On Reese’s radar: "I was a Reese's Book Club pick and this is what happened afterwards.”

“Life isn’t about perfection. There is no rule book. Life has many different chapters, and every chapter deserves celebrating.”

— Reese Witherspoon in her 2018 book Whiskey in a Teacup: What Growing Up in the South Taught Me About Life, Love and Baking Biscuits 

Imagine you’re an author opening your inbox to see an e-mail with the subject line, “Hi from Reese…” (Unless you actually know someone named Reese.)

Exactly three months ago this week, Marissa Stapley, author of the novel Lucky, became the first  — let’s call it inaugural; it’s so much more hopeful! — Canadian author to become a Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick of the Month. (We featured Lucky in this edition!)

Yes, we are talking about actress Reese Witherspoon, an avid-reader-turned-book-club-influencer-and-tastemaker.

With more than 2.2 million book lover followers who eagerly await Witherspoon’s monthly book club picks, very few authors will ever become a Reese’s Book Club Pick — it’s the equivalent of winning the publishing lottery (as every publisher, editor or author describes it.)

Ironically, we wrote about how much “luck" plays into getting your book published. But being a Reese’s Book Club Pick? For an author, it pretty much means your book is going to be read and read widely. In fact, it will most likely end up on the NYT bestseller list, which Lucky did!

Which — bare with me — leads me to want to talk about Stapley’s cat, her fashion faux pas meeting Witherspoon, their discussion over their respective husbands’ footwear (yes, Crocs were mentioned) and how good, or bad, she is at keeping secrets. Stapley had to keep the fact she was going to be a Reese’s Book Club pick secret for three months prior to Reese’s public announcement 12 weeks ago — three months ago today.

When I originally read the news, I was ecstatic for Stapley. I have been a longtime fan of her previous novels, which you can find here. 

But I wanted to know more than just how she found out she was going to be a Reese’s Book Club pick. I wanted to know exactly what she was wearing at the time, what Reese was wearing when they met, how they met, and even as you can see above, what the subject line was in Witherspoon’s emails to Stapley.

Basically, I wanted to know all the terms and conditions. Nothing annoys me more than a story that leaves out details people really want to know, even if they won’t admit it.

There’s a reason entertainment hosts ask celebrities on red carpets, “Who are you wearing?” Because people want to know what celebrities are wearing! 

Have you ever heard a host ask a celebrity on the red carpet, “Who’s taking care of your children tonight?” or “What are your thoughts on Bitcoins?” No. Just tell us if you’re wearing Versace!

When the news first broke that Stapley was going to be a Reese’s Monthly Book Club Pick — and this was newsworthy! The first female Canadian author to ever be chosen since Reese started her book club in 2017! You go, girl! — I wanted to know ALL the details. Just like people who actually read the terms and conditions after checking the little box. (Who does this? Weirdos!)

Do you know who really benefited from this unbelievable achievement after Lucky made the New York Times Bestsellers list? 

Oscar did. Who the hell is Oscar?

Oscar is Stapley’s black cat. (Perhaps we will look back at this story in a couple of years and agree, “Wow! That really was an aptly named cat!”)

You can read some facts about her finding out as well as the announcement, but sometimes I find it even more interesting to revisit a story to learn all about the aftermath. 

Often, journalists cover stories and then forget about them. But usually, there's more to the story after the story. And sometimes subjects — like Stapley — are more willing to share, as it’s likely they were either in a state of shock at the time or too worried under all that pressure that they would say something they shouldn’t.

I wanted to know if her life had changed. So, I reached out to Stapley via her website (read about the importance of having an author’s website here!)

Now, exactly three months later, Stapley says being a Reese Book Club pick still feels like a “great dream.” 

“My editor said something so great to me the night she told me. She said that I had three months to really, truly own this news. Because you can have these moments of ‘Aw, shucks, why me?’ ad also, ‘Oh, well, it’s just a lucky break, could have happened to anyone,’” says Stapley. 

“And yes, it was a lucky break. But meeting Reese’s team and hearing from readers, I also know that I can really own the fact that it’s also a great book, and is deserving of this recognition. I wrote it during a really tough time as a way to bring joy and magic and pure entertainment into my life, and I succeeded. To have it met with such enthusiasm from a huge celebrity is the best win Lucky could possibly have — and she definitely did deserve it.”

Every Reese’s pick gets — I did not know this — a print of a painting of their book cover done by Jane Mount. "It was waiting for me when I arrived home from L.A. and is now above my mantel, and it’s just the best thing! I look at it every day and feel the glow,” says Stapley.

Witherspoon clearly has the celebrity clout to catapult her monthly book club picks to the top of the bestseller lists.

Lucky did end up on the NYT bestsellers list. And, again, it was Stapley's cat who benefited the most, or at least as much as Stapley.

