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Don’t forget to check out the best book club books in 2025
There have been so many amazing book club books out in 2024—from historical fiction and romance to hard-hitting literary fiction, gothic suspense/mysteries, cozy contemporary fiction, and magical realism.
And some 5-star book club books for 2025, too!
Some of the best current books for book clubs speak to relevant topics in the world or at least touch on themes rich for book club discussion.
The fiction best book club books in 2024 are, in my opinion, the poignant reads that deal with heavier topics but remain hopeful.
But of course I have my top romance picks for book club if you like to keep things light and fluffy!
Regardless of what your group is looking for, these are the buzzy 5-star books for book clubs in 2024 that I recommend and/or will be reading (fingers crossed) with my own club!
10 Must-Read Book Club Books for 2024
The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins
The Heiress is a fun, intriguing mystery/thriller with such a unique premise. I read this one in the beginning of the new year. I loved the letter format—I was skeptical at first that we’d really be able to get to know Ruby through her letters, but wow, Rachel Hawkins is gifted at character development.
Set in the mountains of North Carolina, The Heiress is about Camden McTavish and his wife, Jules, who return to Ashby House, a lavish family estate in the Blue Ridge Mountains, when his adoptive mother Ruby dies.
Cam is reluctant to return after his adoptive mother’s death to hostile extended family members and a complicated legacy of being a McTavish. But a nine-figure fortune waits for them, and Jules is eager to see where Cam grew up.
What follows is a story of family secrets and questions about the infamous heiress, Ruby, a widow four times over. As they return in the wake of Cam’s uncle’s death, Cam remembers just why he fled Ashby House ten years ago, and why he’s still running.
This book is addictive, well paced, gripping, and oh my goodness, Ruby “Kill-more” is one of the best unreliable characters. The Heiress is smart, chilling, twisty, and full of personality. This one makes a fantastic audiobook, too.
Just know it’s not necessarily a psychological thriller. It’s definitely more of a gothic suspense. But it will keep you on the edge of your seat!
There’s so much to discuss: nature vs. nurture, what will women do when backed in a corner or when they have a second chance, what does family really mean, and what happens when family is trying to protect themselves when the stakes are high. So much!
How do I know for sure this would be among the best book club books in 2024? Because it was our February pick in my virtual book club!
We met to discuss it this week, and New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hawkins joined us for a portion of the discussion for a fun little Q&A. It was SO fun to peek behind the curtain and learn more about how she wrote the book!
I will most definitely be reading her first novel and her most popular ones!
The Heiress was published on January 9, 2024, from St. Martin’s Press
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Funny Story by Emily Henry
Thank you to Berkley for the ARC to review! In my opinion, New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry is always a win for the book club’s reading list! She writes my favorite books.
Her books are fun, light-hearted, easy to digest devour, but also full of heavier themes, complicated feelings and questions, and a lot to unpack with plot and characterization. My kind of love story!
I read Funny Story and loved it. Here’s my full book club review. I think it’s the perfect spring read. I know I’d be absolutely thrilled to read it with my monthly book club!
This would be a great pick for a romance-heavy book club because Emily Henry likes to take all the typical romance tropes and turn them on their heads!
Funny Story is about a young woman named Daphne: a children’s librarian in Michigan whose first love and fiancé just left her for his childhood bestfriend, Petra.
So while Daphne is completely stunned and has to move out of her new home and figure out her next move, she stays with the one person who understands what she’s going through: Petra’s ex, Miles.
Best Romance Novel for Book Club?
I’m telling you, it has everything! The banter and humor is 10/10, and I love the opposites attract, friends to lovers, forced proximity tropes!
As with all of Emily Henry’s books, there’s a strong emphasis on family as we learn about Daphne’s relationship with her mom, and there’s a good bit of self-realization and growth. I wouldn’t say this is a second chance romance, which is my favorite, but it’s got all of the other good ingredients for a great romance.
I love how Emily Henry creates imperfect characters in need of big changes who have to be brave and take small steps to make their dreams a reality.
Funny Story is expected to be published on April 23, 2024, from Berkley.
Goodbye Birdie Greenwing by Ericka Waller
Goodbye Birdie Greenwing looks like the perfect book club book for 2024. Also, the current Goodreads rating is quite high, so you shouldn’t have a hard time convincing your book club for this one!
I haven’t read this one yet, but from what I’ve gathered, this is a beautiful, poignant novel about complex family relationships and unlikely friendships, exploring the truth of mothers, daughters, sisters, and women everywhere.
I love how the publisher describes it: “Goodbye Birdie Greenwing celebrates relationships in all their quirky, complicated uniqueness. It is a story about the choices we make and how we justify them. About finding out who we are, not who other people think we should be.”
Doesn’t that sound wonderful?!
