This was one of my most anticipated books of 2024 & it did not disappoint! This book is very relevant to what is happening in the world today around book banning and censorship.
I really enjoyed the small town setting and I liked all the characters, they all were well developed with their own distinct personalities.
Overall this was another great book by Miller and I look forward to her next!

In a small southern town, one lonely, angry woman in search of power whips the town into a frenzy over banning inappropriate books. As a consolation, she sets up her own little library of approved books. But in the dead of night, someone comes along and swaps her books for the books on the banned list. And then all hell breaks loose.

This is a fun read. It might oversimplify a complex issue, but it's also a somewhat dumb issue, so maybe a silly, satirical response is exactly what it warrants. I’m sure anyone who reads this book is already against banning books, so the preachiness gets a little grating (we are the choir, after all), but it’s still funny and thought-provoking. And who knows, it could end up in the right person’s hands at just the moment they need it…

Another FANTASTIC Kirsten Miller book that did not disappoint! Arguably my MOST anticipated book of 2024, I was sooo excited to receive an early ARC copy of this one and devoured it in one sitting! EXTREMELY relevant, this book is set in Southern Georgia and follows the happenings in one small town as an older woman, Lula Dean, advocates book banning and has her little free library taken over surreptitiously by banned books hidden inside the sleeves of more innocuous ones.

Told from multiple POVs that highlight the difficult lives of various town members, who suffer are targeted for being Jewish, queer and a number of other 'taboo' things, this book does such a great job fighting for why it's important to stand up to hate in all forms and fight for the freedom to read books that serve to change lives and open minds.

An impassioned, must-read with tons of heart that could literally be ripped from the headlines of any American (or Canadian) town, this book will have you rooting for the underdogs and cheering for justice to be served. I loved how secrets and wrongs from the past get dragged into the light and the way Lula Dean's own children come to save the day in the end through a Drag story time!!

10/10 recommend. I don't think I could love this book more if I tried, especially as a proud steward of a Little Free Library myself. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy, William Morrows for a physical ARC and Librofm for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest feedback.

CW: anti-Semitism, rape, hate crimes, homophobia, transphobia

Book banning is alive and well as we all know. This novel takes on the preposterousness of these actions and in the course of that brings out a message of tolerance and love for your neighbor. Set in a small southern town in Georgia it examines the premise that people are innately good and that it’s often just that they are quieter than the more vocal homophobic, book banning, racist members of society, but that when push comes to shove they will show up and speak up. Sometimes a bit too neat and tidy it does bring out a lot of the arguments for tolerance without being “too” moralizing. An enjoyable read and I liked how she handled the bit of suspense in the middle, leaving us for a few chapters to find out what happened. Definitely recommend. Loved the chapter that examined fake news.

Lula Dean and Beverly Underwood have been adversaries since high school. Fast forward several years - Lula has become the town's busybody, advocating for the removal of inappropriate books from all public libraries, while Beverly serves on the local School Board. Recently, Lula has even started her own mini-library of 'worthy books.' When someone replaces these 'worthy' books with banned books, the story unfolds.

The book is a timely, clever, and beautifully written satire that is sure to be unjustly banned somewhere!

I loved the book—it made me think, laugh, and cheer on the good guys! My only struggle was keeping the characters straight.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow Books for providing an early read in exchange for a fair review.

Short synopsis: When busybody Lula Dean decides to save the children of Troy Georgia by banning books, a sneaky local changes all the books in the LFL disguised with different dust jackets.

My thoughts: This is such a timely book, and very fitting for today. I highly recommend for everyone to read. This deals with some very important topics about race and gender equality, and banned books and the important messages they hold.

There are A LOT of characters in this one, and it’s important to remember them and their stories. And especially how their stories intertwine with the banned book, and other people from the town. The way everything falls together was so well done.

There are definitely lots of triggers in this: anti-semitism, sexism, racism, Nazi supporters, gun violence, slavery, mention of rape and abuse.

Read if you love:
- Intertwining stories
- Small towns
- Character growth and change
- Doing what is right
- Banned books

Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books is an over-the-top story of a southern town that is turned upside down when the conservative titles in a little library are replaced by "subversive" books that have been targeted for banning by a local group. In humorous prose, it takes on pretty much every hot button political issue of the day. Though I sometimes thought the characters took on caricature status a bit more than I usually like, it seemed appropriate for the story, which was more a cautionary and instructive fable of the times than a realistic novel. This is not to say that all the issues considered are not painfully real and extremely important - they are! But the details of the story were often a bit unbelievable (dust jackets on all these books? I think not) though they served the story well. All in all, an enjoyable and thought-provoking read.

