If you are reading this and haven’t joined our book club, ummmmm what’s the hold up? It’s so much fun! Not only do we pick two books a month to collectively chat about like a “proper” book club, but we also fill up our Goodreads “want to read” shelves sharing our current reads and encourage our members to start bookish conversations themselves. Who doesn’t want more books in their newsfeed between all those depressing news articles and Tasty recipes that you can’t stop watching?!
Without further rambling ado, Here are your choices for the next Boozy Book Club reads:
I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Written by: Iain Reid
Genre: Thriller
Number of Pages: 224
Current Goodreads Rating: 3.34
This book is right up my alley. I’ve already written about my love for suspenseful books, and just the cover alone is giving me feels on this one: scary feels. A lot of reviews mention unreliable narrators and that’s one of my favorite tropes. I don’t want my stories to be predictable. Give me a liar any day. In fiction…not in real life.
In this deeply suspenseful and irresistibly unnerving debut novel, a man and his girlfriend are on their way to a secluded farm. When the two take an unexpected detour, she is left stranded in a deserted high school, wondering if there is any escape at all. What follows is a twisted unraveling that will haunt you long after the last page is turned.
In this smart, suspenseful, and intense literary thriller, debut novelist Iain Reid explores the depths of the human psyche, questioning consciousness, free will, the value of relationships, fear, and the limitations of solitude. Reminiscent of Jose Saramago’s early work, Michel Faber’s cult classic Under the Skin, and Lionel Shriver’s We Need to Talk about Kevin, I’m Thinking of Ending Things is an edgy, haunting debut. Tense, gripping, and atmospheric, this novel pulls you in from the very first page…and never lets you go.
I Stop Somewhere
Written by: T.E. Carter
Genre: YA Contemporary
Number of Pages: 320
Current Goodreads Rating: 4.25
We all have those trusted book reviewers that we follow and trust implicitly (hopefully some of us at That’s Normal fall in that category for you!!), and one of my trusted sources gave this a 5-star review, which doesn’t happen often so I paid attention. This book sounds like it might leave you crying but we all need that once in a while, right?
Ellie Frias disappeared long before she vanished.
Tormented throughout middle school, Ellie begins her freshman year with a new look: she doesn’t need to be popular; she just needs to blend in with the wallpaper.
But when the unthinkable happens, Ellie finds herself trapped after a brutal assault. She wasn’t the first victim, and now she watches it happen again and again. She tries to hold on to her happier memories in order to get past the cold days, waiting for someone to find her.
The problem is, no one searches for a girl they never noticed in the first place.
The Idea of You
Written by: Robinne Lee
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Number of Pages: 372
Current Goodreads Rating: 4.27
I’m trying not to judge a book by its cover here because this one just isn’t my style. The plot sounds intriguing, and I can just picture myself as her daughter, seething over the fact that my mom is with the guy I’ve fantasized about. So no question this book will have lots of drama. And now I’ve got the image of my mom dating one of the kids from One Direction and I have to change the topic…
When Solène Marchand, the thirty-nine-year-old owner of a prestigious art gallery in Los Angeles, takes her daughter, Isabelle, to meet her favorite boy band, she does so reluctantly and at her ex-husband’s request. The last thing she expects is to make a connection with one of the members of the world-famous August Moon. But Hayes Campbell is clever, winning, confident, and posh, and the attraction is immediate. That he is all of twenty years old further complicates things.
What begins as a series of clandestine trysts quickly evolves into a passionate relationship. It is a journey that spans continents as Solène and Hayes navigate each other’s disparate worlds: from stadium tours to international art fairs to secluded hideaways. And for Solène, it is as much a reclaiming of self, as it is a rediscovery of happiness and love. When their romance becomes a viral sensation, and both she and her daughter become the target of rabid fans and an insatiable media, Solène must face how her new status has impacted not only her life, but the lives of those closest to her.
