Merry Christmas Bookmates! That's a wrap on Season 2! We're beyond grateful for all of you who have joined us for Book Club this year, and can't wait to keep reading with you in 2026!

Join us for our final Book Club Selection of 2025: In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren

Fun Fact: this Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Reader's Favorite Romance (2020), it is the 2nd highest tagged Christmas book on Goodreads, just under A Christmas Carol!

This book was a merry time, even if it left us wanting a bit! Hallmark meets Groundhog Day- it was a cute, easy Yuletide read for sure, and we definitely had a great time talking about it, and bonus points for Tiffany with the Utah setting!

Synopsis:

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…but not for Maelyn Jones. She’s living with her parents, hates her going-nowhere job, and has just made a romantic error of epic proportions.

But perhaps worst of all, this is the last Christmas Mae will be at her favorite place in the world—the snowy Utah cabin where she and her family have spent every holiday since she was born, along with two other beloved families. Mentally melting down as she drives away from the cabin for the final time, Mae throws out what she thinks is a simple plea to the universe: Please. Show me what will make me happy.

The next thing she knows, tires screech and metal collides, everything goes black. But when Mae gasps awake…she’s on an airplane bound for Utah, where she begins the same holiday all over again. With one hilarious disaster after another sending her back to the plane, Mae must figure out how to break free of the strange time loop—and finally get her true love under the mistletoe.

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Hi Hello Bookmates! Hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday- we did! And we're thankful that you are joining us for our November Book Club Selection:

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Readers' Favorite Fiction, and Book of the Month Book of the Year Award Nominee for 2023, one author described it as: “Clever, dark, and hopeful . . . a love letter to reading and the power that childhood stories have over us long after we’ve grown up.”—V. E. Schwab, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

We agree! A whimsical and fun book, that manages to be nostalgic, poignant and hopeful- while digging around in some heavier themes of trauma and loss. We so enjoyed this book, did you? What did you think of The Wishing Game? Did it land for you? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Synopsis:

Lucy Hart knows better than anyone what it’s like to grow up without parents who loved her. In a childhood marked by neglect and loneliness, Lucy found her solace in books, namely the Clock Island series by Jack Masterson. Now a twenty-six-year-old teacher’s aide, she is able to share her love of reading with bright, young students, especially seven-year-old Christopher Lamb, who was left orphaned after the tragic death of his parents. Lucy would give anything to adopt Christopher, but even the idea of becoming a family seems like an impossible dream without proper funds and stability.

But be careful what you wish for. . . .

Just when Lucy is about to give up, Jack Masterson announces he’s finally written a new book. Even better, he’s holding a contest at his home on the real Clock Island, and Lucy is one of the four lucky contestants chosen to compete to win the one and only copy.

For Lucy, the chance of winning the most sought-after book in the world means everything to her and Christopher. But first she must contend with ruthless book collectors, wily opponents, and the distractingly handsome (and grumpy) Hugo Reese, the illustrator of the Clock Island books. Meanwhile, Jack “the Mastermind” Masterson is plotting the ultimate twist ending that could change all their lives forever.

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Happy Halloween Bookmates! We hope you're enjoying your spooky season! Join us as we discuss a thriller for our October Book Club Selection: No One Can Know by Kate Alice Marshall.

Described as “A propulsive and intricate psychological thriller...Meticulously plotted...”

While we had a couple issues with the resolution, overall we really enjoyed this one! We were so impressed with the way the complex timelines, and three different POV's from past and present, were woven together. This author sure does have a knack for relaying really relatable thoughts and emotions.

Did you read it? What were your thoughts? How did you feel about the ending? Let us know in the comments!

Synopsis:

Fourteen years ago, the Palmer sisters―Emma, Juliette, and Daphne―left their home in Arden Hills and never returned. But when Emma discovers she’s pregnant and her husband loses his job, she has no option but to return to the house that she and her estranged sisters still own . . . and where their parents were murdered.

Emma has never told anyone what she saw the night her parents died, even when she became the prime suspect. But her presence in the house threatens to uncover secrets that have stayed hidden for years, and the sisters are drawn together once again. As they face their memories of the past, rivalries restart, connections are forged, and, for the first time, Emma starts to ask questions about what really happened that night.

The more Emma learns, the more riddles emerge. And Emma begins to wonder just what her siblings will do to keep the past buried, and whether she did the right thing staying quiet about what was whispered that night: “No one can know.”

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Hi, hello Bookmates, welcome (and welcome back) to Book Club! We are psyched to be doing Book 2 of the Unfated Saga for our September Book Club Selection!

Join us as we dive head first into: A Curse Carved in Bone by Danielle L. Jensen

"A shield maiden fights to break the shackles of prophecy—in this searing conclusion to the Norse-inspired fantasy romance duology"

Nothing prepared us for the BANGER of a plot twist we got hit with! We were SHOOK. Did you figure it out before the big reveal?? Was it a satisfactory conclusion? Let us know!! It's Book Club. We want your tea, even if we don't agree!

Synopsis:

The secret of her divine heritage revealed, Freya finds herself on a path that will see thousands of lives lost to the magic in her blood. Desperate to avoid this dark fate, she risks an alliance with Skaland’s greatest enemy to seek answers from the seer who foretold her future—the same seer who sent Bjorn to kill her.

