Twelfth Knight

By: Alexene Farol Follmuth
Published Year: 2024
Publisher: Tor Teen
Pages: 320

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Viola Reyes is annoyed.

Her painstakingly crafted tabletop game campaign was shot down, her best friend is suggesting she try being more “likable,” and school running back Jack Orsino is the most lackadaisical Student Body President she’s ever seen, which makes her job as VP that much harder. Vi’s favorite escape from the world is the MMORPG Twelfth Knight, but online spaces aren’t exactly kind to girls like her―girls who are extremely competent and have the swagger to prove it. So Vi creates a masculine alter ego, choosing to play as a knight named Cesario to create a safe haven for herself.

But when a football injury leads Jack Orsino to the world of Twelfth Knight, Vi is alarmed to discover their online alter egos―Cesario and Duke Orsino―are surprisingly well-matched.

As the long nights of game-play turn into discussions about life and love, Vi and Jack soon realise they’ve become more than just weapon-wielding characters in an online game. But Vi has been concealing her true identity from Jack, and Jack might just be falling for her offline…

What I thought

I first heard about this book when it was announced with Reese’s book club picks. Ever since the movie She’s the Man I am a sucker for Twelfth Night and any re-tellings so I was immediately intrigued. However, something about this book being about video games and role playing did not appeal to me so I never added it to my list. I was still intrigued and excited when Denise picked it for book club!

Viola is a bit of her loaner. While she has her twin brother Sebastian (Bash), she prefers to view herself as hyper-independent. Jack (Duke) Orsino is the star running back of the football team and the student body president to Viola’s vice president. Viola and Duke don’t really get along, but when he is hit with a season ending injury and his girlfriend Olivia breaks up with him, he is desperate to figure out what is going on. He teams up with Viola to help him get back together with Olivia. On top of that, Viola is an aid gamer of the role playing game Twelfth Knight. With his injury, Duke’s friend introduces him to the game and he runs into Viola’s character. However, when he realizes they go to the same school, she tells him that she is her twin brother Bash rather than her true self.

This book was so much fun. Viola was a bit rough around the edges at first. Like, I understood her defensiveness in being a girl in a male dominated hobby, but sometimes she was a bit brusque. I did love Duke right from the beginning. I understand he was supposed to come off as cocky but I feel like the author did a nice job of explaining that it was an act since he knew that as a larger black man he needed to come off as non-threatening.

The author also did a nice job of describing the game without making it seem too complicated. It sounded like the kind of game I would enjoy playing, even though I’m by no means a gamer.

This story was also an interesting take on Twelfth Night as the deception was behind a screen and not Viola dressing up as her brother to deceive people. I think if you enjoy Twelfth Night or other storylines where people act as someone else to get what they need, I would recommend this book. It was a quick easy read and I found it to be fun.

What Book Club Thought

Everyone really enjoyed this book. We had some good discussion about the melodrama of being in high school and how we had to remind ourselves from time to time that it was age appropriate. We also had some good discussion about the relationship between Viola and her mom and Viola and her friend. We all really appreciate the nuances of the story, especially considering that it’s a Shakespeare retelling. We also talked about how we liked the take on how Viola posed as her brother virtually in this modern world, as opposed to her having to dress up in person. If you are a fan of Twelfth Night or She’s the Man, I would highly recommend this book and so would the rest of my book club. If you’re looking for a lighter book club choice, this is a fun pick.

The Busybody Book Club

By: Freya Sampson
Published Year: 2025
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 336

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I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this book.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): The five members of the St. Tredock Book Club disagree on everything, from the books they read to the biscuits they eat. But when one of the group suddenly disappears and a dead body is discovered at his house, these bibliophiles must put their differences aside to solve the mystery.

Having recently moved to Cornwall, Nova Davies started the book club to impress her new colleagues at the community center, but so far it’s a disaster. To make matters worse, six thousand pounds is stolen from the community center during one of her meetings, putting both her job and the whole center at risk.

Suspicion for the theft falls on book club member Michael, especially when a dead body is discovered at his house and Michael disappears. The police think he’s simply run away, but the other members have their own theories. Agatha Christie superfan Phyllis is determined to prove he’s a murderer as well as a thief, while secret romance reader Arthur believes Michael’s eloped with his mistress, and teenage sci-fi fan Ash thinks dark forces are at play.

