A Husband Asked a Man to Leave the Book Club Because the Women Were Getting Too Into Dark Romance — Internet Has a Lot to Say About That

A Reddit post about a neighborhood book club conflict has drawn more than 6,200 upvotes after a man described being asked to quit the group by a fellow member's husband. The individual claimed to be the only man in a group of married women at a book club.

One of their husbands decided to intervene, causing Reddit to sniff out the alleged jealousy. @Best-Pirate5073 wondered if he was overreacting after refusing a woman’s husband’s request to quit the club since they were going to be reading dark romance.

The man shared his story on the subreddit r/AmIOverreacting. He was part of a book club in his neighborhood for about a year. Now, this club consisted mainly of women in their late 20s to early 40s.

Every month, they’d switch both themes and houses.Their most recent pick was dark romance, which can get rather spicy. The OP revealed that although the theme wasn’t their choice, they’d spend time a different way.

The club would apparently only discuss character development, plot, and redemption factors of a character. Now, he clarified that apart from the club, he’d never personally hang out with any of the women.

At most, he’d exchange pleasantries with the women and their husbands if they stuck around. But things were about to change for him. 

A Husband From The Neighborhood Book Club Reached Out…

One day, he was loading a chair into his car when a husband of a woman from the club approached him and wanted to chat. Turns out, he wanted the man to quit coming. But why? Apparently, his was was “way too excited” ever since the club started discussing Dark Romance. 

Moreover, the husband found it “weird” that there was a guy in the midst of married women listening to them talk about Dark Romance. Additionally, the husband also clarified that there was no accusation of flirting or being inappropriate. 

The husband said he hoped the man would stop attending, adding that it might also help ease tensions in his own marriage. Upon hearing the husband’s argument, the man initially laughed and assumed it was a joke. But when he realized the man was being serious, he had a swift response. 

First, he mentioned that he thoroughly enjoyed the discussions at the book club and genuinely loved to read. Next, the Redditor stood his ground and said, “I’m not quitting a book club because you’re insecure about fictional men.” 

Commenters Weigh In on the Husband's Behavior

It wasn’t just the man who picked up on this alleged jealousy; Redditors also called it out in the comments of the Reddit thread. A user mentioned, “I don’t think he’s jealous of the book characters; he is jealous of the OP…” 

They added, “(He is) suggesting that the OP is a threat by being present while all the wives are discussing the steamy book.” Another user replied to the comment, saying, “Yup! He thinks they are all going to jump the first man they see after talking about the book.” 

A user who resonated with the man’s comment about the husband being jealous over fictional men said, “Honestly! Imagine being threatened by a paper guy with a fictional jawline…The guy dug his own hole.”