What a charming story. Set in Mason, Missouri, the characters are a mix of young, old and not-so-old. Iris is still living in Maddy's house, which Maddy inherited from Arthur Truluv and Lucille Howard. Maddy, with her daughter, Nora and husband Matthew, has moved on to New York, to pursue her photography. Maddy and Nora are home for a visit and undecided about the future.
A group of women in town formed a supper club which turned into the Confession Club. Confessions range from the trivial to the heavy. Older women's issues are a big part of this book.
Maddy and Iris end up joining the club, and eventually have their own confessions to make.

John, a newly arrived homeless man is squatting in an abandoned farmhouse, A veteran of Vietnam, he struggles with PTSD. Berg treats his issues with compassion. Iris falls for him, and decides she is not done with life yet.

The entire book is a study in compassion, looking out for your neighbor, and caring about the community and the people who live there. The story is not great literature by any stretch, but it is a pleasant, feel good kind of read. Sometimes that is all we need.

I had high hopes for this one but I just had a hard time connecting. I am a big fan of Elizabeth Berg and she is a master at character building but this just didn't hold my attention. I think because there were quite a few characters to keep track of and nothing really grabbed me, the plotline fell a little flat.

Her older books hold such a special place in my reading heart that I do understand that I might just have super high expectations now of anything she writes. All in all, this was just an okay read for me and not one I would rush to recommend. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an advanced copy.

This was my first Elizabeth Berg novel, but it will not be my last. I bought a copy for my mom, and think this author is great for all ages (as I am 25, and I loved it as well!) I think her stories are simple, yet entertaining, and it was a relief to read this in the midst of reading other novels that had much more going on - this was a breath of fresh air.

The third book in this series focuses more on Iris, her life as a divorced woman living and working in Mason, Missouri, and also brings Maddy from the first book back home. Just as with the first two books, there is the hometown sweetness to the characters that makes you share a slice of pie with them. The only thing for me is that I didn’t feel there was a whole lot of substance to this book. The story line of sexy-but-homeless John didn’t ring true, and the build up of Maddy’s “confession” didn’t quite have the payoff I thought it would. Not a bad book, by any means----I think that would be impossible for Elizabeth Berg to write, anyway----but not her best.

Special Note: Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It was ok. Not like the reviews led me to think. I’m not sure I’d read it again or recommend it: not great.

I was able to read this book thanks to NetGalley. I enjoyed this book a great deal. It is about a group of friends who have a supper club but one night a friend reveals something very private about her life so the friends decide that they will start a “confession club”. It becomes a very liberating and comforting concept for all involved. I love reading books about close friendships and this book hit the mark. I will be recommending it to all of my friends! Thanks again to NetGalley.

This book is filled with people I want to live near, in a town that sounds idyllic. Throughout the book, the themes of love and acceptance are prevalent. It’s as if the author, Berg, has chosen this story to highlight what can happen when we engage the best in us all...the ability to give unconditionally, offer support when needed, follow dreams when there’s no guarantee of a good outcome. I have not read the previous books in this series, and perhaps that is for the best as I came to this one with no expectations. I had no problem feeling well acquainted with the characters in the book, nor did I have any problem picturing the town and the surroundings.
The book centers on Iris and Maddie, who stumble into the group of women who call themselves the Confession Club. Two of the club’s members withdraw, leaving room for an invitation to be given to Iris and Maddie to join.
Iris’ main story is as a widow who has created a successful life for herself as a baker who conducts lessons for people who want to add to their baking repertoire. Although she thinks she is content with her life, the chance meeting between Iris and John, a homeless Vietnam Veteran who is squatting in a nearby abandoned farmhouse opens her to new possibilities and desires.
Mattie has returned to the town trying to resolve her feelings of self-doubt and suspicion that she doesn’t deserve the love of her husband. Iris is a long-term friend who is living in the house Mattie owns, so when Mattie comes back and asks if she and her daughter can stay for a while, Iris welcomes them with true love and care.
As these three principal characters move through their lives they encounter love, loss, acceptance and support. They take risks and are rewarded as new doors open before them to make life interesting in different ways. Through the Confession Club they are allowed to vicariously experience other struggles ranging sex to end of life. All these subjects are dealt with gently with loving acceptance of those people who are struggling, even if the struggle isn’t something that would bother another individual.
I’m reminded of a blog I’ve read recently whose premise is that everyone is suffering, so we all could benefit by being a little kinder to one another. This book, in many ways, offers a simplified version of the positive things we might experience if we all took the suggestion to heart.

This was a fun multi-generation book! I wish I had known this was part of a series before I started reading because I do think it would have been helpful to have read the previous books first. Having said that, I loved the progression of realness of the women as they voiced their internal struggle and formed even strong connections.

I am a fan of Elizabeth Berg and her writing. I always find her writing to be effortless and enjoyable. I loved loved loved The Story of Authur Truluv.

Unfortunately, this book fell short for me. I found that the story felt forced and cheesy compared to the previous two books in the series. There were still moments in the story that I loved.

The story, which started with Arthur, and grew to include, first Maddy, and then, Lucille, expands with the fuller story of Iris. I use their first names, because after reading the three books set in Mason, Berg's fictional Missouri small town, I feel like I know the characters. And I am quite fond of them.

I love a book that centers around women supporting each other and that exactly what this book was. With warm characters you find yourself cheering for and a little lady who is precocious, smart and funny this book provides such a warm place to turn to.

The Confession Club was such a good read! It is a touching story about friends trusting other friends and finding help rather than judgement when sharing their "confessions" with their friends.