While Freya still seethes with rage over Bjorn’s betrayal, the blood oaths that bind her demand that she keep him close as she hunts for a way to avert the looming war. Her magic draws her to the front lines of an old enmity, embroiling her with Nordeland’s Unfated—children of the gods who serve the king she was raised to fear. The same king who, unlike Bjorn, is now willing to fight at her back. For despite the desire that burns hot between Bjorn and Freya, his growing distrust of her chosen path threatens to drag them further apart.

As war approaches, gods and mortals must choose their weapons. Yet the fiercest battle will be the one Freya wages within herself. With the magic of two goddesses burning in her veins, she must weave the threads of destiny to decide her own fate: Will she be the shield that protects her people or the curse that destroys them?

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Hi, hello Bookmates, welcome (and welcome back) to Book Club! That's a wrap on summer!

Join us as we discuss our August Book Club Selection and the Goodreads Choice Award winner of 2021: People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

It is said to be "a sparkling novel that will leave you with the warm, hazy afterglow usually reserved for the best vacations." We more or less concur! This was a fun, cute read, and surpassed expectations. Perfect way to cap off the summer!

Synopsis:

Two best friends. Ten summer trips. One last chance to fall in love.

Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. She’s a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most of the year they live far apart—she’s in New York City and he’s in their small hometown—but every summer for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together.

Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They haven’t spoken since.

Poppy has everything she should want, but she’s stuck in a rut. When someone asks when she was last truly happy, she knows without a doubt it was on that ill-fated final trip with Alex. And so, she decides to convince her best friend to take one more vacation together—lay everything on the table, make it all right. Miraculously, he agrees.

Now she has a week to fix everything. If only she can get around the one big truth that has always stood quietly in the middle of their seemingly perfect relationship. What could possibly go wrong?

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Hi, hello Bookmates! Join us, and our Bookmate Bestie Rose, as we discuss our

July Book Club selection: One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle.

Described as "a powerful novel about the transformational love between mothers and daughters", this book had us shaking our heads. We found the mother/daughter dynamic quite toxic, and we had ALOT of feelings about Katy as a character...

What did you think of One Italian Summer? Was it a rant or a rave for you? What were your thoughts on Katy and Carol's relationship? Katy's treatment of Eric?Comment and let us know!

It's Book Club. We want your tea, even if we don't agree!

Synopsis:

When Katy’s mother dies, she is left reeling. Carol wasn’t just Katy’s mom, but her best friend and first phone call. She had all the answers and now, when Katy needs her the most, she is gone. To make matters worse, their planned mother-daughter trip of a lifetime looms: two weeks in Positano, the magical town Carol spent the summer right before she met Katy’s father. Katy has been waiting years for Carol to take her, and now she is faced with embarking on the adventure alone.

But as soon as she steps foot on the Amalfi Coast, Katy begins to feel her mother’s spirit. Buoyed by the stunning waters, beautiful cliffsides, delightful residents, and, of course, delectable food, Katy feels herself coming back to life.

And then Carol appears—in the flesh, healthy, sun-tanned, and thirty years old. Katy doesn’t understand what is happening, or how—all she can focus on is that she has somehow, impossibly, gotten her mother back. Over the course of one Italian summer, Katy gets to know Carol, not as her mother, but as the young woman before her. She is not exactly who Katy imagined she might be, however, and soon Katy must reconcile the mother who knew everything with the young woman who does not yet have a clue.

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Happy June Bookmates! Join us as we discuss our Book Club Selection for this month: Anxious People by Fredrick Backman

We absolutely fell in love with this book, and the beautiful way Backman has of making every sentence count in this humorous, compassionate, wise, and ingeniously constructed story executed to damn near perfection.

What did Anxious People make you feel? Did you love it? Hate it? Comment and let us know!

It's Book Club. We want your tea, even if we don't agree!

Synopsis:

Looking at real estate isn't usually a life-or-death situation, but an apartment open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes a group of strangers hostage. The captives include a recently retired couple who relentlessly hunt down fixer-uppers to avoid the painful truth that they can't fix up their own marriage. There's a wealthy banker who has been too busy making money to care about anyone else and a young couple who are about to have their first child but can't seem to agree on anything, from where they want to live to how they met in the first place. Add to the mix an eighty-seven-year-old woman who has lived long enough not to be afraid of someone waving a gun in her face, a flustered but still-ready-to-make-a-deal real estate agent, and a mystery man who has locked himself in the apartment's only bathroom, and you've got the worst group of hostages in the world.

Each of them carries a lifetime of grievances, hurts, secrets, and passions that are ready to boil over. None of them is entirely who they appear to be. And all of them—the bank robber included—desperately crave some sort of rescue. As the authorities and the media surround the premises, these reluctant allies will reveal surprising truths about themselves and set in a motion a chain of events so unexpected that even they can hardly explain what happens next.

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Hi, hello Bookmates! It's officially been 1 year since we released our first episode, so we thought we'd have a quick chat!

Thank you all for your love and support of our show, it means alot to us, and we're so grateful to have made such lovely bookish friends along the way.

Cheers to 1 year, and cheers to the next! Keep reading with us!

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