WVBC monthly: chapter 12
Recapping our December meeting, plus our members' fave books of the year.
Happy New Year, dear readers!
The six of us collectively cherish the start of a New Year, and this January 1st is no different. In fact, today marks the one-year anniversary of our launching this very monthly letter. Twelve months ago, we sent out the first edition to just 42 of our friends and family members. In the intervening year, we’re proud that we didn’t miss one single send on the first of each month, and voilà, 812 of you are receiving today’s edition! Thank you for being here—it means the world to us. For the sake of nostalgia, we’re including that very first send below outlining what we read in 2024.
Looking back at 2025, it’s safe to say it was a big year for West Village Book Club. We hosted our first community event, showed up for bookish events all over the city, and gathered around one another’s tables more times than we can count. Caylee Ashwell, our resident theme queen, hosted us to celebrate Galentine’s and Halloween; Xan Angelovich welcomed us to the most idyllic adult summer camp in Montana; Kayla Douglas hosted our annual Friendsgiving meeting and Chelsea Martin closed out the year with the dreamiest Christmas-themed meeting.
In between, we devoured books on the beaches of Mallorca, attended the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Gala, and celebrated major life moments—most notably Jenna’s dreamy Newport ceremony. Laura ran circles around us with 75 books read in 2025. West Village Book Club turned three, and shortly thereafter, all six of us went to the Nutcracker (!!) together. If you’re sensing a theme here, it’s that this year was about showing up—for books, for community, and for one another.
If there’s a reader in your life who you think would appreciate this type of bookish content in their inbox from us once a month, please do forward this on and share the love! xWVBC
December WVBC Meeting Recap
Chelsea Martin hosted our festive December meeting, which serves as our annual-holiday-party-meets-“favorite-things”-gift-exchange-meets-December-book-club-discussion. It’s a festive celebration of another incredible year of West Village Book Club, and one we always look forward to.
This month, we read The Women, so Chelsea went with a “nostalgic 60s Christmas with a Vietnamese flair” theme. This meant pigs in a blanket and onion dip were on the menu for appetizers, with a Vietnamese chicken salad for dinner. Dessert included the classics — cherry pie (from Brooklyn local Le French Tart) and pecan pie. She also had personalized ornaments at every place setting. We then gathered around the Christmas tree and did our “favorite things” gift exchange, where we each created a gift (times two!) of something we love (think favorite beauty products, candles, transformational hair products, etc). A festive time, it was!
ps. if you’re new here (welcome!) or missed last month’s recap, be sure to check it out below!
Included in this month’s edition:
Recap of our December WVBC pick: The Women
Recapping everything we read for book club in 2025
Our members’ favorite reads of 2025
Also, this post is too long for email, so we suggest reading it on Substack!
WVBC December Pick: The Women
Kristin Hannah does what she does best in The Women: center women whose stories have too often been sidelined by history. Set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, this novel follows a young nurse whose service overseas reshapes everything she thought she knew about love, loyalty, and herself. It’s emotional without being overwrought, deeply researched, and sparked one of our most thoughtful discussions of the year. Highly recommend!
WVBC 2025 Picks Revisited
January WVBC Pick
The Champagne Letters by Kate Macintosh
This novel weaves together the story of Barbe-Nicole Clicquot as she builds her champagne empire in 19th-century France with that of a modern woman starting over in Paris after divorce. Moving between past and present through letters, it’s a thoughtful look at resilience, reinvention, and what it means to take control of your own life. A quietly empowering, transportive way to kick off the year.
February WVBC Pick
How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang
This one hit unexpectedly hard. What starts as a sharp, contemporary romance unfolds into a thoughtful exploration of grief, timing, and the ways relationships change us—even when they don’t last. Tender, funny, and quietly devastating, it sparked great conversation around emotional maturity and what it actually means to let go.
March WVBC Pick
All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
Moody, atmospheric, and completely consuming, this wound up being one of our collective favorites of the entire year. In it, Whitaker blends coming-of-age, crime, and love story into a novel that feels both epic and intimate. This was one of those unanimous picks where everyone came to book club buzzing and eager to discuss!
April WVBC Pick
We Are Experiencing a Slight Delay: Tips, Tales, Travels by Gary Janetti
Pure joy. Gary Janetti’s essays are laugh-out-loud funny while also being sneakily poignant, especially when it comes to aging, ambition, and self-acceptance. An ideal palate cleanser month—and even more special for those of us lucky enough to discuss it with him in person.
