InStyle Book Club: 6 February Titles You'll Want to Read—and Share

The title of this novel sums up its central character to a tee: Paula Vauss is an Atlanta-based divorce lawyer, whose life drastically changes when she suddenly receives a cryptic message from her estranged mother, Kai, a free-spirited Bohemian with skeletons in her closet whom she hasn't spoke with for 15 years. When one of the aforementioned secrets comes to the fore, Paula begins a daunting journey to find Kai, and ironically, repair her own family.

If you occasionally partake in culinary pleasures, you'll probably enjoy digging into Ashley Warlick's novelization of beloved food writer M. F. K. Fisher's life, which follows her through Los Angeles, France, and the Swiss Alps as she attempts to navigate the complexities of her own marriage—the fate of which becomes unclear after she engages in a salacious, one-night affair with her husband's friend.

The next Gone Girl is a title that's been tossed around considerably in literary circles, but Kepnes's sophomore effort is worthy of the comparison. It's told from the perspective of Joe Goldberg, a charming, Patrick Bateman-esque sociopath in his mid-thirties who's buried four of his exes. In a last-ditch effort to put the past behind him, he heads west to L.A. in search of love, until his proverbial skeletons wind up ruthlessly tormenting him.

If you took to Lovely Bones, you'll be completely engrossed by Guskin's mystery, which meticulously weaves together a web of sympathetic, multi-dimensional characters through alternating chapters. There's Noah, a quixotic 4-year-old; Janie, an architect and single mother; Jerome, a psychologist specializing in reincarnation who's battling a life-threatening disease; and, miles away, Denise, a woman who's lost her son—all of which combine to give you plenty of fodder for your next book club.

Fans of Bret Easton Ellis's stream-of-consciousness narratives will enjoy Jasma's paean to New York City, which follows a group of twentysomethings navigating the adult world on a different coast, who are forced to grow up faster than they may have intended when one of their own is diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. 

This poignant story about friendship and manipulation follows Helen, an amateur photographer and recovering alcoholic who lost custody of her 7-year-old son, Ollie, after a DUI arrest. Her life is at an all-time low—taking portraits of school children and dabbling in online dating—when she meets an affluent philanthropic couple who generously takes her under their wing. But after Ollie witnesses an accident at the family's lake house, she's forced to decide just how much their friendship means to her.