15 Best Picks From Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club That Will Hook You Instantly

Looking for the best books from Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club to add to your 2026 TBR? Let me help you with that. I really enjoy reading, especially novels that pull you in and stick with you long after you finish. Reese’s picks always have great variety, gripping plots, emotional storyline and unforgettable characters. So I’ve put together a selection of her top choices that are perfect for your reading list this year. You can check out the full list here.

I have even narrowed it down : Top 5 Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club Picks That Will Keep You Up All Night

Best Picks From Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club For 2026

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

November 25 Pick

I was completely drawn into this haunting story set on a remote island near Antarctica, where Dominic Salt and his three children guard the world’s largest seed bank. When a mysterious woman, Rowan, washes ashore during a brutal storm, their isolated life is shaken. The best part was the setting. It feels cold, lonely, and dangerous. Wild Dark Shore reads like a mix of literary fiction and thriller, emotional and suspenseful at the same time, and I couldn’t stop for a minute. This is one of the best books of 2025.

A family on a remote island. A mysterious woman washed ashore. A rising storm on the horizon.

Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. Home to the world’s largest seed bank, Shearwater was once full of researchers, but with sea levels rising, the Salts are now its final inhabitants. Until, during the worst storm the island has ever seen, a woman mysteriously washes ashore.

Isolation has taken its toll on the Salts, but as they nurse the woman, Rowan, back to strength, it begins to feel like she might just be what they need. Rowan, long accustomed to protecting herself, starts imagining a future where she could belong to someone again.

But Rowan isn’t telling the whole truth about why she set out for Shearwater. And when she discovers sabotaged radios and a freshly dug grave, she realizes Dominic is keeping his own secrets. As the storms on Shearwater gather force, they all must decide if they can trust each other enough to protect the precious seeds in their care before it’s too late―and if they can finally put the tragedies of the past behind them to create something new, together.

A novel of breathtaking twists, dizzying beauty, and ferocious love, Wild Dark Shore is about the impossible choices we make to protect the people we love, even as the world around us disappears.

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Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall

March 2025 Pick

I was swept into this emotional story about Beth, whose quiet life with her kind husband Frank is disrupted when her first love, Gabriel, returns to their village. Moving between past and present, Broken Country slowly builds into something darker and more explosive than I expected. It feels like a love story layered with the suspense of a thriller, full of longing, regret, and impossible choices. The atmosphere is heavy, nostalgic, and gripping from start to finish. This is one of the most memorable audiobooks books I’ve listened to In 2025.

Beth and her gentle, kind husband Frank are happily married, but their relationship relies on the past staying buried. But when Beth’s brother-in-law shoots a dog going after their sheep, Beth doesn’t realize that the gunshot will alter the course of their lives. For the dog belonged to none other than Gabriel Wolfe, the man Beth loved as a teenager—the man who broke her heart years ago. Gabriel has returned to the village with his young son Leo, a boy who reminds Beth very much of her own son, who died in a tragic accident.

As Beth is pulled back into Gabriel’s life, tensions around the village rise and dangerous secrets and jealousies from the past resurface, this time with deadly consequences. Beth is forced to make a choice between the woman she once was, and the woman she has become.

A sweeping love story with the pace and twists of a thriller, Broken Country is a novel of simmering passion, impossible choices, and explosive consequences that toggles between the past and present to explore the far-reaching legacy of first love.

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The First Time I Saw Him by Laura Dave

January 2026 Pick

I found the sequel , The First Time I Saw Him just as gripping as the first book, throwing me straight back into Hannah and Bailey’s world five years after Owen’s disappearance. When Owen suddenly reappears, their fragile sense of safety shatters, and they are forced to run once again. The story moves fast, with constant tension and emotional stakes, as Hannah risks everything to protect Bailey.

Laura Dave continues Hannah Hall’s pulse-pounding journey in the riveting and deeply moving sequel to the #1 New York Times bestselling blockbuster and Apple TV+ show, The Last Thing He Told Me.

Five years after her husband, Owen, disappeared, Hannah Hall and her stepdaughter, Bailey, have settled into a new life in Southern California. Together, they’ve forged a relationship with Bailey’s grandfather Nicholas and are putting the past behind them.

But when Owen shows up at Hannah’s new exhibition, she knows that she and Bailey are in danger again.

Hannah and Bailey are forced to go on the run in a relentless race to keep their past from catching up with them. As a thrilling drama unfolds, Hannah risks everything to get Bailey to safety—and finds there just might be a way back to Owen and their long-awaited second chance.

A gripping, rich, and deeply moving novel about the power of forgiveness, The First Time I Saw Him picks up right where the epilogue for the “genuinely moving” (The New York Times) The Last Thing He Told Me left off, giving listeners the eagerly awaited and absolutely exhilarating sequel to Dave’s global blockbuster.

