The Confession Club by Elizabeth Berg is a recommended heartwarming feel-good story and her third story set in Mason, Missouri.

A group of women have a weekly supper club that turns into the Confession Club, a meeting where a different woman confesses some hidden secret, misdeed, or regret. Iris Winters and Maddy Harris are invited to join on a trial basis, but they easily fit in with the group of women spanning all ages. Iris is conflicted over a relationship with a homeless man, while Maddy is escaping from NYC - and maybe her husband. Hopefully, the club will provide the support they need right now.

The Confession Club is the third novel set in the small town of Mason, Missouri, following Night of Miracles, 2018 and The Story of Arthur Truluv, 2017. It is an excellent choice for anyone looking for an easy to read novel that promotes friendship optimism, and kindness in a congenial small town community. While I really liked the first two books in the series, this one fell short for me. Iris has some further character development here, but most of the other characters are a continuation from the other books. Some of these women are good people who really care about others. You might wonder, as I did, why most of us don't meet women like this in everyday life. Life as described in Mason almost makes you want to move to a small town.

Berg writes in a simple, easy to read style that fits in well with the heartwarming feel-good stories she excels at writing. While deeper problems are presented, they are not delved into much deeper than a surface presentation of facts and other's reactions are equally shallow. But problems and societal issues aren't the focus here and not what most fans want from Berg. She presents the problems, questions, and issues, but her characters are quick to understand others, offer support, comfort, and forgive misdeeds. This is the series to read when you just need familiar characters who support others - and enjoy cooking classes.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Random House

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The Confession Club by Elizabeth Berg is an interesting book about friendship between women. A group of friends meet regularly to "confess" things they feel guilty about. The story focuses primarily on the two new members, Iris and Maddy. Iris starts an unconventional relationship with a new man. Maddy is keeping secrets from her husband and trying to find herself.

I love the support and friendship between the women. They try to lift each other up. They laugh together and cry together. Some confessions are downright comical.

I really enjoyed this book and would love to read more by this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

General Fiction (Adult)
Release Date: November 19, 2019

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was thrilled to return to Mason after falling in love with the community and its residents in the completely delightful The Story of Arthur Truluv and enjoyable Night of Miracles. This third installment in the series focuses on a group of women who became friends while attending Lucille's baking classes, but previous characters also make appearances in the story.

The Story of Arthur Truluv and Night of Miracles were five and four star reads for me respectively, but The Confession Club lacked the charm I found so endearing in the first two novels, and for that reason, I didn't find it as enjoyable a read. Berg, who writes wonderful characters (I have read many of her books), misses the mark just slightly in The Confession Club and I was unable to really connect with the cast.

I can still recommend this book, and I would definitely encourage anyone to check out the first two Mason books.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House for a copy of The confession club by Elizabeth Berg. This was the 3rd book in the Mason series I was able to follow to storyline with no problem (although I do feel I lost a bit of knowledge of all the characters of club members). When a group of friends start a monthly supper club, they get more than they bargain for when it quickly turns into a Confession club.
This was an easy book to read though, and some parts were good, but not great. I think I would recommend reading the series from the start. Overall, the book was almost a 3 star.

This was a great edge of your seat book! This book kept me captivated the whole time! I could not put it done!

Though a series, the books can be read as stand-alones since Elizabeth Berg brings in just enough of each character’s past, without being too heavy-handed, to get the reader caught up.

Book three in the Mason, Missouri saga (The Story of Arthur Truluv, and Night of Miracles), involves a Confession Club since book clubs are boring in comparison. Each week, the ladies come together to reveal a secret and to munch on one of Iris’s decadent desserts. Maddy is back, sans husband, and trying to figure out life with her daughter Nola. Yet what takes center stage is John, a homeless man battling PTSD and Iris’s deep fascination and attraction to him. Yes, you are going to question John to some extent, but while watching their budding romance you do not care. There is a sweetness, an understanding, and vulnerability between the two and that is all that matters.

I do hope that John returns in future books, he is a gentle but damaged soul that brings out a different side of Iris. A side all members of the Confession Club, and the town of Mason, can draw from.

