First, before even diving into Wendy Wax’ The Break-Up Book Club, I want to compliment the art department at Berkley. Someone actually paid attention to the book. The wine, meringues, and ring actually relate to the book.

Now, about the book. I know how much I like a book when I want to know what’s going on in the lives of the characters after the book ends. And, I stayed up until 12:30 to finish the book. No matter how good the book is, I seldom let it get in the way of my sleep. The Break-Up Book Club has a great set of characters, not just the four main ones. I had to stay up to read all the confrontation scenes towards the end of the book.

Wax gives voice to four women living in the Atlanta suburbs. Jazmine is a former college tennis star, now a sports agent, and a single mother of a teenage tennis player. She’s one of the few female sports agent, one of even fewer who handle football players, but she has to fight for every one of her clients. At fifty-four, Judith is the oldest in the group of four. She’s been married for years, but one accidental phone call makes her wonder if she should remain married just because they’re in a rut. At twenty-three, Erin is about to marry Josh, a baseball pitcher she’s loved since she was six-years-old. Then, there’s Sara, who is still living in Georgia while her husband is working in Birmingham, several hours away. She’s stuck in their house with a mother-in-law who never thought she was good enough to marry her son.

As each one of these women deal with troubling issues that come up in marriages and relationships, they find support at their book club that meets in the carriage house on the property of Between the Covers Bookstore. It’s an eclectic group, mostly women with a couple men, a group of all ages. But, when one scam affects several in the club, they all work together in one of the funniest scenes in the entire book.

However, that scam is really only a minor part of the book. Instead, this is a story of four women who are forced to grow, sometimes unwillingly, as the result of circumstances they have no control over. As much as I would like to share more, I’m not going to spoil the story for anyone. Instead, I’ll just encourage you to try The Break-Up Book Club if you’re looking for an enjoyable novel about women who value friendship and books. In this case, they all have reasons to appreciate the friendship offered by the other members of their book club, friendships that provide support, and help them through the crises in their lives.

Wendy Wax’ website is https://authorwendywax.com/

The Break-Up Book Club by Wendy Wax. Berkley, 2021. ISBN 9780440001454 (paperback), 364p.

FTC Full Disclosure – Library book