February Invite & January Replay: "Reading with Wonder" Book Club

+ Discussion Qs for our February Book Pick, THE WAY OF INTEGRITY

Evelyn Skye and Joanna Phoenix

Jan 27, 2026

∙ Paid

Hello, Protagonists! In this post, you’ll find:

🎥 The video replay of our January meeting
📚 Your invitation + discussion questions for THE WAY OF INTEGRITY, our next Book Pick
🗓️ Upcoming Book Club Picks
💛 RSVP & Zoom link (below the paywall)

xo,

Joanna & Evelyn

The “Reading with Wonder” Book Club is for our community members who want to dive even deeper into how great books work. Come nerd out with us! 🤓

🎥 Replay: The Favorites

If you missed our last Book Club meeting, you can now watch the full replay above.

We had such a fantastic discussion of The Favorites and talked about:

The novel is a retelling of Wuthering Heights.
- How this influenced character development and plot in good ways, as well as ways that being a retelling hampered the story.
- Kat and Heath are bound together by trauma, ambition, and shared goals. We discussed how this made sense or didn’t, and how it built the plot.
The story uses multiple formats: Kat’s first-person voice, flashbacks, interview transcripts of a fictional documentary.
- How this structure affected the book?
  - Pacing
  - Toxic relationship - inside and outside perspective
  - Female ambition - bitchy? annoying? necessary given her background?
The title The Favorites suggests many layers—what does it mean? Favorites in competition, fandom, media, “favorites” that people root for?
- Also, Bella and Kat’s strange friendship—were they truly friends? Did you feel this as a reader? what about as a writer?
Character transformation—how this can affect pacing, for better or for worse.
Was this a romance (genre-wise)? What elements make it not a romance but maybe something else?

During the Mini Creativity Coaching portion, we explored:

A Guided Creative Goal Imagining in the New Year - you can do this 20-minute exercise with a pen and paper—do it on your own or follow along with us in our recording:
- Reflect on 2025
  - List 3 moments you were proud of and want to cherish.
  - List 3 moments in your creative life that felt fulfilling, joyful, or alive.
  - List 3 areas of tension in your creative life (maybe something that didn’t go well, didn’t feel good, or that you wish had been different).
    - Looking at these lists, take note of which areas of tension need support with your values, capacity, or growth.
  - List 3 projects or relationships that supported you or moved you forward.
  - Look over your 2025 reflection—were there any throughlines? What are the themes? And what do you need to make sure you don’t forget?
- Imagine 2026
  - Now, imagine that it’s January 2027. What are 3 things you're proud of (i.e. commitments you kept, ways that you showed up, relationships you’ve built, etc.)?
  - Consider your 2026 list and distinguish your outcome vs process goals.
    - Outcome examples: “I got a book deal.” “I bought a house.”
    - Process examples: “I wrote consistently through the year.” “I exercised every week for 52 weeks.”
  - If you have anything listed as an outcome, is there a process that you could provide yourself with instead to empower yourself?
    - For example,=, if you want to sign a book deal (outcome), you can’t control that, but you can commit to querying 50 agents (process).

As always, the replay is available to paid subscribers to keep our discussions cozy and private.

📚 You’re Invited: The Way of Integrity

Whether you’re a curious reader or a fellow writer, we’d love to have you join us. No need to be “an expert”—just bring your thoughts and your love of books.

Our next Book Club pick is:

The Way of Integrity by Martha Beck - Inspired by Dante’s The Divine Comedy, Martha Beck maps out a four-stage journey to help readers reclaim their wholeness and reduce their anguish. She combines expert coaching techniques with practical advice to help us distinguish our true desires from societal pressures. Ultimately, this guide offers a path away from negative habits that zap our authenticity and toward a life of deep purpose and happiness.

Audiobook is highly recommended—because Beck narrates it herself and it’s partly about her own journey.

Join us for a creative stroll through hell! 😆

Meeting Date:

Wednesday, February 25, 2026
8pm ET / 5pm PT
Zoom link below

💬 During the book discussion, we’ll chat about:

During our book club, we’ll walk through Beck’s version of the Divine Comedy with a focus on our creative life.

The Dark Wood of Error (Recognizing Misalignment with Self)
- The Body Compass: Beck argues that the body doesn’t lie. Have you ever had a physical reaction to a project you were working on? Did your body try to tell you that a certain story, genre, or plot point was “wrong” for you before your mind admitted it?
Hell: The Inferno (Identifying the Lies)
- Culture vs. Nature: One of Beck’s core concepts is the battle between our “Nature” (who we are) and “Culture” (who society tells us to be). As creatives, what cultural scripts are we following? For example, “You can’t make money from art,” “You must publish by age 30,” “Real writers suffer.”
- The Lie of “Should”: What is one thing you are writing or pursuing right now only because you think you should? If you dropped the “should,” what would happen to your work?
Purgatory (The Practice of Alignment with Self)
- The Withdrawal from Praise: Creatives can be hungry for the “hit” of validation—likes, publication, glowing reviews. Beck warns that stepping into integrity often means disappointing people. Are you willing to write something that your current audience (or family) might dislike, if it means telling your truth?
- The “One Degree” Turn: Beck suggests we don’t need to blow up our lives, but rather make small, one-degree turns toward truth. What is a “one-degree turn” you can make for your creative life this week to bring it closer to your integrity?
Paradise (The Flow and Wholeness of Integrity)
- Defining “Integral” Success: Beck redefines success not as achievement, but as alignment. If you removed sales, agents, and reviews from the table, what does “success” look like for your creative soul right now?
- The Feeling of Flow: Beck describes the state of integrity as one in which magic seems to happen and things become effortless. Have you experienced this specifically in your writing or other area of your creative life? What conditions allowed that flow to happen?

💬 During the Mini Creativity Coaching portion, we will do a creative exercise inspired by the book.

The 10-Minute Truth: Beck challenges readers to go 24 hours without telling a single lie. We’ll make this challenge a 10-minute writing sprint with the prompt: "What I am really trying to say is..." Write without stopping or censoring, even if what comes out is scary or "bad."