There is something special happening in Denham Springs, and if you have been to one of Chapter Twenty LLC’s monthly book clubs at Le Chien, you already know it. It is not just a meeting. It is not just a room full of readers comparing notes. It is a full blown little literary community, equal parts book talk, laughter, chaos, inside jokes, and women who absolutely will emotionally spiral together over a fictional man if the story calls for it. This month’s pick, Metal Slinger by Rachel Schneider, gave them plenty to talk about.
Hosted by Courtney and Nikki of Chapter Twenty, the evening carried the same warm, personable energy their book clubs have become known for, with a few thoughtful changes meant to make the night feel even more connected. “We’re so glad that you’re all here,” they told the crowd as the May meeting got underway. Instead of the usual format, the hosts guided the discussion question by question so everyone could hear and join in more easily. Name tags were part of the mix too, a small touch that made the growing group feel even more like friends gathering than strangers attending an event. “We want everybody getting to know each other,” they shared, encouraging regulars to keep bringing their tags back month after month.
And this was not just any book club meeting. Rachel Schneider herself was there, greeting readers, answering questions, and later signing books in person. “We also want to introduce our amazing author. This is Rachel, everybody,” the hosts said, setting the tone for a night that felt intimate, funny, and genuinely exciting for the crowd of fantasy readers packed into Le Chien. By the end of the evening, they would count 51 attendees, making it the biggest one yet. “Y’all are amazing,” the hosts said, and with a turnout like that, it was easy to see why.
Before the discussion began, the room loosened up with a round of two truths and a lie, which quickly turned into one of those moments that could only happen in a book club this close knit. Between outrageous confessions, near impossible guesses, and plenty of laughing over who was “not shy either,” the game made the whole evening feel even more personal. It was the kind of icebreaker that stopped feeling like an icebreaker five minutes in and started feeling like a room full of people who had known each other longer than they actually had.
Then came the real event, the discussion of Metal Slinger itself, and the crowd did not hold back. First impressions were mixed at the start, with one reader bluntly calling the opening “slow,” while others admitted fantasy always asks for a little patience in the beginning. Still, for many in the room, the payoff was more than worth it. One reader said she had “57 screenshots for next month,” while another confessed, “I wish I could reread that one again the first time.” Another described carefully rationing her reading time because she wanted “no distraction on the book,” saving it for bed each night just to fully sit in the story.
As the conversation deepened, it became clear that Metal Slinger had done exactly what a strong book club pick is supposed to do. It got people thinking, debating, reacting, and maybe even arguing a little over which characters deserved their loyalty. Readers called out favorite scenes, swapped theories, and dissected the emotional landmines Rachel had planted throughout the story. Some quoted lines that had stayed with them, including, “We always said we’d make it to land together, or not at all. You went alone,” and “Human emotions are fickle, Jovie. Yours, mine, Acker’s. They’re nothing but a wave in the ocean. What really matters is what you decide to do with them.” For a room full of readers, those lines landed exactly how they were supposed to.
One of the strongest parts of the evening was hearing how differently the same story had hit each person. Some readers were obsessed with the tension and suspense, pointing to the close quarters and forced proximity of the story’s setup. “One boat, one bed,” someone laughed, summing up the delicious tension in a way only a room full of romance readers can. Others were more interested in the layers underneath, the questions of identity, power, fate, and consent that ran beneath the fantasy. Even when the answers were not simple, the conversation was alive. That is what made the night feel so magnetic. Nobody was just passively saying whether they liked the book or not. They were in it.
Rachel Schneider, for her part, was open, funny, and refreshingly honest about the writing process behind the book that had everyone so worked up. Asked about how she mapped out Metal Slinger, she admitted, “I did it kind of in a frenzy. Like, I was just really excited to write it and to get it out. I didn’t expect anyone to read it, so it kind of spilled out of me.” She also spoke about the challenge of writing with certain truths in mind without revealing too much too soon. “It was very difficult to not back myself into a pothole,” she said. That tension, clearly, is part of what kept readers hooked.
She also gave insight into one of the novel’s most talked about qualities, its complicated female lead. Rachel explained that she wanted to challenge the way female fantasy characters are often received. “A lot of times our female main characters in fantasy books get a bad rap, and I hate that,” she said. “So I really wanted to flip the narrative on its head. I want people to read Metal Slinger from a woman’s point of view.” That intention resonated in the room, especially among readers who clearly connected with the emotional complexity of the story and its heroine.
Of course, no conversation about Metal Slinger could avoid the ending, and Rachel knew it. When asked why she chose to end the book the way she did, she pointed playfully to a friend in the crowd. “The real culprit is this lady,” she laughed, explaining that after sending the final two chapters late at night, she got an emergency phone call in response. “She was like, no, you have to.” It was the kind of behind the scenes story that made the evening feel even more personal, letting readers peek into the real life panic and excitement behind the pages they had all just devoured.
What Chapter Twenty continues to build with these monthly gatherings is more than a book club. It is a space where stories are celebrated out loud, where readers get to be a little dramatic in public and be understood for it, and where authors are welcomed not from a distance, but into the heart of the conversation. At Le Chien, with books in hand and opinions flying, Metal Slinger became more than a title on a monthly reading list. It became a shared experience.
For Denham Springs readers, that is the beauty of nights like this. You come for the book, but you leave remembering the people, the laughter, the theories, the quotes scribbled down for later, and the feeling that maybe reading does not have to be a solitary thing after all. At Chapter Twenty’s May book club, fiction and friendship sat at the same table, and judging by the turnout, nobody was in a hurry to leave.
Lizzie Baudoin
