Hello everyone! 💖
My first selection for ARC August was actually a book I purchased a few weeks ago when it was released: Book Club Boyfriend by Jenny Holiday. A bookstore in Minneapolis had signed copies, and I was pretty confident I would like this one, so obviously I had to snag one!!
Book Club Boyfriend released on July 14, 2026, and is available at most major book retailers.
GENERAL INFO
Book Club Boyfriend by Jenny Holiday
Published on July 14, 2026
Genres: Adult, Celebrity Romance, Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 352
Format: ARC
Their messiest chapter might actually be their best one yet.
Blair Kellermoon—blond, bubbly, former rom-com star—has always worried no one would take her seriously as a producer. And with her latest film project stalled indefinitely, she’s starting to think desperate times call for desperate measures. Enter bestselling author Jack Branksome: beautiful writer, awful person. Yet somehow he and Blair have become unlikely text-friends, despite his very public refusal to participate in her celebrity book club. And he’s confessed he’s dealing with his own nightmare: the hotly anticipated novel he can’t seem to write.
So Blair does something unthinkable: she invites him to stay at her pool house. Now they’ve become two misfits bonding over movie nights, cheesy pasta, befriending wild crows, and solving the mystery of the weirdly green pool. Blair was sure she knew exactly how her story would end. But Jack might be proof that it’s only just beginning ...
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Book Club Boyfriend is technically a celebrity romance (which I LOVE), but it doesn’t really feel like your typical celebrity romance. There are no movie premieres, cast drama, or workplace scandals. Instead, it follows two “celebrities” trying to navigate their careers and personal lives (I use quotation marks because, while authors can absolutely reach celebrity status, I had a hard time figuring out just how famous Jack actually was).
First of all, this was a VERY quick read. I started it the other day while taking a break from cleaning my house and somehow ended up reading 80% of the book in one sitting. I was genuinely sad when my friends came over for book club (for a completely different book, lol) because I had to stop reading for the day. As soon as I woke up the next morning, I joined some reading sprints and finished the book within the hour.
I was also pleasantly surprised to see that the story was told in third-person POV. I know I am in the minority, but I am one of the few romance readers who actually prefer third person. I’ve started to get a little tired of first-person romances, especially when the characters don’t have particularly distinct voices. The third-person perspective worked really well here and gave Blair and Jack room to feel like fully developed characters outside of their relationship.
That was one of my favorite aspects about this romance. I always appreciate when both characters have separate identities, careers, and personal issues that don’t disappear the second they get together. The initial friendship and slower pacing really helped establish who Blair and Jack were as individuals.
I also really enjoyed watching them deal with their careers, mental health, and family dynamics. It made their relationship feel much more genuine. They challenged each other in ways that felt productive without ever giving the impression that they were trying to “fix” or change one another.
I especially loved Blair as the FMC. She is an older, more mature character with two children from a previous marriage. Blair also has OCD and anxiety, which I thought was handled particularly well. It also did a great job showing how anxiety can look very different from what we might expect. Her actions made sense within the context of her experiences, but the story didn’t use her mental health as a way to justify everything she did, either. Her character had much more complexity than I expected.
I also loved Jack as the grumpy MMC. I can be pretty hit or miss with the grumpy man trope because I hate when a character is just an asshole for the sake of being an asshole. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case here. Jack definitely went a little too far at times (I am thinking specifically of a certain scene toward the end), but even when I disagreed with his choices, I understood where they were coming from based on everything we had learned about him.
I can also relate to the obsession with The Great Gatsby (or, in this case, a retelling of The Great Gatsby). I am also a sucker for that story.
Oh, and some of the story takes place in Minnesota, which made my Midwest heart very happy. I probably should’ve known the author was from Minnesota, considering I bought this book at a Minneapolis bookstore with an entire display of signed copies.
Overall Thoughts
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by this romance. It was a mature, slow-burn romance with characters who felt like real people beyond their relationship, and I found myself reluctant to put it down. I’m very happy I ended up buying this one even though I already had the ARC. It will definitely be a great addition to my bookshelves!
Final Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Those are all of my thoughts on Book Club Boyfriend! How do you feel about celebrity romances? Let me know in the comments below!
Until next time, xx