The Mother-In-Law Book Club by Kate Hash is a delightful contemporary romance.
Andrea (Andi) Walker takes an assignment in Durham, North Carolina to escape from her problems in Boston. On the plane she gets into a minor altercation with two women, and after the flight lands, ends up being invited to join the book club of one of the women. When Andi takes an interest in a local professor, Dustin, she doesn’t immediately realize that the man is the son of her new friend.
While this might sound like the perfect set up for a romcom, this book was not that, in my opinion. I found The Mother-In-Law Book Club to be a lovely romance with a strong theme of found family, and was much more touching and emotional as a result. In fact, near the end of the book, I found myself very near to tears at one or two points.
The story is told in first person from Andi’s point of view, which is not my favourite point of view for a romance. I much prefer a third person point of view where the reader is given a glimpse into the thoughts of both main characters, but it was done well here and didn’t reduce my enjoyment of the story in any way.
I liked the fact that the main characters were older with Dustin being forty-two, and while I can’t find Andi’s age now, I feel like she is in her late thirties. I also loved the interplay between the characters of various generations, especially between Andi and the older ladies in the book club.
The only thing I didn’t like about the book was the conflict near the end of the book. I don’t think this is a spoiler since it’s mentioned in the blurb, but just in case, proceed with caution if you read the mext paragraph.
After everything we had learned about Andi’s soon to be ex, I could not believe that when he showed up at her door in Durham, she didn’t immediately slam the door in his face. And worse, I couldn’t believe she let Dustin leave without a word, and then actually considered going back to her ex. I read lots of romance, I get that the author was trying to create a conflict between Dustin and Andi, but I wanted to throw the book across the room…except it was an ebook and I didn’t want to break my ereader.
Even given my annoyance with that part of the story, I really enjoyed this book. It had a strong sense of found family, which I loved, and the characters felt like real people. I would recommend it to any lover of contemporary romance.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
The Mother-In-Law Book Club will be available on October 13 2026.
