The Last House Guest

Author:  Megan Miranda

Who Picked the Book: Group

One-sentence summary: The best friend of a dead woman slowly uncovers secrets surrounding her death that point to murder while also trying to exonerate herself from involvement with her death. 

B.A.D. Girls Book Rating: 6

Our favorite thing about it: The setting of the book was nice. 

Our least favorite thing about it: The storyline and reveal.

Main Topics of Discussion: Murder, Small Towns, Parties, Rental Homes, Relationships

Our favorite quote: “Show me a chip in the demeanor and watch me fall. I never met a flaw I didn’t love. The hidden insecurity, the brief uncertainty. The waver behind the arrogance.”

Notes: This book was fine, but definitely not great. The writing was so-so and the plot left a lot to be desired. Those that listened to this book said the narrator completely ruined the experience for them! But the story was just not interesting or clever - which is what makes a mystery worth reading. The characters were all kind of annoying or blah. The plot dragged a bit and the ending was both far fetched, dumb, and anti climactic. We did like the setting and the contrast of the summer people vs the town folks. So, it wasn't a total loss, but this isn't one we'll be recommending. 

Memorable Meeting Moments: We were on our Virgin Voyages cruise for this meeting! We met in the Sip Lounge...with all the husbands too. Most of them read the book and gave their thoughts, which were the same as ours. (They couldn't understand why some of us rated it so high at 6!)

What We Ate: The whole cruise was full of yummy food - we didn't really eat "at" the meeting this time. 

The Bluest Eye

Author:  Toni Morrison

Who Picked the Book: Lindsay

One-sentence summary: Morrison shows the lives of three young girls, detailing how their lives unfold differently in the face of internalized racism, beauty standards, and trauma. 

B.A.D. Girls Book Rating: 6

Our favorite thing about it: The writing, though hard to read at times, is also poignant and poetic.

Our least favorite thing about it: There were such hard themes and hard plot points to read through - it was tough and troubling

Main Topics of Discussion: Love, Safety, Trauma, Beauty Standards, Internalized Racism, Abandonment

Our favorite quote: "Love is never any better than the lover. Wicked people love wickedly, violent people love violently, weak people love weakly, stupid people love stupidly, but the love a free man is never safe."

Notes: We talked about a lot. The overwhelming feeling was that this was a hard read because it's about hard topics. Especially if you didn't really know what Morrison was trying to speak to when reading. Then it's just a really depressing and sometimes graphic story. It still is - even with the purpose behind it - but the meaning makes it impactful. Through imagery, story, and characterization, Morrison reveals her message about beauty, love and safety, racism, and loss of innocence.

We thought it was interesting that there was a clear contrast to the family of Claudia and Frieda and that of Pecola. They were foils of each other on purpose. Claudia shows a rejection of white beauty as the ultimate standard and her family life of love and safety provides a stable base for her to explore these ideas and her identity as she comes of age. In contrast, Pecola must deal with abuse and neglect from her family and seeks the ideal of white beauty. She ends up broken by tragic events and longing. 

Though innocence is lost, Claudia and Freida still cling to childlikeness in many ways - none so poignant as their giving up their bike money and planting their flower seeds in an effort to "save" Pecola. 

Morrison masterfully uses the events in this novel to explore the negative effects of not seeing anyone who looks like you lauded as beautiful. And how trauma passed down causes more trauma. 

Memorable Meeting Moments: Everyone was able to attend this meeting! We spent our meeting time together at Rachel's house after dinner. 

What We Ate: We all had the Cowgirl Dinner at Haywire in Plano. That consisted of a cocktail (margarita or martini), Steak, Fries, and a side salad. We also split three desserts - bread pudding, pecan pie, and chipotle chocolate cake.

A Founding Mother: A Novel of Abigail Adams

Author:  Stephanie Dray

Who Picked the Book: Dara

One-sentence summary: Abigail Adams struggles to survive the American Revolution with a largely absent husband and simultaneously inspires both him, her family, and the new nation.

B.A.D. Girls Book Rating: 7

Our favorite thing about it: There were many very interesting parts of the story.

Our least favorite thing about it: There were several boring parts of the story.

Main Topics of Discussion: War, Colonial Times, Families, Marriage, Parenting

Our favorite quote: "Because men oversee the harvest, they take the credit for the crop. But without mothers, not one sprout would grow—whether the fruit be a child or a nation."

