Hello & welcome to the Indie Author Weekly podcast, where I take you on the behind-the-scenes journey of my adventures as an indie author. I’m your host, Sagan Morrow, and I’m an 8-time polyamorous romcom author plus I’ve also written several business books for solopreneurs.
Since I just released my latest novel a couple weeks ago and you might be reading it right now, I thought it’d be fun to share with you some discussion prompts for your book club!
This novel is called “Small Town Stilettos: a modern marriage of convenience.” It’s a fun summertime read with an ambitious main character who knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to express herself, a love triangle with cinnamon roll heroes, small town vs big city vibes, only one bed trope, and so much more. It’s a fun romance story!
Small Town Stilettos deals with a variety of different themes and it’s the perfect novel to discuss at book club. Full details about the novel are available at SaganMorrow.com/books, and you can order your copy there too.
Without further ado, here are our book club discussion prompts…
- Small Town Stilettos deals with topics of grief, loss, and personal identity. What do you think of the way that Margaret handles this, and how she grows as a character in dealing with it over the course of the novel?
- In chapter 1, we find out that Margaret’s Great Aunt Eleanor is requiring Margaret to marry her childhood sweetheart, Logan Finley, in order to access her inheritance. How do you feel about Aunt Eleanor’s “meddling” from beyond the grave?
- When Margaret’s new friend Sophie is having some marital problems, Margaret herself begins to meddle in their relationship! What parallels do you see between Margaret and her Great Aunt Eleanor?
- Margaret is NOT a fan of Sophie’s husband — What do YOU think of Sophie's husband and the way Sophie handles her relationships challenges?
- Place yourself in Margaret’s shoes and imagine that you are being put in the position of a marriage of convenience in order to access your inheritance — how could you see yourself acting in such a situation?
- Margaret is staunchly childfree, she’s happily non-monogamous, she doesn’t want to get married, and she isn’t afraid to express what she wants. What do you think of her choices in contrast with social expectations of women?
- Logan wants Margaret to be exclusive with him if they’re going to be in a relationship. Do you agree with him? Why or why not?
- Matthew, Margaret’s other love interest, has made a few mistakes in his recent past. What are some of the ways you can see this drawing Margaret toward him, especially given how “perfect” Logan is? How much of herself might Margaret see in Matthew, and how might that increase her comfort around him compared to Logan?
- Margaret is a fat woman and she is a very fat positive person. In this novel, even though Margaret has run-ins with other characters, there are zero snide comments made about her weight. Any mentions of her appearance from other characters are solely about their attraction to her, for example, from the love interests, or her awesome style choices, because she’s a fashion designer — there is no mention of her weight. She herself also has no insecurities about her physical appearance. The only frustrations she has with being a fat woman are more broad concepts, such as how clothes typically aren’t designed for her body in mind. What do you think of this portrayal of fat positivity and how it differs from other ways you’ve seen it presented in fiction?
- What assumptions did you have before reading this book — for example, in terms of relationships, monogamy, personal identity, fat positivity, etc — and what new perspectives do you have as a result of reading this book?
There you have it — a whole set of book prompts you can use for your next book club! Grab a printable PDF version of this when you subscribe to my author newsletter at SaganMorrow.com/secretpodcast.
And of course, you’ll need a copy of Small Town Stilettos in order to make use of these book club prompts! Buy your copy of the book at SaganMorrow.com/books — link is in the show notes.
I would LOVE to hear what comes up for you as a result of discussing any or all of these with your book club. Please reach out to me at hello[at]saganmorrow[dot]com, or share your thoughts on Twitter or Instagram and tag me — my handle is @Saganlives. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!
That, my friend, is a wrap for today’s episode of Indie Author Weekly. Access the show notes for this episode, including all links and additional resources, at SaganMorrow.com/podcast.
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