Lula Dean was a little gem of a book.

Set in the sleepy town of Troy, Georgia, Lula is on a mission with the Concerned Parents Committee (CPC) to remove all books unsuitable for the town's teens. She starts a Little Free Library with wholesome books only, but a mystery person secretly replaces all the books with banned ones, but keeps the original book jackets. The town is suddenly buzzing as folks read the unapproved books and changes start to happen in the town.

There are a lot of characters in this book, but the way their stories come together and impact one another is perfect. This book is infuriating and impactful, annoying and absolutely delightful. The people of Troy are charming and zany, and Miller paints such an important and clear picture of the negative effects of book banning. It's a little outlandish, but I found this to be very heartwarming (especially the ending). Miller's writing is quite polarizing, so some readers might not enjoy the writing style, but this book is worth reading for so many reasons. I'll think about this one often.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for an advanced copy! I can't wait to get a copy of this one on 6/18!

This novel follows a small Georgia town, the surprising books that changed its trajectory and the ways in which a community can atone for and heal from its checkered past. This books is full of fantastic characters that feel real. The ending does wrap up maybe a little too nicely but as one character in the book mentions; maybe in this day and age, a story that ends happily is what we need. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

ula Dean is unhappy and resentful of others in Troy (GA) where she grew up. She and Beverly Underwood have a history going back to high school so when she has a chance she strikes. The chance comes over books she considers inappropriate in the school and public libraries. To show off what she considers appropriate books, she opens a little free library outside her house. But then someone slips the banned books into her library by switching book covers and mayhem slowly ensues. Old wounds come to light, the dark underbelly of the town and its history are slowly revealed as townsfolk interact with the books. The author manages to use the titles of books along with a diverse cast of characters to create an interesting mosaic of a story that kept the reader's attention. Plus, the list of chapter titles provides the reader a list of books they might try reading for themselves. A very good weekend read!

Thanks Netgalley for the opportunity to read this title!

I loved loved this book. How delightful the tables were turned on Lula Dean when she thought to influence the good people of Troy, her hometown. Lula Dean began a campaign to rid the town's library and the school's library of books she felt were harming our youth and putting bad ideas in to their heads. Hence she wanted to gather up all these "banned books" and have a town book burning. But the head of the school board held her off and confiscated them to review the decision for later and thus store them for safe keeping in her basement. Lula, trying to be important, wanted to show what books were read by good upstanding citizens who love their country and the good old way of life by opening up her own personal lending library filled with books she personally picked out. Picked out of the trash bins at the thrift store from the next town over that is. Instead, a forward thinking youth, who happened to be the daughter of that School Board president, thought to take those banned books and switch them out in Lula Dean's library, unbeknownst to everyone in town. As a prank. But then people started borrowing the books, to the delight of Lula, and things began happening in town such as never seen before. People found their voices, and changes were in the works. This story is so timely and takes a delightful but truthful spin on what is happening today, the banning of books that people have never read but they feel they have the right to force others not to every read them. While this book shows the humor of the situation, it also points out the seriousness and sadness of those who are ignorant and afraid, wanting to take away people's choice in what they read. This is a must read and would lend itself to a great discussion. I highly recommend it. Many thanks to #netgalley #kirstenmiller #luladean'slittlelibraryofbannedbooks #williammorrow for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing me with an ARC via NetGalley for an honest review.
The description of this book may make it seem very lighthearted and charming, but be aware this is a challenging masterpiece of a book. It is lighthearted and charming and funny, but it also deals with horrible topics such as anti-Jewish actions and beliefs, racism toward many groups, homophobia, infidelity, suicide, and sexual assault. There are literal neo-Nazis and folks dealing with a lot of issues in the book and sections from different perspectives.
At its heart, this book is about community and the power of books to heal. Books are under a lot of attack in the US right now and this book is very much in tune with the conversations around book bans and the different opinions about the topic. While set in Georgia, and aware of the particular issues that Southern areas face in terms of history, this topic is relevant and playing out across the US, which the author does acknowledge and reflect.
The book is meant to have a funny and uplifting tone when it can and it does succeed. There are sections that made me laugh out loud. And while sections were illuminating and insightful, they did not feel preachy or heavy-handed to me. Just as books within the book slowly encourage different perspectives, this book shows ideas without blowing down a door, in my opinion.
The characters are Southern and richly developed in just a few pages. I loved the different relationships and the ways that connections were teased out or created between the characters.
I read this in one day, in basically one sitting, because it is really good. It is challenging and funny and amazing and definitely relevant to a lot of what’s going on right on in the US.

