Book Club September 2024- My Brilliant Friend

By: Elena Ferrante
Published Year: 2012
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Pages: 331

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): A modern masterpiece from one of Italy’s most acclaimed authors, My Brilliant Friend is a rich, intense and generous-hearted story about two friends, Elena and Lila. Ferrante’s inimitable style lends itself perfectly to a meticulous portrait of these two women that is also the story of a nation and a touching meditation on the nature of friendship. Through the lives of these two women, Ferrante tells the story of a neighbourhood, a city and a country as it is transformed in ways that, in turn, also transform the relationship between her two protagonists.

What I thought

This book was chosen this month because it was recently names as New York Times’ number one book best book of the 21st century. The cover honestly didn’t appeal to me at all though the summary was interesting.

Lila and Lenu/Elena grew up in the same neighborhood in Naples, Italy. Lenu decides to tell the story of her and Lila’s friendship as they grew up in elementary school up until they were 16.

This story takes place in the 1960s. I sort of understand why this book was named as number one, but it wouldn’t be my first choice. The writing is strong and makes you feel like you’re really living in Italy in the 50s and 60s. However, the characters are horrible. Every single one of them. And I couldn’t understand or relate to Lila and Lenu’s friendship at all.

Elena is a smart girl and is more privileged than Lila. They both live in a poor neighborhood where violence is rampant. In my opinion, this book was too long and it moved very slowly. I never felt like Elena was likable because she was only motivated in life by Lila and Lila was mean and manipulative. Elena hated her mom because she had a bad leg and a lazy eye. She was worried she would turn into her but took everything her parents gave her for granted.

I kind of can’t believe that there are 3 more books about these two. I also hated the ending. I get that it ended to make you want to read the next books and learn about these two so called friends as they grow into adulthood, but it was so weird and so abrupt. I think this book is fine overall. It’s not one I’m going to remember and not one I would pick off of my list to recommend. I wouldn’t discourage people from reading it, but not my favorite.

What Book Club Thought

Well, it seems like we all felt about the same. This book was boring with extremely annoying main characters and we don’t quite understand how it made it to best book of the 20th century. We did have a lot to discuss though, so it did make a good book club book. And not just because we were ranting about the characters, but it was interesting to talk about why we thought other people enjoyed this book so much, what we thought would happen to the characters, and the dimension of Lenu and Lila’s relationship. As we were about to take our monthly picture, I did realize that I have no clue who the people on the cover are supposed to be as there is never 3 young girls running after a couple getting married. Weird.

Past, Present< Future

By: Rachel Lynn Solomon
Published Year: 2004
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 382

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): They fell for each other in just twenty-four hours. Now Rowan and Neil embark on a long-distance relationship during their first year of college in this romantic, dual points of view sequel to Today Tonight Tomorrow .

When longtime rivals Rowan Roth and Neil McNair confessed their feelings on the last day of senior year, they knew they’d only have a couple months together before they left for college. Now summer is over, and they’re determined to make their relationship work as they begin school in different states.

In Boston, Rowan is eager to be among other aspiring novelists, learning from a creative writing professor she adores. She’s just not sure why she suddenly can’t seem to find her voice.

In New York, Neil embraces the chaos of the city, clicking with a new friend group more easily than he anticipated. But when his past refuses to leave him alone, he doesn’t know how to handle his rapidly changing mental health—or how to talk about it with the girl he loves.

Over a year of late-night phone calls, weekend visits, and East Coast adventures, Rowan and Neil fall for each other again and again as they grapple with the uncertainty of their new lives. They’ve spent so many years at odds with each other—now that they’re finally on the same team, what does the future hold for them?

First Impressions

I read Today, Tonight, Tomorrow when it first came out in 2020 and fell in love with Solomon and the characters in this story. I was excited to see she wrote a sequel so we could see where Rowan and Neil were now.

What I thought

This book was so unique. I really enjoyed it and wish that it had existed when I was in college.

Rowan and Neil fell in love at the end of Senior Year during their school’s scavenger hunt. They’ve now spent the whole summer together continuing to fall in love but it’s time for them to go off to college. They will be going to school a couple of hours apart with Rowan in Boston and Neil in New York City. Can their romance live up to all the romance novels that Rowan has known and loved?

Years ago the book world attempted to create a genre called New Adult what was focused more on college age. It never fully took off, but this book is exactly why that genre was needed. I’ve never read a romance that followed a couple navigating their first year of college as well as a long distance romance. Freshman year of college is hard, especially when you’re far away from your family. I feel like Solomon did a fantastic job writing about those feelings and comparing yourself to your friends who are having different college experiences.