While trying to find Michael and recover the money, each book club member has their own secrets to protect. With inspiration from their favorite fictional sleuths, they won’t rest until they’ve cracked the case and everyone is safe at home where they belong.

First Impressions

The cover looked cute and the title caught my eye. I loved the idea of a book club solving a mystery together. There also is something about this cover that reminds me of a book I read a while back and enjoyed.

What I thought

This book was a fun ride.

Nova recently moved to the English countryside with her fiancé. She is working a job at the community center and running a book club with 4 other members. When $10,000 and one of the book club members goes missing, Nova and the rest of the book club make it their mission to clear Nova’s name and find the money to save the community center.

I am always a sucker for quirky side characters and this book did not disappoint. Arthur, the 80 year old farmer and Phyllis, the 70 something year old mystery lover were my favorites. Then there is Ash, the social awkward teenager who grew on me as the story went on. 

Nova’s fiancé and his family on the other hand I hated. From the very beginning I was rooting against her fiancé. He calls her names and is letting his mother completely steamroll her. I felt bad for Nova, especially given the fact she went through some trauma that made her leave London. The trauma was a little bit less extreme than I expected, but made sense for the story.

I also liked all of the book club talk. They talked a lot about books that I’ve read and I loved how they compared mystery books to romance novels. That was probably my favorite part of the story. I enjoyed the characters making connections to stories and their love of reading.

In terms of the mystery itself, there were a lot of parts I figured out, but some parts I didn’t quite figure out the how. I had a theory of who had stolen the money and why and it was never who the characters thought it was. I did figure it out before the end, so I have to knock it down a little bit, but overall I enjoyed the story and the journey.

This book was a little more of a 3.5 stars but I didn’t quite feel I could round up to a 4. The characters and the setting were fun and I enjoyed reading it. The mystery isn’t mind blowing, but I think sometimes when you’re reading a cozy mystery it doesn’t need to be.

The Love Haters

By: Katherine Center
Published Year: 2025
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Pages: 320

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I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this novel.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Katie Vaughn has been burned by love in the past—now she may be lighting her career on fire. She has two choices: wait to get laid off from her job as a video producer or, at her coworker Cole’s request, take a career-making gig profiling Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Key West.

The catch? Katie’s not exactly qualified. She can’t swim—but fakes it that she can.

Plus: Cole is Hutch’s brother. And they don’t get along. Next stop paradise!

But paradise is messier than it seems. As Katie gets entangled with Hutch (the most scientifically good looking man she has ever seen . . . but also a bit of a love hater), along with his colorful Aunt Rue and his rescue Great Dane, she gets trapped in a lie. Or two.

Swim lessons, helicopter flights, conga lines, drinking contests, hurricanes, and stolen kisses ensue—along with chances to tell the truth, to face old fears, and to be truly brave at last.

First Impressions

Katherine Center is one of my favorite authors. I immediately knew I wanted to read this one. The cover is fun and colorful and definitely would’ve caught my eye. I do still prefer the floral covers from her earlier novels. But this one is fine. I also am a sucker for grumpy people who don’t believe in love, so I knew this would be right up my alley.

What I thought

This book was so cute.

Katie is about to get fired when one of her superiors asks her to take a job in Key West filming a Coast Guard recruitment video of his brother. Cole tells Katie that taking this project could save her job, but just don’t tell his aunt or brother why she is in Key West until the video shoot starts. When Katie gets to Key West, she meets Rue, Cole’s aunt, and Hutch, Cole’s brother. Katie has to overcome body image difficulties, past traumas, a bad breakup and an inability to swim. Hutch has to overcome his own past traumas and fear of connection. While overcoming these obstacles, they end up connecting more than they thought they would.

When I first read the summary of this book, I was unsure whether or not Hutch or Cole were going to be the love interest of the story. I thought maybe it was going to start out with one and end with the other, but when you start to read it, it’s pretty obvious Hutch is the love interest.

Katie’s storyline of dealing with her body image issues is really interesting. I felt like Center did a nice job of balancing it seeming realistic without seeming whiney. Katie didn’t come off like a “pick-me”, but more like she was truly insecure about certain parts of her body and her life and she was learning how to cope.

