clock leaving the reader to wonder why there was such emphasis initially regarding the events. Lose ends were distracting and left me wondering if Pilcher had possibly lost interest in her own characters. It is for these reasons that I feel it is deserving of only three stars.
Rating:
Summary: Engrossing story, well-told
Review: Someone gave me this book as a gift, leaving me with the impression that she didn't know my taste very well. How wrong I was! Whereas I thought I had received a "girly" book at best and a "romance" novel at worst, I discovered that after glancing at the first page, I was pulled in to read more. It didn't take long for me to get hooked and I found I was in the midst of a real page-turner. Ms. Pilcher handles the different threads of her story masterfully, alternating broad strokes and small to delineate characters and paint realistic scenery. Although some of her plotting devices could have seemed contrived (especially the two possible owners for the house), she cleverly made them seem plausible. Once everyone is collected in the new house and the "plot begins to thicken" I was rooting for my choice of outcome, only to find that Ms. Pilcher had other plans--equally satisfactory. The ideal place to read this book would be in front of an open fire. Lacking that (and I don't have a fireplace, so option one was not possible), in bed under a warm comforter is a good second choice. Of course, it could be argued that any place would become comfortable once the reader was engrossed in Ms. Pilcher's delightful story.
Rating:
Summary: Great Characters!
Review: Detailed and alive characters are what sets this book apart from others. Again, Ms. Pilcher does an outstanding job of making you feel as though you know these characters personally. The plot was a little slower than I would have preferred . . . but the characters made up for that! If you want to escape to a happy, relaxed place, this book is just for you. An especially good read right before the holiday!
Rating:
Summary: Perfect reading for an Autumn or Winter evening.
Review: This book was a complete pleasure to read. I've been to the UK a couple of times and it took me back. It was the perfect book to read in the evenings by the fire and with some hot chocolate. I got attached to the characters and hated to see it end. I'd love to see a Winter Soltice II in order to pick up where this one left off.
Rating:
Summary: Love This Author!!!
Review: Loved this collection of characters and the way they meshed together.
While reading this book, I got the feel of cold, damp weather and the feel of Scotland.
The story was great and the author is even better than great.
This book gets thumbs up and I surely recommend anyone to read it.
Rating:
Summary: Don't like the reader
Review: I am liking this book quite a lot except for the audio book reader. She reads in a sort of deadpan, upper crust English accent and it is really annoying (at least to an American ear).
Rating:
Summary: So comfortable.
Review: Listening to the audiotape of this Rosamunde Pilcher book is like sitting down by the fire for a comforting hot cup of tea. And that's saying a lot because I listened to it over several weeks in my car during my commute. Her descriptions really give you a sense of place, and you really come to know her characters. Her world becomes so familiar, you're happy to be able to visit again and again, even if you're on the freeway in California and she's describing rainy Scotland. The only drawback of this audiotape for me was the narrator. She can have an awfully assertive style sometimes. I really don't think the characters were being as assertive as she was, half the time. But that doesn't take away from the story. Little could.
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