Discussion Questions for Book Clubs
Book clubs are awesome, especially when you have one or two key questions that spark lively discussions. Whether you host a general book club for all genres or get as specific as a historical romance book club, I’ve organized a few helpful resources for your book here. Read on for advice on choosing books for your club, how to lead book club discussions, and downloadable PDFs with book club questions for my books.
What are the Best Books for Book Club Discussions?
Anything with the word “best” is totally subjective. In my opinion, the best books for book club discussions are books that you have an emotional connection with. Whether that emotion is love, hate, sorrow, humor, or a combination, as long as you react to the book, you’ll find something to discuss with your friends!
Good book club discussion books also often include complex characters, surprising plots, difficult choices for the characters, and strong thematic elements.
Why Read Romance Novels for Your Book Club?
Typically, when you’re looking for “best books for book clubs” you’re going to get a lot of novels with sad stories, convoluted plots, or ambiguous endings. Those are great novels! But you don’t need to cry your heart out to have a great discussion among friends about a book.
Romance novels are great for book clubs because you can guarantee your group that the story will have a happy ending. That way, you can sit back, enjoy the ride, and focus on all the other stuff - like the characters’ emotional back stories, the compromises they have to make with family members, the debates they face over careers versus choosing love.
When choosing romance novels for book club, think about whether you want to focus on any subgenres, like historical romance, paranormal, contemporary, or holiday romance. You can also poll your group on whether they want to explore stories like age gap romance, family series (like the famous Briderton books by Julia Quinn), small town or big cities, or other major tropes. Depending on how your group feels, you could create a dedicated romance book club, or add book club romance novels into the rotation every few months.
How to Lead a Book Club
Starting a book club is very exciting, but after choosing your name (and there are lots of great romance book club names out there!) you might wonder how to handle logistics. Here are tips for a couple FAQ:
How often do book clubs meet?
The answer is: whenever works for you! Many book clubs meet monthly. Others are every six weeks, and some might be every week. Check in with your group about how much time they have to read, how easy it is for them to get books, and how frequently they want to meet for book club.
Where do book clubs meet?
As the book club leader, you’ll also want to organize a venue. This could be meeting at a restaurant or café, taking turns among members to host at their homes, or even a virtual meeting room like Zoom or a Discord channel.
How to lead a book club discussion?
Finally, you’ll want make sure your book club group is prepared with some discussion questions to kick off the conversation. Good book club discussion questions are open-ended, based on something specific that happened in the text, and make it easy for your group members to share their reactions or thoughts.
The good news is publishers make it easy to find book club discussion questions for a lot of novels. Romance books are less likely to have book club prompts at the back, but you can still create your own questions around things like:
Did you empathize with the characters’ emotional back stories? How do you think their previous experiences informed their decisions in the text?
What was your favorite part of the book? What was your least favorite?
Did you believe that the main characters fell in love? Why or why not?
Book Club Discussion Questions - Downloadable PDFs
Now that you are ready for book club, here are some book club discussion questions for my historical romance novels!
(More questions coming soon)
Discussion Questions for Book Clubs
Book clubs are awesome, especially when you have one or two key questions that spark lively discussions. Whether you host a general book club for all genres or get as specific as a historical romance book club, I’ve organized a few helpful resources for your book here. Read on for advice on choosing books for your club, how to lead book club discussions, and downloadable PDFs with book club questions for my books.
What are the Best Books for Book Club Discussions?
Anything with the word “best” is totally subjective. In my opinion, the best books for book club discussions are books that you have an emotional connection with. Whether that emotion is love, hate, sorrow, humor, or a combination, as long as you react to the book, you’ll find something to discuss with your friends!
Good book club discussion books also often include complex characters, surprising plots, difficult choices for the characters, and strong thematic elements.
Why Read Romance Novels for Your Book Club?
Typically, when you’re looking for “best books for book clubs” you’re going to get a lot of novels with sad stories, convoluted plots, or ambiguous endings. Those are great novels! But you don’t need to cry your heart out to have a great discussion among friends about a book.