Katie and Hutch also had immediate chemistry. He does come off a little bit perfect, but he’s still endearing. I think because of his job it does make him spear like a genuinely kind soul. His brother on the other hand is a piece of work. I didn’t love the conflict that was thrown in about 2 thirds of the way through the book. There is a second conflict a little later that I liked better, but could’ve done without the first. I did also love Rue and her friends. They made for a fun little side story and entertaining characters.

I actually gave this book a 4.5 stars when I rated it, but one I could easily round up to 5. The characters and the setting worked together so well. I loved the Coast Guard storyline too. Comparatively, this book doesn’t have as heartbreaking of a twist as a lot of Center’s other books, so it was a nice light and fun read still with substance.

What Happens in Amsterdam

By: Rachel Lynn Solomon
Published Year: 2025
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 384

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I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this novel.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Dani Dorfman has somehow made it to her thirties without knowing what she wants to do with her life. So when an office romance ends poorly and gets her fired, she applies for a job in Amsterdam, idly dreaming of escaping the mess she’s created, but never imagining she'll actually get it.

Except she does. By the end of her first week in Amsterdam, she’s never felt more adrift or alone. Then she crashes her bike into her high school ex-boyfriend—and suddenly life is blooming with new opportunities.

Wouter van Leeuwen was a Dutch exchange student Dani’s family hosted, a forbidden love that ended in a painful breakup. Years later, there’s still sizzling chemistry between them, and okay, maybe a little animosity. More importantly, Wouter needs to be married to inherit a gorgeous family home on a canal—and when Dani's job falls apart, she needs a visa. As the marriage of convenience pushes them together in unexpected ways, Dani must decide whether her new life is yet another mistake—or if it's worth taking a risk on a second chance.

First Impressions

Rachel Lynn Solomon is one of my favorite authors. I love her YA books but her adult novels can sometimes be hit or miss for me. I either love them or they’re meh. I love the colors of this cover so I knew I wanted to read it as soon as I saw she came out with a new book.

What I thought

Danika has moved to Amsterdam after breaking up with her boyfriend and getting fired from her job. Within a matter of days she runs (literally) into her first love, Wouter. He has been an exchange student that stayed with her family when they were 17. They had fallen in love, but shortly after moving back to Amsterdam, Wouer broke up with Dani and broke her heart. However, now that she’s lost the job that brought her there and Wouter needs a wife to inherit his family’s home, they determine a marriage of convenience would be their bet option.

There was a lot going on in this book. I felt like Solomon threw every trope under the son in here. We had second chance romance, marriage of convenience, and forced proximity. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that second chance romance is not my favorite. I was mostly able to forgive them because of them having had a short relationship and only being 17. I did end up getting annoyed when they finally talked through why Wouter originally broke up with Danika and then she continued to harp on it. Like, you got your explanation. Move on.

I also just didn’t understand some of the choices Danika made. She was a micro-premie who her parents coddled her entire life, but she felt very immature to me. Dani was lost in knowing what she wanted to do in life, but she frequently acted like she was the only person to ever experience this. Also, she’s allowed 3 months to look for a job to stay in Amsterdam and to immediately jump to getting married felt a little extreme.

I did enjoy Wouter and I liked his chemistry with Dani. It was so obvious that he had never gotten over her. He was very understanding and kind to Dani and I just felt like he was a great catch.

Unlike Business or Pleasure and Ex-Talk, this is one of Solomon’s adult reads that didn’t click for me. I wanted to love it and I think she did a great job making Amsterdam jump off of the page, but there was a lot going on and I just found myself not connecting with Danika most of the book. I can’t wait for Solmon’s next book though!

Book Club May 2025- The Sons of El Rey

By: Alex Espinoza
Published Year: 2024
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 384

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): From the American Book Award­–winning author comes a multi-generational epic spanning 1960s Mexico City to contemporary Los Angeles, following a family of Luchadores as they contend with forbidden love and family secrets.

Ernesto and Elena Vega arrive in Mexico City where Ernesto works on a construction site until he is discovered by a local lucha libre trainer. At a time when luchadores—Mexican wrestlers donning flamboyant masks and capes—were treated as daredevils or rockstars, Ernesto finds fame as El Rey Coyote, rapidly gaining name recognition across Mexico.

