Top Stories
Stories in BookClub that you'll love, handpicked by our team.
Rachel Reviews: Lost Letters by Tom Hapgood. Top Story - September 2025.
Tom Hapgood's book is a lot of things. It has history, both twentieth century and prior; it has youth and the coming-of-age; it has, through its characters' situations, a discussion of the health concerns that can encroach as life continues inexorably towards death; and it has the secrets that lurk in the family vault, just waiting to be uncovered and brought to the surface.
By Rachel Deemingabout a year ago in BookClub
The Curse of the Sotkari Ta. Top Story - September 2025.
As you all might remember from my review of Whitney Hill’s The Shadows of Otherside, I have been a freelance editor and beta reader for a few years. In this piece, I wanted to introduce you to another of the fantastic indie authors I’ve worked with and the book series that she’s brought into this world: Maria A. Perez (a new writer to Vocal) and her romantic space opera trilogy The Curse of the Sotkari Ta.
By Stephanie Hoogstadabout a year ago in BookClub
And what do you think, Mr. Robbins?. Top Story - September 2025.
No, I had no idea what the title meant when I picked up this book from the local library. And no, I was not a long time fan of the author when I heard of his death and found that I had two of his paperbacks ready to go: “Another Roadside Attraction” (his first novel), and “Jitterbug Perfume” (catchy titles, I think). But I knew his name. I had seen the books and I knew that someone was actually insane enough to make a film out of his “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues,” a film starring Uma Thurman as a hitchhiker with a very generous length of thumb (no, it was not a hit). And I stayed away from them all. My feeling was that Mr. Tom Robbins belonged to that interesting clique of writers from the late sixties that once had the ear of the zeitgeist, but soon lost it when people realized that they had nothing else to say (reviewing the remainder pile of the local bookstores has become an unmerciful duty). There was no place in my life for books on hippies, the counterculture that failed, and the false promise of psychedelics.
By Kendall Defoe about a year ago in BookClub
Our love lives on in a Parallel Universe.. Top Story - September 2025.
How lovely would it be to have the opportunity to step into a parallel universe? One that gives you the happy ending you wish for, instead of having to accept the fate of the real world? In "Write me for You", Tillie Cole gives us both perspectives, and both will have you in tears. I personally loved the way this book was written, and it has given me a lot of inspiration for my own book that I am working on. Enough of my rambling for a moment and let me give you the book description, and another one of my favorite quotes!
By Kimmiekins4about a year ago in BookClub
Rachel Reviews: The Ballad of Midnight and McRae by Jess Lederman. Top Story - September 2025.
I'm not sure where to start with this book because it isn't one thing. It's a mash-up of many things although that description, whilst it may be apt, does not do justice to the well-crafted, rich composition that this is from Lederman
By Rachel Deemingabout a year ago in BookClub
Top 5 Books from 2025.. so far. Top Story - September 2025.
I have not read as much as I wanted to this year. I set myself a goal of reading twenty books at the beginning of January. It's now September and somewhere in between working, being a mom, and my regular life- I managed to read 14 books/audiobooks so far. I actually am quite proud of that number as it's only September.
By Chloe Unfilteredabout a year ago in BookClub
Jogger's Trail by Donna Fox In Review. Top Story - September 2025.
So gather round, friends, for a review of another Vocal writer's self-published book. This time, we are focusing on The Queen of Acrostics (as assigned by me), Donna Fox (HKB), and her rather excellent YA supernatural tale Jogger's Trail.
By Paul Stewartabout a year ago in BookClub
Rachel Reviews: Truth and Transformation (Taking Wonderland) by Martin Baynton. Top Story - August 2025.
To take Lewis Carroll's timeless "Alice" books and a selection of their uniquely bizarre and unsettling elements and craft them into something which has the same rich taste but a new author's seasoning is the move of a bold writer, I think.
By Rachel Deemingabout a year ago in BookClub
DABDA. Top Story - August 2025.
A book written when I was 10 years old has been nagging at my thoughts and I've just realized why. The book is On Death and Dying by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, and a book that talked about death was so novel that Time magazine named her as one of the '100 Most Important Thinkers' of the 20th century.
By Judey Kalchik about a year ago in BookClub