Birdie Greenwing is coping with the loss of her twin sister and husband, who both passed away eight years ago. She’s struggling to connect with the world around her when some new neighbors move in next door.
Jane is from Brighton, and she’s moved away from a protective mother. Her daughter, Frankie, has no issue saying what she wants and doesn’t want. Ada Kowalski comes from England to follow her dreams, but nothing is quite like she expected.
These three women’s lives become intertwined in the best way, and from what I’ve learned, this is a funny, sad, uplifting, and immersive read.
Goodbye Birdie Greenwing is expected to be published on April 18, 2024, from Transworld Digital.
The Magic All Around by Jennifer Moorman
The Magic All Around sounds like an excellent 2024 book club book, especially if your group likes magical realism!
I haven’t read it yet, but it seems like it’s just my speed—and it’s kind of giving The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender vibes.
The Magic All Around is about the Russell family and the “gifts” each family member seems to have.
The eldest, Penelope, is a seamstress who can naturally infuse strength or joy or love into a person’s dress. Her younger sister, Lilith, always has what she needs, even though she’s a free spirit and nomad with her daughter.
Lilith’s youngest daughter, Mattie, always seems to be able to play the perfect song, no matter where they are.
And the family is tied to an old Victorian home that seems to be a character by itself. I can’t wait to read this book, and I think it should be close to the top of your book club books in 2024!
Any enchanting, whimsical tale with a little bit of magic makes for good, lively discussions, in my opinion.
The Magic All Around was published on January 16, 2024, from Harper Muse.
The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez
What better book for book club than a book about the beauty of stories, and the reminder that the stories of our lives are never really finished? We love a book designed for book lovers!
The Cemetery of Untold Stories is about a writer, Alma Cruz, who inherits a small plot of land in the Dominican Republic. In a quirky turn of events, she decides to turn her land into a place to bury her untold stories—literally.
She cultivates a graveyard for the manuscript drafts and revisions of all her work, and the characters she buries with them still haunt her.
I’m absolutely in love with the premise of this book. Alma just wants her characters to rest in peace, but they take on lives of their own, and eventually, the cemetery becomes a “mysterious sanctuary for their true narratives.”
I love the idea of characters revising and rewriting themselves, because isn’t that what we are all always doing in life? Reworking ourselves? Deciding which stories get to be told and which ones are buried forever?
If you want to start a book club or you already have a book club that centers on meaningful books with symbolism you can unpack for days, The Cemetery of Untold Stories should be on your best book club books in 2024 list.
The Cemetery of Untold Stories is expected to be published on April 2, 2024, from Algonquin Books.
I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger
I will always pick up a Leif Enger book, no matter what. Pretty much in all of my book recommendations, Peace Like a River makes the list of books everyone should read.
Since I already trust the quality of his work, I know I Cheerfully Refuse will be an ideal book club pick for 2024.
Now, this book does sound pretty sad, but it also sounds extremely interesting, relevant to our time with social issues, and meaningful.
This heartbreaking novel takes place in the not-too-distant America, and we follow Rainy, an aspiring musician setting sail on Lake Superior in search of his departed wife, who was the love of his life. This seems to be a post-apocolyptic world that gets very dark at times.
The settlements along the shore are disorienting and dangerous. Rainy learns quickly not to trust anyone as the infrastructure crumbles, a malignant billionaire ruling class looms, and a lawless society changes everything.
It seems like this will be a very introspective story about overcoming grief, with strong prose.
I think it will make a great pick pick for book club members who want to go on that journey with Rainy and find the hopeful tone beneath the despair.
It’s giving Station Eleven and, oh my gosh, if it even comes close, I will be one happy reader! Sure to be a New York Times bestseller.
I Cheerfully Refuse is expected to be published on April 2, 2024, from Grove Press.
Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
Wandering Stars is one of my most anticipated books of 2024!
Fans of historical fiction will love this fresh perspective. This book follows the legacies of the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School through to the shattering aftermath of Orvil Red Feather’s shooting in There There.
This is going to be a heavy read, but I think it could be a meaningful 2024 book club book. The publisher’s synopsis says it’s a story that is both “shattering and wondrous, a book piericing in its poetry, sorrow, and rage.”
From what I’ve gathered, even though it’s a poignant book to read and a sweeping tale recounting several years, it’s a quick, propulsive read. Reviewers have said it reads almost like a collection of connected short stories.
For a New York Times bestselling author taking on the challenge of chronicling the long history of “America’s war on its own people,” I think it needs to be this way for readers to digest and reflect.
I have also heard that of these new book releases, this one is incredibly breathtaking, heartbreaking, and hopeful at its core. The expansive ideas and discussion of identity and history would make for an incredible book club book—for the right book club. I think it will be my next read.
Wandering Stars was published on February 27, 2024, from Knopf.
