I am so excited to share my last book club picks of 2020 with you! This book club has been such a fun way to connect & engage with one another amidst the pandemic. My love for reading has grown so much over the last few months & I can’t wait to continue doing this in 2021. I hope you enjoy these four novels!

The woman in the window by a.j. finn

WARNING: do not read at night & if you’re alone! This novel is easily one of my favorite thrillers. It’s about a woman named Anna Fox who lives alone in her New York City home. Because she is unable to venture outside, she spends most of her time drinking wine, watching movies, reminiscing on better days & occasionally spying on her neighbors. A new family moves in across the way from Anna, the Russells; a mother, father & teenage son. They seem perfectly normal until one night Anna gazes out the window & sees something she wasn’t supposed to, leaving her world crumbling & shocking secrets surfacing.

Throughout this novel you’ll find yourself contemplating what’s real, what’s imagined, who is in danger & who is in control. The pages will fly through your fingers & I bet you find yourself sitting on the very edge of your seat. This diabolical, intense thriller is full of things that are not what they seem…

the seven husbands of evelyn hugo by taylor jenkins reid

If you’re looking for an entertaining, Hollywood glam novel with many many layers, this is for you!

Aging & reclusive Hollywood movie star Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous & scandalous life. When she chooses a relatively unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, everyone in the journalism community is shocked. Why her? Why now? Monique is not exactly living her best life. Her husband David has left her & her career has plateaued. Regardless of why Evelyn has chosen her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to elevate her career.

Summoned to Evelyn’s Upper East Side apartment, Monique listens as Evelyn tells her story from the very beginning; from making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave acting in the late 1980s & of course the seven husbands along the way. As Evelyn’s life unfolds—revealing a ruthless dedication to success, an unexpected bond & a great forbidden love—Monique begins to feel a very a real connection to the actress. But as Evelyn’s story catches up with the present, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s in tragic & irrevocable ways.

I devoured this book in one day it was so good! I loved how real & raw the story line was. Evelyn is a complex character & I couldn’t stop reading until I learned everything about her.

home body by rupi kaur

Rupi Kaur constantly embraces growth in her work & in home body she walks readers through a reflective & intimate journey visiting the past, the present & the potential future of the self. home body is a collection of raw, honest & emotional conversations reminding readers to fill up on love, acceptance, community, family & to embrace change, especially during the pandemic. Illustrated by the author, themes of nature & nurture, darkness & light & rejection & acceptance are seen throughout the collection of poems.

This collection really hit home for me. We’ve all struggled in our own ways during this pandemic & most of us don’t really know how to articulate how we’re feeling or don’t want to talk about our struggles & seem insensitive to others. Rupi Kaur does an amazing job of verbalizing all the emotions felt across the world.

Here is an excerpt from the collection:

i dive into the well of my body
and end up in another world
everything i need
already exists in me
there’s no need
to look anywhere else
– home

in a holidaze by christina lauren

This is the quintessential holiday romance novel!

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

However worst of all, this is the last Christmas Mae will be at her favorite place in the world—the snowy Utah cabin where she & her family have spent every holiday since she was born. Mentally breaking down as she drives away from the cabin for the final time, Mae asks the universe to show her something that will make her happy.

The next thing she knows, tires screech & metal collides & everything goes black. When Mae awakes, 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 this really weird time loop & finally get her true love under the mistletoe.

This novel is so light, fun & flirty & it will make you believe in the power of wishes & the magic of the holiday season!

That’s all for this final month of 2020. I’ll catch all you bookies in the new year! A few of my pre-pandemic book club friends have reached out about doing a safe, socially-distanced club in the spring. We’ll be posting a call for books & date options to meet in Feb. of 2021 very soon, so keep an eye out & join me!

-Amber