Lula Dean is a social climbing ding dong on her best day, and one of those terrible people we all know that peaked in high school (and if you don’t know someone like that, its you, sorry). She goes on a mission to scrub the school of any literature that is educational for young kids (think Florida vibes) and through a string of unfortunate events, ends up running for mayor against her high school nemesis.

I feel like this one is cute and an easy read but definitely more of a library check out book than pre-order and go get. The character list was like 1000 characters long at times, which meant that we really didn’t get to KNOW any of them and the whole plot twist in the middle could have been so much more powerful if the back story and character development was just a little more robust. I think we need books like this to remind people that all reading is good reading, but this one wasn’t it for me.

I absolutely loved everything about this book! It mad me laugh, it made me cry, it was so refreshing to read because I mostly read thrillers. Thank you NetGalley and William Marrow for my free advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review!

“Her daddy had been a man of God. He’d even handled a snake or two in his youth, but he’d never censored his children’s reading material. As far as he was concerned, if your faith was shaken by foul words or sex scenes, then you must not have had very much to begin with.”
This book. Kirsten Miller takes important topics - book banning, glorifying bigotry and the creeping comfort with ignorance - and weaves them into a story that is equal parts razor sharp and FUNNY.
We meet the cast of characters of Troy, Georgia, where a local woman has started a campaign to pull “inappropriate” books out of schools as part of her efforts against the spread of the liberal agenda. (Please insert my largest eye roll here.) Lula Dean has installed instead a Little Free Library filled with more “wholesome” books. When a local resident secretly inserts the banned books into the palatable book jackets, the entire town starts reading the contraband materials - with fast-moving consequences.
Kirsten Miller introduces a full spectrum of people, but they interface beautifully so you can quickly get a snapshot of Troy, which could be Anytown, USA - down to the statue of a Confederate general adorning town square.
Out June 18, this will definitely be a buzzy book - and one that I’ll be delighted to drop into my own Little Free Library.
Thank you to Harper Collins for providing an Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for an objective review.

Thank you @williammorrowbooks for this e-ARC!

Happy @littlefreelibrary week! I made the decision to add a Little Free Library to our property during the pandemic and I have loved sharing books with our community. If you have thought about getting one yourself, make the leap. You won't regret it.

During Little Free Library week, I read Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books. I love a book about books but even more how books help people and their situations.

This is a story about a small community in Troy, Georgia. Although fictional, the close mindedness can be seen in our everyday lives. The community has been living in the past when it comes to beliefs and values around their supposed home town hero, when the young generation uncovers some long buried information about said hero.

"You get to choose whose footsteps you'll follow. Find a set in the right direction. Somewhere out there, you have an ancestor who made the world better. Whoever they are, decide to take after them."

I enjoyed learning about the diverse group of characters and how so many banned books helped them in each of their unique situations. This book also had some great quotes. I wish I would have a had a physical copy to tab. I will say that I wasn't expecting the first chapter and how it started but stuck with it and glad that I did.

Hilarity mixed with relevance make for such a fabulous read. This was a great book. I highly recommend for those who love a page-turner

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

“And when the parks department started offering those baby yoga classes, she’d made sure everyone in town knew it was anti-Christian. Unfortunately, they were still grooming infants to be Hindus down at the rec center. That Indian doctor who’d recently moved to Troy was probably behind it all. Even Lula couldn’t win every battle.”