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Mrs. Quinn’s Rise to Fame by Olivia Ford
This book looks sooo good, and it would definitely be a lighter pick for a romance-reading book club that wants a fast-paced story! It somehow escaped my reading list in the early new year. Mrs. Quinn’s Ride to Fame will be a delightful book to read for book club in 2024!
Jenny Quinn is 77 years old and ready for a new challenge in life. She secretly applies to Britain Bakes, a reality show for amateur bakers, and to her great surprise, she is cast as one of the eight contestants for the next season!
The book is told through a dual timeline in Mrs. Quinn’s POV, and as she bakes, readers are taken on a journey of memories throughout her life, including a secret she’s kept hidden from everone, even her husband, Bernard.
I’m calling it now—Mrs. Quinn’s Rise to Fame will be known as one of the best book club books in 2024 because it’s a cozy, sweet, and tender love story, but it also touches on grief, secrets, found family, and the idea of chasing your purpose no matter your age.
What. A. Delight. I can’t wait to read this one and will definitely be pitching it to my monthly book club in 2024.
Also, I know it’s a totally different kind of book and genre, but why is it giving me Vera Wong vibes?! I guess it’s the older female protagonist and the fact that it just looks so cozy with all of the baking.
Mrs. Quinn’s Rise to Fame was published on January 30, 2024, from Pamela Dorman Books.
The Women by Kristin Hannah
Another incredible (and highly rated!) book by Kristin Hannah about women being heroes? Sign me up. One of my most anticipated historical fiction novels.
Kristin Hannah is known for writing some of the most popular book club books, but I have to say, they never disappoint. It’s been such a long time since I’ve read one of her books!
The Women follows Frances “Frankie” McGrath, a 27-year-old young woman and nursing student who grew up in Southern California with her conservative parents.
In 1965, her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, and she decides to alter the course of her life, joining the Army Nurse Corps and follow his path.
As you can imagine, the stakes couldn’t be higher, and main character Frankie fights to cope with the destruction of war all around her. This book is about hope, betrayal, bold patriotism, closest friends that can change in an instant, and the courage that rose to the surface for women in Vietnam.
What I love about the synopsis to this book is that New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah doesn’t shy away from the aftermath. Frankie and her veteran friends have to learn to live in a divided and changed America, and all of the PTSD.
I think this book will be raw, beautiful, heartbreaking, and hopeful—and it has all of the makings to be one of the best book club books in 2024—with female friendship, of course!
The Women by Kristin Hannah was published on February 6, 2024, from St. Martin’s Press.
Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle
I loved Rebecca Serle’s book, In Five Years, and this one sounds like it has a very similar vibe. Expiration Dates follows main character Daphne Bell. And for the last twenty year, she has received mysterious pieces of paper with impossible information written on them. . . about every single man she meets and eventually dates.
The slip of paper always has the man’s name and a number on it: the exact amount of time they will be together.
These mysterious notes told her she’d spend three days with Martin in Paris. Five weeks with Noah in San Francisco. They predicted three months with Hugo, her ex-boyfriend turned best friend.
But when she meets Jake on a blind date in Los Angeles, the slip of paper only says “Jake.”
But what does it really mean? As Jake and Daphne’s story continues, things aren’t quite what they appear, and Daphne is struggling with the truth.
If your book club likes more popular books and romance with a little magical realism and mystery thrown in, this sounds like the perfect book club pick!
Reviewers say this book is poignant and an emotional roller coaster of a love story. I wouldn’t recommend reading too many reviews for any book lover. I think the best twists are revealed when you go into the book blindly.
Expiration Dates will be published on March 19, 2024, from Atria Books.
Book Club Magic for Your Year
Now that you have your list of the best book club books in 2024, it’s time to get reading. Even with the best books though, it can be tricky to know where to start if you don’t have good, in-depth discussion questions or book club ideas.
For $24 (only $2 a month!), you can get a full calendar of book club picks, according to monthly themes, and in-depth book discussion guides for each one. The best part is you can start at any point!
Try a free sample discussion guide if you want a sneak peek!
The Mollie Reads Book Club Kit includes:
+ Full calendar of book club picks with monthly themes
+ Book discussion guides
+ Curated add-ons, like recipes, playlists, and free book club ideas
+ Book rating rubric
+ Facilitator worksheet
+ Alternative books list
+ Book club guidelines template
The Best Book Club Books in 2024 to Pitch to Your Group
These are all of my book club recommendations if you’re looking for unique book club books or 5-star book club books in 2024 (in the fiction category). There are soo many books we just have to make time to read.
I can’t wait to see what others choose and which books are eventually named the best book club books in 2024 on Goodreads. I’m always checking those Goodreads lists for inspiration!
I will say, I don’t have a debut novel on this list, so I’m eager to see what other readers find.
What are you planning to pick up for your book club in 2024? I’d love to know!
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