This was quite different than I had expected. Based on the title, I thought this would be an excellent fit for me considering I’m on my school districts book review committee that reviews books parents want banned.

The title had very little to due with the book. The story is about Gia who owns a wildness excursion company in Idaho with a partner. She returns to her hometown when her sister Margo calls saying she needs help with their mother who was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer.

Gia fled after high school due to the fallout of her accusations of a beloved English teacher molesting her when she was a senior. He was found guilty which ended his marriage and negatively affected his three children, one of whom was a year younger than Gia.

Little does Gia know that Margo called her sister home for very different reasons than their mother’s illness. She’s planning to leave her abusive husband, taking her two children with her.

I gave this three stars because I felt there were multiple story lines going on with several main characters. And again, based on the title, the novel had very little to do with any kind of banned book club.

This book is available now and as always, while this was a three star read for me, I’m sure it could be someone else’s favorite book of the year. I can’t wait to read more from Brenda Novak.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
Brenda Novak writes really funny and relatable womens fiction/romance novels and this book is no exception. If you love books I can pretty much guarantee you will find this book enjoyable. It certainly put a smile on my face and at times I even laughed out loud.

Many thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book.

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This book was a 5 star for me. Had the over all feeling of makings that f a good Hallmark movie .. loved the conflict between sisters so realistic .. Loved learning why Gia is Gia .. One of those reads that you can’t put down !!!

As an educator and an advocate for banned books, I was really excited to read this book. Unfortunately, I ended up being disappointed. A book club started by one of the main characters (Gia) when she was in high school played a minor role in the plot, but that was the extent of the involvement of banned books in this story.

The storyline revolves around Gia returning to her hometown to help care for her dying mother. Upon her return, she is forced to face a traumatic event (that occurred when she was in high school) head-on. The book also follows the story of her sister (Margot) who flees from her abusive husband.

In general, I just didn’t care for the writing style of The Banned Book Club. The storytelling itself was alright, but I felt a lot of the events were unbelievable and the dialogue seemed like it was written by an amateur. It just didn’t feel like real-life conversations.

This was my first experience with this author, and sadly, I feel let down. I’ve heard a lot of hype surrounding Brenda Novak books & I know her readers love her. I WILL give her another try in the future, hopefully I will enjoy the next one more.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

5⭐️

This book made me feel a plethora of emotions. We follow three differenct POVs in this story.  Two sisters Gia and Margot and a man named Cormac. When Gia was in high-school her english teacher tried to take advantage of her and rather than go to college she sought out her place in the world. Cormac is the son of that very same teacher who upon hearing the news about the accusations towards his father got into an altercation with Gia. Now he's an established vetinarian in her hometown and Gia has returned for the winter to take care of her mother whose dying. Meanwhile, her sister is in a very unpleasant marriage and is plotting to leave him.

There were so many twists and turns in this book and my intial thought was it would be weird seeing Cormac and Gia end up together seeing as Cormac is the son of the man that tried to take advantage of her. I think this book did need the Cormac POVs it really helped show his character and unearth a side of the story that it really needed. This book was brilliantly written and I loved how Gia was kind, strong, and resolute. Gia was relatable to me in so many ways and it really touched my heartstrings seeing despite everything she
went about life trying to be kind and standing up for others.

This is a read perfect for anytime of the year.

Content warnings to note:
Manipulation, Gaslighting, Abuse, Cancer, Attempted SA of a minor, Harassment, Misogyny

I just finished reading The Banned Books Club by Brenda Novak, and I really enjoyed it! The story follows Gia Rossi, who returns to her hometown of Wakefield, Iowa, to help care for her ailing mother. Gia’s homecoming is complicated by her past, especially the scandal involving her former teacher, Mr. Hart, whom she accused of misconduct years ago.

The book does a great job of blending family drama, romance, and the power of standing up for what’s right. I loved how Gia’s old book club, which she started in high school to fight against banned books, plays a central role in the story. It was interesting to see how the town’s dynamics and Gia’s relationships evolved over time.

