I. Loved. This. Booooooook. LOVED.

A beautiful multigenerational story about motherhood, womanhood and forgiveness. You follow two sisters, their sister-in-law and their mother through their individual journeys while one sister returns home from a MOM COMMUNE. They are slowly piecing back together and you are able to hear from all POV's during the process.

I thought this truly encapsulated all the facets of motherhood we all face. You may not connect with every aspect of the story, but you will see yourself at some point, in some character, in some situation. To so clearly communicate the emotional depths of not only motherhood, but womanhood is not an easy feat and the author did it BEAUTIFULLY. The characters were frustrating, flawed and HUMAN. It brings the reminder that we all fall victim to HUMAN FLAWS AND EMOTIONS. Can you believe it?! I kid. This was a beautiful, raw story that would be impossible not to connect to in some way. And isn't that really all we're looking for in our books?!

There are some very difficult aspects of this story that were hard to read about, but helped me gain further empathy for those who have gone through experiences I have not. Please check your trigger warnings on this one if you have subject matter that you aren't able to read about.

I recommend this book to EVERY. SINGLE. WOMAN. I.
KNOW! I loved the audio performances. It does jump timelines and characters quite a bit, but I think the multiple narrators made it easy to follow. READ IT!

I approached Supper Club Saints with the grim satisfaction of someone who knows the circus is in town and has already purchased a front-row seat. Dysfunctional families are my spectator sport. I observe, I catalog, I resist the urge to hand out scorecards for coping strategies.

What I didn’t expect was how sharp the angle would be on the whole trad-mom adjacent influencer ecosystem. The “Mommune,” framing could have been gimmicky, but it actually works in a slightly unsettling way…like you’re watching people curate their own lives while actively unraveling inside them. It feels a little too close to real life to dismiss as satire, which I think is what gives it teeth.

The family dynamics are exactly the kind that look functional from a distance, only to immediately collapse under even mild scrutiny. No one is fully wrong, which is unfortunate, because it means no one is fully tolerable either.

And then there’s Erin. I know, on paper, Erin is acting out of trauma. I get why she’s here, I see what Swinarski is doing. But wow, none of that stopped me from finding her next-level annoying.

Overall, this felt like a very specific kind of drama: not explosive or melodramatic, but quietly suffocating, in a way that sneaks up on you. It trusts you to sit in the discomfort without offering a clean emotional exit, which I appreciated…even if it made me slightly aware of my own tolerance for chaos.
Thank you netgalley for the ARC!

First HUGE thank you for sending me this beautiful physical copy🫶🏽 because holding this story in my hands while ALSO listening to it?? yeah babes… I felt everything twice.🥹

I am SO glad I waited until I got approved for the ALC because BABES…the full cast narration…they didn’t just read the story… they brought these women to life😭🖤

As a mom… I wasn’t ready.
This book quietly walks up to you, sits you down, and says:
“let’s talk about what motherhood really feels like.” and not the cute, picture perfect version…the real one.

💔 the pressure to get it right

💔 the fear of messing your kids up

💔 the weight of how you were raised

💔 the quiet comparisons we don’t talk about
and suddenly I’m sitting here like…
why am I feeling SEEN like this🥹😭 (I was a teen mother by the way so I had so many feelings joining motherhood)

Cass coming back from a manipulative “mommune,” trying to rebuild her life while holding onto control so tightly because she’s TERRIFIED of failing her child…yeah… that hit something deep in me. Because motherhood will really have you questioning EVERYTHING.

And then you have the other women…each carrying their own version of motherhood:
✨ grief

✨ infertility

✨ divorce

✨ generational expectations

This book doesn’t tell you who’s right.

It doesn’t hand you a perfect answer.
It just shows you that every mother is doing the best she can with what she has.
and sometimes… that has to be enough💛

The family dynamics were messy. layered. real.
They don’t always understand each other…
but they show up anyway.
and THAT is what got me.

Also can we talk about how the audio made this even more powerful?🎧 Each narrator carried a different emotion, a different weight…and you could FEEL the differences in their experiences as mothers
Like I wasn’t just reading perspectives
I was living inside them

This isn’t a fast read. This is a:

🖤 sit with it

🖤 reflect

🖤 maybe cry a little

🖤 call your mom after
type of book.

This book didn’t just hit…
it stayed.
And as a mom?
yeah… this one meant something.

Do you ever feel like a story sees you? This one spotted me from miles away. I was transported back to my childhood within the first few pages…Grasshoppers, A&W, taxidermy fish on the walls. As I continued to turn the pages, I related even more. Catholicism, divorce, addiction. This story with multi-generational imperfect, vulnerable characters and its small town Wisconsin setting made me reflect on change and how people react to it, motherhood, the messiness of being an adult. Beautifully written and brutally honest, I will think about this book for a long time…I loved it.
I listened as a reread of this on audio. The full cast narration from Caitlin Davies, Emma Love, Alexandra Hunter, Nan McNamara portrayed the characters so well, could hear such a range of emotion in their voices, and getting to experience the story again in a different format was amazing.

The Supper Club Saints is a heartfelt, character-driven story about family, motherhood, and finding your way back home. I loved the small-town Wisconsin supper club setting and the complicated but realistic relationships between the women in the story. Swinarski balances emotional depth with warmth and humor, making this an engaging and thoughtful read. A great pick for readers who enjoy family drama with strong emotional themes. Must Read! Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to review this Audiobook.

As someone who was born and raised in Wisconsin, I was drawn to this book immediately. The moment I saw supper club in the title, I knew there was already a connection for me. On top of that, I’ve always been fascinated by books that explore the world of cults, so this felt like a perfect fit.

I really enjoyed this book overall. I appreciated the different storylines and the way they gradually connected together. The transitions between time periods were smooth and easy to follow, which can sometimes be difficult to pull off, but it worked very well here. This was my first book by Claire Swinarski, and it definitely won’t be my last. I’m looking forward to reading more of her work.