Romance novels are great for book clubs because you can guarantee your group that the story will have a happy ending. That way, you can sit back, enjoy the ride, and focus on all the other stuff - like the characters’ emotional back stories, the compromises they have to make with family members, the debates they face over careers versus choosing love.
When choosing romance novels for book club, think about whether you want to focus on any subgenres, like historical romance, paranormal, contemporary, or holiday romance. You can also poll your group on whether they want to explore stories like age gap romance, family series (like the famous Briderton books by Julia Quinn), small town or big cities, or other major tropes. Depending on how your group feels, you could create a dedicated romance book club, or add book club romance novels into the rotation every few months.
How to Lead a Book Club
Starting a book club is very exciting, but after choosing your name (and there are lots of great romance book club names out there!) you might wonder how to handle logistics. Here are tips for a couple FAQ:
How often do book clubs meet?
The answer is: whenever works for you! Many book clubs meet monthly. Others are every six weeks, and some might be every week. Check in with your group about how much time they have to read, how easy it is for them to get books, and how frequently they want to meet for book club.
Where do book clubs meet?
As the book club leader, you’ll also want to organize a venue. This could be meeting at a restaurant or cafe, taking turns among members to host at their homes, or even a virtual meeting room like Zoom or a Discord channel.
How to lead a book club discussion?
Finally, you’ll want make sure your book club group is prepared with some discussion questions to kick off the conversation. Good book club discussion questions are open-ended, based on something specific that happened in the text, and make it easy for your group members to share their reactions or thoughts.
The good news is publishers make it easy to find book club discussion questions for a lot of novels. Romance books are less likely to have book club prompts at the back, but you can still create your own questions around things like:
Did you empathize with the characters’ emotional back stories? How do you think their previous experiences informed their decisions in the text?
What was your favorite part of the book? What was your least favorite?
Did you believe that the main characters fell in love? Why or why not?
Book Club Discussion Questions - Downloadable PDFs
Now that you are ready for book club, here are some book club discussion questions for my historical romance novels!
(More questions coming soon)
The Governess Without Guilt
The Prestons #2
One bored governess, one handsome doctor, and unlimited nighttime activities. What could possibly go wrong?
I partnered with Roaming Romance Books, a pop-up romance bookstore based in Long Island, NY, to offer some questions to get you started.
Download the PDF
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1. The Governess Without Guilt is told from two points of view: Sophia’s and John’s. How did this technique affect your reading experience and connection to the characters?
2. Was Sophia’s and John’s connection believable? If so, at what point did they click for you?
3. John and Sophia’s outlook on relationships are flipped compared to what many view as the ‘traditional’ men vs women outlook. How, if at all, did this affect their story for you?
4. The “heat” starts pretty early on. Did you like the “heat” level? Was the build-up believable?
5. Did anything change with how you viewed them as a couple as they started learning more and more about each other?
6. John and Sophia look to other characters for examples of love, including Sophia’s parents, Ellen and Max, Lord and Lady Widlake, and Amma and Captain Attree. Which relationships looked most like healthy love to you?
7. John is offended that Sophia can’t list everything she loves about him. Meanwhile, Sophia knows she loves John but struggles to express it. Which love language, if either, do you resonate with more?
8. Did the story unfold the way you expected? If not, what surprised you?
9. What was your favorite scene or part of the book? Least favorite? Why?
10. Sophia considers herself very selfish, while John worries he concedes his own needs to other people more than he should. Who do you relate to? Would you fall for either of Sophia or John?
11. How does this book compare to other historical romance books you’ve read?
12. What did you think about the ending—were you satisfied or disappointed with it? How do you picture Sophia and John’s lives after the story closes?
Invite Me To Your Book Club!
I love joining book clubs to answer your questions about how I research, write, and think about my books. Reach out to me via this form to invite me to join your group!