Happy Wednesday, friends!
Oh my goodness, we had the BEST time yesterday going to the live showing of Dancing with the Stars. I will share more about that and our time at Disneyland soon, but for now, it’s the 22nd of the month which means…it’s BOOK CLUB DAY!
Woohoo!
As Mades and I make our way back to Dallas this morning, let’ chat about this month’s book. Plus, today, I’m also sharing some really FESTIVE FINDS and a REALLY BIG DEAL too!
Two posts for your Hump Day 🙂 .
Okay, just to recap before we begin…
Here are the books we discussed in 2024 along with my own personal “star ratings”…
The Last Love Note by Emma Grey 4 STARS
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon 5 STARS
The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins 3 STARS
The Many Lives of Mama Love by Lara Love Hardin 3 STARS
Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth 4 STARS
The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl 2 STARS
Swan Song by Elin Hilderbrand 3 STARS
Husbands & Lovers by Beatriz Williams 3 STARS
By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult 4 STARS
Madwoman by Chelsea Bieker 4 STARS
Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout 2 STARS
And so far in 2025, we’ve discussed:
In January: The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry 5 STARS
In February: Brooke Shields is Not Allowed to Get Old by Brooke Shields 2 STARS
In March: The Crash by Freida McFadden 3 STARS
In April: One Good Thing by Georgia Hunter 5 STARS
In May: All That Life Can Afford by Emily Everett 3 STARS
In June: Maine Characters by Hannah Orenstein 2 STARS
In July: My Friends by Fredrik Backman 5 STARS
In August: The View From Lake Como by Adriana Trigiani 4 STARS
In September: Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall 5 STARS
If you want to check out any of these Book Club posts, they are all HERE!
Before we get to today’s book, let’s revisit the “rules” of Shay’s Book Club:
Here are the details:
1: On the 22nd of each month, I will share a BONUS blog post that is only about the book we read together that month. So, if it falls on a weekend, look for it that day, if it falls on a Tuesday, expect a food post, a normal lifestyle post AND third post just for the book review discussion.
2: I picked the 22nd because I want this post to come out BEFORE our normal monthly BOOK REVIEW POSTS. I will still share my normal monthly book reviews (where I average 4 to 6 books a month) at the end of each month. I will reference said “book of the month”, but I will not be reviewing it on that post, I will be linking back to the BOOK CLUB POST. Why? Because I want all of the content about the one specific book club book in one spot instead of spread out over multiple spots.
3: Each month at the end of the Book Club blog post, I will share what the book will be for the following month. This will give everyone one month to read this one particular book.
4: Let’s be real, I’m going to try to pick new/popular/relevant books every month, but I’m also going to pick books that speak to me. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to share them with me. I’m going to *try* and make the books different genres each month. I would love for us to read a variety of fiction, non-fiction, memoirs, chick lit, thrillers, etc this year. That’s the *goal*.
5: What are the rules of the book club? I know a lot of book clubs have rules and perhaps I’ll add some as we go, but basically, if you want to read along with us, we’d love to have you and on the 22nd we’ll dive a little deeper in the comment section here about that one particular book. Easy as that! That post is the one place where we’ll discuss the book so that all thoughts/opinions/questions/etc can be in one location.
6: In this blog post and in the comment section, WE WILL BE DISCUSSING SPOILERS. If you are interested in reading this book, you might not want to read below this line. In OCTOBER’S BOOK REVIEW later this month, I will give a quick recap and let you know if I recommend the book or not, so if you haven’t read it, you might want to wait until that official BOOK REVIEW because there will be no spoilers and based on that, you can decide whether or not to read the book. Anything below this though will include spoilers as everyone commenting here has already read the book.
Make sense?
Here we go!
This month’s novel was…
…Buckeye by Patrick Ryan.
Okay, I really liked this one, y’all!
I didn’t give it five stars because there was a moment in the middle that it started to feel a little slow to me…but overall, this book grabbed my attention right up front. Loved it!
Here are a few of my thoughts:
1: I was moving right along with the first storyline anxious to see what would happen and then bam, the second storyline began. It was such an abrupt swap of dates/characters/events that I doublechecked my Kindle to make sure I didn’t accidentally skip ahead and/or change books. As the second storyline progressed, I loved the juxtaposition and was eagerly anticipating the two merging.
2: Well geez, my heart broke for Becky the most…but by the end, it broke for everyone. I was angry at Cal and Margaret. I was angry at Felix. I just wanted everyone to level with each other and/or at least stop cheating.
3: Did I see the twist with Tom coming? I think so. I’m glad it didn’t stay a secret, and I’m glad he ended up with a special relationship with both Cal and Felix at the end.
4: I’m still mad at Margaret. She was a complicated character, and as much as I wanted a big resolution at the end with her and her son and ex-husband, it was probably more realistic that there wasn’t one. I was sad that she and Felix never got their “moment” before he passed.
5: I was happy to see Tom and Kathy at the end together as “family” with Cal and Becky.
This book was one of those epic family tragedies where things are just hard but the characters keep persisting. It didn’t end neat and tidy like I prefer, but it ended with resolution and hope. I *think* this was my first novel to read by this author, and I really enjoyed his writing style. If you have other recs from Patrick Ryan, please share!
Okay, this next month, we are going old school. I was hesitant at first, but now, I’m excited for us to read…
…The Widow by John Grisham.
I learned to love reading on Grisham books. He was the first author 30ish years ago to really pull me in to reading “meaty” books. I have heard great things about this newest one from him. It’s supposed to be “old school” Grisham, so I’m excited to read it with you and discuss together on November 22nd.