“You're going to laugh,” Stapley shared after I asked if she spoiled herself in celebration of the news — a new computer, a piece of jewellery, a new house — but nope! “I bought my cat a super plush new cat perch. I KNOW! Not exactly a luxurious splurge, but the one we had was so ratty. And my husband and I, on the many walks and talks about the Reese pick we had (when we couldn’t tell anyone), we would walk by a fancy pet supply store in our neighbourhood and look at this sort of ridiculously expensive cat tree…”

Both she and her husband are “obsessed” with Oscar, their “totally insane black cat.”

“I said to Joe that if Lucky hit the NYT list, we would buy that. It did, and so that night, we went and bought it. I truly didn’t need or want anything else. I had a trip to L.A. with my family, got to meet Reese, got on the NYT. With Covid, my clothes and shoes and bags just sort of sit there, so this was the thing I wanted.”

Stapley and Witherspoon also corresponded, again, when Lucky hit the New York Times list a couple of weeks after she announced the novel as her December 2021 book club pick. 

“She’s not just a huge star but a genuinely kind person who is passionate about the stories she loves and takes joy in lifting up female-centred stories,” says Stapley about Reese. “I CAN tell you I was sitting drinking wine at my breakfast bar with my best friend, and we were joking about how Reese was going to become my NEW best friend, and then the email came in at that moment. We both started screaming like we were 14-year-olds. It was great.”

Three months prior to the public announcement, Stapley had learned of the news at the Farmhouse Tavern in Toronto. Her agent, Samantha Haywood, invited her out to dinner, “ostensibly because we hadn’t seen each other for a while and needed a catchup.”

When she arrived, she saw that her editor, Nita Pronovost — also an incredible writer who wrote The Maid under the pen name Nita Prose — was also sitting a the table, which Stapley says was "a nice surprise, since due to the pandemic, they had not been out to celebrate the release in Canada in person.”

There was a bottle of champagne on the table. Stapley could tell they obviously had a secret, but she “had NO IDEA” what it could be.

The thought of one of her novels being a celebrity book club pick had never even entered Stapley’s mind. “No way! Never. I even had a close non-book world friend call me a few months before and say she had just read a certain Reese’s Pick and thought mine was just as good and should be a pick too.”

Stapley “sort of” laughed it off. (Because, as I said, it’s like winning the lottery!)

“Even the best most incredible books may never end up on Reese’s radar. It was the most incredible, fortuitous turn of events. Samantha, my agent, said they had something to tell me, and then she started taping with her phone. Nita went on this little speech about how they had the best, most excellent, most confidential news…and then she said it,” Stapley says.

“I cried. Immediately,” she continued. “It’s on video. Bawled my eyes out. People were staring. Then I said, ‘I have to call my husband.’”

So, how did she keep this secret for long? Stapley jokes she basically went into a self-imposed Witness Protection Program. “I’m so bad with secrets. I basically had to go underground,” she admits.

Looking back, she still has “no idea” how she managed to keep this news a secret for months. “It was so hard. I basically stopped talking to people, so when I told them, a few of my friends said, ‘Oh, I’m so glad this happened to you but also relieved because I thought we weren’t friends anymore. You stopped returning my calls!’”

Pressed further, she admits she actually did end up eventually telling her “inner circle” before the official announcement.

“There was zero chance I could be with a friend in person, have a glass of wine, and have her ask me, ‘so… how are things?’ and lie about this massive event in my life. I also told my dad,” she says.

“[Keeping this secret] was SO HARD. SERIOUSLY!” she writes out in ALL CAPS.

Since at first, along with her agent and editor, her husband was really the only person who knew, she says that between her and her husband, that was “all they talked about.”

Plus, they also had a “secret countdown” on the chalkboard in their kitchen leading up to the announcement.

And, she did call her closer writing community friends the day before she left for L.A. “because I knew I would be too busy to connect with anyone while on the trip. My good friend (author) Jennifer Robson screamed so loud, her husband and children came running. And I think (author) Chantel Guertin cried. (Author) Laurie Petrou could not believe I kept the secret this long. Everyone was so kind about it and so overjoyed.”

Stapley took her family to Los Angeles, where Reese made the announcement to her 2.2 million followers last December 7th. 

A few days before the announcement, Stapley received a personal email from Reese. “She was so gracious and kind,” says Stapley. “The public announcement happened early in L.A., so I was in my PJs. We were in our hotel room in Santa Monica basically freaking out, waiting for it to happen. Then it was announced on social, and my phone obviously blew up,” she says.

Stapley watched the video Reese posted on the way to breakfast that morning, sporting her favourite top and pair of jeans. “Finally, I just cranked up the volume on my phone and blared it like it was a book box. The great thing was there are a lot of quirky characters wandering around Santa Monica, so really, I just blended right in,” she says. “It was such a great moment. Even my teenage children were impressed, and for one day, I was not an embarrassment to them,” she adds.

That night, she would meet Reese in person at a cocktail party at the Reese’s Book Club Bookstore Pop-Up at West Century City Mall In L.A. 

“I was invited to attend by the Reese’s Book Club/Hello Sunshine team, and the event happened the day Lucky was announced as Reese’s Book Club’s December pick. It was such an honour!” says Stapley.