Years later, in East Los Angeles Freddy Vega is struggling to save his father’s gym while Freddy’s own son Julian is searching for professional and romantic fulfillment as a Mexican American gay man refusing to be defined by stereotypes. The once larger-than-life Ernesto Vega is now dying, leading Freddy and Julian to find their own passions and discover what really happened back in Mexico.

Told from alternating perspectives, Ernesto takes you from the ranches of Michoacán to the makeshift colonias and crowded sports arenas of Mexico City. Freddy describes life in the suburban streets of 1980s Los Angeles and the community their family built as Julian descends deep into the culture of hook-up apps, lucha burlesque shows, and the dark underbelly of West Hollywood, The Sons of El Rey is an intimate portrait of a family wading against time and legacy, yet always choosing the fight.

What I thought

I wanted to pick a book by a Mexican author since we were holding book club so close to Cinco De Mayo. Sadly, it was tough to find contemporary Mexican authors but this one sounded really interesting.

Sons of El Rey follows three generations of Mexican/Mexican-American men. Ernesto, the grandfather, was a Lucha Libre (Mexican wrestler) in Mexico. When he moved to America with his wife and son, he stopped that career, until he later opened a gym and got his son Alfredo (Freddy) into la lucha. Freddy’s son Julian, has never been into the wrestling world and works as a college professor. This story is told through each of their perspectives as Ernesto is dying, as well as some chapters from his wife Elena and his la lucha personality, El Rey Coyote.

While I really enjoyed the lucha libre part of the storyline, the format was a bit much for me. Ernesto’s perspective took place in the early years of his marriage and his start of lucha libre, while Freddy’s alternated between the present day, visiting his father, and the past when he was participating in a lucha. Julian’s mostly took place in the present but he did have occasional flashbacks. The there was this weird conversational quality between Elena and Ernesto and his alternate la lucha personality.

I found Ernesto’s storyline to be the most interesting. Freddy’s was fine. I didn’t like Julian’s at all. Unfortunately, that made it a little more annoying when I cam across his chapters. I found him to be immature and emotionally closed off. He held a lot of disdain for his father and I couldn’t quite figure out why. Freddy didn’t seem that bad to me.

Overall, I thought it was an interesting story and unlike anything I have read before. It was a little more sexually graphic than I expected. I do enjoy multi-generational stories so I liked how Espinoza dealt with the trauma of moving from one country to another and how that could impact generations down the line.

What Book Club Thought

Feels like we were mostly on the same page with this one! We all thought it was an interesting and educational read. Maybe not one we would’ve picked up on our own and maybe not even one we would think to recommend but one that we enjoyed while we were reading it. It was interesting to see how we felt differently about the different characters. Initially my least favorite storyline was Julian’s, but after some discussion I realized that Ernesto might’ve been the worst character even if I found his story interesting. It led to some decent discussion. I would recommend it is you are looking for something different to read with your book club.

From Here to the Great Unknown

By: Lisa Marie Presley & Riley Keough
Published Year: 2024
Publisher: Random House
Pages: 204

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): In 2022, Lisa Marie Presley asked her daughter to help finally finish her long-gestating memoir.

A month later, Lisa Marie was dead, and the world would never know her story in her own words, never know the passionate, joyful, caring, and complicated woman that Riley loved and grieved.

Riley got the tapes that her mother had recorded for the book, laid in her bed, and listened as Lisa Marie told story after story about smashing golf carts together in the yards of Graceland, about the unconditional love she felt from her father, about being upstairs, just the two of them. About getting dragged screaming out of the bathroom as she ran towards his body on the floor. About living in Los Angeles with her mother, getting sent to school after school, always kicked out, always in trouble. About her singular, lifelong relationship with Danny Keough, about being married to Michael Jackson, what they shared in common. About motherhood. About deep addiction. About ever-present grief. Riley knew she had to fulfill her mother’s wish to reveal these memories, incandescent and painful, to the world.

To make her mother known.

This extraordinary book is written in both Lisa Marie’s and Riley’s voices, a mother and daughter communicating—from this world to the one beyond—as they try to heal each other. Profoundly moving and deeply revealing, From Here to the Great Unknown is a book like no other—the last words of the only child of an American icon.

