Past Book Club Picks
Novels are nominated and chosen by club members, always.
November 2025:
If It Makes You Happy by Julie Olivia
If hot single dads who can bake are your type, then this cozy fall read set in the 90s is the book you’ve been waiting for. Our November read was a juicy jump back into a simpler era when the Backstreet Boys reigned supreme and people still used fax machines. Take me back, please.
Read more about this pick in our blog!
October 2025:
The Pumpkin Spice Cafe by Laurie Gilmore
After once again needing a tie breaker to decide our monthly read, our club chose this small town, grumpy-sunshine romance filled with all the cozy fall vibes. This was the perfect read as the weather got crisper, and the hype surrounding this book as the literary equivalent to watching the Gilmore Girls was justified after all (shoutout to the town hall meeting and costume contest antics!). Also, shoutout to Logan’s grandma for being top tier, and for his two best friends who set him straight when he needed it. I will definitely be returning to Dream Harbor in the future.
September 2025:
Wild Card by Elsie Silver
This was the fourth and final installment of the Rose Hill series by Elsie Silver, and it did not disappoint. This book follows Bash, a super hot, forty-year-old wildland firefighter, as he struggles and fails to get over the woman he meets in an airport while being stranded in a snowstorm. A wrong digit in a phone number leads to their missed connection, and she accidentally and unknowingly dates his son afterward. The yearning involved in this one really keeps the story moving as Gwen finds herself living under Bash’s roof and becoming a part of his friend group. But, in my humble opinion, the best part of this book is actually a side character named Crazy Clyde who keeps everyone on their toes and meddles constantly to help these two find love. The banter in this is top tier.
August 2025:
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
This is my personal favorite of Ali Hazelwood’s science girly novels. It centers around a naive, yet brilliant young doctoral student named Olive who kisses a random man in order to prove to her best friend that she’s really over her ex…only to discover that that random man is the grumpiest professor in the Biology department. They then agree to a mutually-beneficial fake-dating scheme, which results in them quickly (and somewhat unwillingly) falling in love, as all the best fake-dating schemes do. The chemistry between Olive and Adam is top notch, and that man would do ANYTHING for her. Their story is equal parts brainy and fun–the perfect combination.
July 2025:
The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston
Clementine and Iwan fall in love one summer in a magical New York City apartment that transports Clementine seven years back into the past at random intervals. She has no way of knowing when she will next encounter Iwan, and also no way of knowing where he exists in her current reality, seven years in the future. It’s such a heartfelt love story, and is reminiscent of The Time Traveler’s Wife, but with a happily ever after. I will warn you though–the novel does deal with the subject of grief in a way that only somebody who has really, truly, and fully loved someone can articulate. There will be moments of joy and moments of sadness, but the journey is as beautiful as it is emotional.
June 2025:
First Time Caller by B.K. Borison
When Lucie’s daughter seeks out a local late-night radio host to help her mother find love, the interview goes viral and the entire city of Baltimore tunes in to follow along with her journey. Lucie is sweet, and a hopeless romantic, and immediately reminds the city that finding love is one of the most worthwhile things a person can experience. Thus begins her dating journey, which quickly becomes more complicated by the fact that the radio show’s host, Aiden Valentine, has himself given up on love until he finds himself enamored with Lucie. It is fun from start to finish, and Lucie definitely gets her happily ever after. The audio version is especially good for this book because it highlights the late-night radio transcripts, which were my personal favorite part of the story. The interview with Grayson, Lucie’s ex, was spectacular.
May 2025:
Wild and Wrangled by Lyla Sage
This was the fourth and final book in the Rebel Blue Ranch series, and while I was so happy to finally read Cam and Dusty’s story, I was still sad to see the series come to an end. Cam and Dusty have history going back to their teenage years, but their relationship has remained a mystery to their adult friends over a decade later. Although many things have happened in their lives since that time, they still find themselves on a collision course with one another, winding up sharing the same close family and friends and making it virtually impossible to avoid one another as adults. This was a beautiful second-chance love story told with multiple flashbacks to their time as teens when they first fell in love, and the inevitability of these two was delicious. May all loves be as true and as lasting as theirs.
April 2025:
Phantasma by Kaylie Smith
This pick was as spicy as it was gory. Ophelia enters Phantasma, a creepy contest in her town of New Orleans, after her younger sister goes missing. She hopes to find her there, but instead finds herself having to survive nine levels of horror in order to win the contest and be free of the nightmare. In Phantasma, she meets Blackwell, a sexy phantom who has his own reasons for helping her through each of the challenges. This read had a surprise ending that I did not see coming, but the best part, in my opinion, was the spice. Blackwell certainly made up for the horrors Ophelia faced and provided a much-needed distraction on her journey.
March 2025:
The Love Wager by Lynn Painter
Hallie and Jack meet at a wedding and have a hot one-night-stand, which Hallie swears she won’t repeat out of pure embarrassment. Their paths collide again on a dating app, and they decide to make a wager to see which of them can be the first to find love. They begin a friendship and discuss their dating lives, but things take a turn when Jack agrees to be Hallie’s wedding date and they both realize that their feelings for each other run much deeper than friendship. Spoiler alert: they both win the bet.