Of course, I loved Rowan and Neil. They are a dynamic couple who you can tell truly love and care for each other. I appreciated how Solomon made their difficulties not cliché long distance misunderstandings. The way that Solomon wrote about mental health was fantastic and I wish I could’ve read this in college. Reading about someone dealing with depression and anxiety would’ve been eye opening and I think it’s something every 18-22 year old should read about.

Honestly, I don’t have any criticism of this book. I enjoyed it all and I find it to be rare to find a book that’s so unique. Even though it’s romancey there was so much of it with settings and additional characters that I have not read before. I highly enjoyed this and it continues to cement Solomon as one of my favorite authors.

The Seven Year Slip

By: Ashely Poston
Published Year: 2023
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 352

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Sometimes, the worst day of your life happens, and you have to figure out how to live after it.

So Clementine forms a plan to keep her heart safe: work hard, find someone decent to love, and try to remember to chase the moon. The last one is silly and obviously metaphorical, but her aunt always told her that you needed at least one big dream to keep going. And for the last year, that plan has gone off without a hitch. Mostly. The love part is hard because she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone—she isn’t sure her heart can take it.

And then she finds a strange man standing in the kitchen of her late aunt’s apartment. A man with kind eyes and a Southern drawl and a taste for lemon pies. The kind of man that, before it all, she would’ve fallen head-over-heels for. And she might again.

Except, he exists in the past. Seven years ago, to be exact. And she, quite literally, lives seven years in his future.

Her aunt always said the apartment was a pinch in time, a place where moments blended together like watercolors. And Clementine knows that if she lets her heart fall, she’ll be doomed.

After all, love is never a matter of time—but a matter of timing.

First Impressions

Honestly, I hadn’t heard much about this book and the cover didn’t catch my eye. I did see it on TikTok a few times, but people were frequently putting it under “most overrated” as opposed to highly recommends. This made me a little hesitant to pick it up.

What I thought

My work decided to do a book club, and this was one of the books picked. I didn’t even vote for it since TikTok had made me so hesitant. However, once I read the summary, I knew it would be my kind of book and I looked forward to reading it. I’m so glad that my work forced this across my path because it was so enjoyable.

Clementine inherits her Aunt’s apartment after she passes. She grew up being told the apartment was magic. At any time, it could take you back seven years. Her aunt always told her that she would get sent back when her life was at a crossroads and that there was one rule. Don’t fall in love. 6 months after her aunt passed away, Clementine gets sent back and finds a handsome stranger in her apartment from 7 years ago.

I love alternate timelines so I loved the concept of this book. Clementine/Lemon and Iwan/James were so freaking cute. I think some people might dislike this book because it’s a bit predictable but it also makes it easily accessible to a lot of readers. I think there were about 3 “twists” that I caught beforehand and two that I didn’t get until right before they happened.

I loved the growth of Clementine as the story moves forward. She is struggling with the loss of her aunt, who was basically her best friend and who she wanted to be when she grows up. Now she’s lost and unsure if she’s on the right path. When she gets sent and meets Iwan, she starts to find who she was seven years ago which helps her rediscover who she is now.

My one issue I did have was with her friend characters. She had two best friends/coworkers who were married. I think they were good friends to Clementine, but there was like a weird underlying annoyance with each other? Nothing ever really came of it but it seemed like one of them didn’t really like the other very much. They also had another friend/coworker that it seemed like the three of them hung out with just because they felt sorry for her, yet she seemed to think they were all friends. But honestly, this didn’t detract from the sory very much.

I couldn’t put this book down. It’s an easy read and I think it’s a book that will get a lot of people reading again if they haven’t read for a while. I think this would also be a good book to get people out of a reading slump. The chemistry between Clementine and Iwan is great. I highly recommend checking this one out if you want a sweet, fast paced romance.

Book Club July 2024- Romantic Comedy

By: Curtis Sittenfeld
Published Year: 2023
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 309

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Sally Milz is a sketch writer for "The Night Owls," the late-night live comedy show that airs each Saturday. With a couple of heartbreaks under her belt, she’s long abandoned the search for love, settling instead for the occasional hook-up, career success, and a close relationship with her stepfather to round out a satisfying life.

But when Sally’s friend and fellow writer Danny Horst begins dating Annabel, a glamorous actor who guest-hosted the show, he joins the not-so-exclusive group of talented but average-looking and even dorky men at the show—and in society at large—who’ve gotten romantically involved with incredibly beautiful and accomplished women. Sally channels her annoyance into a sketch called the "Danny Horst Rule," poking fun at this phenomenon while underscoring how unlikely it is that the reverse would ever happen for a woman.

