What About Us Book Club Questions
by Kristen Proby
These questions assume everyone has finished the book and contain spoilers, including the ending.
What About Us gives book clubs plenty to argue about: love, loyalty, family damage, hockey danger, and the messiness of trying to protect someone without controlling them. Xander and Ivy each carry old wounds, and their choices ripple through friends, siblings, and parents in ways that are rarely simple.
Use these questions however your group works best. Pick a few that spark interest, or move through them in order. There are no right answers here, so let disagreements breathe and ask what the story made you feel, not just what you think should have happened.
Hockey, Injury, and Risk
- 1.Xander's knee injury comes from a fight with Matthews, a rival who has hated him since Xander was drafted first overall and Matthews second. Do you read Matthews' hit as a deliberate attempt to end Xander's career, or as a hockey fight that went too far? How did that scene shape your feelings about the rest of the book?
- 2.Xander bypasses his Denver medical team and insists on recovering in Montana, telling them he's going home that night. Did you agree with his choice to reject Dr. Rutherford's plan, and did the story convince you that 'being with my family in my childhood home' was legitimately the medicine he needed?
- 3.After three concussions and ongoing memory and light-sensitivity issues, Xander returns to no-contact practice, plays against Dallas, and lifts the Cup. Did the book handle the risk of a fourth concussion honestly, or did the happy ending undercut Ivy's very real fear that he could someday look at her with empty eyes?
Memory, Fear, and Communication
- 4.Ivy has been in love with Xander since she was fifteen and remembers him defending her from bullies in high school, but he doesn't remember her at all. How did the reveal about his three concussions and memory gaps change how you judged his forgetfulness, and was the New Year's Eve 'redo' kiss a satisfying way to address it?
- 5.Ivy hides her fear that Xander will take another hit to the head and forget her, and instead of talking she leaves for Montana. Was her silence understandable given her mother taught her to suppress her feelings, or was it unfair to Xander, whose own mother abandoned him at four?
- 6.Xander's fear that women leave and Ivy's fear of being forgotten are set against each other throughout. By the time he proposes on the ice after winning the Cup, do you think both characters had actually resolved those wounds, or did the ending paper over them?
Protection, Control, and Trust
- 7.Xander gives Brenda a choice between jail and a paid rehab facility in Great Falls, with the deed signed over to Ivy. Was that ultimatum a rescue, a power play, or both? Did it bother you that Xander acted as Ivy's protector without fully consulting her first?
- 8.Xander hires Walker to clear out Ivy's damaged house and pays her bill without telling her, and he also has a private investigator watching Brenda after she threatened to accuse him of sexual assault. Is that protectiveness romantic, or does the secrecy contradict the 'we're a we' promise he makes to Ivy?
- 9.Xander is angry that Ivy wears a vintage Mullins T-shirt and insists she change into his Hendrix shirt. How did you read that moment — jealousy, possessiveness, or something more playful? Did it conflict with the way he otherwise supports her independence?
- 10.Ivy quits her hospital rotation, sells Lucky's to Walker, hires a realtor for her house, and accepts a job with the team before she and Xander have fully reconciled. Did she make those choices for herself or for him, and did she owe him more communication before upending her whole life?
Family Damage and Belonging
- 11.Ivy's mother Brenda drinks, insults Ivy in front of the bar, slaps her over cheddar cheese, kicks Cally, and eventually destroys Ivy's house and paintings. Did the book do enough to make Brenda a believable person rather than just a villain, and do you think Ivy's decision to refuse to rescue her when she's homeless in Arizona was the right one?
- 12.Indie shows up at the Hendrix Ranch with a birth certificate revealing she shares their mother, Heather. Compare Xander's initial hesitation, Ava's blunt 'she didn't want us,' and Tucker's instant acceptance. Which sibling's reaction felt most true to you, and what did Indie's arrival add to the book's ideas about family?
- 13.The epilogue leans hard into Ava's doubt about marrying Chad, especially after he says he loves how supportive she is of his ambitions rather than something about her. Did Chad's answer make you worry for Ava, and did the brothers' confrontation in his office help or hurt her situation?
Art, Identity, and Transformation
- 14.Brenda using Ivy's paintings as ashtrays and spraying condiments on them is one of the most brutal moments in the book, and it's answered later by the art studio Xander has Ava build and by Britney asking to buy the sunflower painting. What is the book saying about art as Ivy's private self, and how vulnerable is it to let someone see your paintings?
- 15.Ivy goes from 'I don't like new things' and 'I'm not one of you' to hosting wedding planning with Cassie, Darby, Harper, and Juliet and saying she is obsessed with Xander. Which relationship or scene did the most to earn that transformation for you — Britney following her into the bathroom at Lucky's, the Salsa Bar dinner, or something else?