My Best Friend’s Book Club

Bear has been found. Barbara has been found. And the truth about what happened fourteen years ago on the Van Laar Preserve is finally out — and let's just say we have a lot of feelings about the end of this book.

Join us for the final chapter summary of Liz Moore's God of the Woods. We share final ratings, dive into reviews from others, play book trivia, and unpack the ending that left us with more questions than answers. Was this book too long? Did our characters grow? Did we need that many timelines and characters?

Follow us, tap that 5-star like you’re also excited for the spooky season, hit us up on social (IG & TikTok), or at [email protected]

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We read books so you don't have to — but you can. Part comedy, part literary chaos — welcome to the group chat. Non-readers, listen weekly for chapter summaries. Readers, check out our Reader Calendar (pinned to socials) to read along with us.

>> Next book & pages: A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay | p.1-58

A month before Barbara goes missing, we learn she's more than capable of surviving in the woods. But an accident leads to a bloody camper's uniform — and a kid who finally reveals where Barbara has been sneaking off to every night. The evidence in Barbara's disappearance is building, and it's all pointing to John Paul Jr (or is it?).

Back in 1961, we learn what happened to Bear in the days before he went on that walk with his grandfather and was never seen again. In present day, Judy is quietly uncovering the truth — and if you can believe it, it's a cover up orchestrated by the rich and powerful.

We discuss Barbara's nightly disappearances, whether you could kill wildlife to survive, how relationships change over time, school dances, and our final end of book predictions.

Follow us, tap that 5-star like you also can’t wait to finish this book, hit us up on social (IG & TikTok), or at [email protected]

________________

We read books so you don't have to — but you can. Part comedy, part literary chaos — welcome to the group chat. Non-readers, listen weekly for chapter summaries. Readers, check out our Reader Calendar (pinned to socials) to read along with us.

>> Next pages: The God of the Woods by Liz Moore | p.388-END

>>> Next book & pages: A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay | p.1-58

John Paul Jr. has been found — beaten, drunk, and with a very suspicious bag containing a bloody item. Does the blood belong to missing Barbara Van Laar? Louise (camp counselor) is still being questioned in her jail cell, and if you can believe it, John Paul Jr.'s version of events doesn't bode well for her. A new character enters the story with some damning opinions about how the Van Laar family and Captain LaRochelle handled the search for Bear. The main suspect? Honestly, no idea.

We discuss when pride gets the best of you, the spicy moment between TJ and Louise, whodunit predictions, and — just like the campers — we play a little truth or dare.

Follow us, tap that 5-star like you also are gonna play truth or dare with your besties, hit us up on social (IG & TikTok), or at [email protected]

________________

We read books so you don't have to — but you can. Part comedy, part literary chaos — welcome to the group chat. Non-readers, listen weekly for chapter summaries. Readers, check out our Reader Calendar (pinned to socials) to read along with us.

>> Next pages: The God of the Woods by Liz Moore | p.307-388

Alibis are unraveling, evidence bags are turning up with things that shouldn't be in them, and the Van Laar Preserve is collecting casualties across every timeline. Tracy is lost in the woods screaming into the void. Louise is locked in an interrogation room with no lawyer and no options. Alice is sedated while the husband decided what’s best, and Carl wakes up to find out he's the primary suspect in Bear’s disappearance.

Timelines are colliding and it’s still ridiculously unclear where this book is headed. We discuss who the mysterious silver-haired figure in the woods is, if you—at 13—would have also followed the figure, getting legal representation, and what the cocaine in that evidence bag really means.

Follow us, tap that 5-star like you too want some answers (damnit), hit us up on social (IG & TikTok), or at [email protected]

________________

We read books so you don't have to — but you can. Part comedy, part literary chaos — welcome to the group chat. Non-readers, listen weekly for chapter summaries. Readers, check out our Reader Calendar (pinned to socials) to read along with us.

>> Next pages: The God of the Woods by Liz Moore | p.219-307

The Van Laar Preserve has already claimed one child — and nobody who was there during the search for Bear has recovered. We start to get a sense of what happened to Bear, who helped, and who might be carry secrets into his mysterious disappearance.

Fourteen years later, Barbara Van Laar is now missing, and the timelines are colliding. We travel from a seventeen-year-old Alice being swept into a marriage with a twenty-nine-year-old Peter Van Laar (woof), through the haunting search for Bear, and back to present day where Barbara is missing - or is she?

We discuss age gap relationships, sex education, and what black flies actually symbolize.

Follow us, tap that 5-star like you also didn’t know about penial explosions, hit us up on social (IG & TikTok), or at [email protected]

________________

We read books so you don't have to — but you can. Part comedy, part literary chaos — welcome to the group chat. Non-readers, listen weekly for chapter summaries. Readers, check out our Reader Calendar (pinned to socials) to read along with us.

