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Anyone who has ever tried to start a book club with their friends knows that it is no small feat. While there may be initial enthusiasm, there are schedules to consider, different literary tastes at play, and a general sense of “oh that sounds fun!” with — usually — minimal follow through on the actual reading of said book club book.
By the time the actual book club meeting rolls around, maybe 40% of your friends who said they’d read the book in order to discuss actually have. Or maybe this is just my friends. Whom I love and adore, and the fact they they indulge my book obsession even enough to humor me in a book club means so much.
All this to say, I started a book club, and today is our first discussion day! Read on to learn about our July selection as well as the other options we voted on.
At the beginning of the month, I gave my friends the option of four books to vote on for our inaugural meeting. Those included The Senator's Wife by Liv Constantine, The Guest by Emma Cline, The Only One Left by Riley Sager, and Will They Or Won't They by Ava Wilder.
The tally was close, but the group selected Wilder’s enemies-to-lovers Hollywood romance, Will They Or Won’t They as our first book club pick.
Going forward, I will let you all know the Reading Lately Book Club options and what our final selection is at the beginning of the month; July was a trial. Trial successful.
Now, when it comes to assignments, self imposed or otherwise, I have never been a procrastinator. In college, if I was given a paper due in a week —assuming it didn’t require copious amounts of research — I would sit down and write it within 48 hours of it being assigned. I would literally plant myself at the student center and tell myself, “Samantha, you are not allowed to get up from this spot until you’ve finished this paper.”
To this day, sometimes when I’m reading a novel at home and find myself getting distracted, I’ll drive to the beach and tell myself I’m not allowed to go back to my apartment until I finish said book. More often than not, I’ll get chilly and pack it up early, and there are absolutely no consequences. Nor should there be. That would be insane of me.
But again, I say all this to emphasize that I have no trouble finishing a book I say I will finish. If I need an extra push, I can self motivate. Especially when given a whole month to do it. I LIKE reading. Perhaps this is why — when the vote between July book club options was so close — I found myself committing to reading ALL FOUR of the books I suggested within a two week window! You know, just in case anyone didn’t like the romance option and wanted to discuss, for example, the thriller.
I have >10 hours until book club meets, and I’m 200 pages away from meeting my unnecessarily challenging, fully self imposed goal that absolutely no one else asked for. So let’s break down each book.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on any and all in the comments if you’ve read them or now plan to!
Will They Or Won’t They by Ava Wilder
Summary (courtesy of goodreads): Lilah Hunter and Shane McCarthy are madly in love— at least, their characters are on screen for five seasons of the hit paranormal TV show, Intangible. Off screen, their secret behind-the-scenes fling imploded at the end of the first season, and the two of them have despised each other since. Now back on set together on set for the first time in years, Lilah and Shane are forced to get closer than ever. And if they’re not careful, they just might get blindsided by one final twist: a real-life happy ending of their own.
Spoiler-free thoughts: With the WGA and SAG strikes top of mind, this is the perfect time to read a Hollywood romance. A 5/5 stars romance for me, reading Will They Or Won’t They felt like binging a favorite tv show. The chemistry between Lilah and Shane is exceptional. The way Wilder writes about what it means to be a working actor feels so grounded and true. How she describes putting yourself out there over and over for auditions — like in the below excerpt — is so much the same as dating, repeatedly putting your heart on the line. It made me understand myself better, and perhaps why being comfortable taking the risk with one makes me comfortable taking the risk with the other.
The Guest by Emma Cline
Summary (courtesy of goodreads): Summer is coming to a close on the East End of Long Island, and Alex is no longer welcome. A misstep at a dinner party, and the older man she's been staying with dismisses her with a ride to the train station and a ticket back to the city. With few resources and a waterlogged phone, but gifted with an ability to navigate the desires of others, Alex stays on Long Island and drifts like a ghost…Propelled by desperation and a mutable sense of morality, she spends the week leading up to Labor Day moving from one place to the next, a cipher leaving destruction in her wake.
Spoiler-free thoughts: Almost always either on drugs, drunk, or some combination of the two, 22 year old Alex was a wildly compelling and utterly unreliable narrator. I read this book in hundred page chunks, so curious about what Alex would do next, who she’d use, and how. My biggest gripe was the ending. The story builds to a climax and the way things wrap up, or rather don’t, left me really dissatisfied. But because of how much was left up for interpretation, I think this makes a great book club pick. If you’ve read it, I’d love to hear how you interpreted the end.
The Senator's Wife by Liv Constantine
Summary (courtesy of goodreads): A D.C. philanthropist suspects that her seemingly perfect employee is secretly plotting to steal her husband, her reputation—even her life—in this seductive novel of psychological suspense from the internationally bestselling author of The Last Mrs. Parrish.
Spoiler-free thoughts: Liv Constantine’s summer thrillers have become must-reads for me, but not because I expect them to be particularly good. They are easy, quick domestic thrillers with a ton of drama. This one was no different. Definitely an entertaining read, and as someone from DC myself, I enjoyed the setting and political intrigue. But after finishing it last night, I doubt I’ll even remember much about this book by the end of the week. Great for the beach or an airplane, with one solid twist at the end.
The Only One Left by Riley Sager
Summary (courtesy of goodreads): The Hope family murders shocked the Maine coast one bloody night in 1929. While most people assume seventeen-year-old Lenora was responsible, the police were never able to prove it. Other than her denial after the killings, she has never spoken publicly about that night, nor has she set foot outside Hope’s End, the cliffside mansion where the massacre occurred. It’s now 1983, and Lenora decides to finally tell her story to home-health aide, Kit McDeere. There is clearly more to the tale than people know, but Kit starts to suspect Lenora might not be telling the complete truth—and that the seemingly harmless woman in her care could be far more dangerous than she first thought.
Spoiler-free thoughts: Sager is another must-read thriller author for me. His first four books were some of my favorites, and then his last two seriously let me down. But I’m elated to report The Only One Left has me fully back on Team Sager. I’m only a third of the way through and were I not so completely sucked into the story, I would say finishing this book by 7pm would be too steep a challenge. But I am IN IT. And eager to hit send on this newsletter so I can get back to reading.
Was very disappointed in The Senator's Wife though I still recommend The Last Mrs Parrish with usually enthusiastic raves from others!
In the middle of reading ‘Carrie Soto Returns,’ by Taylor Jenkins Reid. It’s nice to get a fuller look at a character who had an understandably uncharitable walk-on role in ‘Malibu Rising.’ Favorite read of the summer might be ‘On Gin Lane’ by Brooke Lea Foster, which I inhaled - as you might say, Samantha.