Enter Noah Brewster, a pop music sensation with a reputation for dating models, who signed on as both host and musical guest for this week’s show. Dazzled by his charms, Sally hits it off with Noah instantly, and as they collaborate on one sketch after another, she begins to wonder whether there might actually be sparks flying. But this isn’t a romantic comedy; it’s real life. And in real life, someone like him would never date someone like her...right?

With her keen observations and trademark ability to bring complex women to life on the page, Sittenfeld explores the neurosis-inducing and heart-fluttering wonder of love, while slyly dissecting the social rituals of romance and gender relations in the modern age.

What I thought

I have had this book on my to-read list for a very long time so I was excited to finally have an excuse to read it.

Sally is a comedy writer for a show called “The Night Owls”. She writes a sketch about how attractive female celebrities tend to fall for mediocre looking men, but never the other way around. Then when famous musician Noah Brewster hosts the how and she starts to feel chemistry, she tarts to question everything she ever knew.

This book was a lot of fun but it is very much taken from Saturday Night Live. I think it’s supposed to be like a fan tribute, but it kind of came off a little lazy. The show is referred to as “TNO” just like “SNL”, has a news section, musical guests and celebrity hosts, as well as a Lorne Michael’s character who controls it all. I just wish that Sittenfeld had been a little bit more creative rather than taking directly from reality.

I liked Sally at the beginning, but she had a lot of moments where she was annoyingly insecure. I understand it’s hard to believe that someone famous/extremely attractive can be into someone who is average, but she is very self-destructive. She also doesn’t come off as though she’s a homely person, even if she does come off like a jerk sometimes.

The story is told in 3 parts which I thought was interesting. The first part is the week that Noah hosts. The second part is told in emails during lockdown COVID 2020, and the third part is told in the moment in 2020 with Noah and Sally reconnecting.

I did love the romance side of this story. Noah is amazing and I absolutely fell a little in love with him. Sally does have her moments. Overall, I thought this was a fun, lighthearted book, and I enjoyed it more once we got out of the SNL phase.

What Book Club Thought

Unfortunately, I was sick for book club so I never got to discuss this book as a group. I did ask what people thought about it because I was curious and it seems like everyone overall enjoyed the book. They agreed that the similarities to SNL in the first part were a bit distracting, but not so much that it ruined the book for us.

Until Next Summer

By: Ali Brady
Published Year: 2024
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 448

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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): Two former best friends each find love at an adults-only summer camp in this romantic and nostalgic novel that proves “once a camp person, always a camp person.”

Growing up, Jessie and Hillary lived for summer, when they’d be reunited at Camp Chickawah. The best friends vowed to become counselors together someday, but they drifted apart after Hillary broke her promise and only Jessie stuck to their plan, working her way up to become the camp director. 

When Jessie learns that the camp will be sold, she decides to plan one last hurrah, inviting past campers—including Hillary—to a nostalgic “adult summer camp” before closing for good. Jessie and Hillary rebuild their friendship as they relive the best time of their lives—only now there are adult beverages, skinny dipping, and romantic entanglements. Straitlaced Hillary agrees to a “no strings attached” summer fling with the camp chef, while outgoing Jessie is drawn to a moody, reclusive writer who’s rented a cabin to work on his novel.

The friends soon realize this doesn’t have to be the last summer. They’ll team up and work together, just like the old days. But if they can’t save their beloved camp, will they be able to take the happiness of this summer away with them?

First Impressions

I went to summer camp for two years growing up and I absolutely loved it. I understand that desire to chase that feeling of the summer camp high and always found the idea of an adult summer camp to be so cool. I reach one of Ali Brady’s previous books, The Beach Trap, and found it to be an enjoyable for a summer read.

What I thought

Jessie and Hillary were best friends at summer camp until Hillary backed out on their promise to become camp counselors together. Then they never talked again. 10 years later, Jessie is running the overnight camp the last summer before it shuts down. For the final summer, Jessie had the idea to make it an adult overnight camp, with each week being for past campers who had come to Camp Chickawah as kids. Hillary applies to work as the Arts and Crafts director, making this the first time they have seen each other since their last summer at camp. Now they have to see if they can rebuild their friendship and possibly save the camp that means so much to them.