The characters felt real and relatable, and the small-town setting added a cozy, yet sometimes tense, atmosphere. Overall, The Banned Books Club is a heartfelt and engaging read that tackles important issues while still being an enjoyable story.

I loved this so much! My only complaint would be that I feel like the title is misleading. It didn't really feel like it fit what the story was actually about- and I think Novak could have delved more into that aspect of things or picked a different title. I had all the feels for the two sisters and their situations. This book handled both the spousal abuse and sexual abuse well.

Gia left home almost 2 decades ago to get away from the people in her town who blamed her for ruining the life of everyone's favorite teacher. But now that her mom is dying, her sister Margot, who stayed behind, is begging for Gia to come help and give her a break. Among the things Gia doesn't know is that Margot is planning on running away from her controlling, emotionally abusive husband.

I'll be honest. I think the title was really misleading for what the book wound up being. I understand some of the reasoning, but having the book named after the book club Gia started in high school, and then barely talking about the club, not having them DISCUSS more than 2 banned books at any length, and not seeing or meeting any of the members past the two best friends and the eventual love interest was disappointing.

TRIGGERS ABOUND in this book. There's Gia's molestation CONSTANTLY discussed, a spouse getting aggressive, running away, so much gaslighting, and a few other things. Be careful with yourself.

This really becomes a book about how abused people should flee abusers, and how people who get abused don't get believed. I'm glad Gia and Margot dealt with their abuse and their abusers, but Gia really comes off saintly by the end of it all, with all the crap she takes from the townsfolk. And the police are so effing ineffectual, it's astounding. I get that small towns are often like that. It's just...

I did NOT anticipate the storylines I got from a book called The Banned Book Club. This is not about a book club. At all.

This is my first Brenda Novak book, but I'm not really all that impressed.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy via NetGalley in return for sharing my thoughts on this book. Thanks to the author and publisher for this opportunity!

3 stars.

Firstly, it's important to note that this book has very little to do with "banned books" and the book club doesn't meet as often as the title would lead you to believe. It was also full of family drama and structured with multiple POVs, which I'm not a fan of unless it's part of a fantasy/sci-fi book or a book with a much more complicated and/or epic scope. Essentially, I find multi-POV a strange choice for a contemporary story centering family drama, some mystery, and some romance. I found that it took me out of the story and that it wasn't always easy to distinguish voices between characters, which would have been less confusing if the character names were telegraphed at the beginning of each POV switch. I also REALLY REALLY did not expect this to be an exploration of a 17-year-old's trauma (particularly SA). And I REALLY did not like the path that her healing took, in terms of who she decided to get with (I won't say more for fear of spoiling the plot).

That being said, this book did have its enjoyable moments, particularly in the dynamics between family members, but overall these aspects of the book weren't strong enough to overshadow my issues with the story and its execution. This one wasn't for me, unfortunately!

Thank you NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, & MIRA for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Someone picking up this book expecting to read about banned books will be disappointed as that is not a central theme of this novel. What Brenda Novak does deliver with THE BANNED BOOKS CLUB is a tightly woven narrative of two sisters; each fighting to reclaim her life.

Gia Rossi left town a decade ago after a scandal that divided her small town. She’s back to spend time with and care for her dying mother, but that puts her back in close proximity with people who want nothing more than for her to stay gone. Margot is a young mother of two living under the thumb of an emotionally abusive husband. She knows running away is the only option she has to free herself and her children from his abuse before he becomes dangerous.

I was engrossed in this story from the beginning. Ms. Novak writes sympathetic female characters. I appreciated the redemption arc and wanted to see justice served to the male characters who used position and power for their own benefit. There was a romance component, but it took a backseat to the overriding theme of the courage displayed by Gia and Margot.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the advance copy in exchange for my unbiased review.

