By Mary Kelly and Holly Hibner
Posted on January 11, 2016
Winter is one of my favorite seasons to do reader advisory. Yes, you read that correctly. Bad weather, especially snow and ice, are good for reader advisory. I can sell any book or video when the weather is bad. Weather is my go-to subject for ice breakers. This, at least, gets the conversation started and can lead a librarian right toward the patron’s information need. For those of us in the northern parts of the Midwest, we share with our patrons the long suffering experience of long, grey winters, and all the problems that can bring. Even if you love winter, by February things are looking pretty sad. Winter, where I live, can sometimes stretch right into May. It’s not the cold temperatures; it is the seemingly endless days of dark and grey. By late January, most of my customers coming into the library look like they are on a casting call for The Walking Dead, and misery loves company.
Secret Sisters by Jayne Ann Krentz is the story of two childhood friends, Madeline and Daphne, who experienced a terrifying attack and have done their best to move on with their lives. Madeline runs a chain of luxury hotels and Daphne is a designer. But the secret that they share reunites them as adults and they journey back to a small island off the coast of Seattle, the site of their childhood trauma. Using Nancy Pearl’s Readers Advisory methodology, let me tell you about the doorways that I found most appealing. I was drawn to the character of Madeline, a successful career woman who struggles with intimacy and lost track of her childhood friend. 
