Kindred Spirits by Sarah Strohmeyer

Kindred Spirits Reviews

• 
  April Hochstrasser

  Written at a third grade level I couldn't relate to these transparent females. This book started out well with a strong female character turned into anti-feminist, subversive twaddle: apparently women are only happy if they can have children; and if they do wrong, they will be stuck down from on high.
  
  
  But all woes can be solved with a martini. So get the recipe right, stir, never shake, or you'll bruise the feelings of the liquor.
• 
  Megan

  I love a good story about female friendship but this one seemed to have too many flaws. Too many secrets and too much hiding things from these women who claimed to be so close. A quick but disappointing read.
• 
  Deborah

  Last week, I received a special package in the mail. In this package was the newest (KINDRED SPIRITS) from Sarah Strohmeyer, after a long wait and multiple rewrites. And let me tell you, it was worth the time that she took to get it perfect. This is her best yet.
  
  Cried in the first chapter, as it reminded me of what my brother was going through before he died. So there, that was the hard part, getting through that first chapter while wondering if tissues should be kept handy. Lynne had fought her fight, and then had made the final decision.
  
  However, there was something that she needed her three best friends to do for her, that she had been unable to accomplish before her death. And so, these three start the journey whilst fulfilling Lynne’s request that they partake of a different martini each night. There was much laughter as they remembered the good times they had shared, and there are tears for their friend. As they take this trip, they also learn more about themselves and what love means.
  
  The love these friends shared was the hook that got me. None were perfect, but it was the love that shone through. It was sentimental without being sappy. Loving and funny, without detracting from the loss of their dearest friend.
  
  So now, I sit and contemplate what book to read next. There are many from my Mount To-Be-Read that I could consider. Or maybe start reading the books that I will be judging. But really, I just want to sit and absorb and think on how wonderful this book was….and maybe even read it again.
  
  Now, I eagerly await the official release of KINDRED SPIRITS by Sarah Strohmeyer, as this is definitely going to be my gift book of choice this year. Besides wanting the final version as my own keeper, I also have dear friends and loved ones who will appreciate it.
  
  This is definitely a book to share with your dearest friends, as life may be short, but the love continues to grow…
  
• 
  Jill Furedy

  I might have liked this book better if the premise hadn't annoyed me. Lynne has a great group of girlfriends, and so when she decides she can't fight her cancer any longer and kills herself, she leaves her friends a mission to fulfill. A really terrible one. Sure it sends them on a girlfriend road trip, but to give bad/ shocking news to a variety of people. Things she herself should have handled during the eight years she fought cancer or during a previous remission. Eight years is a long time, even if you are sick. But she couldn't figure out how to handle it without disrupting her family's life, so hey, why not make your friends do it for you. To me, if she didn't bother doing it while she was alive, didn't do it herself after contemplating her morality and what was important, then it didn't need to be after she was dead. So I was annoyed at Lynne for her selfishness, for asking such a thing from her friends...so during a lot of their adventures, I was thinking what a terrible friend Lynne was. So all tge quotes about girl power and female friendships on the cover didn't resonate with me. My other complaint was that Carol seemed distinct for me, but for some reason I kept mixing up Beth and Mary Kay, so something about their characters wasn't developed enough for me to distinguish them from one another. Other than the annoying premise and the character issue, it was...okay. Moved along at a decent pace, pretty readable, not terribly memorable. I didn't rate it lower because there was nothing I disliked enough to stop reading it, parts were amusing or at least interesting, so it entertained me for a day or two.
• 
  Shelly♥

  This book has a good idea - three women on a post humerus trip to fulfill their friend's dying wish. Through the story, we learn of the trials and tribulations of the women, and the bond that tied the four of them together. But yet, I found that the mission they were on was something that they should have not been doing and could have been done by their dead friend prior to her death. Should have been done.
  
