The Best Feel Good Picks From The Read With Jenna Book Club

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This article contains spoilers for "Remarkably Bright Creatures" by Shelby Van Pelt, "Evvie Drake Starts Over" by Linda Holmes, "Nothing to See Here" by Kevin Wilson, and "Great Circle" by Maggie Shipstead.

Books are there to take readers to another world, mesmerize them with thrilling plotlines, or leave them hauntingly devastated with a sad ending. While those types of stories are undeniably riveting, sometimes we want to put down our latest reads with a smile, and Jenna Bush Hager's book club has plenty. That doesn't mean that everything is puppies and rainbows throughout — we've chosen ones that have plenty of drama and suspense to keep the pages turning.

Whether you're reading just for fun or with a book club, it's always nice to immerse yourself in a feel-good story. "Choose books that vary in perspective from yours. Or that vary from book to book and have different narrators. Choose books that you know will lead to conversations, but that you know are also really fun to read," Bush Hager suggested to Goodreads. Among the best Read With Jenna Book Club picks of all time are several titles that fall into this category, so if you're in search of a read to leave you feeling uplifted, look no further.

Shelby Van Pelt's novel, "Remarkably Bright Creatures," is a heartfelt tale of an elderly woman named Tova Sullivan who befriends a giant Pacific octopus at an aquarium where she works as a janitor. The book is told through her eyes, as well as Marcellus the octopus, and a man named Cameron Cassmore, who has a surprising connection to Sullivan. As she continues to work during her evening shifts, Sullivan confides to Marcellus about the son she lost years ago in a boating accident. When a twist of fate brings Cassmore and the janitor together, Marcellus helps the two realize that there's more to their relationship than colleagues at the aquarium, bringing closure to Sullivan's heartbreaking loss.

"Remarkably Bright Creatures" resonated with many readers, who loved all the different subplots that intertwined the characters. "This is a magnificent book – such a unique story, lots of heart-warming and funny moments — and a few tear-jerkers as well. There are a lot of unique qualities to an octopus and their intelligence that is shared within this novel, and the characters and places are very well thought out," a reviewer wrote on Amazon. Another shared, "I can't count how many times I smiled and chuckled as I read this book, and I LOVE IT when a book makes me feel real, physical emotion." Although you may shed some tears reading Bush Hager's May 2022 pick, Van Pelt's tale of loss and discovering love will have you rooting for Sullivan, Cassmore, and especially the crafty and wily Marcellus.

If you're all about celebrating a second chance at love, "Evvie Drake Starts Over" by Linda Holmes will give you that much-needed boost. After losing her husband to a car accident a year ago, Drake becomes a recluse, but it's not because she's grieving, which is what everybody thinks. On the contrary, she was planning on leaving him before he died, and that's a little secret she's happy to keep. Enter former New York Yankees player Dean Tenney, who needs a bit of an escape from his wonky pitching, and is renting out Drake's apartment on her property. Over time, the two develop an attraction to each other, and after some misunderstandings, personal growth, and a restart on life, Drake and Tenney find their own version of a happy ending.

"I loved the book. It's so much fun," Jenna Bush Hager stated on the "Today" show of the popular Jenna Book Club romance novel. She also praised the protagonist, who was emotionally abused by her late husband, for finding her own way without the help of a man. "One of the big things that she does is go to therapy. It's not just, you know, finding a new person," the author Holmes stated. In short, "Evvie Drake Starts Over" isn't just a romance novel — it's a multi-faceted story about a woman who overcomes a bad marriage and societal expectations with a strong girl-power message that readers will love.

Just the premise of "Nothing to See Here" by Kevin Wilson will make you chuckle. The protagonist, Lillian, is hired by her past friend Madison to be a nanny for her two twin step-children, Bessie and Roland. With nothing else going on in her life, Lillian agrees despite being told that the kids burst into flames every time they get overly excited. The problem is, Madison's husband has a highly public government position, and they need to keep the kids' condition under wraps. Lillian has finally found a purpose in life by taking care of Bessie and Roland, and through her guidance, they come to accept themselves for who they are, flames and all.

Jenna Bush Hager told People of her November 2019 pick, "I think it's the best book about what kids need, which is just really unconditional love. But it's also about twins who burst into flames. So who knows? There's a duality there." She added, "This book, to me, is the most profound book on how we can love our children — which is just simply love them and try to see them. It's also funny and wildly imaginative, and I couldn't recommend it more." A fan on Goodreads who agreed with Bush Hager wrote, "It takes a lot of skill for an author to write a book about children bursting into flames and do it in a way that makes it not only believable, but endearing. I absolutely loved this quirky, funny, and sweet story."

If you're hankering for an inspirational book about strong women who buck societal and patriarchal norms, get your hands on Maggie Shipstead's "Great Circle." The two-arc story follows a woman named Marian Graves who dreams of becoming a pilot during the World War II era. Despite all obstacles, she eventually makes it and escapes her abusive relationship by flying off to explore the world. Meanwhile, in the present time, disgraced actor Hadley Baxter is cast to play Graves in a biopic. She becomes entranced with the late pilot's life and discovers that Graves' story never ended after her apparent death.

While "Great Circle" is on the long side with over 600 pages, it's an epic tale that left readers moved by Graves overcoming harrowing circumstances to fulfill her dream. "The start of Shipstead's book ... is thrilling and complicated, with many different threads laid out and back stories carefully and richly wrought," author Lynn Steger Strong wrote for The New York Times. She added, "What's so impressive is how deeply we come to care about each of these people, and how the shape and texture of each of their stories collide to build a story all its own. The ending manages to pull each thread in a way that feels both thrilling and inevitable." There's a lot to unpack with "Great Circle," so we suggest grabbing your reading bestie to discuss details, because you'll find much to dissect with these heroic, yet relatably flawed characters.

With more than 80 books on Read With Jenna's list at the time of writing, there were plenty to browse through. For this list, we sought out titles that had an inspiring story arc that resulted in a happy ending or gave the reader a sense of closure, which we confirmed through the book descriptions. In all of our picks, the protagonists overcame some sort of obstacle and experienced personal growth, while forming connections through love and acceptance. We also took into account how readers felt about the books by perusing reviews from Amazon and Goodreads, as well as professional critiques. Many of the latter expressed how uplifted they felt after turning the last page.