*Book Club Review* Book Hangout Book Club

 Guys! I did it. This is the last book club review for me to post for this first round of competition. And except for ONE missed day, I wrote a review every day. This is basically my version of 75 hard right here (I promise, I understand how intense 75 hard is. That's the reason I'm never going to do it). And I should probably be working out right now because I got home from dinner with my parents earlier than I get home from book club on weeknights, so I have time. But our blind cat thought 2:30 in the morning was a great time to wake me up for food by repeatedly walking over my head, so I'm tired and not doing that. I'll get back to it tomorrow when instead of going out to eat I'll have to come home and cook. 

But for now, let's talk about another book club. 

Today I'm discussing the Book Hangout Book Club. I joined this group just after I quit my job at the discount bread store without having another job already lined up. And you're probably thinking that sounds like a bad time to join a new book club where you'll presumably be spending more money (at least on food and drinks at the meetings). And you'd be right. I said the same thing at the time. I found them, told my husband I wanted to join but it wasn't a good time because I'd have to buy the first book at least as the wait at the library was stupid long for The Thursday Murder Club. So my husband kidnapped me for a lunch date and then took me to Barnes and Noble where I was instructed to pick five books. Even though he complains about the number of books I own a lot, he's also my second biggest enabler (I'm the first). 

This group was a bit intimidating at my first meeting. They already had a fairly large core group, and most of them were in attendance it seemed. And while I love being in book clubs, I still get nervous when I go to a new one. But that has also made me a good book club ambassador. If I'm at a location for a meeting and see a person looking the way I always feel my first time attending a new group, I usually approach them to ask if they're there for book club. If they say yes, I drag them along to the group. Sometimes I even introduce myself first. With this group, my first meeting was at a location that opened right at the time the meeting was set to start, so I at least saw a few group members waiting outside making things less intimidating. I barely talked at the meeting though. 

This is another generic book club that reads in all genres and picks books for the year in November/December time frame. And while the book selections don't lean very heavily romantasy, the discussion after we talk about the book usually veers that direction real quick. Lot of romantasy fans in this group, so if that's your jam and you want recommendations, these ladies will deliver. There may be some spoilers about some of those books mentioned briefly, but they're pretty mild as everyone is fairly respectful on that score. It really only becomes a slight problem if a few people have read the same book and start discussing. 

This group pretty much always meets the last Sunday of the month in the morning (typically around 10 o'clock, but sometimes meetings start as late as noon depending on the location we're meeting). Because of this and Fountain Book Club sometimes meeting last Sunday of the month at one, I do occasionally miss Book Hangout meetings because the Fountain meetings are always closer to home (and that group is usually smaller so they need me more). 

And I think this is the first match-up pitting book clubs together that I actually have to decide between sometimes. So this will be interesting. Maybe I'll use it to inform my decision next time there's a conflict. 

Some of my favorite reads from this group include The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, Red Rising by Pierce Brown, and Forever, Interrupted by Taylor Jenkins Reid. 

Does this sound like a group you'd like to hangout with? - Katie 

*Book Club Review* Fountain Book Club

 I was supposed to get this post drafted this past weekend, but I did not do that. I did get some other book club administration stuff done though, so I'm counting that as a win. The people in the two book clubs I run were very impressed with me (as they should be!) But now I've set the bar rather high, and they're going to expect this level of excellence all the time.

And I would have gotten around to getting this written earlier tonight, except my parents are in town for a couple days after visiting my brother and sister-in-law, so my evenings are spoken for tonight and tomorrow. Then we'll return to our regularly scheduled chaos. 

But I'm also tired, so let's get to the next review. 

Today I'm focusing on the Fountain Book Club, which is technically not a Colorado Springs book club, but it is a Colorado Springs area book club. In reality, this should have been the first book club I found and joined because I live in Fountain, but it literally never came across my radar. And realistically, if I'd joined it first, I might not have ever joined another. But because my first book club in the area is a 30 minute drive away from my house, when I found others that were even slightly closer to home, that feature appealed to me. Not that I'm ever leaving that book club, because The Next Chapter is a significant portion of my friend group, and that extends beyond book club, and I just haven't had that same level of connection with a significant number of members of any of my other groups. 

