Source: Review copy from author
Wasn’t reading about other people’s mistakes a welcome relief from living your own? To know that countless other people out there — even if they were fictional — were making great fat miserable mistakes was wonderfully reassuring because it meant that you were not alone.
(from Rules for a Successful Book Club)
Rules for a Successful Book Club is the second installment in Victoria Connelly’s new Book Lovers series. It features the characters from The Book Lovers but is a standalone novel. The focus this time is on Polly Nightingale, a member of the Nightingale clan and Sam’s sister. She spends a lot of time helping out at her siblings’ bookshops and is helping Sam establish his book club in the village. When she’s not at the bookshops or her part-time teaching job, she is a single mother to six-year-old Archie.
Polly’s family worries about her since the disappearance of her husband, Sean, three years ago. Without knowing what happened to him, whether he is dead or alive, Polly is in limbo, afraid to move on with her life. When Jago, a younger musician, enters her and Archie’s lives, Polly isn’t ready to let herself feel again. Slowly, Jago tears down the walls she has built around her heart, but eventually Polly will have to deal with the past, with the truth, and figure out what is best for her son and herself.
I absolutely loved The Book Lovers, and I found myself even more in love with Rules for a Successful Book Club. Again, Connelly focuses on the strong bond of the Nightingale family, especially their love and concern for Polly. I can’t imagine what Polly endured not knowing what happened to her husband for so long and how she managed to get through each day. I couldn’t help but admire her courage, not only in allowing love back into her life but also in overcoming her worries about the thirteen-year age difference. This time, Connelly tackles some serious issues, but she manages to balance it out with plenty of lighthearted and romantic moments, not to mention the hilarious banter among the book club members.
I was so sad when this book ended; it’s been several weeks since I finished it, and I still find myself thinking about these characters. Connelly made them come alive, and I really wish there were a way to jump into the book and become part of the family myself! Needless to say, I can’t wait to read the next installment, Natural Born Readers, and the upcoming Christmas with the Book Lovers. This was definitely one of my favorite books of 2017!
Disclosure: I received Rules for a Successful Book Club from the author for review.
Great review Anna. When you are thinking about a book and its characters way after you have read it… that is a successful author. Well done.
Thanks! Hope you give it a try!
Now that’s the testament to an amazing book- when it sticks with you. Looks like I have a new series to start. Thanks, Anna!
My pleasure! Hope you enjoy it!
sounds like a good series.
It’s fantastic so far!
It’s always wonderful to find a book that lingers with you like that.
Yes! And I’d definitely re-read these!
Your enjoyment of these books jumps out in your review! I have had my eye on a couple of her books. I will have to move them from my wish list to my rather looonnnggg TBR list!
I loved the Austen Addicts series, and these are even better, I think. Hope you get a chance to read them!
This does sound like a wonderful book (with a very pretty cover), and series, Anna. Terrific review! I will keep this one in mind. And wouldn’t this story make a great selection for a book club?!
Thanks, Suko! I agree!
Wow. These both sound really good.
I’m almost done with book 3, and it’s another winner!
[…] its own, it builds on the previous books, so I highly recommend that you read The Book Lovers and Rules for a Successful Book Club […]
[…] Rules for a Successful Book Club by Victoria Connelly […]