Lula Dean has made it her mission to ban all inappropriate books in her small town of Troy, Georgia and has created her own little free library in her yard where like-minded people can find more appropriate books to read (such as The Southern Belle’s Guide to Etiquette and the Art of Crochet). There is a group of people trying to stop her including someone who has come up with a clever solution - they have kept the dust jackets of all of her books but replaced them with the banned books that she is so against; these books include gay romances, literary classics, and black history novels. It has started somewhat of a revolution in Troy, because when you read a book you can learn so much about yourself and the people around you - books have the power to change people’s lives and the lives in this small town are certainly changing.

I loved this novel; I read another book about banned books last month and this approach is exactly what I was wishing the other book had taken - this novel shows how books teach by utilizing character anecdotes and therefore showing, through example, why books are so integral to society as a whole. What @kristenmillerbooks does with humor and grace is to show the pathology behind the people who want to ban the books - they are not one dimensional evil figure, there were reasons behind their bad acts, and the author goes into their backstories to share why they are such flawed individuals (some much more than others) by showing the events that slowly shaped them (because hate is learned). This was also just a fun quirky small town character novel and so it was more than a simple morality tale. I highly suggest this for any book lover.

4,25

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC to review

Wow! An excellent story that is extremely topical. Although it deals with many very serious subjects, there were times I was laughing out loud. If I taught high school or college English, I would want to teach this book.

Definitely one of the most entertaining books I’ve read this year, the story of Lula Dean’s library couldn’t be more relevant, sadly, to our country’s current conflicting attitudes and opinions. The plot involves opposing points of view on the most serious and controversial topics, but it’s SO FUNNY too. If you are a lover of books, and believe in the power of reading to open minds, you will enjoy this well-written and timely novel.

4.5 ⭐️.

Wow, I loved this! What a timely, informative and uplifting story. I loved the unique structure and the way it really told a story of an entire community, the good and the ugly. The approach allowed for such nuance to the characters and situations. I could have happily read entire books about so many of these characters. The themes are all so important (antisemitism, homophobia, racism and classism, to name a few), but one of the ones that stood out the most is fear mongering as such a strong means of control. Loved this know everyone is going to fall in love with this small town and its messy people.

ery clever plot, great characters, and a HEA. Unfortunately, I think I am so jaded from the current state of America, that it just felt so sad and unachievable. That isn’t fair to the writer- and hopefully others with a more optimistic approach to the future, were able to enjoy it more than I!

The story introduces Lula Dean, the town Karen, a complete stereotype of the suburban book-banning matriarch. She was everything we've ever seen our heard about in our real lives, especially to those of us that have one in our town. Well written, properly crazy, but, this depressed me.

Several characters were introduced who are also duplicates of our real lives, to serve as foils or support to our awful main character- the local gay teacher, black families, a couple of closet nazis, anf white families who just "stay out if it". all of these characters interact or have history with each other, making a neighborhood that gossips, helps, ruins, or saves each other, all because of a little free library a young woman slipped banned books into. Each book found coincidentally changes the course of its reader's life, and chaos ensues amidst an election for local mayorship.

Good book, no regrets, but despite the HEA, I just found myself even more depressed about America because no one living like this in real-life towns facing these issue will ever change their mind so easily.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

4.5 stars! Loved the description, and the book did not disappoint. If you are ok with book banning....maybe don't read this book, you'll probably be offended (but then that means you should read it....). The book switches focus to different characters throughout, making it an engaging read and covering multiple different viewpoints without losing the reader. Enjoyed the diverse cast of characters (and the cast of books in the little library).

I am a big fan of Kristen Miller’s previous book, The Change, so I was thrilled to get the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books. This book took small town characters and pairs them with large and difficult issues/conversations. This book shows the power of books and the power of those who believe in each other and can ban together to create a change.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book!

