The biggest benefit to an online book club is that you never have to miss a meeting again. The Peanut Blossom Book Club was created with YOU in mind. We have an active and engaged private group on Facebook. Come on and join us!
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The Peanut Blossom Book Club is a popular group with over 9,000 active members and we would love to have you join us.
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Jump to:
- How It Started
- Are You a Good Fit?
- What Kind of Books Do We Read?
- How Do I Pick Our Online Book Club Books?
- Where Do We Hold Book Club Discussions?
- Want To Join?
- If You Like These Books, You'll Love Our Club
- Our Past Book Club Picks
- Year 9: The 2023 Books
- Year 8: The 2022 Books
- Year 7: The 2021 Books
- Year 6: The 2020 Books
- Year 5: The 2019 Books
- Year 4: The 2018 Books
- Year 3: The 2017 Books
- Year 2: The 2016 Books
- Year 1: The 2015 Books
- Why You Shouldn't Feel Guilty
- Looking for More Books?
- 💬 Comments
How It Started
I distinctly remember the exact moment I had the inspiration to launch the Peanut Blossom Book Club, an online book club for crazy-busy parents.
I was driving home from errands and feeling frustrated that I had missed one too many book club meetings due to a last-minute conflict because of my young kids.
After making time to read the official pick, I hated missing the discussion and it happened time after time.
I knew I couldn't possibly be alone:
ALL moms are crazy-busy, whether or not their kids are little.
Who hasn't experienced the frustration of having to skip something you want to do for one of these reasons:
- Sick kid
- Unexpected school event
- Can't get a babysitter
- Surprise deadline at work
I thought there just had to be a way to enjoy the pay-off of the book discussion after investing my time in reading no matter what my schedule looks like.
So I took things into my own hands and set out to create the perfect online book club for me.
A group where I would never have to worry about missing a meeting again.
I can honestly say that our book club has saved me from abandoning reading.
Knowing I can chat about the book with friends no matter how long it took me to read it has been life-changing.
Before our group I was barely reading 3-5 books in a year, now I can read 20 - 30 books in any given year.
I'm motivated and inspired to make reading a daily part of my life because of our group.
Running the Peanut Blossom Book Club is my passion because I know how much it helps busy women to find time to read but:
*I* am the reader that needed the saving most.
Are You a Good Fit?
I thought long and hard about the kind of friends I wanted to draw into our group.
I specifically hoped to find:
- women who used to love reading but struggled to find time for it in their current busy life
- women like me who felt bogged down with daily stresses and needed something fun and uplifting in their life
- women who enjoy a good laugh and a not-too-serious book
- women who have a diverse set of interests and love to read books from all kinds of genres
What Kind of Books Do We Read?
This was my biggest concern.
Too often I had to force myself through a book club pick that was too heavy, too sad, or too "brainy." I wanted to read for pleasure and relaxation.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with organizing a book club around reading intellectually stimulating books. I can definitely imagine a day where that will be something I would love.
But right now? In the crazy hustle and bustle of raising my kids? If I'm going to carve room for it in my schedule, it needs to be FUN.
How Do I Pick Our Online Book Club Books?
When I look for books for our official monthly choices, I keep these things in mind:
- NO Tearjerkers: This is my #1 rule. If the book looks too sad or depressing, it's an absolute NO.
- No Big Controversy: I get enough of that in social media. If the book's subject is a hot button issue in politics or social commentary, I generally try to avoid it.
- Easy Prose: I like to think of our club like a Top 40 Radio Station. I look for big blockbuster authors that write popular, easy reading hits. How I define "big" and "popular" may change from genre to genre.
- A Variety of Genres: I don't stick to just women's fiction. Every year I've sprinkled in mystery, historical fiction, romance, YA, mild thrillers, and magical realism.
- Group Suggestions: I am always listening and watching which books our group members recommend on their own. I've discovered new authors and genres thanks to the comments from our members. Our annual picks are absolutely shaped by the feedback I get from YOU each and every month.
Where Do We Hold Book Club Discussions?
When I launched our group, I thought I'd find the most people on social media so I launched a private Facebook group to host our monthly chats.
My mission was to find women who didn't even know how much they were missing reading until they discovered there was a group built just with them in mind.
Every month I pin a discussion thread for our current book to the top of the group. All chat happens in that one place.
But the best part? The discussions are ALWAYS THERE for you to go back and join, no matter how long it takes for you to finish the book.
You'll never miss a book club meeting again.
Want to hear more benefits straight from our members' mouths? Check out this fun blast-from-the-past from our very first ever book pick.
Want To Join?
There are two steps to joining our group:
1. Facebook:
Our group remains live and active here.
It's a fun and easy spot for sharing book recommendations and pleasant chatter with fellow book lovers.
2. Get On The List:
I send a monthly email with book reminders and free member goodies.
If you really want to be sure you never miss an important announcement, I highly recommend you get on my list:
If You Like These Books, You'll Love Our Club
My favorite book club memory comes from the very first meeting of my real-life book club back in the midwest before we moved.
In order to make sure we were a good fit for each other, everyone listed their favorite books. We knew the group would be fun when there was so much cross-over in our titles.
So if you like ANY, not necessarily all, of these titles, you just might be my reading soulmate:
- The Night Circus
- Big Little Lies
- Outlander
- Me Before You
- America's First Daughter
- Ready Player One
- The Maze Runner
- A Court of Thorns and Roses
- Anything by Sarah Addison Allen
- Anything by Mary Kay Andrews
Our Past Book Club Picks
Curious about what our group has read in the past? You can see the entire archive of all 8 years including book club discussion questions, links to the group chat, and fun recipe suggestions here:
Year 9: The 2023 Books
Year 8: The 2022 Books
Year 7: The 2021 Books
Year 6: The 2020 Books
Year 5: The 2019 Books
Year 4: The 2018 Books
Year 3: The 2017 Books
Year 2: The 2016 Books
Year 1: The 2015 Books
Why You Shouldn't Feel Guilty
Is a little part of you feeling guilty about joining a book club and the time reading might take away from your family?
Don't.
Here are the Top 10 Reasons why joining a book club is one of the best things you can do for your kids!
Looking for More Books?
Don't miss these popular book picks from both our book club members suggestions and my own personal reading library. And if you simply want to improve your reading life, don't miss the tips on how to read more this year!
Robin
I read your page suggesting foods to serve for a book club meeting on Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce. The recipes all sound wonderful! You state that the book takes place (in part) in New Caledonia, in the Caribbean, so you chose Caribbean -inspired recipes. However, New Caledonia isn't in the Caribbean, it's 900 miles east of Australia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. (Fiji and the Solomon Islands are also in the western Pacific Ocean.) You may want to correct this error, and perhaps suggest foods from that area of the world.