This is one of the best books I’ve read in a while and I absolutely did not want it to end! I laughed out loud, cheered for the heroes, booed the villains, and enjoyed this story from cover to cover. I can’t wait to watch where this book and Kirsten go from here!

With book banning such a hot topic right now, this book was just right! Little does Lula know that her daughter snuck into her lending library and replaced all the books in it with banned books. Those who read these books have their lives changed in various ways.

This was unexpectedly delightful. Nosy neighbors, banned books, free libraries, and a mayoral race—it all came together in such a charming way. I really enjoyed the small-town vibe, and I'm glad the book was set in the South—it added a unique flavor to the story.

This book dives into the hot topic of book-banning. We meet Lula Dean who wants certain books removed from her “God fearing” town. Lula has a little free library in front of her home of books she deems appropriate reading material. Little does she know, a girl in town switched out the books with banned books, but kept the “safe” book covers. We are following the townspeople as they read these banned books and how the stories affect their lives.

I enjoyed reading this book. I don't agree with banning books, many of the books they want banned are our history and we can’t just ignore our history and pretend slavery or the Holocaust didn't exist. I think the author did a good job explaining the reasoning behind the book bans and tied it into current events. I think this would make a good book club pick for a general fiction book club because it would enlist some necessary discussions.

Thank you to William Morrow publishing who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The first few chapters might lull you into thinking this is a fun romp through the gleeful aftereffects of a prank, but things turn serious and violent soon enough. An unfortunately accurate portrayal of the current state of American culture wars.

If ever there was a timely novel, this is the one. When banning books has become a strategic weapon in our national culture wars, here comes an entertaining satire set in a quintessential southern town. Framed as a battle over books and a free-standing little library, it is about the influence books have in its residents’ lives and the town’s cultural norms.

This is the set up: Beverly Underwood and Lula Dean were born and raised in Troy, Georgia and have been enemies since high school. Now as middle-aged women, Beverly is on the school board, and Lula is on mission to rid the public and school libraries of all inappropriate books which of course, she’s never read. To replace the “pornographic” books she’s challenged, Lula sets up a little library in front of her home filled with books she deems appropriate reading despite never having read them. She’s judged them as suitable reading by their titles.

What Lula doesn’t know is that someone has removed her books and replaced them with banned books. Literary classics, black history books, stories about gay characters and many others replace Lula’s books on etiquette, cooking, and proper romance. The dustcovers from the removed books are put on those that had been banned.

Neighbors borrow books that surprise them given what they thought they were borrowing. But each has chosen a book just right for their situation and are personally life changing. Distinct chapters—much like in a novel of linked short stories— focus on the town’s residents, their situations, and personal epiphanies. The shift is ripe for the foundation layer of the book.

Troy, like many southern towns, revere their confederate roots and see it as a source of pride. When the story turns to reveal its history, all chaos breaks loose. I don’t want to spoil it by saying any more, but revealed truths about the town’s history are done well.

I enjoyed the read. I hope it reaches a broad audience and not the just those on the side of freedom to read. The only downside of the book was the ending. I thought it went too far. For me, it was hokey, given the rest of the book

Many thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins for the opportunity to read and honestly review this advanced review copy.

I absolutely LOVED this book!! It’s currently my top read of 2024, and it’ll take a lot to remove it from that spot!

This book explores Southern heritage, conservatives and liberals, human sexuality, race, gender roles, and the importance of open and educated minds. Lula Dean is neither open, nor educated, and in a quest for attention she decides to spearhead a crusade to ban “inappropriate” books in her small Georgia town. The resulting events that unfold are funny, enlightening, infuriating, scary, and heartwarming…and we are introduced to an array of overlapping characters who uncover secrets, discover themselves, and come together for a greater good.

This was a little microcosm of all the different news topics that have been swirling around America the last decade or so. It touches on everything from book banning to Black Lives Matter to the Me Too movement to drag queen story time. But it was all personalized, so you could get an understanding of how people came to different ideas and how information gets siloed. At times, it felt a little preachy. I don't think it'll change the minds of far right conservatives, but it's cathartic for those in the middle or on the left who are already against book banning. It’d make for a good book club pick, sparking interesting conversations.