Don’t forget, if you want to stay current on all of the books I’m reading in 2025, THIS PAGE HERE is where I keep the books, authors and reviews each month.
Alrighty, please head to the comment section to share your thoughts on today’s Book Club pick today!
I hope you all have THE BEST DAY! Don’t forget to also check out my FESTIVE FINDS today too! xx
Dani R. says
I loved it but I too would probably give it 4 stars. It was fast moving enough for me but it took me on an emotional roller coaster that I probably didn’t need at this point in my life 🥲. I think I would have felt better if everyone came together at some point during the novel, but such is life. I found myself so annoyed with Margaret’s character the most because she was overly selfish in my opinion. Overall, great read! Can’t wait for the next one.
Elspeth Mizner says
I have this on my to be read list and can’t wait to dive in!
http://www.elspethsdaybyday.com
Kelly Sites says
I learned to love reading because of John G. too. I remember reading The Firm at an intense rate to find out what happened. Safe travels home today.
Maria says
Wow! Dancing with the stars! Can’t wait to hear about that. How do you even get tickets?
Shay, I’m in the middle of the cutest book that I think you would enjoy – Grace & Henry’s Holiday Movie Marathon by Matthew Norman. They are two young widows set up by her mother. To get through their first holiday without their spouses they decided to watch holiday movies together throughout the season. I know it sounds dark but it’s actually hilarious. You would enjoy all the holiday movie references.
Safe travels home!
Mix and Match Mama says
My brother got us seats at DWTS. It was CRAZY fun! I am looking that book up right now. Thank you!
Kay says
I really liked this book too! I thought it was beautifully written and all the characters were very well developed. It was really hard to like Margaret! How could she walk away from her young son!? Although it was serious subject matter, I agree the tone was hopeful. These characters were deeply flawed yet they stuck together to become a family by their own definition.
I thought we could have used a little more with the head of the orphanage who raised Margaret. I felt so surprised that she passed away and basically never got to see Margaret again! That was the only thing I wished had been a little more developed.
Overall, another great suggestion!
Mix and Match Mama says
He had a wonderful way of writing hard things in a soft way. Does that make sense? I really enjoyed his writing style.
Heather D. Henderson says
I loved this book. I, too, had never heard of this author. His writing style is fantastic! I loved all aspects of this book and that it did not end perfectly. That’s life. I also appreciated the accurate depiction of living a double life because you want so much for the other way to be right for you. This happened to deal with sexuality and fidelity but it can apply to many things in life. Thank you for introducing me to this author. Now, bring on our old school read!
Lisa D says
I really liked Buckeye, I agree it got slow in the middle, and it’s really long, but the writing is really good. If you haven’t listened to Elin’s conversation with John Grisham on her podcast, it’s a good one. It made me really want to read another John Grisham book, I am excited about this one.
Mix and Match Mama says
I haven’t! Yay! Thank YOU for the rec!
Mary says
I agree with you on everything you said about the book. I did almost give up on the last 150 pages because it was so incredibly slow. I’m glad I finished because the ending was good!
I felt Margaret was so hard to like and I felt bad for Becky the whole book. What a struggle these families went through!
Looking forward to the Grisham book. I haven’t read anything by him in years.
Catherine says
In defense of Margaret, she was orphaned and went through the foster system. Although, she did have the support of Lydia, she never had secure and stable relationships as a child. And while, you could say that about some of the other characters as well, I think she was just more emotionally traumatized as a child and that was delivered into her adult life and choices. I think it would ultimately have been more healing for her to stay in a relationship with her son, but sometimes that’s just life.
Keisha Dawson says
I gave this one 4 stars too. This might have been the first one that I was actually abel to get in before your review came out this year. I was the exact same way on the switch of the story lines. I was convinced that my book had skipped ahead, but it hadn’t, and i loved the way that everything came together. Margaret was such a complex character, and she frustrated me so much! Tom’s relationship with both Cal and Felix was my favorite part of the book.
Looking forward to reading the next one with you!
Debbie Lang says
I also enjoyed this book and would rate it 3 or 3.5 stars. I completely agree with the abrupt switch in between the two-story lines and did love when it finally connected. I couldn’t help but think how selfish of Margaret to come clean and then skip town leaving everyone else to pick up the mess. I was glad at the end to see Tom have a relationship with Cal & Becky.
Laura says
You had me at “old school” Grisham. Can’t wait to read his new book.
Tiffany says
I gave it 3 stars, I thought it was beautifully written and had thoughtful views on life and death. There were so many sad events, it was longer than it needed to be and I was frustrated w Margaret- which had me w 3 stars over 4.
I love that Becky and Cal were so supportive of Felix (and Felix of them when Skip died). I love that Becky was so supportive/loving to Tom and Cal’s dad. I’m glad I read/finished it. Not sure if I would recommend it though.
Addy Robinson says
I thought this book was great!! I recommended it to my extended family and did provide the disclaimer that it’s a “slow burn”. I really think my parents and aunts, uncles, etc. will get insight into their parents who served in WWII through reading it. I was surprised to feel at the end that Felix was my favorite character, or the one whose layers and nuance I appreciated most deeply.
I have to say I am loving your picks, Shay!! I like book clubs that make me read things I would not have otherwise chosen, which is true of this one, but I also have enjoyed the books. I can’t say the same for my neighborhood club 🙂 (but love the company!)
Is it wild I’m an avid reader and have never read John Grisham?! The Widow has started really slowly but is just starting to pick up pace. I am hoping it was a lot of solid groundwork for an exciting story. Now I am curious if all of his books start with a slow grind.