The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick

This was an inspiring journey! It often amazes me how one person’s words can inspire so many.

A small group of women gathered to discuss a profound book and it changed their lives.

All from different backgrounds and circumstances found a family of women that learned so much about themselves. Through so many significant life changes they encouraged and challenged one another and championed their causes.

I absolutely loved reading this journey of women finding their way and supporting one another in ways no one could imagine.

This is told from multiple points but only to characterize the journey.

In the 1960s, four housewives found a gold mine with the sisterhood they formed with a book club. They live in a “planned community” and appear to have it all.

Margaret Ryan, Viv Buschetti, Bitsy Cob and Charlotte Gustafson come together discussing the controversial “The Feminine Mystique”. They call themselves “The Bettys”.

The book introduced them to the possibility of what could be, and planted hope among their frustration and dissatisfaction as they navigate a world of change, their sisterhood carries them into the future.

This is historical fiction covering women’s rights, Jackie Kennedy, and more.

I loved it! Four women, four friends take on the world after reading an inspiring book! 5/5⭐

I would like to say Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to review the ARC of both the e-book and the audiobook. Both are phenomenal!

The narration is excellent!

Margaret is the definition of a 1960s housewife. She stays at home to look after her three kids, cooks and cleans the house. But she is bored, and feels as though her life is lackluster. She finds camaraderie amongst the other women in her neighborhood, who experience similar feelings to her. When Charlotte moves in, she stirs things up by starting a book club with the first read being about not repressing yourself as a woman.

I love the theme of female friendship and how it can be so uplifting. The women in the book club all have their own struggles and lean on each other to begin to find some independence. I liked how they were all in different places in their lives, and the time period added a lot to the cultural context of the story. I did find it a bit similar to other books I have read, with the writing not particularly standing out. However, I did enjoy it.

I was really intrigued by the premise of The Book Club for Troublesome Women, but ultimately the book was "just okay". The plot tells the stores of four white women in NOVA living typical lives and they start a book club together. I didn't find anything about the women or their actions to be "troublesome" so I felt the book title was a bit misleading. I think the plot would have vastly improved if there had been differences amongst the women: class, race, education, *something*. The four characters were just ordinary women living ordinary 1960s lives.

I enjoyed the audio narrator and didn't find any qualms with the narration. The narrator had the same tone of voice for each character, which some might find issue with.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Collins Focus, and Harper Collins Muse for the advanced copy. The Book Club for Troublesome Women hits shelves on April 22, 2025.

Huge thank you to Harper Muse Audiobooks for allowing me the opportunity to listen to The Book Club for Troublesome Women. This book was wonderful from start to finish. I was immediately drawn to the characters and their lives as women during the 1960's. Each woman had their own unique situations that made them endearing and led the reader to root for them. This novel reminds us how far we have come and how far we still have to go in the fight for women's rights.

This book had so many great elements. I loved the book club element that included women who were different in so many ways but realized how many things they had in common. I loved the elements of motherhood, friendship, balancing work/life, and marriage that were all beautifully woven together.

However, I found it to be slow and repetitive at times. The transitions between characters’ points of view were a bit rough at times making me need to reread at times when I couldn’t keep track of what character’s eyes we were seeing life through in the moment.

Thank you to NetGalley, Marie Bostwick, HarperCollins, and Harper Muse for this advanced reading copy of the audiobook of The Book Club for Troublesome Women. I loved listening to this book! I gave this book 4 stars.

Let me start by saying that I would love to be a Betty and join this incredible book club. I loved listening to these four strong and capable women claiming their space in a time when women were only allowed in certain spaces.

Margaret, Viv, Charlotte, and Bitsy are four women who seem to have it all on the outside. But if you look closely, you can see the cracks. They each long for something different but similar. They long for a place in the world.

Marie Bostwick has a way of creating these strong female characters with relatable issues without being overdone. I loved listening to this book and finding out how these women overcame their struggles. I rooted for each character and loved all the different marriages and families Bostwick incorporated in this book.

This book focuses on women's rights and the daily struggles of being a woman. It's crazy and sad to think that this book is set in the 1960s but is still relevant today. The struggles these women faced were a little bit different than the struggles women face today, but somehow still the same overall theme.

One thing I loved about this book was that some of the husbands weren't the women's adversaries. Sometimes, it was bosses and situations they got themselves in that seemed to be their biggest struggles. There are great men out there, and I'm glad this book shows that.

The audiobook narrator was fantastic! I really enjoyed listening to her voice and it brought life to the story.

This novel brings together a group of housewives in the 60s under the premise of a book club to read "The Feminine Mystique" and you slowly begin to relate to and root for the characters. They all come together with different mindsets, circumstances, and experiences but keep coming back to one another as the "betties". The women all recognize that they want something more out of their lives, but given the time (again, the 1960's), their husbands don't understand how they aren't happy with their lives as is and they get pushback from most angles.