I'm a huge fan of Kirsten Miller. The Change was a favorite novel of mine from a few years ago, and I've been eagerly anticipating her second novel, which will be available in the U.S. on June 18th. Big thanks to NetGalley for the chance to read it ahead of publication. I don't think I could have waited another month to read it!
I'll preface this review by saying this novel doesn't pull any punches, and if you have a particular set of beliefs or opinions, it's probably not the book for you. Or may it is the book for you, but you won't feel comfortable reading it.

The small town of Troy, Georgia is steeped in Southern tradition and the kind of place where manners are everything and you can still be annoyed by your high school nemesis thirty years after cheerleader camp. People are long on memory and short on minding their own business. Especially when it comes to books.

Lula Dean is a busybody, nosy, orange-haired person who likes to stick herself into things that aren't her business. A kid's prank of putting a naughty cake cookbook in the public library starts the flames of book banning, with Lula Dean leading the way. In short order she's organized a citizen's group, pulled hundreds of books out of the public and school libraries, and has set up a little library outside her home that only has "appropriate" books she has curated for the townsfolk. Books that have a slant towards racism, whiteness, and putting women in their place.

Someone decides to swap out those books with books that were pulled from the public library--keeping the covers from Lula's books, but swapping out the books. So it appears that her books are in the little library, but people who decide to take one get a big surprise when they start reading. But that big surprise sets in motion so many life changing events for some of the townspeople that it's clear change is afoot and boy, is it coming fast!

Of course Lula has no idea what's happened to her little book library, which kept me snickering through the story. I loved getting to know the people of Troy. Some of their stories were funny, others were troublesome, but all of them were changed for the better by a book they read-a book that was banned.

It's an all out war in little Troy, GA as national news arrives, marriages crumble, friendships are strained, and beliefs long held dear are tested. Kirsten Miller's writing is biting, funny, witty, and also very pointed.

I loved this novel. We must protect books, authors, librarians, booksellers, and anyone who advocates for those who are seen as "less than". I know this is fiction, but oh, wouldn't it be wonderful if this battle played out with a happy ending in our real lives.

Rating: 6/6 for a novel that addresses all the things that are happening in our country--all the dark, weird, misinformed things. Loved the characters, the humor, the points made, and the evolution of some of the characters from ignorant to informed.

Available on June 18th in hardcover, ebook, and audio.

https://bookaliciousbabe.blogspot.com/2024/05/may-read-lula-deans-little-library-of.html?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR20KgVDjO-4cOLw3Iug-N0qZeXebZKhHU6Ed3KGdU9KhM28dOHml9b8V1A_aem_AZuYh1_6GUM4vJeExTco2JlaTE-T7zo9mVuEGfSj4KhbtMjEaIY6XlARX_qk2FJM497kn0a_AyuPSbX2no3jHfnp

I loved this book! I mean, I really loved it! I've only read one other book by this author, The Change, which I also loved. But I loved this one even more. It would be easy to feel despair reading a story about a small town in Georgia, and the people who decide to remove "questionable" books from the school library. After all, this is something that is happening too much in America today. But one act of resistance at the beginning of the book leads to incremental change throughout this entire town. Not everyone has a happy ending in this book, but most do. And sure, the ending may even be a little too neat and happy, but I didn't care. I loved every minute I spent reading this book. It would be easy to stereotype some of the characters, especially Lula, but the author doesn't do that. She doesn't excuse Lula's actions, but she also humanizes her in a way that too often we don't find in our increasingly binary thinking society. The writing was delightful, and funny, and so evocative.

I appreciated the afterword by the author, who herself is from a small southern town, and the books she mentions by name throughout (she gives a complete list at the end). I particularly liked how she acknowledges book banning is a problem all across America, not just in rural southern towns, and how rural southern towns are also filled with people who are educated and informed.

This book should be in every little lending library everywhere.