  I had a hard time identifying with any of the characters. They seemed to lack any real depth. This is formula chick lit, nothing more. And I like more.
• 
  Marcia

  Actual Rating: ***1/2
  Yet another, but very readable, group of friends novel. I liked this group of women and would love to have a copy of their martini cookbook. The book's epigraph summed it up perfectly: Friendship improves happiness and abates misery, by the doubling of our joy and the dividing of our grief. --Cicero
  
• 
  ✨ Gramy ✨

  This was a entertaining story based on friendships, hidden secrets, broken relationships, cocktails, and forgiveness. It follows a group of four women who call themselves the "Ladies Society for the Conservation of Martinis" in a small Connecticut town across the state of Pennsylvania to deliver messages from a recently departed member of their group (Lynn), leading them to examine the relationships in their own lives. Each chapter includes a recipe for a Martini, which I promptly skipped over since I have no desire to partake of them. I had a difficult time identifying with the characters, their actions, and the relationships depicted.
  
  The thing that stood out for me particularly was how important it is to forgive, which Lynn was unable to share until after her death. By constantly reliving the pain of what happens, you are giving your power away to the person who wronged you instead of giving yourself permission to move on with your life. Too many people cling feelings of hurt, fear, guilt, grief or frustration. The pain of what happens is inevitable, but continuing to suffer is optional. Forgiveness is a personal choice.
  
  The only person you can control is you. Think about your own personal struggles and choose to let it go and focus on the positive things in your life instead. When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. Examine your life and create the changes you want to see!
• 
  Debdanz

  Need a good cry but don't want to cry about your own life or the state of the world? this is the book. like roller coasters and horror movies to artificially escape the fears of the world, this is a good substitute.
  Later:
  This book started out well with a strong female character but at about page 60 or 70 turned into anti-feminist, subversive twaddle: apparently women are only happy if they can have children. And if they try to have a healthy, mature sexual relationship outside of marriage, they will be struck down with a horrible, painful illness which is all they deserve- unlike men in the same situation.
  This is junk- pure and simple- disguised as a 'power of female friendship' novel.
• 
  Tiffany

  This book was....ok, but there wasn't anything special about it. About the only thing that kept me from thinking I'd read the book before was the martini recipes sprinkled in. The characters weren't that memorable, the story was eh. It wasn't a bad book, it just wasn't that good to me.
• 
  Apryl

  Magical friendships that formed from happenstance. The women were identifiable to the reader , and the story unfolded in such a unique way I couldn't wait to see how things would turn out.
• 
  Sheri

  The first chapter was incredibly difficult, as I don't agree with the character's views on what is "best" or "right" in her situation. I recently watched my father-in-law die of cancer, and I still don't agree with her perspective. I managed to put that aside and continue the book. I did finish the book, but I honestly didn't like the characters all that much (mostly because they lacked depth) and I was really angry at Lynne for asking her friends to do all this heavy lifting for her. I mean, really, this was some extra heavy duty stuff. Making them approach strangers to tell them that Lynne had been sick for 8 years and hadn't bothered to contact them, and now she's dead?
  
  A list of my complaints: I felt that Lynne was extremely selfish in a lot of her actions. I had a hard time keeping Beth and Mary Kay straight; maybe a chapter on each of them individually (like the author did with Carol) would have gone a long way to clearing this up for me. I could not feel sorry for Carol at all. This could be another example of not agreeing with her morality. If something goes wrong in your marriage, you're supposed to stick with it and FIX IT, not run away from your husband and children. If this is supposedly a group of best friends, why do they keep so much from each other? All of them did this at one point or another in the book. The letter that Lynne wrote to her mother ... really?? If she wrote the truth, then why did she stay away from her for 30 years? Why not try to make amends much sooner? If the nursing home knew of Lynne's death, why didn't they tell her mother? There was just a lot of stuff that didn't make sense. I had a lot of, "Oh, he knew that?" and "Why didn't Lynne say so?" But nope, she just threw her friends into the fire with very little knowledge of what was really going on. UGH.
  
  What I liked: Very easy to read. If I liked martinis, I would have enjoyed the recipes. Yep, that's about it.
  
  I apologize if I sound bitter; I expected more out of this book.
  
