Reese Witherspoon Names Her Book Club’s Pick for August originally appeared on Parade.
Pull up your favorite reading chair and get cozy, because Reese Witherspoon just named Reese’s Book Club’s August pick.
In a sweet video posted to Instagram, Witherspoon, 49, announced this month’s pick, a hotly anticipated moment for readers and fans of the trendsetting book club.
“Say hello to our August 2025 @reesesbookclub pick: ‘Once Upon a Time in Dollywood’ by @ashleyjordanwrites! 💛 A #LitUp Fellow turned debut author, Ashley’s voice is vibrant, funny, and full of heart. I read this in one sitting, it’s that good! 📚✨,” she captioned the post.
In the video, Witherspoon clutches her personal copy, and admits to having read Once Upon a Time in Dollywood in just one sitting.
“It’s about this Haitian-American playwright, and she’s burned out on life in the city, in New York. So, she goes down to her grandmother’s tiny little cabin in Chattanooga, Tennessee. There happens to be a very handsome guy that lives next door,” she says, teasing at the plot of the book. “It’s funny and it’s real. You feeling like you’re talking to one of your best friends.”
Once Upon a Time in Dollywood is author Ashley Jordan’s debut novel. She is also a LitUp fellow, a program established by Reese’s Book Club that helps promote new authors. With its reach and following, Reese’s Book Club is a powerful platform and tremendous launch pad for new voices.
Reese Witherspoon, through Reese’s Book Club, is not only known for picking top-tier reads, but for elevating female voices. Several of the books selected in previous years have gone on to dominate not just the New York Times Best Sellers list, but streaming platforms, too. Titles including Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, and Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty have been adapted into hit series for streamers like Hulu and and Amazon Prime Video.
July’s pick was Spectacular Things by Beck Dorey-Stein, and other Reese’s Book Club picks for 2025 so far include The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan, Isola by Allegra Goodman, Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall, All That Life Can Afford by Emily Everett, Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry and The Phoenix Pencil Company by Allison King.
Witherspoon introduced Reese’s Book Club in 2017. Every month, the Academy Award-winning actor, producer, and entrepreneur personally chooses one book that centers around a female character to share with her followers. Aside from having a female protagonist, her picks are extremely diverse, spanning several genres, from mystery to romance, thrillers and more.
In 2024, in an interview with The New York Times, Witherspoon shared that in starting Reese’s Book Club, she aimed to “bring the book club out of your grandma’s living room and online.”
It’s safe to say that she’s done all of that and so much more.
Reese Witherspoon Names Her Book Club’s Pick for August first appeared on Parade on Aug 5, 2025
This story was originally reported by Parade on Aug 5, 2025, where it first appeared.