From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Clique series comes a novel about the importance of friendship, and, of course, the pleasure of a dirty book. M.J. Stark’s life is picture-perfect–she has her dream job as a magazine editor, a sexy doctor boyfriend, and a glamorous life in New York City. But behind her success, there is a debilitating sense of loneliness. So when her boss … So when her boss betrays her and her boyfriend offers her a completely new life in California, she trades her cashmere for caftans and gives it a try. Once there, M.J. is left to fend for herself in a small beach town, with only the company of her elderly neighbor, Gloria, and an ocean that won’t shut up.
One afternoon, M.J. discovers that Gloria has suddenly moved to Paris with her friends to honor a fifty-year-old pact. And in lieu of a goodbye, she’s left a mysterious invitation to a secret club–one that only reads erotic books. Curious, M.J. accepts and meets the three other hand-selected club members. As they bond over naughty bestsellers and the shocking letters they inherited from the original club members, the four strangers start to divulge the intimate details of their own lives… and as they open up, they learn that friendship might just be the key to rewriting their own stories: all they needed was to find each other first.more
This was a cute book about a group of women who become unlikely friends. This book showcases women who are all in different parts of their lives. One is a at crossroad. One is facing a difficult decision and one has her life mapped out when everything changes. The book starts out with women from a different era and I loved how it intertwined with the women in the present. Back then it was unheard of women not wanting to get married. It was unheard of women to talk about sex in public. Women were supposed to act prim and proper, get married, have kids and always be happy. These are the reason why they started the book club to begin with, it was a place for them to vent their frustrations. I liked that the women in this story supported each other throughout the story. There wasn’t judgment and they offered advice and help as needed. That’s the kind of tribe I want in my life. The story was told in third person point of view but I would have liked first person better. Sometimes I did get a little confused. The ending in my opinion was a little rushed but it had a nice wrap up. This is my first time reading anything by this author and it was a good read. I will definitely read another book by this author.
I really enjoyed this book. I don’t love the title because it hides a surprisingly complex group of characters and their changing times.
Light beach read
Fun read
I loved this book and was sad when it ended as the characters are so wonderful! I hope to find more like this.
Are negative stars possible? The absolute WORST book I have ever read. I bought it because it was my book club’s pick, and it made me angry reading it because it was so bad. It is contrived, stereotypical, completely vapid and a waste of words, to put it mildly.
The irony of one the author’s lines was not lost on me: “‘The sex scenes were great but you have to admit the prose was a bit unrefined,” M.J. said, fingers longing for the feel of her red editing pencil.’” A bit unrefined indeed.
I really think this book could be great if it was reedited. The storyline was confusing and the characters not really believable. It was annoying to try and keep up with the characters from the first book club and the second. The plot was too easy. Yes there was a twist but it wasn’t the twist I wanted. Of course that’s subjective on my part.
Started out great, kind of fell flat in middle. Ending was poignant; and I cried when Addy found out who her mother really was. But the book was not as good as it could have been. I expected more in depth relationships to develop among the younger women, more discussion of the rationale for the book choices, and lessons learned (if any), from the readins. Would really have liked to know more about the older women’s lives. Would have enjoyed more flashbacks to the original club members than just their letters. Author’s first adult book, after years of writing for YAs. She rationalizes that this book is the next step for her YA audience as they mature. But she needs to remember that not all romance readers are young. I am 70, and the idea of a group of women my age passing the reins to the younger set appealed to me. Just focusing on the youngsters does a disservice to, (and fails to expand her audience to), older generations who probably buy more books than the YA crowd ever will. Found Mary Alice Monroe’s “The Book Club” right after finishing Dirty Book Club. Monroe’s book was much more fulfilling; exactly what I had expected when I purchased The Dirty Book Club.
not worth reading. Weak characters and plot
When I read the blurb for The Dirty Book Club, I was intrigued by the premise, and when I started reading, I found the beginning both engaging and promising. Sadly, that fizzled quickly as I found less and less to like about main character, MJ.
Let me add that each of the characters have their flaws and that’s okay. I didn’t expect them to be perfect and several times, I’ve found the flawed characters in a story the most endearing. That was the case with the 1960’s book club. Not so much with the modern day club.
MJ is rather disconnected from living life and that’s understandable considering the the loss she’s suffered. She throws herself into her career to keep from dwelling on that loss, which is also something the reader can empathize with and understand. As time goes on, MJ’s long distance love interest, Dan, tries to convince her to move across the country so they can be together. This is where my problem with this character began. Things don’t go as she’s planned in her career, so she heads to California and to Dan. She then spends most of the story waffling between wanting to be with Dan and wanting to run back to New York and her job. Indecision, I can understand. She’s spent considerable time on her career, but it came across like Dan was nothing more than a backup plan, the second choice. More than once, she asserts that she gave up her career and sacrificed for Dan, when that isn’t the case. She gave up her career because things didn’t go her way. She didn’t get what she wanted, so she fell back on the second choice. Basically, I found her whiny and petulant, and I spent most of her story wishing Dan would wake up and send her packing.
The other characters in the modern day book club weren’t exactly likable, but at least they did have some wit and even some charm about them.
By the end of this journey, I found the letters from the 1960’s book club to be the most interesting parts of the story and the only modern day character that I really liked or rooted for was the good and giving doctor, Dan.
I will say the the author is talented and writes well, but this one completely missed the mark for this reader.