In this Unabridged Book Club episode, Sara, Jen, and Ashley discuss their December book club pick, Jean Meltzer's The Matzah Ball. We all discuss this 2021 release (spoiler alert: we all loved it!!!), and then we each share a pairing suggestion. Our pairings include Talia Hibbert’s Get a Life, Chloe Brown, Sarah Adams’s The Match, and Beth O’Leary’s The Switch. This book club pick is perfect for the holiday season and is the perfect mix of a fun romance coupled with serious issues.
Bookish Check-in
Ashley - B. B. Alston’s Amari and the Night Brothers (Libro.fm | Bookshop.org)
Jen - Stephen King’s Billy Summers (Libro.fm | Bookshop.org)
Sara - Maureen Johnson’s Truly Devious (Libro.fm | Bookshop.org)
Our Book Club Pick - Main Discussion
Jean Meltzer’s The Matzah Ball (Libro.fm | Bookshop.org)
Our Pairings
Ashley - Talia Hibbert’s Get a Life, Chloe Brown (Libro.fm | Bookshop.org)
Jen - Sarah Adams’s The Match (Amazon | Bookshop.org)
Sara - Beth O’Leary’s The Switch (Libro.fm | Bookshop.org)
Give Me One - One Ear Worm that Plagues You
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Bookish Check-in
Ashley was reading . . .
B. B. Alton’s Amari and the Night Brothers (Libro.fm | Bookshop.org)
"Amari Peters has never stopped believing her missing brother, Quinton, is alive. Not even when the police told her otherwise, or when she got in trouble for standing up to bullies who said he was gone for good.
"So when she finds a ticking briefcase in his closet, containing a nomination for a summer tryout at the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs, she’s certain the secretive organization holds the key to locating Quinton—if only she can wrap her head around the idea of magicians, fairies, aliens, and other supernatural creatures all being real.
"Now she must compete for a spot against kids who’ve known about magic their whole lives. No matter how hard she tries, Amari can’t seem to escape their intense doubt and scrutiny—especially once her supernaturally enhanced talent is deemed 'illegal.' With an evil magician threatening the supernatural world, and her own classmates thinking she’s an enemy, Amari has never felt more alone. But if she doesn’t stick it out and pass the tryouts, she may never find out what happened to Quinton."
Jen was reading . . .
Stephen King’s Billy Summers (Libro.fm | Bookshop.org)
"Billy Summers is a man in a room with a gun. He’s a killer for hire and the best in the business. But he’ll do the job only if the target is a truly bad guy. And now Billy wants out. But first there is one last hit. Billy is among the best snipers in the world, a decorated Iraq war vet, a Houdini when it comes to vanishing after the job is done. So what could possibly go wrong?
"How about everything.
"This spectacular can’t-put-it-down novel is part war story, part love letter to small town America and the people who live there, and it features one of the most compelling and surprising duos in King fiction, who set out to avenge the crimes of an extraordinarily evil man. It’s about love, luck, fate, and a complex hero with one last shot at redemption.
"You won’t put this story down, and you won’t forget Billy."
Sara was reading . . .
Maureen Johnson’s Truly Devious (Libro.fm | Bookshop.org)
"Ellingham Academy is a famous private school in Vermont for the brightest thinkers, inventors, and artists. It was founded by Albert Ellingham, an early twentieth century tycoon, who wanted to make a wonderful place full of riddles, twisting pathways, and gardens. 'A place,' he said, 'where learning is a game.'
Shortly after the school opened, his wife and daughter were kidnapped. The only real clue was a mocking riddle listing methods of murder, signed with the frightening pseudonym 'Truly, Devious.' It became one of the great unsolved crimes of American history.
"True-crime aficionado Stevie Bell is set to begin her first year at Ellingham Academy, and she has an ambitious plan: She will solve this cold case. That is, she will solve the case when she gets a grip on her demanding new school life and her housemates: the inventor, the novelist, the actor, the artist, and the jokester.
"But something strange is happening. Truly Devious makes a surprise return, and death revisits Ellingham Academy. The past has crawled out of its grave. Someone has gotten away with murder.
"The two interwoven mysteries of this first book in the Truly Devious series dovetail brilliantly, and Stevie Bell will continue her relentless quest for the murderers in books two and three."