This was sweet and fluffy like the coconut cake one of the characters bring to The Confession Club. I don’t mean that in a bad way, coconut cake is lovely. This is definitely a lighter side of Berg’s writing. A quick, comfortable take set in a small town. I’ve not read the other books she’s set in Mason, so I can’t compare, but I have read other titles by this author that have had more depth to them. If you enjoy sweet character stories, this one is for you! I was given an advanced readers copy of this book by the publisher and netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first book of Elizabeth Berg’s that I have read. I did not realize it was the third book in a series. After receiving it, I looked it up and took the advice that it could be a stand alone book. After the first two chapters, I was not sure that I wanted to continue. I rolled my eyes as I read that a woman’s supper group turned into a group of women meeting weekly as a Confession Club and the women took turns making a confession. I read on as I received an ARC from NetGalley and Random House.

I am so glad that I did. This is really the story of Iris, Maddy, Nola and John. The main lesson of this book is that we are all interconnected on this planet, and we all have insecurities, problems, and the ability to help each other. This book touched my heart. I am certainly going to read the first two books in this series. Thank you Elizabeth Berg for this delightful, although frustrating at times, the laughs and the tears that this book evoked for this reader.

3.5 stars

This was a quick read and one that I knew would be sweet and uplifting, given the first two books in the series. I was not disappointed on my return visit to Mason, Missouri, and with some characters that I connected with in the first two books. I’d go back if Berg writes another. My favorite is still the first book [book:The Story of Arthur Truluv|32918898] and I liked this one more than the second book [book:Night of Miracles|39025786] . One of my favorite scenes is the flashback that Maddie whose character appears in all of the novels, has about Arthur. I remember how how hard it was for Maddie until Arthur and Lucille took her in as a pregnant teen without a soul on her side.

The confessions of a group of friends at first seemed a little too frivolous and I admit to rolling my eyes in the first chapter, but then as Elizabeth Berg does, she brings to the forefront, the very real and tough things that people face. Loneliness, infidelity, burdens that people carried, homelessness, ptsd, a traumatic childhood, coming to terms with who you are after divorce, facing ones age and mortality. A group therapy of sorts, filled with humor at times, friendship and care and definitely trust! I can’t say that a confession club is one I’d be interested in personally, but the friendship and trust and caring was so heartening to see. I find that these stories of small towns are usually rich in characters that I cant help but love, even the quirky ones, reflecting so much that we can relate to. I expected that it would be predictable and uplifting as the the first books were but I think sometimes that I read too many sobering and serious books, so for me it was a welcome respite. All in all, it was a good story, good for the soul.


I read this with Diane and Esil and we were on the same page literally as well as in our thoughts.

I received an advanced copy of this book from Random House through NetGalley.

Like the other novels in this series, The Confession Club, is well-written, funny and poignant. Elizabeth Berg has once again created characters that capture my heart.

I love the returning characters and the expanding development of their characters. The new people we meet in this lovely little town could be any one of us if we allow ourselves to be as caring, while still intricate in nature.

I tremendously enjoyed the books set in Mason, Missouri. They provide a chance at love, emphasize the meaning of family and the importance of friends. They simply make your heart feel happy.


I received an ARC from Random House through NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion or rating of this book. I am voluntarily submitting this review.

Was expecting to like this story much more than I did, but may just be me. Found out later this was the 3rd book in the series, but the first one I've read, so that may be the issue. A group of women get together in a club and share confessions in the form of flashbacks. Interesting concept, but not sure why these women felt the need to share so much, not why tell the reader too. Felt a bit like gossiping to me, and felt like I was peeking in windows of their lives. Not for me, but would recommend if you have read other books by the author and are more familiar with her style.

The Confession Club is Elizabeth Berg at her best. It was great to return to Mason and the friends there (I hope there will be a continuation book). The women who belong to the Confession Club had problems and secrets that we can all relate to. How fortunate they are to have a club where they can safely share these feelings.

Elizabeth Berg’s writing is beautiful and she has characters we can all relate to. She writes about subjects that we can relate to as well. Who doesn’t want to confess secrets from the past to a trusted group of friends. Who isn’t curious about learning more about what it’s like to be homeless and befriending a person in that position. This small town is full of good people and I love it that they take such good care of each other.

This is the third book in Elizabeth Berg's sort of loose series of novels about the quirky residents of small town Mason, Missouri. They're set in the present but have a very old-fashioned and sweet vibe to them. I have to say, of the three books, this one had the least going on plot-wise and was a little less special, but I still would happily read about the various residents of Mason as long as long as Elizabeth Berg keeps writing about them. 3.75 stars.