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First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

January 2024 Pick

First Lie Wins is layered with multiple threads that slowly connect, and every chapter adds a new twist that keeps the tension high. It’s the kind of psychological thriller where nothing feels predictable, and you’re constantly trying to guess what’s real and what’s being hidden. Also read 35 Discussion-Worthy Book Club Questions For First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

Evie Porter has everything a nice, Southern girl could want: a perfect, doting boyfriend, a house with a white picket fence and a garden, a fancy group of friends. The only catch: Evie Porter doesn’t exist.

The identity comes first: Evie Porter. Once she’s given a name and location by her mysterious boss Mr. Smith, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it. Then the mark: Ryan Sumner. The last piece of the puzzle is the job.

Evie isn’t privy to Mr. Smith’s real identity, but she knows this job will be different. Ryan has gotten under her skin, and she’s starting to envision a different sort of life for herself. But Evie can’t make any mistakes—especially after what happened last time.

Because the one thing she’s worked her entire life to keep clean, the one identity she could always go back to—her real identity—just walked right into this town. Evie Porter must stay one step ahead of her past while making sure there’s still a future in front of her. The stakes couldn’t be higher—but then, Evie has always liked a challenge

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Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

August 2023 Pick

Listening to Tom Lake felt like spending quiet, meaningful days with a family. Ann Patchett’s gentle, emotional writing paired with Meryl Streep’s narration was such a perfect match. Her voice brought warmth, nostalgia, and depth to every scene. I loved the setting in Michigan, the cherry farm, and the way the story moves between past and present.There’s something comforting about the rhythm of the story, yet it’s also reflective and bittersweet. It’s one of those audiobooks that feels intimate, like someone is telling you their life story.  Also read book club questions Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

In this beautiful and moving novel about family, love, and growing up, Ann Patchett once again proves herself one of America’s finest writers.

In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family’s orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.

Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart. As in all of her novels, Ann Patchett combines compelling narrative artistry with piercing insights into family dynamics. The result is a rich and luminous story, told with profound intelligence and emotional subtlety, that demonstrates once again why she is one of the most revered and acclaimed literary talents working today.

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Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

July 2023 Pick

I finished Yellowface in one sitting because it was impossible to look away. I went in expecting something serious, but I didn’t expect such sharp satire mixed with thriller tension. Told from the perspective of a white author who steals the work of a deceased Chinese writer, the story is uncomfortable, bold, and disturbingly realistic. The narration is brilliant. Every chapter made me more uneasy in the best way. It’s fast, darkly funny, and deeply thought-provoking. Also read : Yellowface by R. F. Kuang Book Club Questions & Snack Ideas

Athena Liu is a literary darling and June Hayward is literally nobody.

White lies
When Athena dies in a freak accident, June steals her unpublished manuscript and publishes it as her own under the ambiguous name Juniper Song.

Dark humour
But as evidence threatens June’s stolen success, she will discover exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

Deadly consequences…
What happens next is entirely everyone else’s fault.

With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface grapples with questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation, as well as the terrifying alienation of social media. R.F. Kuang’s novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.

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Wrong place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister

August 2022 Pick

Wrong place Wrong Time hooked me with its clever mix of suspense and time travel. Watching the story unfold in reverse, as a mother moves backward through time to understand a crime her son commits, was both emotional and gripping. Each chapter reveals a new piece of the puzzle. I loved how the mystery and the emotional core of motherhood are woven together. It’s smart, fast-paced, and incredibly addictive. Read more: 33 Book Club Questions For Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister.

Can you stop a murder after it’s already happened?

It is midnight on the morning of Halloween, and Jen anxiously waits up for her 18-year-old son, Todd, to return home. But worries about his broken curfew transform into something much more dangerous when Todd finally emerges from the darkness. As Jen watches through the window, she sees her funny, seemingly happy teenage son stab a total stranger.

She doesn’t know who the victim is, or why Todd has committed such a devastating act of violence. All she knows is that her life, and Todd’s, have been shattered.

After her son is taken into custody, Jen falls asleep in despair. But when she wakes up… it is yesterday. The murder has not happened yet—and there may be a chance to stop it. Each morning, when Jen wakes, she is further back in the past, first weeks, then years, before the murder. And Jen realizes that somewhere in the past lies the trigger for Todd’s terrible crime…and it is her mission to find it, and prevent it from taking place.

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Honor by Thrity Umrigar

January 2022 Pick

Honor completely broke my heart. Set in India, it tells a deeply moving story filled with loss, love, and resilience. The emotions feel raw and real, and the characters stay with you long after the final page. It’s the kind of novel that makes you pause. If you enjoy books that leave a lasting emotional impact, this one is unforgettable.