First Impressions

The cover is really cool. It definitely caught my eye. However, I have never been an Elvis fan so didn’t have any intention of reading this one. Then it ended up on the list of a ton of people as one of their favorite reads of the year or even their favorite audiobook of the year, so I decided to give it a shot.

What I thought

Wow. Absolutely wow.

Lisa Marie passed away before she could write her memoir. She had planned to finally write one with her daughter, but shortly after they made that decision, she died. Luckily, over the years, people had wanted her to write a memoir so she had multiple interviews and recordings of ideas and stories for her memoir. Riley took those tapes and stories and helped to both transcribe the stories as well as add to them. The audiobook is narrated by Julia Roberts reading as Lisa Marie and Riley, reading the parts of her own stories that she added for portions that her mother didn’t cover.

Each chapter also starts and ends with a snippet directly from Lisa Marie’s audio recordings. Even if you’re not normally an audiobook reader, I highly recommend you listen to this one. It’s really cool to hear Lisa Marie’s recordings and I think Julia Roberts does a fabulous job. Plus it made it really cool to hear Riley adding in her own portions and commentary.

Lisa Marie’s life is fascinating and traumatic. The stories she told about her childhood and being in the public eye were wild. It also shed so much light as to why she and Michael Jackson were drawn to one another. This might just be the book to get me back into celebrity memoirs.

I don’t normally do trigger warnings, but I was caught off guard by a few things. There is a lot of discussion about addiction, which I expected. There also is an entire chapter in which Riley talks about how her brother committed suicide and the following grief that she and her mother experienced. I did end up skipping a lot of the final chapter as that was something I was unable to read.

This might end up being one of my favorite books of the year. I learned so much and was riveted from start to finish. The way the story was told was unique and creative. Even if you are not an Elvis fan, I highly recommend picking this up. Like I said, I do specifically recommend it as an audiobook, but I’m sure it’s just as fascinating in physical form.

One Death at a Time

By: Abbi Waxman
Published Year: 2025
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 400

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I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this novel.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): When Julia Mann, a bad-tempered ex-actress and professional thorn in the side of authority, runs into Natasha Mason at an AA meeting, it’s anything but a meet-cute. Julia just found a dead body in her swimming pool, and the cops say she did it (she already went to jail for murder once, so now they think she’s making a habit of it). Mason is eager to clear Julia’s name and help keep her sober, but all Julia wants is for Mason to leave her alone.

As their investigation ranges from the Hollywood Hills to the world of burlesque to the country clubs of Palm Springs, this unconventional team realizes their shared love of sarcasm and poor life choices are proving to be a powerful combination. Will secrets from their past trip them up, or will their team of showgirls, cat burglars, and Hollywood agents help them stay one step ahead? Are dead piranhas, false noses, and a giant martini glass important clues or simply your typical day in Los Angeles? And will they manage to solve the crime before they kill each other, or worse, fall off the wagon? Trying to keep it simple and take it easy is one thing—trying to find a murderer before they kill again is a whole other program.

First Impressions

The cover looked like a cute cozy mystery. I also have read a lot of Waxman’s previous books, but they were more along the contemporary fictional lines. I was intrigued that she was testing out a mystery. I do love the cover and think I would’ve picked it up when I was wandering the library or a bookstore.

What I thought

Wow. There was way too much going on in this book.

Natasha Mason, who goes just by Mason, meets Julia Mann, a famous retired actress, at an AA meeting. Julia is court ordered to be there whereas Mason has been going for 3 years. When Mason becomes Julia’s interim sponsor, Julia sucks her into the case of finding out who murdered her old director turned nemesis Tony. Julia is currently the one suspected of the murder since it happened at her house.

I thought this was going to be a cute buddy comedy murder mystery but it just didn’t connect. I never really liked Mason or Julia. I wanted to so badly. Mason felt very flat to me, just repeating lines from AA books. I didn’t fully understand her sobriety journey or what it had to do with the story other than being a way for her to connect to Julia. And I was so annoyed when she would just randomly look at Julia and be like “you need to go to a meeting.” Why? What is Julia getting out of these meetings? Or even what is Mason getting out of these meetings?

Julia I did like a little bit more. She came of as brusque at first, but the more you learned about her the more it made sense. She collected a band of misfits around her which made her more likable, but the jump from Mason being her sponsor to being her right hand gal was a bit quick for me.

