September 2025 Book Club Pick: Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson
A new month means it’s time for a new virtual book club pick!
In August, the Just Jen Things virtual book club read The Other Side of Now by Paige Harbison. In our monthly chat, the ladies and I discussed how we enjoyed the elements of magical realism and the multiverse as our main character, Meg, journeyed from one life into another, learning a few lessons along the way. We liked the storyline of Meg’s double life and how sometimes in life you think you have everything you ever wanted, yet feelings of unfulfillment lead you to question the “What if?” of another choice you could have made (but didn’t) that would have completely altered your path. It got us thinking about core decisions we’ve made in our lives and how different of a reality we could be living had those decisions been made differently. For me, for example, what if I didn’t move to North Carolina in 2014 and stayed in Wisconsin? Or what if I went to one of the other colleges I got accepted to instead of going off to UWSP? In a world of endless “What ifs?”, we kept coming back to the book, rooting for Meg to find her way back to her OG life, because in the end, life is a series of choices we make — and those choices teach us lessons that make us who we are today. There’s a lot to appreciate in a book like this. Each of Meg’s lives had something the other didn’t, and within each life, Meg learned a lot about what it means to have perspective and accept the things you can’t change. An overall fun, feel-good book to chat about that rated quite high with some of us readers!
Before we hop to September’s book of the month, here’s a recap of all the books we’ve book clubbed about in 2025 (so far):
January: Mrs. Nash’s Ashes by Sarah Adler
February: The Favorites by Layne Fargo
And now for September!
The September 2025 Just Jen Things virtual book club pick is Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson. You might recognize Jackson’s name from the popular YA thriller A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, a book beloved by many readers, including me. What first drew me into this pick as a choice for September was the opening tagline in the book’s synopsis — “A twisty thriller about a young woman trying to solve her own murder.” Instant intrigue! And being that the seasons are changing, and spooky szn is almost here, a thriller feels like the right choice for this late-summer/early-fall transitional month. I bought the physical copy from Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, and I’m definitely looking forward to cozying up on my couch and cracking it open this weekend. Please don’t let me down Holly — I’m ready to be thrilled!
Here’s the synopsis from Goodreads:
A twisty thriller about a young woman trying to solve her own murder.
In seven days Jet Mason will be dead.
Jet is the daughter of one of the wealthiest families in Woodstock, Vermont. Twenty-seven years old, she’s still waiting for her life to begin. I’ll do it later, she always says. She has time.
Until Halloween night, when Jet is violently attacked by an unseen intruder.
She suffers a catastrophic head injury. The doctor is certain that within a week, the injury will trigger a deadly aneurysm.
Jet has never thought of herself as having enemies. But now she looks at everyone in a new light: her family, her former best friend turned sister-in-law, her ex-boyfriend.
She has at most seven days, and as her condition deteriorates she has only her childhood friend Billy for help. But nevertheless, she’s absolutely determined to finally finish something:
Jet is going to solve her own murder.
If you’re interested in joining the September discussion, let me know! We’d love to have you!
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Enjoy!
JBW