In this riveting and immersive novel, bestselling author Thrity Umrigar tells the story of two couples and the sometimes dangerous and heartbreaking challenges of love across a cultural divide.

Indian American journalist Smita has returned to India to cover a story, but reluctantly: long ago she and her family left the country with no intention of ever coming back. As she follows the case of Meena—a Hindu woman attacked by members of her own village and her own family for marrying a Muslim man—Smita comes face to face with a society where tradition carries more weight than one’s own heart, and a story that threatens to unearth the painful secrets of Smita’s own past. While Meena’s fate hangs in the balance, Smita tries in every way she can to right the scales. She also finds herself increasingly drawn to Mohan, an Indian man she meets while on assignment. But the dual love stories of Honor are as different as the cultures of Meena and Smita themselves: Smita realizes she has the freedom to enter into a casual affair, knowing she can decide later how much it means to her.

In this tender and evocative novel about love, hope, familial devotion, betrayal, and sacrifice, Thrity Umrigar shows us two courageous women trying to navigate how to be true to their homelands and themselves at the same time.

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The Last Thing he Told Me by Laura Dave

May 2021 Pick

At first, I felt a little lost trying to understand the relationships and dynamics between the characters. But once everything started to fall into place, I became completely absorbed. It soon became clear that the emotional heart of the story is the bond between Hannah and Bailey. Their connection, built on trust, fear, and unconditional love, gives the book its strength. As the plot unfolds, the tension rises, but it’s their relationship that truly carries the story. I ended up really invested in both of them, and that emotional focus is what made the book so satisfying to read. Also read, 11 Thriller Books Like The Last Thing He Told Me

Before Owen Michaels disappears he smuggles a note to his beloved wife of one year: Protect her. Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows to whom the note refers—Owen’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child and wants nothing to do with her new stepmother.

As Hannah’s increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered, as the FBI arrests Owen’s boss, as a U.S. marshal and federal agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn’t who he said he was. Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen’s true identity—and why he really disappeared.

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Infinite Country by Patricia Engel

March 2021 Pick

Infinite Country is a deeply emotional story about separation, loss, and the powerful desire to be reunited with the people you love. The characters go through immense pain, yet there is always a thread of hope running through the narrative. The writing captures the longing and heartbreak of families pulled apart by circumstances beyond their control. I found myself emotionally involved from the start, rooting for them to find their way back to each other.

For readers of Valeria Luiselli and Edwidge Danticat, an urgent and lyrical novel about a Colombian family fractured by deportation, offering an intimate perspective on an experience that so many have endured—and are enduring right now.

At the dawn of the new millennium, Colombia is a country devastated by half a century of violence. Elena and Mauro are teenagers when they meet, their blooming love an antidote to the mounting brutality of life in Bogotá. Once their first daughter is born, and facing grim economic prospects, they set their sights on the United States.

They travel to Houston and send wages back to Elena’s mother, all the while weighing whether to risk overstaying their tourist visas or to return to Bogotá. As their family expands, and they move again and again, their decision to ignore their exit dates plunges the young family into the precariousness of undocumented status, the threat of discovery menacing a life already strained. When Mauro is deported, Elena, now tasked with caring for their three small children, makes a difficult choice that will ease her burdens but splinter the family even further.

Award-winning, internationally acclaimed author Patricia Engel, herself the daughter of Colombian immigrants and a dual citizen, gives voice to Mauro and Elena, as well as their children, Karina, Nando, and Talia—each one navigating a divided existence, weighing their allegiance to the past, the future, to one another, and to themselves. Rich with Bogotá urban life, steeped in Andean myth, and tense with the daily reality for the undocumented in America, Infinite Country is the story of two countries and one mixed-status family—for whom every triumph is stitched with regret and every dream pursued bears the weight of a dream deferred.

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The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi

 May 2020 Pick

This historical novel set in India is a beautiful story of independence, self-worth, and personal growth. Lakshmi’s journey is inspiring as she fights to build a life on her own terms in a society that constantly tries to limit her. I especially loved the audiobook version. The cultural details, the relationships, and Lakshmi’s determination made every chapter engaging. Her strength and resilience make her a character you can’t help but root for. The Henna Artist is uplifting, emotional, and wonderfully immersive.

Vivid and compelling in its portrait of one woman’s struggle for fulfillment in a society pivoting between the traditional and the modern, The Henna Artist opens a door into a world that is at once lush and fascinating, stark and cruel.

