First Lines Friday... The Wedding People by Alison Espach

"...now Phoebe stands before a nineteenth-century Newport hotel in an emerald silk dress, the only item in her closet she can honestly say she still loves, probably because it was the one thing she had never worn. She and her husband never did anything fancy enough for it. They were professors. They were easygoing. Relaxed. So comfortable by the fire with the little cat on their laps. They liked regular things, whatever was on tap, whatever was on TV, whatever was in the fridge, whatever shirt looked the most normal, because wasn't that the point of clothing? To prove that you were normal? To prove that every day, no matter what, you were a person who could put on a shirt?

   But that morning, before she got on the plane, Phoebe woke and knew she was no longer normal. Yet she made toast. Took a shower. Dried her hair. Gathered her lecture notes for her second day of the fall semester. Opened her closet and looked at all the clothes she once bought simply because they looked like shirts a professor should wear to work. Rows of solid-colord blouses, the female versions of things her husband wore. She pulled out a gray one, held it up in front of the mirror, but could not bring herself to put it on. Could not go to work and stand at the office printer and hold her face in a steady expression of interest while her collegue talked at length about the surprising importance of cheese in medieval theology.

   Instead, she slipped on the emerald dress..."

                                    The Wedding People by Alison Espach

This book has gotten so much great buzz and was a Jenna Book Pick in last August. It is in my TBR pile and I'm really looking forward to sinking my teeth into it. It's all about love and friendship... what do you think about the excerpt? Does it make you want to read more? It did me...

Pick Me! Pick Me! September Book Club Picks...

It's September, what are you reading? 

 Join Jenn and Reese with their book clubs this month... My favorite here is Reese because it seems my reading tastes are similar to her picks, but Jenn has some great picks too. And her pick this month is in my Kindle right now! 

Read with Jenna Book Club (also known as the TODAY Show Book Club)                        Picked: Amazing Grace Adams by Fran Littlewood.                                                    Read More about the book here!

Reese's Book Club (yes, that's actress and avid reader Reese Witherspoon)                    Picked: Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon.                                            Read More about it HERE!

And if you'd like to read what the September Indie Next pick is, which is picked from the nominations of Independent Booksellers across the country, it's The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff. Read More HERE.

P.S. Interested in joining an online book club and Jen & Reese aren't what you're looking for? Look for my post about all sorts of book clubs that meet online and discuss a monthly pick! Coming soon...