Rush Book Club Kit

Rush by Lisa Patton is the official August 2020 pick for the Peanut Blossom Book Club for Recovering Readers.

A copy of the book Rush is on the table.

We are in the middle of the weirdest Back-to-School season in modern history.

When I chose the 2020 line-up for our book club picks, I had no idea the challenges college students and their parents would be facing right now.

August is traditionally the time for moving into a brand new dorm room, or if you were like me, signing up for Rush in the Greek system at college.

In honor of this exciting time of year for new college students, I thought it would be fun to dig in on this month’s book club pick: Rush by Lisa Patton.

Were you in a sorority in college?

I’m a proud Tri-Delt from the University of Wisconsin. Those years spent in the house with my sisters were some of the very best in my life.

I’ll be super curious to see what this month’s book has to say about Greek life and chat with you about it in the coming weeks.

Peanut Blossom Book Club

This book club pick is one of the awesome books from our sixth year of book club.

We’re still going strong! Want to join us?

You can join our book club for free by signing up for my email newsletter right here:

What Is Rush About?

“It’s move-in day for college freshmen on the Ole Miss campus. Nobody wants to fit in more than Cali, a bright, small town girl with family secrets too scandalous for the well-to-do to imagine.

Sorority rush is weeks away and without a pedigree, Cali doesn’t have much of a chance at membership. Her dorm room alone is as plain as a cardigan sweater, while the girls next door have one that would make the finest of designers swoon.

Wilda, Alpha Delta Beta alum and rush advisor, has a daughter rushing in the fall, but Lilith, the well-heeled House Corp President, sees Wilda as a pushover and will stop at nothing to ensure her own daughter’s legacy bid.

Inside the Alpha Delt house, Miss Pearl has been housekeeper and second mother to the girls for years, even though it reminds her of a painful part of her past. When a chance for promotion arises, Lilith slams her Chimmy Choo heel down fast, crushing Miss Pearl’s hopes of a better future.

But once Wilda and the girls find out, they devise a plan destined to change Alpha Delta Beta―and maybe the entire Greek system―forever.”

Get your copy of the book here.

Rush Book Club Discussion Questions

I believe the best book club questions to spark a lively discussion in your group help readers make personal connections to the story.

You can read about how to write the best book club questions on your own here, but hopefully these will get you started!

Be sure to check out the official discussion in our book club group right here.

Question 1:

Where you in a sorority in college? Did your college have a Greek system at all? What was your experience with these groups?

Question 2:

What did you think of the amount of money that was spent setting up the girls’ dorm rooms? How common do you feel that is today? What was your dorm room like?

Question 3:

Appearances are everything in the book Rush, how true do you think that is for member recruitment in the Greek system today? If you had a dark family secret, would you be worried to join in?

Question 4:

There are several micro-aggressions and flagrant racist acts throughout the story. At the Whitmore’s Grove Party, Wilda admits she ignores them out of politeness and fear. How do you react when confronted with this sort of behavior?

Question 5:

Lilith finally experiences great change, what do you think caused this: her separation from her beloved sorority or the separation from her beloved daughter?

Question 6:

The Alpha Delta Betas orchestrate great change within their house, do you think sororities are too stuck on tradition or are they capable of moving towards the future?

Question 7:

Why do you think the author opened the book with the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. quote: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, “What are you doing for others?”

Question 8:

If your child wanted to join a sorority in college, how would you respond?

Book Club Party Menu

When planning a book club menu for Rush, I would personally start with my own sorority’s famous rush dessert.

Our house mom always made sure we had a special mint ice cream torte with hot fudge topping to serve to our potential new members during the final round of recruitment. It was legendary because we only got to enjoy it that one time a year!

You could serve an elegant dessert table with bite-sized goodies. Don’t forget your monogram or Greek letters in the display!

Bake a pan of my sweet almond cake with almond icing, cut it into bite sized squares for serving on a tiered tray.

Add a bread basket filled with warm chocolate croissant puffs.

Pick up a batch of cheesecake bites and set them out with a pitcher of my homemade triple berry sauce for drizzling on top.

Use a boxed cake mix to make mini cupcakes and top them with an easy vanilla glaze and sprinkles.