Lula Dean‘s Little Library Of Band Books by Kiersten Miller is about the Little town of Troy Georgia and it’s residence. Lula Dean is a widow who has always try to garner attention and it’s usually by causing someone else grief. She once called the cops on Girl Scouts for selling cookies in Jackson Square saying they were doing business on government property she tried to call out Amazon because they sold butt plugs and when she found a cake book that told how to make penis cakes she started a family coalition and went around banning and removing books. In Lula‘s mind Beverly Underwood is her rival from the man she married to being president of the school board ever since high school she has always compared herself to Beverly and never felt as if she measured up and it didn’t help that her grandfather lost the local mill and made her a middle class citizen. After banning the books she put a little house shaped box on a post in her front yard and put acceptable books that she claims she read inside of it like chicken soup for the soul, the new contract by Newt Gingrich and A Southern Ladies Book On Etiquette just to name a few, but little does Lula know all the books have been replaced and covered up by the dust jackets of her own thrift store books. As people in the town take books ironically little do they know the book they pick will affect their life tremendously. Soon things in town start going crazy from a woman doing spells in the woods naked to another woman calling out her husband for being a Nazi sympathizer and that is just the beginning. This book is definitely going to be one of those books that when someone ask do you know a good book I can read I am going to recommend this one. They do have a lot of characters in this book but I think Kirsten Miller did a great job giving them backstories, not only with the good guys those deemed the bad guys as well. I wish I could wax poetic about the great insight Kiersten Miller had in creating all her characters. I do want to say however I at the end of the book was still not sure what Lula‘s daughters did I kind of thought they were strippers but then they to said they were doing gods work… So I DK if someone else knows please tell me. This was a great book and although I usually name my favorite characters they were just too many good ones to pick from but if I was forced I would have to pick the doctor I loved him! I think people say the book is too political because they don’t agree with the sentiment because I just found this to be a great entertaining funny read I cannot think of one bad thing about this book it was totally entertaining heartwarming a quick fun read. I want to thank William Morrow for my free arc copy via NetGalley. Please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

I first was introduced to Kirsten Miller from a friend who suggested we read The Change for book club. It was incredible and just like it, Lula Deans Little Library of Banned Books was amazing. I wasn’t sure what to expect of this book, but as a resident in a small town in the South, it hits every single point. Why reading is so important and access to materials is just as important. I loved the characters that came with each book and the story overall. Definitely a hit and will recommend to anyone!

This was very cute and humorous, with hints of Carl Hiaassen or Christopher Moore. Good distinction between characters, however they did evolve into caricatures of every hot topic in the US. I’ve recommended it to two customers, one wanting something funny and one who wanted a lighthearted story.

Oh, this was a fun, timely read! This is a book for book lovers! I loved how Miller took such important topics (book banning, racism, homophobia) and wove them so carefully through the use of other books. For such heavy topics, there is also so much humor and warmth in this story.

This is a fantastic timely read.  When Lula decides to start a crusade against books in her small Georgia town she puts a free little library in front of her house filled with "wholesome" books. However someone has switched out all the book covers and replaced the books with books on Lulas banned list. As the town starts finding reads in Lula's library they discover more about themselves and the world. 

As we all know the more you read the more your eyes are open to the world around you.  The more you learn the more open to new experiences you become.  Banning books keeps people ignorant and ignorant people are easily led. As the town starts to learn, their eyes open to what is going on around them, secret nazi's hiding in plain sight, disturbed young men in need of guidance, queer young people who need acceptance, older people becoming brainwashed by the fear mongering media and women who realize they are worth more than being subservient to the men in their lives. 

I want to stock every free little library in my town with this book! Reading is the key to acceptance, empathy and compassion.

⭐️4/5

This book is so timely and relevant for all the discussions that are happening around book banning right now. While parts might be a little idyllic, it’s really important in driving the gravity of the situation.

This book has a huuuge number of characters and I really thought I was going to get lost trying to remember them all. And there were times when just the mention of somebody’s name didn’t trigger who they were to me. However, the way this book was written was so good, in that I was able to be reminded who was who within less than a sentence of a character being mentioned. It really did feel like I knew the whole dang town by the time I was finished.

Sometimes this book was super cheesy and sometimes it was super serious, and sometimes it felt like I was getting whiplash going between the two. I’m not sure how this could’ve been avoided, but it did have me rolling my eyes at some parts and just cringing at others.

Overall it’s a feel good book with the always needed reminders to look inward while also trying to care for those around you.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest rating and review