The Alice Network
Written by: Kate Quinn
Genre: Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 505
Current Goodreads Rating: 4.27 (Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Historical Fiction 2017)
We love a good historical fiction around here (duh, Outlander), and secret lady spies sound like some serious feminist-ing which we’re also all about. It’s also won a fair amount of awards which definitely isn’t a bad thing. This was a Reese Witherspoon book club book (did you know she get’s her own book sticker now?! Just like Oprah!) back in July of 2017, so it’s not too far out to assume it could be made into a movie one day. So now’s the time to get ahead of the curve and read the book before the movie tie-in cover comes out.
In an enthralling new historical novel from national bestselling author Kate Quinn, two women—a female spy recruited to the real-life Alice Network in France during World War I and an unconventional American socialite searching for her cousin in 1947—are brought together in a mesmerizing story of courage and redemption.
1947. In the chaotic aftermath of World War II, American college girl Charlie St. Clair is pregnant, unmarried, and on the verge of being thrown out of her very proper family. She’s also nursing a desperate hope that her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive. So when Charlie’s parents banish her to Europe to have her “little problem” taken care of, Charlie breaks free and heads to London, determined to find out what happened to the cousin she loves like a sister.
1915. A year into the Great War, Eve Gardiner burns to join the fight against the Germans and unexpectedly gets her chance when she’s recruited to work as a spy. Sent into enemy-occupied France, she’s trained by the mesmerizing Lili, the “Queen of Spies”, who manages a vast network of secret agents right under the enemy’s nose.
Thirty years later, haunted by the betrayal that ultimately tore apart the Alice Network, Eve spends her days drunk and secluded in her crumbling London house. Until a young American barges in uttering a name Eve hasn’t heard in decades, and launches them both on a mission to find the truth…no matter where it leads.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Written by: Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Genre: Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 277
Current Goodreads Rating: 4.12
My mom recommended this book to me years ago and I took one look at the cover with the very long name and said “nah.” I’m very guilty of judging books by their cover, but I’m working on it. Now that I’ve seen the preview of the movie that’s being made from this book with Michael Huisman, I’m all in. Check out Julie’s post all about it – your eyes will thank you.
The movie adaption is coming to Netflix in April, so we can finish this book and then have a live viewing of the movie – and by live, I mean we all watch it in our separate homes then have a Google Hangout about it, same thing.
Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises, and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.
“I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.”
January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb….
As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island—boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.
Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.
Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises, and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.
The Light We Lost
Written by: Jill Santopolo
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Number of Pages: 328
Current Goodreads Rating: 3.97
You might be thinking that this book cover looks familiar and that’s because it is; this was one of our book choices for last month. It came in third, but it was suggested again so here it is!
This book sounds like a pretty heart-wrenching and existential love story. If this gets picked I think I’ll need to have my tissues ready. It seems like it explores some of the same ideas as The Immortalists, one of February books. Is fate real? Or do our choices decide everything? The world will (probably) never know, but we can read a lot of books about it!
He was the first person to inspire her, to move her, to truly understand her. Was he meant to be the last?
Lucy is faced with a life-altering choice. But before she can make her decision, she must start her story—their story—at the very beginning.
Lucy and Gabe meet as seniors at Columbia University on a day that changes both of their lives forever. Together, they decide they want their lives to mean something, to matter. When they meet again a year later, it seems fated—perhaps they’ll find life’s meaning in each other. But then Gabe becomes a photojournalist assigned to the Middle East and Lucy pursues a career in New York. What follows is a thirteen-year journey of dreams, desires, jealousies, betrayals, and, ultimately, of love. Was it fate that brought them together? Is it choice that has kept them away? Their journey takes Lucy and Gabe continents apart, but never out of each other’s hearts.
*all summaries are quoted from their Goodreads page.
So, How do I vote again?
So glad you asked, I’m happy to woman-splain it to you: Join Boozy Book Club on Facebook, and vote for all the books that interest you in our poll. That’s right, vote for as many as you want. The top two books will become the chosen ones and be our reads for next month. These books will be announced on Tuesday, March 27th, the day after Boozy Book Club, with a recap of what happened during the meeting if you had to miss it for some reason, like a tornado or a tsunami. Or you finally got accepted to Hogwarts and don’t care about us muggles anymore. Those are the only acceptable reasons.
The power lays in your hands, my friends. Choose wisely.