I loved the energy of female friendships and seeing how the women rallied for one another through marriage struggles, career ambitions and hurdles, family affairs, and navigating the world around them. While it felt like the character relationships were building slowly, I never felt as though they were drawn out or unnecessary and you see real growth and development from each of the women and their families.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for an advanced copy.

In the wake of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, the women of Concordia, Virginia will never be the same. Margaret, Bitsy, and Viv are the picture perfect housewives in their comfortable Northern Virgina homes until Charlotte moves to town from New York and upends their entire world view. The women begin a book club, reading Friedan together.

Marie Bostwick does an incredible job in The Book Club for Troublesome Women, making each character truly their own and giving the reader a sense of urgency and frustration from the limitations put on women of this time.

I was fortunate enough to get both audio and paper copies of this story and I think that the audio does a great job of putting you right into the story with excellent narration.

I really enjoyed this one even though some aspects weren't entirely relatable for me. However, I can't imagine the outright sexism women faced in the US in the 1960s. Yet, I think of where we are today and how unbelievable it is that we're moving backwards and having to fight again for many of our already hard won rights.

I liked the different characters and POVs in this book who are all in different phases of their lives facing individual but similar issues. They form a book club to read The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan along with other notable literary reads. The friendship they form makes me think of the many friends I've made thanks to the books that have connected us. The Feminine Mystique was very controversial and eye opening for its time. However, I appreciated the critique that the book's audience was centered around a very specific type of woman and could've been more inclusive of the struggles of others including men.

Despite the book being titled "Troublesome Women" I didn't feel the women actually caused enough trouble. There were times I was disappointed a character didn't voice her opinions enough or at all. Some of the resolutions to their problems came about not by the woman standing up for herself, but by choices her husband made.

Overall, I liked this historical fiction and how it mentioned some important moments in the 1960s, and provided great reading suggestions. The audiobook was enjoyable and I liked the narrator. It was a quick one and I was never bored.

This book completely drew me in. Set in the 1960s, The Book Club for Troublesome Women follows Margaret Ryan, a woman who seems to have everything—three kids, a good husband, and a beautiful home in a prestigious neighborhood—but still feels like something is missing. That restlessness really resonated with me.

When the bold and unconventional Charlotte moves to town, she and Margaret—along with two other women—start a book club that ends up becoming so much more. As they read The Feminine Mystique (which I now want to reread myself), they start unpacking their lives, their roles as wives and mothers, and the quiet frustration so many women carried during that time.

Marie Bostwick did a beautiful job capturing the emotions of these women—the pressure to be perfect, the fear of rocking the boat, and the courage it takes to ask for more. I loved watching the friendship between these four women grow, and how their conversations helped them find their own voices.

It’s thought-provoking, heartfelt, and surprisingly hopeful. If you love books about friendship, identity, and women finding their power, I highly recommend picking this one up.

I listened to an advanced copy of The Book Club for Troublesome Women, and it took me a while to get through & not because it was bad, but because I had a hard time connecting with most of the characters. I think I kept waiting for a spark that never quite came.

I wanted to love this. The title and premise had me expecting something bold, maybe even a little chaotic, but it never quite got there. The execution felt too safe (or maybe time period safe?). I wanted more tension, more fire, more actual trouble. The setup was there, but it didn’t really go deep into the rebellious energy I was hoping for.

This wasn’t a bad book by any means. The writing is clean, the historical setting feels well-researched, and I can see readers who enjoy character driven, slow burn stories set in mid century America really enjoying it. But for me, it was an okay read I just kept wishing the girlies had stirred the pot a little more.

Thanks to Harper Collins and NetGalley for the advanced copy!

I loooooooved The Book Club for Troublesome Women - it was everything I wanted, but didn't get from The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires. I loved how messy and honest every moment of it was!

I absolutely loved this book! It begins as group of very different women who start a book club and along the way they form a beautiful friendship. As they navigate through a very pivotal part of history these remarkable women, stand by and lift each other up. Full review to come after book release. I listened to audiobook and the narrator/narrators did a phenomenal job of portraying "the Betties" , highly recommend a listen to this wonderful story
Thank you NetGalley, Marie Bostwick and Harper Collins Focus for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read, review, and absolutely ADORE “The Book Club for Troublesome Women” by Marie Bostwick and narrated by Lisa Flanagan! The audiobook really brought this story to life and added another layer to how real these women felt. This is a story of womanhood and all of the ugly parts included in being a women including but not limited to marital struggles and fertility issues. It is also the story of coming together and unlikely circumstances creating beautiful friendships. Our main character, Margaret, learns a lot about herself from the type of friend she is, to the type of wife she is, and in a larger sense, what it means to be a woman. Charlotte was my favorite character. Ambitious, loyal, and never afraid to speak her mind. Even though her life was messy, she was the character I found myself gravitating toward because of how intense all of her emotions were. Bitsy and Vivian, the other two friends, both had such interesting stories too and I loved getting to know all four of them. What a lovely book!