In theory, this book was super cute. In actuality, it was a little bit long and a lot bit cheesy. I liked the characters but I felt like the authors focused on the wrong things sometimes. I felt like their friendship resolved so quickly. I also didn’t love how immature Jessie ad Hillary both were. For example, Luke (a cranky writer who becomes a love interest for Jessie) pulls away from Jessie and says “I can’t get into a relationship right now”. Which, yeah, totally sucks, but also felt completely honest and not like it has anything to do with Jessie. Yet Jessie takes it personally and proceeds to get back at him by dumping an entire bucket of syrup on his head.

Hillary seems a little bit more mature, but she is also just dense. In the first few chapters, her boyfriend asks for them to take a break so that he can sleep around while she’s gone all summer and it takes her until she’s been at camp for a few weeks to realize that was a shitty thing for this dude to do. They were dating for 2 years! Of course it’s a shitty thing to do!

I liked the chemistry between Hillary and Cooper but I felt like I wanted more from Luke and Jessie. They had some decent banter but sometimes it felt a little forced. I think maybe I felt a little torn between the story about trying to save the camp and having an adult summer camp with building friendship and then the romances. It can be tricky juggling 3 separate relationships while also writing a save the camp plot.

It also was much too long in my opinion. This book was well over 400 pages and I think it could’ve been accomplished in about 100 less. It felt like it moved so slowly to me while they also frequently talked about how quickly life at camp seems to move.

Parts of this book were very cute, but it just never seemed to hook me fully. I found it to be long and slow and I just never connected with the characters. I did love the setting, so I think if you’re a summer camp person you might enjoy this. I also think if I had been a little younger when I read it I would’ve enjoyed it more. I’d be open to reading more by Ali Brady in the future, but this one was not my favorite.

Business Casual

By: BK Borison
Published Year: 2024
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): Nova Porter isn’t looking for love, and she certainly has no explanation for her attraction to buttoned-up, three-piece-suit-wearing investment banker Charlie Milford. Maybe it’s his charm? Or maybe it’s his determination to help her fledgling business however he can. Either way, she’s distracted every time he’s around. With her new tattoo studio set to open in her hometown of Inglewild, she doesn’t have time for frivolous flirtations. 

In an effort to get Charlie out of her system once and for all, Nova offers a proposition. One night. No strings. They’ll kick their uncomfortable attraction to the curb and return to their respective responsibilities. But their explosive night together scatters their expectations like fallen leaves. And with Charlie in town as the temporary head of Lovelight Farms, Nova can’t quite avoid him. 

And Charlie? Well, Charlie knows a good investment when he sees one. He’s hoping he can convince Nova he’s worth some of her time.

First Impressions

I am absolutely obsessed with the Lovelight Farms series. I was so excited to see another book coming out in the series. I think it might be one of my favorite covers of the series but honestly, I love them all.

What I thought

B.K. Borison does not miss!

We are back at Lovelight Farms and this time we get to follow Charlie, Stella’s half brother, and Nova, Beckett’s youngest sister. Charlie is staying in Inglewild for a month while Stella and Luka go on a month long honeymoon. Nova is finally opening her dream of her own tattoo shop. Charlie has been flirting with Nova to get a rise out of her for at least a year. Nova finally decides to flirt back and asks him to sleep with her in an attempt to feel better. This shocks Charlie, but ultimately they mutually decide to try to get each other out of their systems and keep things “business casual”.

I loved Nova and Charlie in previous books, so I was excited to get to know them more. Nova is fiercely independent and feels as though by asking for help, she is showing weakness. Charlie doesn’t believe he deserves to be loved, so he attempts to make everyone happy so that they want to keep him around.

Their banter is top notch. I am a sucker for banter and I loved that heirs wasn’t mean, but just truly flirty with a little teasing. It’s funny how obvious their chemistry is immediately, considering how long they deny it. I wanted to give Charlie a hug this entire story too. He is so sweet and such a good guy, but is dealing with his own baggage.

As with Borison’s other novels in this series, I appreciate that there isn’t a 3rd act miscommunication put in just to add drama. I also love how she seamlessly weaves in the other characters from the previous stories. The town of Inglewild is a character in and of itself, and it’s done beautifully.

I do feel like each book in this series has gotten spicier, but I don’t feel like it’s a bad thing. I don’t think I have anything to complain about in this book other than that it’s over! I know this one is advertised as the final Inglewild book, but I really hope it’s not!

If you haven’t read this series, please do so. All 4 books are lovely and such a good time. I would love to see these stories picked up as a series somehow. I think they would be so comforting and warm.