This is one of my generic book clubs, and has seen a fair amount of overlap in book selection with both the big Colorado Springs Book Club and Book Hangout Book Club. And when you consider that my three thriller specific book clubs have seen no overlap, that's weird! These three groups have ALL the genres to choose from, and they're picking several of the same books. But, that makes it easier for me to attend 18 book clubs every month, because it means I don't always have to read 18 whole books every month. And the books that overlap tend to be pretty well-anticipated or popular newer releases. 

While this group has had some overlap with other groups, it also leans towards fantasy. Not heavily, but several of the members, myself included, really enjoy fantasy novels, which gives them a leg up when it comes time to voting. All of the books for the year have been selected since like November (maybe December, I've slept since then). And I do like that feature when the books picked are so popular because it makes it easier to obtain them either through the library or cheaper on sale on Amazon or potentially finding it at the thrift store. I don't think I even suggested any books for this group when it was open for suggestions (which means those were submitted in November while I was hiding from the authorities in Florida). 

This group usually means either the last Sunday of the month, or the first Sunday of the month (depending on how well the group as a whole is doing at finishing the book on time) at a brewery here in Fountain. Fortunately, we always meet at one, so even when it's the first Sunday, I can still make it to both Fountain and the smaller Colorado Springs Book Club. 

Some of my favorite books from this group include Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown, and Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree. 

Does this sound like a group you'd want to invade? - Katie 

*Book Club Review* COS Smutty Book Club

 I had a moderately productive weekend which is a bit odd for me. I had a book club meeting both days, got my taxes done, did some dishes, washed some laundry, created events for the next three months for both of the book clubs that I run. I've posted another book club review and did some other cleaning around the house to prepare for my parents to be in town tomorrow (my house will not be perfect when they get here, but my house growing up never was either so...) 

And now, it's time to talk about another book club. Let's go. 

Tonight I'm discussing COS Smutty Book Club. In case it's not clear by the name, this group has a sole focus on the smuttiest of smut. And a big point of conversation at most meetings is if the books we read for that month gave good sex, which is an absolutely valid point of discussion for a group that reads all the smut. 

This group is the most chaotic of the book clubs that I'm a member of (which is really saying something considering how chaotic my group management skills are). While we typically meet the last Wednesday of the month, that isn't a hard and fast rule, largely because the woman who hosts our group in her home is sometimes gone on the last Wednesday of the month. But we always pick the next meeting date at the meeting, and it gets posted typically while we're still there. But the meetings themselves are chaotic in the best way possible. We don't always spend much time talking about either of the books we had read for that month (and when we have spent a lot of time talking about the selected book it was because it was bad! I'm looking at you The Pisces.) But there is always talk about smutty books in general, and what everyone is reading and doing in life. 

Because the group is hosted in the same home every month, the rest of us contribute potluck style, and that often means we're eating girl dinner with everyone bringing whatever they feel like. I always bring a veggie tray because it's easy for me to pick up on the way over after work and it means I don't have to think about what to contribute. But other contributions tend to be a bag of chips, a package of cookies or cupcakes, Rachel usually brings some form of protein, but it's largely finger food-ish options. Occasionally we theme our contributions based on what we're reading (the month we read Pounded by Produce we did salads for the meal. Being a midwesterner, I brought a selection of midwest salads like That Minnesota Mom would make). 

We mostly select books by voting as a group at each meeting on what we're going to read next. But sometimes Rachel wants to read non-MM hockey smut, and when that happens, we tend to read non-MM hockey smut. This group also picks two books every month now. We have our real book, which is a full length novel, and then we have our bonus book which is a short novella at best, typically in the vein of a Chuck Tingle book. This has been helpful as it means I can for sure finish at least one of the two books before the meeting. And sometimes the bonus books are the real stars of the show. 

Some of my favorite reads with this group include Hallowpeen by Holly Wilde, A Court of Sugar and Spice by Rebecca F. Kenney, and The Dead Guy Next Door by Lucy Score. 

While this is a group that I have no intention of leaving, because we do meet in someone's home, membership has been capped at this time. Which means, I can't ask if you'd want to join us because unfortunately, you can't sit with us. But I have also been considering starting a Fountain chapter for the folks that live on the south side of town (or in Fountain proper). But then I remember I already run two groups, and I'm not even organized enough to do that well. - Katie 

*Book Club Review* Deadly Chapters and Cafes Book Club

 This has been an eventful day for me so far, but not in a bad way. Got up early (for a Saturday at least) for Fantasy Book Club at 11. I was up early enough that I folded three weeks worth of laundry before I even needed to leave for book club. Then after the book club meeting, my husband and I got our taxes done. We have the best lady at H&R Block (she's wicked fast at it), but to see her for our taxes, we have to go on base. Fortunately my husband's job and veteran status gives us that option. Our return is very sad because we're in a grown up tax bracket, but we are getting a return. 