And how did Stapley prepare for the evening and meeting Reese? I was dying to know.

“I went into Target and bought a bunch of sheet masks because I needed to have great skin for the event that night. My daughter and I also went to get blowouts at a salon in Venice beach,” she says.

This is how Stapley describes meeting Witherspoon for the first time:

“She was so kind and friendly. Her team immediately got us set up for a photo together, and then we started chatting about the book and how much she loved Lucky. It was kind of overwhelming — she had sent me an email about it a few days before the announcement, but to hear her tell me what a great character she thought Lucky was and how much she truly enjoyed the book was a great moment.”

So, what was Reese wearing? “A really cute houndstooth (I think?) wool coat over jeans and black heels. “She looked great, of course!”

Stanley, in fact, has been a Reese fan since she was 13 years old and watched Witherspoon star in The Man in the Moon. 

“I have adored her and everything she has done since. She is truly incredible. Talented, driven — and now that I’ve met her, I can confirm, kind and genuine and just as fantastic as you’d expect,” Stapley says.

But the two didn’t ONLY talk about her novel. (Trigger Warning: Crocs are involved!)

“We somehow ended up talking about how our husbands had really not been dressing up to our standards during the pandemic and had taken Crocs from something you wear in the garden to regular everyday footwear," Stapley spills. “We had a good laugh over that, chatted about the book a lot and just really connected. It was unforgettable! I love her even more now, of course.”

And did Stapley pretty herself up for meeting Reese?

“OF COURSE. Funny story, though, I thought I looked great and was totally pulled together — great pencil skirt, which incidentally almost matched Reese’s fabulous wool jacket, black top, and excellent shoes — and then when I got back to my hotel room, I realized my skirt had been on backwards the entire time.”

 Stapley, along with being one of the kindest authors with a wonderful sense of humour, immediately posted her fashion faux pas to her Instagram story “to remind my friends and followers that although I was in L.A. having the time of my life, hanging out with Reese…I was definitely still me.”

“Also, I meant to tell you, the way a person can wear a pencil skirt backwards is side zippers…and also, maybe it wasn’t exactly a pencil skirt; it had pleats at the front (or in my case…the back),” she wrote me the following day, after I thanked her for answering my questions. But I had some follow-ups: How does one put on a pencil skirt backwards, and what has changed for Stapley now, three months later? 

“Well, now I’m a New York Times bestselling author, which is a huge deal, and I can put that on my book covers until the end of time."

Her book sales increased exponentially. Lucky has been optioned for a TV series, as have her other books. (But this time, I feel like she’s hiding something bigger.)

I also asked if people treat her differently now. “Honestly, I don’t know that people really do treat me differently. I hear more from readers saying they loved the book, and I get asked to do more events, and it all feels very good.”

Stapley says — even against all odds — there is hope for other Canadian female authors to be Reese Book Club picks and international successes. "We [Canadians] should be getting attention because this country is full of fantastic writers and incredible books… I think it’s all really changing as more and more Canadian authors get attention for their incredible books on the international stage,” Stapley continues. “But I suppose it’s hard because the U.S. is so huge, and there is just so much competition.” 

“I’m not sure exactly how [Canadian authors could find more success],” she admits because, as most in publishing will agree, “publishing is honestly just such a big mystery to everyone sometimes. But big book club picks are a start.”

As much as it still feels like a dream, it has not always been easy. She wrote Lucky while taking care of her dying mother who demanded she write at the same time. 

“It has been hard to have my mom absent. I know she can see me somewhere out there, but it definitely made it more of a roller coaster of emotions.” 

“Sometimes I would just cry, because it was just too many times in one day I’d want to pick up the phone and call her,” says Stapley. “I have a good therapist, a great husband, and great friends I can reach out to when it gets to be too much up and down. I think about her all the time.”   

“And then … just before Christmas, we got Covid,” she shares. “So, I ended up sick and in isolation, which was kind of sad. But nothing could take away from the joy I felt being a Reese’s pick and seeing Lucky on the NYT bestsellers list. And the trip to L.A. with my family was really just an amazing week-long celebration.”

Stapley has had celebrities read her books before — a few years ago, Katherine Heigl was photographed reading Stapley’s The Last Resort. (I loved it!)

“Nothing much happened, although the photo did end up in Entertainment Weekly, which was cool! But I think the book club picks just get so much attention because readers are waiting for them and get really excited to buy and read and discuss the book. I most certainly benefited from that, and I am so grateful for all the attention Lucky, and my backlist, as well as future books, have/will get.”

Although I forgot to ask about her husband’s Croc situation, I did ask if she kept anything from that trip and experience of a lifetime — like a souvenir.

"I think I’ll keep the skirt forever because it belonged to my mom. And my husband bought me a Hollywood Walk of Fame magnet with “Marissa” on the Hollywood star as a reminder of how much of a star I felt that week!" she says.

But, Stapley adds, “I’m still the same backwards skirt-wearing writer I always was. Nothing has changed on a fundamental level.”