  
• 
  Mary

  I really enjoyed this book. But I know it won't be for everyone. Its pretty simple. So many neglected side characters. A lot of happy endings. Literally, not being sexy. Actually, it is such a clean book but it introduces many facets of female relationships. Might make a great Mother/Daughter book club book.
• 
  Debbie

  With many things in common it’s understandable how “The Ladies Society for the Conservation of Martinis” came to be for Lynne, Mary Kay, Beth and Carol when on a fateful PTA meeting night they became friends and eventually confidantes. It’s with a heavy heart that Lynne celebrates her last Martini as she finishes the letters that will take her friends on a journey of discovery.
  Mary Kay, Beth and Carol find it hard to complete Lynne’s last wish as they reel from her death. But the reeling isn’t done, in fact it’s just beginning. Lynne’s been keeping a secret one that will leave the remaining friends not only scratching their heads, but also running for the drink shaker. As they start on their trip of revelation they will not only learn more about Lynne but about themselves as well and not all of it’s good because Lynne isn’t the only one keeping secrets.
  Sarah Strohmeyer is a new author to me and I found her storyline well thought out and presented and her dialogue easy to understand and flowing. I think what surprised me the most was that even though I found myself not liking two of the main characters I still couldn’t put the book down. It came to me then that, this is the mark of a good writer, one where even though you want to strangle the character you’re still driven to find out where the story leads you. And as we evolve as readers this is an important lesson to learn. So let’s talk about the characters, Ms. Strohmeyer does a great job of cultivating these women so that her audience feels they know them personally and I did as well and even though there were some choices that I had trouble with, isn’t that the way of life. She also paints a great picture of the co-stars so that by the end of the story I felt that I knew everyone very well.
  So is this a love story, yes, but not as a romance. It’s a love of friends, of children and in the end a love of yourself, there is romantic love as well but it’s peripheral. It’s a great way to start the summer, it’s a Lucy and Ethel, a Golden Girls only younger, it’s a Thelma and Louise times two only not fatal friendship tale. It’s a lesson in life, a lesson in love and a lesson in the grace of absolution. So if you love any of these descriptions you will love this book and even if you don’t you’ll find it hard to put this away before it ends and you’ll find yourself going back to it again and again.
  Thank you Ms. Strohmeyer for an enlightening read and I look forward to more of your work in the future.
  
• 
  Cheryl

  Sarah Strohmeyer (author of Cinderella Pact and The Sleeping Beauty Proposal) has outdone herself in her newest novel, Kindred Spirits. In this novel, we meet four women who form an unlikely friendship brought together by a difficult PTA meeting and the concoction of their favorite cocktail, the martini. Thus the Ladies Society for the Conservation of Martinis is formed. Through the years they re-create and perfect the delicious cocktail while their friendship continues to grow and strengthen. These women essentially become sisters. They see each other through wonderful, exciting times in their lives; and they also support each other through various difficult, life-changing situations. After the tragic loss of one of their beloved group members, the remaining three friends find themselves traveling across state lines to fulfill a last request, and questioning where they are in their lives and whether they should go on with their lives with business as usual.
  
  Sarah Strohmeyer has gone from writing chick-lit, beach-read novels to now writing a substantial, compelling story about the strength of female friendships. One can’t help but feel very deeply about Mary Kay, Beth, Carol and Lynne. This story affirms the strength of the female bond and how even after death love lives on. Every woman, who after reading this book, will want to gather their girlfriends for their own meeting of the Ladies Society for the Conservation of Martinis.
  
• 
  Tonya

  A must for book clubs or anyone that loves a good friendship story! With a little sideline of love, mother/daughter relationships...all that good jazz, Sarah gives it to us in one great story called Kindred Spirits. When Lynne takes her life after dealing with cancer and knowing there is nothing else to be done, she has her remaining 3 friends take care of her personal possessions and leaves them with a letter and a few things to do for her, including tell her mother that she hadn't talked to in many years.
  
  Also a letter to her daughter that her mother talked her into giving up when she was a young girl. While on this journey for Lynne, they all have personal journeys of their own. Beth is the one that will be hardest hit, she lived next door to Lynne. Who will she take care of now and who will take care of her?
  
  Carol divorced her husband and moved to the city to practice law, but is that what Carol wants after returning? Will Jeff want to try again as well?
  
  Mary Kay thinks she can't have children but has never told her boyfriend Drake and now he wants to get married and have children, what is MK going to do?
  
  You will LOVE these ladies. They are the best, you wish they lived close to you! A must read for 2011!
• 
  Charlotte

  
  http://charlotteswebofbooks.blogspot....
  