Then I came home, did a short cardio workout (I plan on doing another workout a bit later, but wanted to get some of my self-imposed administrative work done first), created the events for three months worth of book club meetings in two groups, and now we're here. And that means it's time to talk about another book club. 

Today we are focusing on the third of the thriller/mystery specific book clubs that I am a member of in the Springs (that made the list. There is also a Final Girls Book Club, but much like Shelf-Care, I haven't been able to make it to a meeting. The reason Shelf Care made the bracket and Final Girls didn't is the times for Final Girls meetings seem to have more conflicts, so I'm less likely to be able to attend). Although this is the third thriller group I joined, it's actually the first one to exist (to my knowledge). If it weren't for the fact that these groups in general are widely attended (with almost no overlap in attendees beyond me), I'd feel like a bit of ass for having started one.  The ladies who run the other groups are far better organized than I am. But there is clearly room for multiple, and they all meet on different days and at different times.

Deadly Chapters and Cafes is largely a democracy when it comes to book choices. We usually have a theme for the month picked for us (such as snowy setting for December, etc), and then anyone in the group can make suggestions that are on theme. Once all the suggestions are in, we vote. We have books picked a couple months out typically (which is good because thriller books are the hardest to get at the library it seems, without facing a decently long wait). I think we sometimes vote on the next meeting location, but I believe that is usually decided by Paula, who runs the group. Sometimes I like just being told where to be though, and not having to make choices. And since this group usually meets at coffee shops and I don't really drink coffee, it's much easier when they just tell me where to go. 

You would think that being in four different thriller book clubs, these would be the groups that see the most book selection overlap, because they're drawing from just one genre. You would also be very wrong. So far, there has not been a single book that was picked for more than one of these groups, within this genre set. Meanwhile, the big Colorado Springs Book Club, Book Hangout Book Club, and Fountain Book Club have all had several books overlap between the three, and I classify all of them as generic book clubs. If you love thrillers and want to talk about all the thrillers, but you don't want to repeat books between clubs, you can rest fairly assured that you won't see a lot of overlap in the local thriller groups as they stand right now. 

Some of my favorite reads from this group include The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simone St. James, They Never Learn by Layne Fargo, and Survive the Night by Riley Sager. 

Will you be joining us for a coffee and chat any time soon? - Katie 

*Book Club Review* Twists and Page Turners Book Club - Colorado Springs

 This is becoming something of a habit for me, getting to these review posts late in the day. But we're heading into the weekend now, and my parents are going to be here Monday and Tuesday, so my goal this weekend is to get ahead and finish writing my book club reviews. But I have book club meetings both days this weekend (and they're for the two groups that I run, so I have to be there), and we are getting our taxes done tomorrow as well, so we will see how well my plans work out. 

And I could have gotten to this post earlier this evening, but after getting home from work (later than normal because traffic was awful on my route home), I still had to cook supper and then eat. And then I wanted to get my workout in. I make accountability posts on Insta when I start a workout, and there is a noticeable difference in my face since last year (and if I'd been consistent for the entire year, it would probably be even more noticeable, although there is only so much I can shed from my naturally round face). But on this day last year I also did a 3.3 mile walk and since it was in my Facebook memories, I decided to repeat that today. I completed it almost 12 whole minutes faster today than a year ago. So even if my weight wasn't any different, my fitness levels are. 

But enough about me. Let's talk about a book club. 

I've been in Twists and Page Turners Book Club for about a year and a half now (I think). I joined it when it first started, but missed the first meeting. This group is focused on thriller, horror, and mystery novels (mostly thriller). We meet at 6 pm on a Tuesday evening once every six weeks (or so. There have been a couple fluctuations due to holidays and such). The every six week thing is both nice and awful. It means that some months I have one fewer meeting to attend (which makes it easier to keep up), but it also means that some months it conflicts with Books and Booze, and then I still have one fewer meeting to attend because I can't be in two places at once. If anyone has a line on dependable cloning technology, let me know. 