The caring among these characters and the help they offered was wonderful. I think everyone wishes they had a group of friends like these ladies.

Pick up The Confession Club and prepare to wish these ladies were in your life!

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an ARC at my request. All thoughts in this review are my own.

Another moving, uplifting read from Elizabeth Berg in the Mason series of books! I love the heartfelt dialogue and found myself nodding in agreement/familiarity quite often. This book carries out the central theme of love, for others and one's self. I enjoyed spending time with the characters from Mason, both old and new!

A group of women from a small Missouri town agree to a monthly meeting to confess intimate stories of their lives which they have never told anyone before. They decide to call themselves the Confession Club. What begins as a way of unburdening themselves, turns into a group of women who help and support each other as they divulge secrets some have kept hidden away for years.

The cast of characters gives you that small town community feel, where everybody knows everyone’s business (mostly) and the gossip can be spot on, or misleading.

Iris is a divorced woman who teaches baking classes in the town. Lonely and still heartbroken she meets a man, John who himself is tortured by his own sense of loss.

Maddy and her daughter Nola live in New York with Maddy’s husband. Maddy decides to take Nola back to the town because she yearns for that township feel, but is afraid her husband will not agree, so instead of discussing this with him, she runs back to her past. Maddy’s young daughter Nola is the sage of the group, happily doling out her innocent yet profound advice to them all.

And of course there are the funny quirky characters you will find in any small town whose adventures (and confusion) keep the reader amused!

With humor, love, sadness and determination, the women of the Confession Club not only come together to teach each other with their advice, but their lessons of letting go of guilt can be learned by anyone who reads this beautifully written story.

My one caveat would be that Iris’ recipes should be included! My mouth was watering during each club meeting!

Thank you to #NetGalley #RadomHouse #TheConfessionClub #ElizabethBerg for the advanced copy.

I really enjoyed this book! (And I sooooo want to start a dinner club/ confession club with my friends now!) I really like the characters in this book, so I plan to read the previous ones in the series (you don't need to do it to read this book now though). I didn't want this book to end and I am looking forward to the next in the series too!

I had enjoyed The Night of Miracles by Elizabeth Berg, so I thought I'd enjoy this one too. It was okay, but I wanted more connection between The Confession Club and everything else. It just felt like many little side stories that were just put together. Also, it was a little light for my preference.

This book was cozy and warm, homey and comforting. It’s about a group of women who get together to talk about things they’ve done that make them feel ashamed or uneasy. Which sounds super heavy, but it’s actually a really lighthearted and sweet read. The women range in age from 20-somethings to octogenarians, and their confessions are a mix of serious misdeeds to funny little nothings. Taken as a whole, the book made me feel hopeful and happy, which I appreciate more and more these days… Here is one of my favorite quotes:

Oh, they knew they were mostly silly. They enjoyed being silly, because sometimes you just needed to take a load off. For Pete’s sake. You just needed a little levity, and you needed to be on the right side of the yellow light shining out from the dining room window, you needed to be in that pocket of place where you were unequivocally welcome and could at any time slip right out of your shoes.

FYI, this is actually the third book in the “Mason” series. Author Elizabeth Berg has written two other books that also take place in Mason, Missouri. I’ve never read those books (and probably won’t, honestly), but I didn’t need to have read them to follow along with The Confession Club. Overall, this was a simple and sweet story, and I enjoyed it.

I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
You can receive your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Confession-Club-Novel-Mason-Book-ebook/dp/B07P1PSX3D/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=The+Confession+Club+Elizabeth+Berg&qid=1573006937&sr=8-1

This is the third book in the Mason series. This takes place in Mason, Missouri. A long way away from NY, where I live.
This book is about a group of people that get together and confess things that they normally wouldn’t to people who are full of judgement. This club began accidentally. It started with a group of women who had taken baking classes with Iris Winters that would get together on the third Sunday and have supper. They then started sharing things that they had done wrong. This then morphed into a weekly group. They go by the phrase, “ The Truth is always interesting.” We learn so much about these characters through their confessions. Homelessness is a huge issue that is addressed in this book. They confess about how they get by being homeless. Scoring clothes from various thrift shops, wandering into funerals to help out, knowing that at the end of the day, there will be food to be given away or thrown out. I would have never imagined that people would do things as such. We learn so much about a Veteran of the Vietnam war. Things that people do not realize: when there is a holiday, public buildings tend to be closed. Where do the people who rely on the heat or cool go on these days to hang out and get out for a few hours go when these buildings are closed? Bathrooms and comfy chairs. Who would have thought that was what a library is for some people? A safe haven of sorts.
We learn so much about these people through their confessions.

I laughed at some of the old lady antics of sampling some $12 cookies and putting them back on the shelf because they did not like them. Planning an 80 year old birthday party with dancing boys. Some of the antics are just sad that these women feel that they need to do these items, but the fact that they are meeting with each other, does help matters. Help them deal with the demons that make them do these things. Despite this book being fiction, all stories are based on truths and I honestly believe that some of the people in this world really do seek out these places for food, comfort or just company. This book really changed my life and makes me want to do more for the community. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did. I laughed, I cried, and had a lot of other emotions while reading this book.

Loved the characters in this book SO much! Each one had such great personalities that I found myself rooting for everyone. There wasn't anybody I didnt like! Such true to life situations for all and I loved the mention of food. Love a good book that includes cooking and recipes! And I wouldn't mind having a Confession Club with my friends! Seems like a lot of fun!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the continuing saga of Arthur Truluv. A realistic storyline with “confessions” that every one of us can relate to and the angst that we live with.
A wonderful read that simply shares a wonderful story.