  
  Kindred Spirits is about a group of friends who met years ago while serving on the PTA. Lynne, Beth, Mary Kay & Carol have been through thick and thin. Instead of having a book club or meeting for coffee, these ladies would sneak away and have a martini. After a few years apart the girls are back together, but not for a happy occasion. They are together to bury Lynne. In the process of sorting through her things they discover that Lynne had been holding tight to a deep dark secret and from the grave she asks a huge favor of them. A favor that sets them off on a road trip seeking answers. Not just for Lynne, but for themselves.
  
  Kindred Spirits is more than just a "drinking novel" it is a novel of sisterhood and the bonds that develop between four women. It is a bond so strong that not even death can separate them. Overall Kindred Spirits was a great "friendship" book. It was a bit predictable in spots, but I really liked all of the characters and was rooting for all of them on their quest. A good book to pick up and discuss with your girlfriends over a good martini. Or glass of wine. Or cold beer. Or whatever is your beverage of choice.
• 
  Ann

  Read this book because I liked the idea of friends who stick by each other through thick and thin. Strohmeyer does not disappoint. The friendship thread is strong throughout the book. Starts out a bit sad. Moves into roadtrip storyline. Since I have already read some books in the author's "Bubbles" series, I knew she was going to pepper the story with humor. The characters were all likable and all different. What I liked about these ladies' friendships is that there is no cattiness between them. Very light and pleasant read. Left me happy and wishing I had a group of friends in my life like the "Ladies Society for the Conservation of Martinis". I will say that I did not care for the ending scene. That one, I thought was a bit far fetched tied-up-neat-into-a-bow precious. As a warning, if you are bothered by alcohol use, you may not find the book to your liking.
• 
  Kacey James

  I found this to be a great story about a group of women who are best friends. they have been together through it all. Raising kids, marriage, divorce and a serious illness. When one of them passes on from a long battle with cancer she asks her friends for one last favor. This last favor not only brings the group closer, but, helps each examine their own lives and change what they feel they need changed. Its a great book about friendship and the rollercoaster ride that life throws at us. A great book to read during the winter when the weather is crappy outside. Plus, there is some great humor in it. I will warn that it starts off on a sad note, but, in the long run, I found it to be a charming read.
• 
  Ruth

  Four young mothers met at a PTA meeting and have been friends through thick and thin ever since. They have supported each other and have shared their problems. When they got together they shared martinis based on the recipes they found in a cookbook that was in Mary Kay's house. They even began to perfect the recipes and invent their own but mostly they enjoyed each other and found comfort in knowing that someone had their back.
  
  Sometimes those who know you best are the ones who can help you find your way and cause you to reflect and discover what it is that you reall want in life.
  
  This is a story of true friendship, strong women, and the power of being there for one another.
• 
  Patty Corwin

  This book was exceptionally meaningful to me, since I have a very close circle of lady friends and we would likely do anything for each other. While not totally unpredictable, the stories revealing the inner workings of the character and even events at the end of the book, were somewhat of a surprise. I would suggest this book to any woman who has very close, very valued friends.
• 
  Melinda

  My expectations were probably too high going into this book, but it struck me as chick lit for slightly older chicks. The characters were interesting, but the plot was predictable and the end was a little to neat.
• 
  Kristen

  This was uplifting and witty and it made me appreciate my close friendships and the close relationship I have with my mom! It also makes me want to become a martini conossieur!
• 
  Sara

  Will definitely read another by Sarah Strohmeyer. A great summer read, made me really miss some of my kindred spirits....
• 
  DeB

  Well written chick lit, women on a road trip, a bit different premise with a pleasant ending. Nice easy read.
• 
  Robin

  A bittersweet story about friendships. What I did not like wad that the author never talked about the husband and twins. I would have liked that loose end tied up...did they ever find out?
• 
  Caroline Mcphail-Lambert

  Heartwarming chick read.
• 
  Anna H Connors

  Friends Forever
  
  Four young PTA moms, each feeling they somehow do not deserve the title of “mom” share thoughts and a martini after a PTA meeting. Soon they find more reasons to meet to discuss life, children, husbands and life’s meaning (along with sharing — martinis). Time passes and they become each other’s closest confident. You’ll laugh, cry and learn with them as they travel through life and mature into each other’s closest ally.