Sula

By: Toni Morrison
Pages: 174
Published Year: 1973
Publisher: Vintage International

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Sula and Nel are two young black girls: clever and poor. They grow up together sharing their secrets, dreams and happiness. Then Sula breaks free from their small-town community in the uplands of Ohio to roam the cities of America. When she returns ten years later much has changed. Including Nel, who now has a husband and three children. The friendship between the two women becomes strained and the whole town grows wary as Sula continues in her wayward, vagabond and uncompromising ways.

First Impressions

I heard that Well Read Black Girl was doing a read along for Sula. I had heard of other Morrison books, but never read them. I loved the idea of reading a classic along with others since it ca be intimidating to do so by yourself. The idea of a friendship drama occurring in the 1920s sounded so interesting to me!

What I thought

Um. I don’t know what I just read. I will preface this review by saying I don’t think I am the intended reader for this book. I Feel like I really do need to discuss it with others because I feel like I missed the point.

Sula starts in 1920 and ends in the 1960s. Each chapter is a year until 1927 and then there is a 10 year jump to 1937. Sula is the daughter of Hannah and granddaughter of Eva. However, the book starts with Nel who is the daughter of Helene. Nel is quiet and a bit of a loner until she meets Sula. They become instant best friends. The story checks in with them each year, sort of, until Nel gets married. But mostly, it tells the story of Sula’s insane family until Nel gets married. Sula then disappears for 10 years, and when she comes back, she sleeps with Nel’s husband. Not because she loves him, just because she’s bored and wants to.

I understand this book is supposed to be a commentary on black society and black women in the 1920s, but I got so distracted by the insanity of the characters and what terrible people they were that it completely overshadowed everything else for me. I will admit that Morrison’s writing is great. It made the book easy to read and understand. But boy oh boy was this a rollercoaster.

Eva, Sula’s grandma, murders her own son, loses her leg, and jumps/falls out a window to save her own daughter who is on fire. All within a 176 page book. It made my head spin. I never felt any sympathy towards Sula either because she was unnecessarily cruel. I feel similar to her as I did when I read Wuthering Heights. I will be immediately wary of anyone who says that Sula is their favorite literary character or if they relate to her. I get that she was maybe trying to take back her power in a time and age when black women had none, but to be so unnecessarily cruel to her family and friend along the way? I don’t get it one bit.

I wish I had read this book in high school with a teacher to walk me through it. I feel bad rating this book poorly because I truly think it’s more of a me issue. If you are Morrison’s intended audience you’ll probably enjoy it a lot more than I did. I may look into other books by her because I did like her writing style, but unfortunately, this book was not it.

Funny Story

By: Emily Henry
Published Year: 2024
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 387

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common.

Daphne always loved the way her fiancé Peter told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it…right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.

Which is how Daphne begins her new story: Stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.

Scruffy and chaotic—with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads—Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them?

But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex…right?

First Impressions

I have read two of Henry’s books previously. One of her adult novels and one of her YA novels and I have loved both. This one sounded right up my alley. I also absolutely love the color of this book so I would’ve picked it up regardless of knowing who she was or having read her previous books.

What I thought

She does it again!

Daphne moves in with her ex-fiancé’s ex-boyfriend after their respective partners leave them to get together. Within a month of the betrayal, Miles and Daphne get invited to their ex’s wedding, she accidentally lies and tells her ex Peter that she and Miles are together. Now they have to hang out and make it look like they’re together, even though they are polar opposites and don’t know much about each other at all. The more they hang out, the more they realize they have in common.

I loved the banter with Daphne and Miles. I also love how Daphne banters with her friend/coworker Ashleigh. Everything about the friendships and the romance feels so easy, even though Daphne has her struggles with building and maintaining relationships. Daphne and Miles each have their own baggage and I love how Henry handles it throughout the story.

There’s a storyline in which Miles wants to make Daphne fall in love with the town of Waning Bay, Michigan. He brings her to a bunch of different places and made me fall in love with the town too. I love when the setting of the story is just as much of a character as the characters are. Henry does a great job with this.

I know that you may be tempted to write this book off because of all the hype that Henry gets. Honestly, I was a little bit too, but this book exceeded all of my expectations. I adored Daphne and Miles. I loved all of the side characters too. Daphne works in a library and the library comes to life when she’s there. They bond over their shared breakups but they also grow and learn together.

I devoured this book. I finished it in 2 days and could not put it down. Henry is a fantastic writer. The way she writes the characters is so well done and the story flew by. I already want to pick it up and read it again. I loved Book Lovers, but I feel like that one is more appealing to book lovers. This one I feel like could be more universally loved. It starts as fake dating (but like a light fake dating) and grows into a fabulous love story. Also, the way the book begins and ends was written so beautifully!