I also found that not only were there too many side characters for me to keep straight, but there were too many mysteries. Besides the main murder, there were at least 2 other murders in present day added to one that had happened in the past. Keeping everything straight was way too hard. At one point in the final quarter of the book, one of the characters even makes a Power Point to explain everything they know and how everything is connected. It felt like a way to remind the reader and help them get back into the story and mystery but I was even more confused. I ended up skimming the last 25% of the book because I just wanted to know who the murderer was.

The disappointing part what that the murderer was obvious. The motive was a bit convoluted and I felt like when Waxman was trying to tie everything back together she was making things up as she went. Honestly, I enjoyed the first half of the book. I thought maybe it was the type of series where they had to lay a lot of ground work and I would look forward to them solving more mysteries together in the future. Unfortunately, in the end I didn’t care about anyone.

This book is fine. If you like complex mysteries with a lot going on, you’ll enjoy it. Given that this is Waxman’s first mystery, I would be willing to give another book by her in the genre a chance. I don’t think I would read a second book with these characters though. They just weren’t my cup of tea.

Book Club April 2025- Marrying the Ketchups

By: Jennifer Close
Published Year: 2022
Publisher: Knopff
Pages: 320

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Here are the three things the Sullivan family knows to be true: the Chicago Cubs will always be the underdogs; historical progress is inevitable; and their grandfather, Bud, founder of JP Sullivan's, will always make the best burgers in Oak Park. But when, over the course of three strange months, the Cubs win the World Series, Trump is elected president, and Bud drops dead, suddenly everyone in the family finds themselves doubting all they hold dear.

Take Gretchen for example, lead singer for a '90s cover band who has been flirting with fame for a decade but is beginning to wonder if she's too old to be chasing a childish dream. Or Jane, Gretchen's older sister, who is starting to suspect that her fitness-obsessed husband who hides the screen of his phone isn't always "working late." And then there's Teddy, their steadfast, unfailingly good cousin, nursing heartbreak and confusion because the guy who dumped him keeps showing up for lunch at JP Sullivan's where Teddy is the manager. How can any of them be expected to make the right decisions when the world feels sideways--and the bartender at JP Sullivan's makes such strong cocktails?

What I thought

This book stressed me out.

Marrying the Ketchups follows the Sullivan family. They are restaurant owners in Chicago and the story takes place in 2016-2017. It starts right as the Cubs are winning the World Series and into Trump winning his first term as President. The story is told mostly through three points of view, Teddy, Gretchen, and Jane, the three 30 somethings in the Sullivan family. Jane is dealing with the fallout of her marriage, Gretchen just moved back from New York City, and Teddy is struggling to find his place within Sullivan’s.

I think if I had read this book before Trump was re-elected I might’ve felt slightly different about it. Right now, this book was too close to reality. It put me back into that initial space of negativity after the election but at that point there was still some slight hope that things wouldn’t be as bad as they actually were. As a Chicagoan, I did love the references to the city and the World Series. I very much remembered all of the feels during that time and the hope and joy everyone felt.

Besides the timeline being a little bit of a struggle, I also found none of these characters to be likable. This family is dysfunctional with a capital D. The older Sullivan’s are stuck in their ways while the middle Sullivan’s come off as entitled with no real motivation or drive. Gretchen was maybe the most tolerable for me until the final quarter. She definitely has a bit of Peter Pan syndrome and, even though she was 34, acted like she was 18.

The writing is well done and I did enjoy how the story wove so many generations together. However, by the time I got to the final 20 pages or so I was ready to be done. I didn’t quite know where this was ending up and what the point of some of the storylines were. I think if you like reading about drama and dysfunctional families, this is a good choice for you. You also need to be ok being brought back to 2016/early 2017 as it does touch a lot on politics and the tough state of the world at that time.

What Book Club Thought

Seems like we all were on the same page. We enjoyed it and felt it was an easy read but hated pretty much everyone. I do think my memory of the book is a little more positive than my initial impression. We did have a lot of discussion about the characters and how our feelings changed about them as the story continued. It was a fun book to talk about and I am glad it’s one I read with book club. While I may not run around recommending this book, if you are a Chicagoan looking for a book club choice, I would recommend picking this one up. Just maybe wait 4 more years.