Blanche’s Book Club: ‘Nine Perfect Strangers.’

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Hey there! It’s another Monday and well, I’ve read another book. I set a goal to read 75 books this year and as of this weekend, I am on track to reach my goal!

I’m not sure if it comes across on here, but I get very obsessive about reaching goals — enneagram 3 here. Right when I graduated from college (many, many years ago), I started setting annual reading goals for myself.

I think it was in year three of doing that, I was READING ON NEW YEAR’S EVE so that I would reach my goal! I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with reading on New Year’s, but I wasn’t even enjoying it!

I’ve gotten a little bit better about that sort of thing — it’s just an arbitrary goal, really. I read 69 books last year and figured 75 was a good stretch, but obviously 2020 was a bit of a different year 🙂

So, let’s jump into the latest read from Blanche’s Book Club: “Nine Perfect Strangers” by Liane Moriarty.

This book came out in 2018, so it’s not new, but I just recently stumbled across it. I’ve read other books from Moriarty, including “Big Little Lies,” “What Alice Forgot,” “Truly, Madly, Guilty,” and “The Husband’s Secret.”

I enjoyed all of them, so when I saw this one, I knew I had to read it.

The book is the story of… nine strangers… picked to live in a house — just kidding. Well, kind of. These strangers meet at a wellness retreat known for its modern ways of helping you relax and resolving problems.

Each chapter focuses on a different character and why they’re going to the retreat in the first place. There’s a romance writer who’s trying to get back to enjoying life, a family overcoming the loss of their son/brother, a couple looking for marriage counseling, and a wellness junkie looking to check off another box — among other characters.

When everyone arrives, it seems to be your standard wellness getaway. There’s a pool, hiking trails, meditation rooms, a gym… but there’s a few surprises no one knew about when they booked their stay.

They’ll be completing five days of absolute silence, along with fasting — minus smoothies that they HAVE to finish — and they have to have a daily blood test.

Huh?

The strangers uncover more secrets along the way that put them closer together… and pit them against the staff running the retreat.

I won’t spoil the ending.

But, I will say that this book is set to be a miniseries on Hulu sometime this year. I definitely think it will make a good show, as I enjoyed the book.

If you’re someone who enjoys Moriarty’s books… or you like a little suspense (nothing too serious here), I’d definitely recommend this one!

My library reserves have been coming up faster than I planned for and I’ve got a pretty big pile to tackle, so I have a feeling April will end up being a pretty large book month for me. What are you reading?

For more book recommendations, be sure to subscribe to the blog (look to the right) and follow me on Goodreads @thebitterlemon – where I share more of my book picks. Also, check out my printable bookmarks and Book Club Journal Pages in my Etsy Shop.