Help! I joined a romance book club?

     You ever do something that's just... not you?

    Well, this week, I did. I joined a romance book club.

    To back up a bit and give you some backstory: I moved in March from Chicago to a small, rural town in Massachusetts. I grew up here, but haven't lived here since I left for college. I've lived in Chicago for 14 years and barely even got home to visit in that time. I had friends growing up, but they've all grown up (as did I), got married and had kids (as... didn't I), and moved away (as did I, until recently). And there just isn't much here, especially in town, in the way of events or... opportunities to meet people and make friends. I've been trying, but it's not like in Chicago where there was a Meetup group for literally whatever your heart could desire (it's how I met quite a lot of my friends there!). No, really; I've scoured Meetup for the area and everything is either in Providence (that has a broken bridge I'd have to cross and sit in traffic to get to), in Boston an hour away, or... not at all. And those groups are just the "normie" groups that every city has, and I don't qualify for half of them (centered around kids' playdates, etc.). So... I've been trying, but it's been overall a lonely six months since I moved.

    So, enter the bookstore. There's a local indie bookstore a few towns over, not exactly close but a half hour away on back roads isn't awful. I LOVE that store, although it's dangerous for my wallet. Very dangerous. Anyway, since they're an indie store, their shelf space isn't the biggest but their selection is impeccable, so I can't really complain. In lieu of a full time library job, if they wanted to hire me, I'd say yes in a heartbeat. (Please...) Also, they have a big event space on the second floor and hold events all the time, where they foster a vibrant community of readers. It's great to see! I saw Sy Montgomery give a talk there a few weeks ago, and she was phenomenal. Anyway, I'm getting off track, but... I really love this store.

    They have two book groups, which sounds like a perfect way to meet people and make friends, right? Right! Except... neither book group is my cup of tea: romance and thrillers. I wish they had a fantasy book group! (But then I'd be picky about that lol, it can't be all nerd guys who don't read women authors, and I wouldn't be very happy if it was all romantasy...) Well, there's no way I'm committing to a thriller book group even if I am absolutely desperate for friends (and I am...), but romance? Eh, we'll see. Not in my top 5 or even 10 genres to read, but I can at least stomach it. And sometimes there are good romances that I enjoy. (My Thoughts On Romance is a whole other blog post that I'll write some day, I promise. And I promise it's not all bookish snobbery; it's mostly just "Eh, it's not for me.")

    Well, this month's book selection for the romance book club just happened to be a book I had already read at the beginning of the year: The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston. And, bonus, I had actually enjoyed it! I mean, it's a romantic ghost story, so it was almost up my alley? That's borderline fantasy-ish. I looked at my Goodreads review and was like, "You know, I had strong enough opinions about this book that I think I could participate in a discussion", despite having read it almost a year ago and having my terrible memory. (Although, I was rooting for the book to take the "tragic romance" angle rather than "happily every after" ending, so... again, contemporary romance isn't exactly my genre lol.) So, I went last night, in an attempt to socialize and make friends.

    Did I make friends? Ehhh, not really. Did I see some people whose styles indicate I would probably like to be friends with them but then was too shy to actually say anything to them? Absolutely. But, baby steps. I went to the group and participated in the discussion (a lot! actually), and had fun. Everyone was nice and the discussion was a lot of fun. And there were a LOT of people! I didn't count exact numbers, but about 40 people. For a book club! That's an amazing turnout! So like... odds are decent that I could make at least one friend among so many people, right?

    Anyway, I did really enjoy the discussion, so much so that I... picked up the book for the next discussion. So I guess I'm in a romance book club now? Hm. (At least they're going to be picking a romantasy read soon, so that'll be more in my territory lol.)

      I swear this isn't a lengthy veiled attempt at saying "Help, I've been kidnapped." I really did join a romance book club.