Escaping from an abusive marriage, seventeen-year-old Lakshmi makes her way alone to the vibrant 1950s pink city of Jaipur. There she becomes the most highly requested henna artist—and confidante—to the wealthy women of the upper class. But trusted with the secrets of the wealthy, she can never reveal her own…

Known for her original designs and sage advice, Lakshmi must tread carefully to avoid the jealous gossips who could ruin her reputation and her livelihood. As she pursues her dream of an independent life, she is startled one day when she is confronted by her husband, who has tracked her down these many years later with a high-spirited young girl in tow—a sister Lakshmi never knew she had. Suddenly the caution that she has carefully cultivated as protection is threatened. Still she perseveres, applying her talents and lifting up those that surround her as she does.

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The Guest List by Lucy Foley

June 2020 Pick

This was such a fun, fast-paced thriller filled with secrets and multiple points of view. Even with so many narrators, I never felt confused. In fact, the shifting perspectives made the story more intense, as each character revealed just enough to keep me guessing. Everyone is hiding something. Foley’s dramatic storytelling keeps you hooked from the very first page. It’s atmospheric, suspenseful, and perfect if you love closed-door mysteries where every character feels suspicious. Also check out : 28 The Guest List Book Club Questions & Snack Ideas

A wedding celebration turns dark and deadly in this deliciously wicked and atmospheric thriller reminiscent of Agatha Christie from the New York Times bestselling author of The Hunting Party.

The bride – The plus one – The best man – The wedding planner – The bridesmaid – The body

On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.

But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.

And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?

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Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

September 2018 Pick

I wasn’t sure I would enjoy a book so rich in description, since that usually slows me down, but this one completely surprised me. The writing is vivid without ever feeling heavy, and the emotional journey of Kya is what truly makes the story unforgettable. Watching her grow, survive, and find her place in the world was deeply moving. The simplicity of the plot, paired with strong character development and beautiful nature writing, made it incredibly powerful. It’s one of those rare books that is both gentle and heartbreaking at the same time. Also check out 26 Unputdownable Books Like Where The Crawdads Sing.

For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet fishing village. Kya Clark is barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when the popular Chase Andrews is found dead, locals immediately suspect her.

But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life’s lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world—until the unthinkable happens.

In Where the Crawdads Sing, Owens juxtaposes an exquisite ode to the natural world against a profound coming of age story and haunting mystery. Thought-provoking, wise, and deeply moving, Owens’s debut novel reminds us that we are forever shaped by the child within us, while also subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

The story asks how isolation influences the behavior of a young woman, who like all of us, has the genetic propensity to belong to a group. The clues to the mystery are brushed into the lush habitat and natural histories of its wild creatures.

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The Last Mrs Parrish by Liv Constantine

December 2017 Pick

The Last Mrs Parrish is a slow-burn psychological thriller that gradually tightens its grip. At first, everything feels calm and almost ordinary, but little by little, cracks begin to show. I loved how the story plays with trust and hidden motives. By the end, I was completely caught up in the drama and couldn’t stop thinking about it. Also read : 26 Book Club Questions For The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine

Amber Patterson is fed up. She’s tired of being a nobody: a plain, invisible woman who blends into the background. She deserves more—a life of money and power like the one blond-haired, blue-eyed goddess Daphne Parrish takes for granted.

To everyone in the exclusive town of Bishops Harbor, Connecticut, Daphne—a socialite and philanthropist—and her real-estate mogul husband, Jackson, are a couple straight out of a fairy tale.

Amber’s envy could eat her alive . . . if she didn’t have a plan. Amber uses Daphne’s compassion and caring to insinuate herself into the family’s life—the first step in a meticulous scheme to undermine her. Before long, Amber is Daphne’s closest confidante, traveling to Europe with the Parrishes and their lovely young daughters, and growing closer to Jackson. But a skeleton from her past may undermine everything that Amber has worked towards, and if it is discovered, her well-laid plan may fall to pieces.

With shocking turns and dark secrets that will keep you guessing until the very end, The Last Mrs. Parrish is a fresh, juicy, and utterly addictive thriller from a diabolically imaginative talent.

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Eleanor Oliphant is completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

 June 2017 Pick

Eleanor Oliphant is completely Fine is deeply touching, beautifully written, and emotionally powerful. Honeyman’s storytelling is gentle yet profound. I absolutely adored Eleanor, her awkwardness, honesty, and unique way of seeing life made her both funny and heartbreaking. As her story unfolds, you begin to understand the trauma she carries and the strength it takes for her to heal. It’s a book about kindness, connection, and learning how to open your heart. It’s also one of the unforgettable books I’ve read as a book blogger.

No one’s ever told Eleanor that life should be better than fine.

Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy.

But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.

Soon to be a major motion picture produced by Reese Witherspoon, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is the smart, warm, and uplifting story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes. . .

The only way to survive is to open your heart.

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There you have the list of must-read books from Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club.

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