I have to jump on the bandwagon and say that the title of this book is extremely misleading. The book club and its members are not a large part of the story. It felt very much like the title was used as a way to just draw in the BookTok/Bookstagram girls and it obviously worked. But then the stoey was anything but book club content.
There are two main storylines in the novel. One is about Gia, a woman coming home to help care for her dying mother while facing her teacher whom she accused of sexual misconduct . The other storyline is about Gia’s younger sister Margot, who is trying to escape an abusive marriage. The two stories overlap in chapters which can make it hard to keep up with.
Overall this was just an okay read to me. It felt like perhaps the author would have benefited from choosing one story and sticking with it, and perhaps adding more book club content.
I received a ARC of this title, all opinions are my own.

A scandal involving sexual misconduct and a teacher drove and kept Gia away from her hometown, friends, and family for years, but her mother’s illness and her sister’s persistence brings her reluctantly back. A few members of her Banned Books Club are all the ties Gia has maintained outside her immediate family. But with her return, Gia is forced to face the things she’s avoided and realizes her sister is hiding secrets of her own.

I was not a fan of the stiff dialogue and writing style in this book. I gave it a few chapters to see if it became more natural, and then decided to DNF.

I expected the Banned Books theme or the Bookclub itself to be a more central part of the book, but the title appears to be a bit misleading as it’s more of a loose tie of characters from what I could tell, though as I DNF’d it may take on a more integral role later in the book.

Trigger warnings: SA, DV, emotional abuse

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was much heavier than I expected! The emphasis was less on the banned books and more on the group that was brought together with those books. I really enjoyed how the characters interacted and how they found their voices in different ways.

I was very thrilled to get a netgalley ecopy of this book. It was all over instagram and i was really hoping for a physical copy but this was great. This book was a story of family and how they function. And as expected - there is some romance. Gia must return to her homeown to help her sister care for her sick mother. Gia left home and never wanted to look back but she can't abandon her mother and it is time to reconcile with her sisiter. But her old trouble just seem to follow her. I always like Brenda Novak books and this one was good.

This is a good book. The two main characters are Gia and Cormac. They have known each other each other for all their lives. Something happened to Gia when she was a teenager and it involved Cormac’s father. They went to college and started their lives. Gia’s mother was diagnosed with cancer and not expected to live long. Gia’s sister ask her to come home and help with her mother. She comes home but her sister disappeared with her children. Gia and Cormac start getting to know each other. They each have issues but together they work them out and fall in love.

I really enjoyed this book. Very lovely story and cute characters.
Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for my copy

The title of this book is misleading. Yes, there is a banned book club however, it has very little to do with the story. I found that to be disappointing.

There are two main storylines in the novel. One is about Gia, a woman coming home to help care for her dying mother while facing her childhood trauma and the stigma the town has against her. The other storyline is about Gia’s younger sister Margot, who is trying to escape an abusive marriage. The format of the book has the stories overlap within the same chapters, without smooth transitions. This made it more difficult to follow.

The writing style for this book made it read like a middle grade novel- even though the topics addressed were very much adult issues. It was choppy without the character and plot development that could have made it so much more. The ideas were good and I liked the overall stories, but I found myself skimming through instead of becoming immersed into the book. It was disappointing.

Thank you to #NetGalley for an eARC of #TheBannedBooksClub in exchange for an honest review. -2.5 stars rounded up

A story about forgiveness, family, friendship, and finding love where it's least expected -- The Banned Books Club has a bit of everything you might want. Novak delivers once again!

I thoroughly enjoyed this women's fiction novel featuring family drama concerning two sisters, both facing changes in their lives. It's not so much about banned books, although the club is a way of introducing many of the friends and secondary characters. Recommended.

First, this did keep my interest. Anyone looking for an engaging read with some mystery, some tension, far from daily reality, may enjoy this. However, please note that this book has almost nothing to do with books, despite the title. It’s a crime-adjacent family saga, with a bit of (disappointing) romance. That said, it Thank you, NetGalley, for the arc.