Check out Jen's review of this series here.
Our Book Club Pick - Main Discussion
Jean Meltzer’s The Matzah Ball (Libro.fm | Bookshop.org)
"Oy! to the world
"Rachel Rubenstein-Goldblatt is a nice Jewish girl with a shameful secret: she loves Christmas. For a decade she’s hidden her career as a Christmas romance novelist from her family. Her talent has made her a bestseller even as her chronic illness has always kept the kind of love she writes about out of reach.
"But when her diversity-conscious publisher insists she write a Hanukkah romance, her well of inspiration suddenly runs dry. Hanukkah’s not magical. It’s not merry. It’s not Christmas. Desperate not to lose her contract, Rachel’s determined to find her muse at the Matzah Ball, a Jewish music celebration on the last night of Hanukkah, even if it means working with her summer camp archenemy—Jacob Greenberg.
"Though Rachel and Jacob haven’t seen each other since they were kids, their grudge still glows brighter than a menorah. But as they spend more time together, Rachel finds herself drawn to Hanukkah—and Jacob—in a way she never expected. Maybe this holiday of lights will be the spark she needed to set her heart ablaze. "
Our Pairings
Ashley recommended . . .
Talia Hibbert’s Get a Life, Chloe Brown (Libro.fm | Bookshop.org)
"Chloe Brown is a chronically ill computer geek with a goal, a plan, and a list. After almost—but not quite—dying, she’s come up with seven directives to help her 'Get a Life', and she’s already completed the first: finally moving out of her glamorous family’s mansion. The next items?
Enjoy a drunken night out.
Ride a motorcycle.
Go camping.
Have meaningless but thoroughly enjoyable sex.
Travel the world with nothing but hand luggage.
And... do something bad.
"But it’s not easy being bad, even when you’ve written step-by-step guidelines on how to do it correctly. What Chloe needs is a teacher, and she knows just the man for the job.
Redford ‘Red’ Morgan is a handyman with tattoos, a motorcycle, and more sex appeal than ten-thousand Hollywood heartthrobs. He’s also an artist who paints at night and hides his work in the light of day, which Chloe knows because she spies on him occasionally. Just the teeniest, tiniest bit.
"But when she enlists Red in her mission to rebel, she learns things about him that no spy session could teach her. Like why he clearly resents Chloe’s wealthy background. And why he never shows his art to anyone. And what really lies beneath his rough exterior."
Jen recommended . . .
Sarah Adams’s The Match (Amazon | Bookshop.org)
"Having worked for Southern Service Paws for a few years now, I like to think I'm prepared for just about any client meeting under the sun. I am dead wrong.
"The day I meet with single dad, Jacob Broaden, about potentially matching his daughter with one of our service dogs, I learn a few valuable lessons.
"1) Always set my alarm clock.
2) Single dads are way hotter than I previously thought.
3) It is possible to go from fantasizing about kissing someone to wishing they would be run over by a truck in a matter of two minutes.
"Unfortunately, I don't hold that opinion of him for very long. Not when he shows me a different side of himself--one that's sweet as maple syrup and hot as apple pie fresh out of the oven. Too bad this guy is so far out of my league that I shouldn't even be allowed to enter the game. Jake doesn't seem to get that memo though. And after a few days of working closely with him and his daughter, he starts looking at me with fire in his eyes, making me dream of something I probably shouldn't...
"A family."
Sara recommended . . .
Beth O’Leary’s The Switch (Libro.fm | Bookshop.org)
"Leena is too young to feel stuck.
"Eileen is too old to start over.
"Maybe it's time for The Switch...
"Ordered to take a two-month sabbatical after blowing a big presentation at work, Leena escapes to her grandmother Eileen's house for some overdue rest. Newly single and about to turn eighty, Eileen would like a second chance at love. But her tiny Yorkshire village doesn't offer many eligible gentlemen... So Leena proposes a solution: a two-month swap. Eileen can live in London and look for love, and Leena will look after everything in rural Yorkshire.
"But with a rabble of unruly OAPs to contend with, as well as the annoyingly perfect - and distractingly handsome - local schoolteacher, Leena learns that switching lives isn't straightforward. Back in London, Eileen is a huge hit with her new neighbours, and with the online dating scene. But is her perfect match nearer to home than she first thought?"
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