This group is part democracy, part dictatorship. Cassidy is wildly organized, keeping close track of who attends what meetings, and uses that information to rotate book selection through the attending members. But the person whose turn it is to pick the book doesn't get to decide exactly what book we'll be reading. They are required to provide at least three options to be voted on by the group at large. And Cassidy and Debra then research the book options to determine how available they are (when it was my turn to pick, I provided more than three options, and pre-researched availability, but sometimes I'm an overachiever like that). Once a book is picked, then we vote on where to meet as well, with a focus on locally owned restaurants. 

Some of my favorite books from this group include Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier, Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney, and The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. 

Will you join us, or are you scared? - Katie 

*Book Club Review* Colorado Springs Friends Book Club

 Well I had a day! And not a good one. Started out with me not sleeping well last night (had trouble getting to sleep at all, and maybe that's because I didn't workout the last two days, but it probably has more to do with the fact that I've always had a delayed circadian rhythm. Then I ran an errand at work, and on my way back to the office, I hit a pothole and flattened my front passenger tire. And I am a strong, independent woman, so naturally I called my husband to come fix it for me. To be fair, the car I'm driving does not have a spare tire and my husband has picked my vehicles for the entirety of our marriage (I usually have the newest car, so I can only complain about that a little), so I was in that position partially because of him. 

Anyway, I'm going to try to get to bed earlier tonight and hope that helps tomorrow be less sucky. But first, a new book club review. 

Tonight I'm focusing on the Colorado Springs Friends Book Club. This group is less than a year old, and I fear it may be the next book club I lose, in this case not because I've been kicked out but because it's foundering and we can't seem to get new members. And maybe part of the problem is that it is a generic book club that meets on a weeknight (most of my book clubs meet on Saturday or Sunday, and the few that don't largely do have a specific genre they focus on). But if we started meeting on a weekend day, I might start missing meetings anyway because of conflicts with other groups. I'm just not sure what the answer is here. This is the group that I prioritize over the Downtown Book Club because it really does need me more from my experience. There have been at least two meetings where I was one of only two attendees. And I think the meeting that I had to miss because it was moved up a week and I was in Florida for work only had one attendee. Those numbers just don't work for a book club anyway you slice it. 

If you would like to join a group where your book suggestions will hold a lot of weight, this is a great one for that. With so few of us in the group, there just aren't many suggestions being thrown out in the first place. I have personally picked three of the books we've read, and I try really hard to not be responsible for picking book club books (because if I don't finish a book I picked in time, that's way worse than not finishing a book picked by someone else). 

Some of my favorite reads from this group include The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, Lamb by Christopher Moore (even though I haven't finished it yet as that was the meeting I missed because Florida), and The Bone Ships by RJ Barker (although I don't recommend the audio for this one. Voices were not done well). 

Won't you join us and be our friend? - Katie 

*Book Club Review* Basecamp Books and Adventure Book Club

It was another long day, with me leaving for work before the sun was up and getting home long after it went down, again because I had a book club meeting after work. This one started an hour earlier than last night's though, and because a few of the attendees have younger children and we meet at a home, we don't stay nearly as late. But it still has me at the computer at almost 10 pm, when I should really be curled up in bed, under my heated blanket, with a book getting ready to go to sleep. 

But first, a book club review. 

Today we are talking about the Basecamp Books and Adventure Book Club. This group is hosted by a local new and used book store, and I've been a member for a little over a year I think. I was hesitant to join at first, because I make some moderate attempts to speak with my dollars (I'm not perfect at it by any means) and Basecamp Books and Adventure is a veteran owned bookstore. As the spouse of a veteran living in a military town, I know the military skews conservative, and that makes me leery. In this instance, my concern was wildly unfounded, and I give Basecamp some of my dollars nearly every month. I try to stop in for Philanthropic Fridays, but I often forget that intention when my work day is over on Friday, so I don't succeed terribly often. 

Much like Books and Booze Book Club, this group has a pretty even gender split in attendees, and is probably the most likely to have more men in attendance than women (which in my experience is quite odd for a book club). We have read a very wide range of books for this group. Everything from The Murderbot Diaries to Lonesome Dove. At each meeting, members put forth suggestions for the next month's book, and then we vote. Joe adds whatever our book club selection is to the next order he places, so there are always copies available within a week of the book being selected. We usually meet the last Sunday of the month at 6 pm when the store closes. Biggest perk of being in this book club? Getting to shop after the meetings if something caught your eye when you walked in. 

Some of my favorite reads with this group include Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman, The Dead Husband Cookbook by Danielle Valentine, and Station Eleven by Emily St. John-Mandel.  

Does this sound like a group you'd want to be part of? - Katie