Berg has often been "accused" of writing wholesome, old-time fiction that is sweet. To that I say YES!! This tale of neighbors and friends helping and accepting each other is PRECISELY what we need more of in our current culture. We need to stop screeching at each other and, as do the characters in this novel, LISTEN to each other and accept people for who they are despite our differences.
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Such a sweet, smooth flowing story. Older ladies meet for a dinner club then it turns into a confession club where they share their deepest secrets. A fast, very entertaining read.

While this is nominally about a group of female friends who have a confession club where they eat, drink, and tell their darkest (or smallest) secrets, it's really the story of Iris and John. They're a mature couple dealing with their own issues, his more serious than hers. John, a Vietnam vet, has ptsd and is homeless. He has ended up in this small town, on an abandoned farm, and is in better and happier shape than he's been in years. Iris is divorced, running cooking classes, and trying to right her life; she meets John when she goes to cut lilacs at the farmhouse. There's others here too, but it's John and Iris you'll care about most. This is the third installment in a series and while I've read the other two, I believe you will be fine with this as a standalone. You also gotta love an author who thanks her copy editor- at length- in the acknowledgements! Thanks to net galley for the ARC. It's a gentle novel which will make you smile; unlike some others, I really liked the end.

There is no big bang, just a few women who come together to shed their troubles and share their inner most thoughts. Missing ice cream, missing sex or not, missing companionship, trying to decide if they can unravel some of their screw-ups, being comfortable enough with each other to discuss things most of us keep tucked away.

One of the characters makes the observation that she is surrounded by “broken people, doing the best they can.” And yet I had the feeling that these were every day, ordinary people dealing with the ups and downs and curve balls of life. No big deal, no big reveal. Admittedly they had pluck, humor, compassion and the desire to support a neighbor. So, maybe not such ordinary everyday folk, maybe a little bit brave and extraordinary.

Maybe the whole point of this book centers around that quote by Elaine May; “The only safe thing is to take a chance.” Not my favorite book of the series but a pleasant read.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for a copy.

Supper Club becomes Confession Club in this book where various women from Mason, Missouri come together to share their secrets, insecurities, and intimate desires. What is said in Confession club stays in Confession Club! The group invites Iris Winters and Maddy Harris (from the previous books in the series) to join them, and the club is just what these women needed.

Maddy has returned to Mason to escape a problem that she is not ready to handle. Iris is conflicted about her relationship with the new man in her life. Could the confession club be what they need to help them through and provide them with the support.

I have enjoyed Maddy since meeting her as a pregnant teenager in [book:The Story of Arthur Truluv|32918898] and enjoyed meeting Iris in [book:Night of Miracles|46277718]. I enjoyed seeing more of them in this book but wanted just a little more oomph in their stories. Plus, I missed the beautiful passages that were in the previous books. Although this book was well written it didn't have the beautiful and moving passages I often highlighted in [book:Night of Miracles|39025786].

This book was part feel good, part humor, part companionship, part heartache, part friendship, part community and part family. It had a little bit of everything and yet I felt something was lacking. I still enjoyed it and would read another book in this series (if there is another book).

Besides reading about Maddy and Iris again, I enjoyed the new women introduced in this book. Their confessions gave insight into their personalities and lives. This book does deal with some heavy issues but in a light easy-going manner. It does not make light of those issues but addresses them in a lighter fashion.

This is a great book for that plane ride or lazy afternoon when you want a nice entertaining book. This one doesn't require much thinking, just reading. If you have read the other books in this series, this book is a nice addition but, in my opinion, not as eloquent as her previous book.

Thank you to Random House Publishing and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Such a warm and inviting atmosphere Elizabeth Berg has created in this book! I loved the time I spent with the ladies of The Confession Club. A group of friends started out having a monthly supper club, but later it became a weekly meeting where they shared their most embarrassing secrets. The ladies are great friends and don't have to fear anyone in the group will tell their secrets outside of the group. The story is set in the small community of Mason, Missouri and is filled with that small-town sense of friendliness and charm. A very heartwarming and enjoyable read.

Thanks to Elizabeth Berg and Random House Publishing Group through Netgalley for an advance copy.