This story gave me Mad Men and Mona Lisa Smile vibes. The writing style was elegant and I did not feel like I spent over 20 hours listening to this story. The friendship and bond between these women was lovely to watch develop, even through some tough times and much adversity. So fascinating and empowering and well written! Thank you to NetGalley, Marie Bostwick, and Harper Muse in exchange for my honest feedback.

The title is perfect. It's 1963, before JFK assassination. If you love historical fiction as much as I do, then this book is for you. We meet 3 different women who meet for a book club, but get closer as the book goes on. The character develop was great and I felt connected to each character. Reading/Listening to the book, it seems as if you are in this year/time period. I always enjoy traveling back into time and seeing what was. I enjoyed this book and would definitely read again.

This has not yet been released!!! Look for it on April 22, 2025!!

What an absolutely delightful book!! Especially if you are a woman! And, especially if you have some experience with the goings on of 1960's America!! Luckily, I am both, and my Mom was most definitely in this category, and in my opinion...so ahead of her time, so this book definitely resonated with me, throughout!!!

Margaret, Bitsy and Viv all live in this new-ish suburban community in Virginia...not far from D.C.
Supposedly, they have it all! A nice home. A lovely husband. Community...what else is there? Some have kids. Some do not. And then one day, a new couple arrives in one of the biggest homes in the community...from NYC.

And so, Margaret sets out to meet her, and welcome her to the neighborhood. HOWEVER, when Charlotte opens the door, Margaret realizes that what she was about to say is never going to work. You see, she was going to invite her to be a part of their monthly coffee klatch...where they catch up on happenings. Instead, she decides to invite her to their book club (which by the way they don't really have, but she's ok with starting one to have Charlotte be a part of it!) Charlotte seems to have no interest whatsoever, but then asks 'what book are you reading?'... and when Margaret comes up with what she thought was a great answer, Charlotte declines. Instead, she hands Margaret a book to read! One that she says is wonderful...speaking of new ways for women. "The Feminie Mystique"... and if they decide to read this one, she will come!

This now not only sparks up conversation among the three friends, but also sets the stage for new friendships and beginnings all around. And as they start to explore each other, as well as the entire world around them, they realize that the world is their oyster... and there are so many opportunities out there.. if only you CHOOSE to search them out, and NOT give up along the way!

This was like a breath of FRESH Spring Air! Once you get a whiff, you want to keep going!

Lovely to read about the strong relationships that were formed, yet upsetting to re-visit the stark contrast to living in today's world. I mean, women back then couldn't even open up a bank account in their own name, without the husband co-signing and PERMITTING them to do so. Even if they were working and earning their own money!! Unbelievable... but true!!!

Also, so nice to see women rooting for each other, and working hard to try to promote self-appreciation, instead of tearing others down... as is so common nowadays....

Absolutely LOVED this one!!!
All the stars for me, and then some!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨✨✨✨✨💫💫💫💫💫

#TheBookClubForTroublesomeWomen by #MarieBostwick and narrated beautifully by #LisaFlanagan.

Thanks so much to #NetGalley and #HarperCollilnsFocus, #HarperMuse for an ARC of the audiobook, in exchange for an honest review.
*** Release date is 4/22/25, so look 👀 for it on shelves soon!! ***

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Wow, what an amazing five star read! This book connected with me so much. I didn't expect to love this book so much due to the setting being in the 1960s! I laughed, sobbed, and felt seen as a woman. I wish I could have been a part of their book clubb i would love to be a Betty!

A book club affectionately called the Bettys made up of four women living in a brand new subdivision in the surburbs of DC inthe 1960s. Margaret, Charlotte, Viv, and Bitsy reading their first book, the Feminine Mystic by Betty Friedan. I loved the characters in this book.

This book touches on women's struggles, daily life, and rights. Even though this book takes place in the 1960s, many of issues feel relatable and relevant today.

I enjoyed the narration of this novel. It was narrated by Lisa Flanagan.

Marie's book has influenced me to add the Feminine Mystic and Virginia Woolf's books to my tbr.

Takeaway: the importance of a community of women to hold each other up in all ways -triumph, challenges, and every day support.

"Thanks girls, thanks for everything"

The title drew me in since I am a librarian who has facilitated book clubs and personally I've been a member of a book club for 36 years! I loved that this was set in 1963 and the author kept it relevant with references to what was going on in the news at that time.

I love the idea of women going to a local bookstore and getting great suggestions from the owners. It was also a great group of women who lived in the same neighborhood but were each quite different.

This is a book that I'll continue to think about for a while. Thanks for the opportunity to listen to this wonderful story!

It's the sixties , four woman form a bookclub and from there they grow into the women they are meant to be , rather going to school, writing or nursing these women define the era of women changing for the better . Great read ! ,I really enjoyed the narrator ,as well .