Notes: We all mostly loved this book. We found it very interesting and there were several things we learned about American history that we didn't know. We did think that some parts dragged a bit or were boring. Overall the novel was maybe a tad too long. 

We loved that the fact this was historical fiction allowed us to see inside some of the relationships in a way that made them more real. We were interested in Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and the Adamses themselves and how they all were with each other. 

We loved reading about this time period and had previously not read a ton from it. 

We wondered at all the family separation and all the time diplomats had to spend in Europe to secure relations for our brand new nation. It was interesting to remember that for men, family was sort of an accessory for them more than a relationship, so the years of separation are explained away. Especially for the founding fathers, they saw their true purpose in their work for our nation, not in raising or spending time with their families. And that would have been very normal for that time. As we already knew, the "behind the scenes" work and sacrifice of the women was clearly drawn in the novel. 

Memorable Meeting Moments: Dara decked out her house in American flags and red, white, and blue for us. This book was picked as part of our America 250 celebration. 

What We Ate: Josh made vodka and champagne cocktails, followed by an arugula, avocado and tomato salad. The main dish was mahi mahi with corn puree, roasted tomatoes, and asparagus. Dara made her amazing strawberry pie for us for dessert.

The River is Waiting

Author:  Wally Lamb

Who Picked the Book: Group Pick

One-sentence summary: A young and struggling father makes a terrible mistake that causes ripple effects to his own life as well as his family. 

B.A.D. Girls Book Rating: 7

Our favorite thing about it: The writing quality.

Our least favorite thing about it: The subject matter. 

Main Topics of Discussion: Parenting, Guilt, Forgiveness, Relationships, Punishment, Addiction

Our favorite quote: "Maybe that spirit is speaking to me through the sound of moving water. And maybe that sound is telling me to trust that not everything is stuck and stagnant—that forward movement is possible."

Notes: This was a hard book to read. The subject matter is very intense from beginning to end. So, it's not a light read! That was  the biggest negative for us - we're experiencing a time where we like to escape into a book and this was not that kind of book. However, Wally Lamb is an amazing writer (this is our second book to read of his as a group) and we could definitely appreciate his writing and character development. This book is less plot and more character-driven and we love that when it's done well. Although we didn't all identify with Corby, we did think that the dialogue and characters were so realistic. Each philosophical question that was raised made us stop and think and kept the story interesting. Many of us did not expect to be reading a prison book. Even after the first big plot point happened. Most of us were shocked by the ending. But we ultimately think it ended really well after raising the questions of whether or not his family life would pick up where he left off...or not. The emotions of the characters resonated with us deeply even if some of the actions didn't! Overall we liked this book, but thought that we read it at a time when our tolerance for stories like this might be low. 

Memorable Meeting Moments: We were at the lake house for this meeting. We discussed the book the first night.

What We Ate: Our usual Lake House food!

Wild Dark Shore

Author:  Charlotte McConaghy

Who Picked the Book: Christina

One-sentence summary: A family on a remote antarctic island dealing with immense death and loss rescue a woman who washes up injured on the shore, forcing them to make choices about truth and survival.

B.A.D. Girls Book Rating: 7

Our favorite thing about it: The story was interesting and engaging. 

Our least favorite thing about it: The setting, characters and themes were depressing.

Main Topics of Discussion: Setting, Pacing, Family Dynamics, Survival, Grief

Our favorite quote: "Maybe we will drown or burn or starve one day, but until then we get to choose if we’ll add to that destruction or if we will care for each other."

Notes: We agreed that this book was interesting and kept us engaged while reading. For most of us, it was the relationships that were most interesting. The climate change parts of the story, and especially the seeds didn't seem to carry the weight with us that they were intended to. (We didn't care about the seeds.) We talked about how the atmosphere / setting was so prominent in the story. It was so dark and creepy and it was intended to be. There was also so much death. We thought that Rowan's death was not necessary and we didn't really think it served the story at all. We didn't like that. We felt that Hank's demise and final "confrontation" with Fin (if it can even be called that) was anti-climactic. We mostly didn't really connect with any of the characters - they seemed removed from us, like we couldn't get close to them. We also thought that the romance between Dom and Rowan was...weird. We normally hate plot devices that require characters to keep huge secrets from each other - it's just annoying. But even we could admit that had the Salt's told Rowan everything when she washed up, it would not have been a good situation!

