Bev’s Imaginary Book Club: In Five Years, Early Morning Riser, and Midnight at the Blackbird Café

Books books boooooks! Back with more books. I tend to do these “official” book club posts every season, have you noticed?

No?

Like, every three months, ya know. Never noticed? Really? Not at all?

Huh.

Well, today I’ll be blabbing (some in all caps so just prepare thyself) about three favorites from this year. All vastly different, too. A little bit of quirk, some crushing heartbreak, and a heavy dose of cozy.

And there’s pie.

Ready?

Let’s start with In Five Years.

READ THIS.

REAAAAAAD THIS.

First of all, it’s short. So you’ll fly through it in an afternoon or three.

It’s the story of these two best friends (all set in New York City so get ready for a lot of Buvette mentions! you know my love for Buvette, ugh.) and their unwavering friendship.

WELL. Dannie (one of the girls) has this random . . . dream? Premonition? Vision? And this vision takes place in the future just a few months, in a different place, with a different man. Then she wakes up and she’s back in her normal life, in her normal place, with her normal man.

Okay, sounds so-so. But it gets really insane because Bella (the other girl) gets this new boyfriend and it’s THE DUDE FROM HER DREAMONITION. (<–just made that word up.) So that’s, ya know, odd.

But listen, it’s not just romantic, dramatic fluff. Something happens. News comes, and it changes everything. And your heart will absolutely break. It gets really intense, and really sad, and really beautiful, and really emotionally confusing. The way they navigate what they’re going through, and their friendships, and the secret that Dannie keeps in how she knows Bella’s boyfriend. And what Bella’s webbing the entire time? CRAZY.

Have you read this? If so, I need your opinion about the end in the comments. Because obviously I can’t share it here. Were you perplexed? Let down? Inspired? Satisfied? Tell me!

Also, READ THIS IMMEDIATELY.

Early Morning Riser:

Okay, I wholeheartedly cherished this book. It was just everything I needed when I read it. Let me tell you exactly why.

First of all, you can see on the cover of the book how Elin agrees and thinks it’s super charming. Well SHE AIN’T WRONG. It is unbelievably enchanting. And I don’t mean that in a wizardy forest gnome dream catcher way. I mean it in more of a When Harry Met Sally way. These characters, my gosh. I fell in love immediately. With their dialogue, their communication style, their quirks.

If you’ve read this, can we all agree that Gary is one of the best, most hilarious characters in any book every written ever? He’s not funny, no no. He’s weird, and irritable, only a little bit eccentric, and a lot bit paranoid, and doesn’t care for things like linoleum. His one liners kept me in hysterics. The whole book is hilarious, actually. Heiny’s writing is nothing but witty prose and buckets of charm.

The setting is in Michigan, and it’s about this young woman Jane (who loves to thrift! except her purchases are questionable, but don’t tell her I said that.) who falls in love with Duncan, the town hunk. EVERYONE has dated (I’m being PG) Duncan. He’s even been married once. To Aggie, who’s now married to weirdo Gary! It’s just the best. Everyone’s in everyone’s business, much to Jane’s chagrin, but she learns to appreciae the small-town rhythm through the years.

The book is warm. It’s so sweet. It’s so, so funny. You finish it knowing you’ll miss the drama, the characters and their odd ways of navigating their days. Jane and her thrift finds. (honestly they’re not that good, you guys.)

Also, if you’ve read this, who would play Duncan in the movie? In my head it’s Mutt from Schitt’s Creek. RIGHT??

READ THIIIIIIIIS.

Midnight at the Blackbird Café:

OKAAAAAY.

I read this book back in January. Like, the second book of the year I think. It’s just delicious. (no pun intended)

First of all, blackbird pie? WHAT EVEN IS THAT. Who cares, you’ll want to snarf it. The book takes place in smaaaaall town Alabama. So you can already imagine the southern gossip that unfolds on page one. What happens is this young woman, Anna Kate has been given a café owned by her now-deceased grandmother. Sorry sorry, Granny Zee. Anna had her own life plans, you see, but she moves down temporarily to like, settle the estate, sell the café and get the heck out. All of those post-funeral things. But of COURSE she falls in love with the scrappy little town (meets a cute fella, ya know), and learns A LOT about her mother’s life, her own life, her grandmother’s life, and all these intertwined lives of the tiny town and how it affected her own and she didn’t know it! Juicy, I tell you.

The book is yet another with characters you’ll ache for long after you’ve finished reading. It’s café life! Hustle, bustle, routine, regulars, coffee, gossip, charm, lots of pie crusts and butter and jam and all the things you need to read in order to stay happy in this life.

There’s ALSO a tinge of fantasy-meets-Gilmore Girls charm that you desperately need this fall.

(everyone needs a Faylene.)

Read thiiiiiiiiis! And if anyone wants to make me a blackbird pie I won’t stop you.

And here’s what’s next! I will say, I plan on finishing A Slow Fire Burning (INCREDIBLE) tonight, maybe tomorrow night. Have you read any in this stack? I know the world’s obsessed with Addie LaRue this year. (will it be too fantasy for me? Or not enough? Or just right?)

Okie doke – your turn! Tell me what’s on your nightstand, your TBR pile, your favorites of the summer. You know I need these details to thrive in this world.

And if you need more book club posts (I should really add a column to the left, duh) go here!

(really, what IS blackbird pie?)