The Quitter’s Club (by Jessica Strawser)
As a huge fan of Jessica Strawser’s novels, I was thrilled when her latest, The Quitter’s Club, was available through Amazon’s First Reads program for May. It was an obvious pick for me that month. When I learned through her email newsletter that the story is set at our alma mater, Ohio University, I couldn’t wait to dive in.
The Quitter's Club follows four lifelong friends who, years into adulthood, find themselves quietly suffocating under the weight of lives that no longer fit. When they finally carve out time for a long-overdue getaway, an honest—and maybe slightly wine-fueled—conversation leads to an unlikely pact: they'll each commit to quitting something. Not in a giving-up way, but in a this-isn't-working-and-I-deserve-better way. One is wrestling with a marriage that's more habit than happiness. Another is grieving a loss she hasn't let herself fully feel. Others are clinging to dreams deferred for so long they've started to feel like someone else's. Together, they agree to stop white-knuckling it through the hard stuff and actually support each other through the messier work of letting go and figuring out what comes next.
Jessica weaves together themes of female friendship, midlife courage, and reinvention with characters who feel genuinely real—flawed in recognizable ways, funny when you don't expect it, and deeply human in how long they've waited to finally choose themselves.
I absolutely loved this book. I’ll admit I was initially hesitant because I’m not a fan of the cover—a classic case of judging a book by its cover, which matters a lot to a visual person like me. Yet the story completely outshone it. I genuinely loved each of these women and admired the bravery they showed in quitting something significant that was no longer serving them. Their individual journeys were both deeply moving and incredibly challenging. I was swept up in the joyful moments, stunned by their lowest points, and inspired by the strength of their long-standing friendship and sisterhood. Jessica delivers an impressive, creative storyline that feels authentic and empowering.
I especially loved the setting in Athens, Ohio. It was a warm, nostalgic pleasure to revisit familiar places from my own college days—I haven’t been back to campus since graduation, and this book brought it all back in the best way.
I’m looking forward to seeing Jessica again at The Back Room author event on June 7th, where she’ll be discussing The Quitter’s Club.
You’re welcome to read my reviews of her other novels or check out my blog posts about the author events where I’ve met her (linked below).
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