Memorable Meeting Moments: We ate at Black Hawk Brewery on their second level outdoor space. Then we went back to Christina's new house for the first time. Zeke slipped right past us into the attic insulation and bounded around in there for a while! 

What We Ate: Fried Brussels Sprouts and Pretzel bites for appetizers, Smash Burgers and Chicken Pesto Paninis for main dishes. Christina had a dessert charcuterie for us at her house. 

The Astral Library

Author: Kate Quinn

Who Picked the Book: Stephanie

One-sentence summary: A desperate young woman finds entrance to a fantastical library where patrons can take up residence inside their favorite book, but also must fight forces that want to destroy the safe-haven that the library provides. 

B.A.D. Girls Book Rating: 7

Our favorite thing about it: All the specific book references.

Our least favorite thing about it: Some of the plot points (Beau in the library) were a little coincidental.

Main Topics of Discussion: Libraries, Bureaucracy, Literary References, Fantasy

Our favorite quote: “What a miraculous thing a book was, when you stopped to think about it: whole worlds springing to life from nothing more than squiggles on a page.”

Notes: We all loved this book. The setting and the premise were so fun and we really enjoyed reading the whole thing. We didn't think it was the best fantasy book ever, but we did really enjoy it. All the bookish stuff, the literary references, and the set up of the library were just magical. We were all a little stressed by the main character's circumstances in the beginning and then sometimes a little annoyed by her demeanor in the library. We liked that Beau ended up in the library, but it also didn't seem to "fit" as neatly as it could have. Their whole relationship was a little "off" for us for some reason. The library board as a stand-in for bureaucrats who don't understand that which they're leading was interesting and poignant. We were all satisfied with the ending and liked the imaginative and fantastical ideas of the book. 

Memorable Meeting Moments: Stephanie took us to Baonecci Italian Restaurant for dinner, a major storm was brewing during our meeting (again), Lindsay gifted Stephanie a plush uterus (which she thought was a crab!) for her birthday, and we all learned that we have a choice between stabbing or taking a photo with someone. 

What We Ate: We had Crostini and Meatballs for starters at dinner, followed by several different pastas (Tagliatelle with Pesto, Tagliatelle with Bolognese, and Tagliatelle with Alfredo). We spent the rest of our meeting time at Rachel's having Stephanie's delicious custard with peanut butter and chocolate dessert!

The Correspondent

Author: Virginia Evans

Who Picked the Book: Amberly

One-sentence summary: A woman's life is slowly revealed through the letters she has received and written her whole life, showing her relationships, mistakes, and growth.

B.A.D. Girls Book Rating: 8

Our favorite thing about it: The character development was wonderful.

Our least favorite thing about it: Sometimes we got frustrated with the main character!

Main Topics of Discussion: Epistolary style writing, Reading experience, Friendship, Mother/Child relationships, Grief, Guilt

Our favorite quote: “Imagine, the letters one has sent out into the world, the letters received back in turn, are like the pieces of a magnificent puzzle, or, a better metaphor, if dated, the links of a long chain, and even if those links are never put back together, which they will certainly never be, even if they remain for the rest of time dispersed across the earth like the fragile blown seeds of a dying dandelion, isn’t there something wonderful in that, to think that a story of one’s life is preserved in some way, that this very letter may one day mean something, even if it is a very small thing, to someone?”

Notes: We all universally liked this book. We discussed how epistolary style writing can sometimes go wrong - and how this time it really worked. The reader has to do more work and pay attention to dates, headings, who is writing, etc. But we seemed to all take that in stride. This book is very much about the character, Sybil. And we simultaneously liked and got frustrated with her! So, she was a very realistic character. This book places character development over plot, but it develops the character(s) so well that you don't miss having more of a plot. Connection to the main character was done so well and it made the whole book work. 

Memorable Meeting Moments: Amberly treated us to dinner at Wildwood and dessert/discussion at Dessert Avenue!

What We Ate: We had two dips for appetizers (spinach artichoke & Dragon dip), a couple of different entrees (shrimp & grits, pecan crusted chicken). For dessert - crepes, skillet brownie, tea, and chocolate marshmallow wand.