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May Bookish Club Newsletter: final reviews, what to read next, and our June book club pick!!! 👀 ✨

Welcome back, bookworms!

It’s becoming a pattern to write this newsletter anywhere but my home. This morning I find myself in a cute coffee shop in Ottawa, ON. I’m only here for a solid 24 hours to see my very good friend Carter (who also happens to be a lifestyle bookish content creator). The two of us have been friends for years, and after many, many trips she’s made to Toronto, it was finally time to come to her neck of the woods! I also got to see her moderate an event at Ottawa’s romance bookstore, Evermore, with debut author Anuja Varghese.

If there’s one thing I love as much as books, it’s meeting more bookish friends, and that is exactly what that event was <3 Take this as your sign to go to bookish events in your city (alone or with a friend) and make some reader friends! Sometimes it’s as easy as asking, “What are you reading right now? I’m in a really bad book slump?” For me, that is genuinely very accurate…

I finished one book in May.

On the bright side, it was an incredible book: Phoebe Berman’s Gonna Lose It by Brooke Averick.

Equal parts romantic, funny and utterly relatable, this is a story about a woman who has 30 days to lose her virginity before she turns 30. I loved every page of this deeply impactful story, and it might just be my favourite read of the entire year so far.

Now, without further ado, let’s dive into our May bookish club pick:

Final Review of This Book Made Me Think Of You

✨ why I chose this book

There was no shortage of reasons for picking up this beautiful story. The cover was the first standout, and no one can deny that it’s a stunning cover that feels perfect for bookworms. The author's last name being Page was also very fitting for the book world and something I immediately noticed with a last name like Book.

But obviously it was what was inside this book that ultimately made me choose it. The book recommendations that started each month felt so curated, and if my TBR wasn’t already overflowing, I’d probably add every single one. The specifics of each one also felt incredibly thought out, from “Books to read when you don’t feel like reading” to “Books about bookshops.” I had to stop myself from looking at each month’s book recs before even reading the book in full.

This book went on to convince me when the first line read, “The right book in the hands of the right person at exactly the right moment can change their life forever.” We all know how much emphasis I place on the first line of a book. It’s almost like a gut feeling if I’m going to love the book.

Ultimately, it was the natural feel the writing and scenes had that solidified this story for me. We first meet Tilly at the dentist's office, and everything about it feels so natural, without even trying. I had original hesitancy on the third-person POV, which I tend to have a harder time connecting with, but it ended up not being a big deal. Every piece of this book, from the reading to the grief, felt so tangible. I felt like I was beside Tilly from her first step into the bookstore and never left.

✨ the emotions I went through

All of them.

Now that I’ve told you why I chose it, I guess we should get into why I love this book now that I've finished it. On top of falling in love with the story's bookstore setting, the characters truly kept me turning the page. I want to go work at a bookstore with Prudence and Blue.

Prudence likes to tell people she is sixty but he knows from her employment documents that she is seventy-five. He doubts if retirement will ever be ‘for her’.

Each side character added something to the story. They felt as real as Alfie and Tilly—even Ellen, whom I hated for the majority of this story. But leave it to Libby Page to work on changing my mind despite it all. My heart broke for Tilly at so many moments in this book, and all I could do was root for her. The grief was written so beautifully and patiently in the story; I couldn’t help but feel it right alongside her. I read a really great review about this book that said:

I think when readers know that a book involves romance, it can create impatience to get to the next good part, so to speak. Instead, she lets the reader sit with Tilly through that year of processing her grief as she takes inspiration from Joe’s gifts to try new things and figure out what this new life should look like. Romance plays a role, but it doesn’t play the main role.

I couldn’t have said it better, hence why I just copied it above. I am guilty of eating up the buildup and tension to get to the main characters finally getting together, but that wasn’t the case here. I wanted to know Tilly and Alfie as separate people before thinking about the romance. It felt like the perfect “slow burn,” but even saying that feels foreign because their story stretched so beyond the typical love story.

I can’t say I was deeply emotional reading this book, but tears were definitely falling. It felt like quiet sadness, and that felt right for this moment.

✨ overall thoughts

Now, despite everything I just said, was this my favourite book of all time? No. This book moved me in ways a lot of books don’t. It also gave a realistic romance in a way that many books don’t. It didn’t change my life, nor would I be quick to recommend it to everyone in my life… EXCEPT for the bookworms. I think every reader should read a book about books, and that is this one. It never felt overly cheesy or meta, and that feels super crucial in books about books!

✨ my favourite quotes

“I am the person I am because of the books I have read. My reading history is a map that shows the path of my life.”

“But it’s OK to feel happy and sad at the same time. Very few moments involve just one emotion. That’s life”

Reading has brought me a sense of escape through some of the hardest times in my life, something that I imagine might resonate with many of you. So, I hope that this column will inspire you to read. But more than that, I hope it will inspire you to live.

‘But isn’t that one of the great things about fiction?’ he says. ‘It’s an escape. Somewhere to go when you don’t want to be where you are.’

Tilly has always thought of bookshops as a gathering place: all those books lined up neatly on the shelves like potential friends she just hasn’t met yet.

✨ final ratings

Overall: 4.25/5 ☆

Romance: 4/5 ☆

Storyline & Pacing: 4.25/5 ☆

Characters: 4.5/5 ☆

Morgann’s Weekly Report

Reading: The Wedding People by Alison Epach and utterly in love with this story. I put off reading it for so long because I worried it was going to feel dark, but that’s certainly not the case.

Eating: Burgers! The warm weather has FINALLY hit, and there’s nothing better than eating a burger on a hot cottage weekend with some potato chips. I also stopped by the Ontario classic—Weber's—last weekend, and it didn’t disappoint.

Playing: I finally learned to play Catan last year, and since I’ve been on so many flights recently, I've found the game makes time go by so much faster. I can’t ever fall asleep on overnight flights, so I’m whipping out Catan instead.

Obsessing Over: Pants other than jeans. I am a jeans girl through and through, but I’ve set a goal to expand my wardrobe beyond the basics. I recently found these brown-striped pants at Dynamite and beige linen pants from Aerie, and they have become quick staples for me. I do still very much love a good pair of jeans though <3

Recommending: Bose Quiet Comfort Earbuds! For YEARS I’ve been using the over-ear headphones, but I recently switched to the earbuds and the noise-cancelling on them is insane. It took me a minute to find the right sizing with them, but once they’re in, they’re in! They are currently in as I listen to the Project Hail Mary soundtrack lol.

Treating myself to: Going to cafes! There’s a longstanding debate about whether saving money by making coffee at home is worth it, and I stand firmly in the middle. I completely understand that coffee at home is cheaper because drink prices these days are astronomical. But I also believe that a solo coffee date or cafe visit with friends a few times each month won’t kill you. I’m also not a huge coffee drinker, so chai lattes are much easier to make at a cafe than at home :)

Our June Bookish Club Pick…

We’re back to another thriller, friends, and this one will have you on the edge of your seat the entire book. What We Did to Survive is about four teens on vacation who find themselves stranded aboard a sailboat in the middle of the ocean. The synopsis gives you a bit more than that, but my recommendation is to go in blind.

I’ve linked the group chat below so you can join & chat with us in June! We talk about the book pick + everything else happening in the book world :)

the book EVERY bookworm should read