Lit Happens Book Club

Note Change in Date - No meeting in April: Our May Book Club Selection – The Wedding People by Allison Espach

About the Book:

The runaway New York Times bestseller with over one million copies sold
A Today Show #ReadwithJenna Book Club Pick, New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, and a #1 Indie Next Pick

A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help her start anew.

It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She’s immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event.
Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years―she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan―which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.

Genre: Women’s Fiction
Publication Date: July 30, 2024

How To Get a Copy:
How To Get a Copy:
You can get a copy on your own (library, purchase, Libby, etc.) But I also have some books on hold at the Grayslake Library, 100 Library Lane, Grayslake, IL. They will be available about five weeks before the date of this book club.

• Bring your library card (from any library) and go to the checkout area.
• Tell them you are there to pick up a book for Lit Happens Book Club.
• They will register your card with Grayslake if your library is not part of their consortium and they will check out the book to you.
• There will only be limited copies available, so do not wait until the last minute.

Restaurant:
We will meet in their back room. They will provide us with separate checks so either have dinner or, at the least, appetizer or desert.

Our June Book Club Selection – Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

About the Book:

A REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK ∙ AN INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ∙ Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of a woman with more than a couple of plot twists up her sleeve in this dazzling and sweeping novel from Emily Henry.

Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: to write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years—or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the twentieth century.

When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she’ll choose the person who’ll tell her story, there are three things keeping Alice’s head in the game.

• One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Alice—and she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over.
• Two: She’s ready for this job and the chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication.
• Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition.

But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they can’t swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room.

And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story — just like the tale Margaret’s spinning—could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad . . . depending on who’s telling it.

Genre: Romance/Women’s Fiction (I don't typically do romance, but I'm hearing this book isn't really too romancy.)
Publication Date: April 22, 2025
Pages: 432

How To Get a Copy:
You can get a copy on your own (library, purchase, Libby, etc.) But I also have some books on hold at the Grayslake Library, 100 Library Lane, Grayslake, IL. They will be available about five weeks before the date of this book club.

• Bring your library card (from any library) and go to the checkout area.
• Tell them you are there to pick up a book for Lit Happens Book Club.
• They will register your card with Grayslake if your library is not part of their consortium and they will check out the book to you.
• There will only be limited copies available, so do not wait until the last minute.

Restaurant:
We will meet in their back room. They will provide us with separate checks so either have dinner or, at the least, appetizer or desert.

Our July Book Club Selection – The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods

About This Book:

The Lost Bookshop: The most charming and uplifting novel for 2025 and the perfect gift for book lovers! Voted #1 book club book for 2025. In this book, a lost bookshop casts its spell over three strangers, transporting them to a world of wonder and secrets in this enchanting novel.

The Echo of Old Books meets The Lost Apothecary in this evocative and charming novel full of mystery and secrets.

‘The thing about books,’ she said ‘is that they help you to imagine a life bigger and better than you could ever dream of.’

On a quiet street in Dublin, a lost bookshop is waiting to be found…

For too long, Opaline, Martha and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives.
But when a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, these three unsuspecting strangers will discover that their own stories are every bit as extraordinary as the ones found in the pages of their beloved books.

And by unlocking the secrets of the shelves, they find themselves transported to a world of wonder… where nothing is as it seems.

Genre: Realism/Fantasy Fiction but blended with historical fiction and romance (This is out of my usual but it came up as the best book for book clubs in 2024 - so let's do it!)
Publication Date: November 7, 2023
Pages: 448

How To Get a Copy:
You can get a copy on your own (library, purchase, Libby, etc.) But I also have some books on hold at the Grayslake Library, 100 Library Lane, Grayslake, IL. They will be available about five weeks before the date of this book club.

• Bring your library card (from any library) and go to the checkout area.
• Tell them you are there to pick up a book for Lit Happens Book Club.
• They will register your card with Grayslake if your library is not part of their consortium and they will check out the book to you.
• There will only be limited copies available, so do not wait until the last minute.

Restaurant:
We will meet in their back room. They will provide us with separate checks so either have dinner or, at the least, appetizer or desert.