>> Next pages: The God of the Woods by Liz Moore | p.153-219

It's 1975 in the Adirondack Mountains, and a girl is missing from her bunk at Camp Emerson. No flashlight. No note. Just gone. The problem? Almost nobody who should have been watching was actually where they were supposed to be.

God of the Woods by Liz Moore drops us into multiple timelines and perspectives from page one — a struggling camp counselor covering her tracks, a twelve-year-old girl who knows more than she's saying, a wealthy family with a devastating secret, and an escaped convict heading north through the woods. We discuss land ownership and old money, the origin of the word "panic," mother-daughter relationships, and the one rule that's going to matter more than anyone realizes: when lost, sit down and yell.

Follow us, tap that 5-star like you’re a f*cking good best friend (and if you get lost, sit down and yell), hit us up on social (IG & TikTok), or at [email protected]

________________

We read books so you don't have to — but you can. Part comedy, part literary chaos — welcome to the group chat. Non-readers, listen weekly for chapter summaries. Readers, check out our Reader Calendar (pinned to socials) to read along with us.

>> Next pages: The God of the Woods by Liz Moore | p.75-153

Five women. One unsolved case. And a system that failed them long before a killer did. Robert Kolker's Lost Girls brought these women back to life on the page — and the Netflix film tried to do the same on screen. But did it?

We break down the book to screen adaptation, dive into the perception of sex work, how socioeconomic standing shapes who gets justice, and what it means to tell these stories responsibly. We have opinions. We have feelings. And we're not holding back.

Follow us, tap that 5-star like we’re passionate about creating a safer world for everyone (and for Yana’s first Romantasy book: Fourth Wing), hit us up on social (IG & TikTok), or at [email protected]

________________

We read books so you don't have to — but you can. Part comedy, part literary chaos — welcome to the group chat. Non-readers, listen weekly for chapter summaries. Readers, check out our Reader Calendar (pinned to socials) to read along with us.

>> Next book & pages: The God of the Woods by Liz Moore | p.1-75

Well, to no one's surprise, Margaret gets fired — but our girls, the Bettys, show up in the best possible way. Charlotte opens a new chapter, and part of it involves evicting her entitled male therapist (it's as satisfying as it sounds #ClassicCharlotte). Viv has the most inconvenient timing imaginable. And out of nowhere, Jackie Kennedy becomes a rather significant part of Margaret's story — we have feelings.

In discussion, we dive into women supporting women, the “un-American way,” books that changed our lives (as the Feminine Mystique did for our girls), and what women of the 1960s fought for that we simply must not forget.

As always, we close out with book trivia, final ratings, and reviews.

Follow us, tap that 5-star like you also fight the good fight to not go back in time (or eat 3 jelly donuts and forge your husband’s signature), hit us up on social (IG & TikTok), or at [email protected]

________________

We read books so you don't have to — but you can. Part comedy, part literary chaos — welcome to the group chat. Non-readers, listen weekly for chapter summaries. Readers, check out our Reader Calendar (pinned to socials) to read along with us.

>> Next book & pages: The God of the Woods by Liz Moore | p.1-75

Bitsy gets news that should devastate her — but she responds with an enormous grin. Charlotte disappears for weeks, throws herself into her art, and comes back with an answer she's been searching for her whole life. And Margaret finally writes the piece she's been too scared to submit — but will she actually send it?

Follow us, tap that 5-star like you too are serving someone divorce papers that are sorely deserved, hit us up on social (IG & TikTok), or at [email protected]

________________

We read books so you don't have to — but you can. Part comedy, part literary chaos — welcome to the group chat. Non-readers, listen weekly for chapter summaries. Readers, check out our Reader Calendar (pinned to socials) to read along with us.

>> Next pages: The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick | p.302-END

Things are coming to a head. A graduation party turns scandalous — and produces some much needed evidence. Margaret finally loses her patience with Walt, and what follows between them is a long time coming. Loss has a way of changing people, and these pages don't let anyone off easy. To top it all off, Charlotte and Margaret have their first major friendship fight, and it doesn't end well for either of them.

We discuss the cost of speaking up, whether women — and men — can really “have it all,” and what happens when best friends tell each other the truth, even when it hurts.

Follow us, tap that 5-star like there is redemption for Walt (or you too believe in Taco Bell for president), hit us up on social (IG & TikTok), or at [email protected]

________________

We read books so you don't have to — but you can. Part comedy, part literary chaos — welcome to the group chat. Non-readers, listen weekly for chapter summaries. Readers, check out our Reader Calendar (pinned to socials) to read along with us.

>> Next pages: The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick | p.254-302