May WVBC Pick
They Dream in Gold by Mai Sennaar
Lush, ambitious, and centered on a complex female friendship that spans years and continents. Sennaar’s debut asks big questions about success, identity, and what we owe the people who know us before we become who we’re meant to be. A slower burn that rewarded patient readers.
June WVBC Pick
Outlawed by Anna North
A feminist western that felt both fresh and timeless. Set in a reimagined Old West where women are criminalized for infertility, this book sparked incredible discussion around autonomy, chosen family, and power. Short, sharp, and unlike anything else we read this year.
July WVBC Pick
Hotter in the Hamptons by Tinx
A buzzy summer read that delivered exactly what July calls for: beachy escapism with a modern edge. While lighter than some of our picks, it gave us plenty to talk about when it came to influencer culture, dating expectations, and the performance of perfection.
August WVBC Pick
This Is a Love Story by Jessica Soffer
Quietly devastating in the most beautiful way. Soffer’s writing is intimate and restrained, capturing a love story shaped as much by absence as by presence. This was a contemplative meeting—one where silence between comments said just as much as the discussion itself.
September WVBC Pick
The Art of Vanishing by Morgan Pager
Set inside a museum and rooted in magical realism, this debut imagines a man frozen in time within a painting—and the woman who discovers she can step inside it. What unfolds is an unexpected love story that moves between art and reality, asking big questions about connection, longing, and what it means to truly be seen. Imaginative, romantic, and quietly haunting.
October WVBC Pick
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
Moody, environmental, and emotionally charged, this one felt perfect for October. McConaghy’s writing once again proves she’s unmatched at pairing wild landscapes with deeply human stories. This sparked conversations about isolation, climate, and the lengths we go to protect what we love.
November WVBC Pick
Heart the Lover by Lily King
A thoughtful, intimate exploration of love in all its messiness. Lily King writes relationships with such emotional precision, and this novel led to a particularly reflective discussion about timing, compromise, and emotional risk. A quieter pick that resonated deeply.
December WVBC Pick
The Women by Kristin Hannah
Ending the year with this felt intentional. Emotional, sweeping, and centered on female resilience, it brought us full circle—both in subject matter and in how far WVBC has come. A powerful note to close out 2025.
Favorite Reads of 2025
As we look back on a year filled with sweeping love stories, gripping thrillers, and tell-all memoirs beyond what we read for book club, we took on the impossible task of picking favorites. Below, you’ll find all six WVBC members’ top five books of 2025—since there is a fair bit of crossover in our lists (with All the Colors of the Dark appearing four times and several others showing up between two and three times!), this means we’ve got twenty-two unique titles for your consideration.
Laura’s Corner
Connect with Laura on Goodreads and Instagram
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
They’re Going to Love You by Meg Howrey
Ex-Wife by Ursula Parrott
Didion & Babitz by Lili Anolik
The Garden of Eden by Ernest Hemingway
Caylee’s Corner
Connect with Caylee on Goodreads and Instagram and subscribe to her Substack!
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
All the Colors Of The Dark by Chris Whitaker
Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors
Chelsea’s Corner
Connect with Chelsea on Goodreads, Instagram, and subscribe to her Substack!
The Women by Kristin Hannah
Conversations on Love by Natasha Lunn
All the Colors Of The Dark by Chris Whitaker
The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
Jenna’s Corner
Connect with Jenna on Goodreads and Instagram
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
The Women by Kristin Hannah
107 Days by Kamala Harris
Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton
Kayla’s Corner
Connect with Kayla on Goodreads, Instagram, and subscribe to her Substack! Plus, Kayla rounded up her 25 favorite reads of the entire year of 62 books read in her most recent newsletter, linked below.
Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors
Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn Williams
Joyride: A Memoir by Susan Orlean
Xan’s Corner
Connect with Xan on Goodreads and Instagram
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
Heart the Lover by Lily King
The Women by Kristin Hannah
All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy by Julia Loffe
Thanks so much for reading our first installment of 2026! What titles have you gotten into and loved lately? Let us know in the comments!
Keep the pageturners coming,
xo WVBC
All the Colors of the Dark was one of my top 2025 reads, too! Recommended it to everyone I know.
Did I miss what you gifted each other for your Fave Things??