I did not finish this one. Although this is listed as humor/satire, I found the characters annoying and I just didn't care enough about the story to finish.

Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller is an enjoyable and captivating book that sheds light on important issues faced by today's society. The story is set in a small town in Georgia that has a Concerned Parents Committee, which has decided to ban books considered unsuitable for the town's youth. Kirsten Miller fearlessly portrays this hilarious, witty, and entertaining novel about one person taking offense at something trivial and a whole city coming together to reclaim their freedom to read. I highly recommend reading this book, especially for any librarian.

The story is set in a rural Georgia town with a Concerned Parents Committee, which determines to ban books the town's children should not read. The plot revolves around a town busybody, Lula Dean, who sets up a little free-lending library with some wholesome books, and one of the town's youth switches the books to the 'banned' books and keeps the original jackets so no one can know. As chaos ensues, the entire town is left divided. However, a group of teenagers and a few adults come together to expose Lulu and save their community from despair.

Miller narrates each story from various POVs and still does an admirable job in making their names and stories different enough for you to pick up on as you read.

As a town unites to fight for their right to read against the objections of one individual who gets annoyed at something trivial, Miller’s no-holds-barred style flourishes. The book is funny and eye-opening at the same time; therefore, I felt it was a good read.

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

What an absolutely delightful love letter to the power of banned books while simultaneously dishing out sweet southern revenge on the small minds that support them! Read this amazing book with sweet tea and peach pie!

Kristen Miller’s most recent novel “The Change,” a Good Morning America Book Club choice, was a feel good feminist revenge fantasy mostly against a patriarchy. In “Lula Dean” Miller constructs a new story about bullies vs otherwise normal people. The main bully is crazy book banner Lula Dean vs the head of the school board, Beverly Underwood. They have been rivals since their cheerleading days in the little town of Troy, Georgia. Until recently, Lula was mainly the town crank, having detergent pods locked up so they weren’t eaten by gullible teenagers and campaigning to have certain very intimate personal items removed from Walmart. But suddenly Lula’s recent crusade has, to Beverly’s dismay, taken off and supposedly sensible people (the mailman knows otherwise) are actually talking about burning books. Ack!

Lula has erected her very own Little Library with totally wholesome books (bought at Goodwill to fake out proof that she actually reads). But Beverly’s adult daughter Lindsay takes some undercover action and decides to swap out all those bland comforting books — switching dust covers with the banned books that ended up languishing in her mom’s basement (saved from the bonfire). And as the surreptitious banned books are borrowed and new ones are added by people who realize the clever deception, minds are awakened and lives change. There’s an excitement every time a book gets borrowed — what is the real book?!

Miller dubs her chapters with book titles and creates a multitude of vignettes, set against a developing mayoral race between Lula and Beverly. This book is funny, charming, raunchy, and empowering all at once. Readers who agree that “those who seek to ban books are never on the right side of history” will love this novel! 5 stars!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): SORT OF Crystal has turquoise eyes.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): YES There are no purple hydrangeas, white, blue or pink only. Also of note: no need to read the “Georgia Field Guide to Mushrooms” when the library flower beds have enough poisonous varieties to pluck for free in order to off your husband.

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for a free advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 ⭐️ Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books centers around a small town in the South, with a diverse cast of characters. When Lula Dean is on a mission to ban books in her town, she builds a little free library in front of her house with books she thinks are “appropriate” reads instead. Little does she know that two young town members swap out the books Lula chose with the very books she had banned by replacing the dust jackets. Every chapter of this book reads like a short story following different members of the town and their journeys of growth and self-discovery guided by whatever banned book they happened to have inadvertently borrowed from Lula’s library.

This book touches on very important topics including systemic racism, LGBTQ+ rights, politics, rape, and more. It’s a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, for the reader is filled with grief one moment due to the heavy topics and laughing out loud the next because of the characters themselves. Overall, it’s a heartwarming story filled with lessons everyone can benefit from.

While I appreciate how well the author wove together the stories of so many characters, it did feel a bit repetitive at times and the lessons learned sometimes felt too easy and unrealistic (unfortunately).

I hope that when it publishes, there’s an audiobook version because I think this book would be an excellent one to listen to!

Thank you to NetGalley, William Morrow, and Kirsten Miller for the free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

What a great book! I was laughing throughout the first part of the book, then later that turned to some chuckles but also some serious thoughts about what was going on in this little Southern town. Living in a small Southern town, I know that unfortunately many of the prejudices described in the book often exist. Although let’s face it: These views can exist anywhere, and there’s no geographic boundary that changes that. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for letting me give my honest opinion.

“Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books” by Kirsten Miller was a fun and engaging book that dealt with very important topics facing today’s society. The story takes place in a small town in Georgia that has a Concerned Parents Committee that has decided to ban books deemed unsuitable for the towns youth. The plot centers around Lula Dean who sets up a little free lending library filled with supposedly “wholesome” books when one of the towns youth switches the books to the “banned” books and keeps the original dust jackets so no one knows. Reading how all the townsfolk deal with the issues of racism, antisemitism, gender, and sexuality was absolutely fascinating and huge credit to the author who brings these important & timely issues forward in such a charming way. I highly recommend this book!

Thank you NetGalley & William Morrow for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

As someone who was born and raised in Georgia, some pieces of this story just felt off and filled with stereotypes. However, the premise of the story was fun and the characters were a hoot!

The beginning of this book did not catch my attention, and I almost put it down...but then came the book lady :)! It was hard to not THINK about the book challenges and political rhetoric that is playing out right now in our local school libraries and media while I read Lula Dean; I reflected on "Who should decide what books we read?"

I read and reread the passage beginning "They had to do whatever it took to keep future generations from living lives more fulfilling than their own..."; it is powerful! I loved the story and the characters, and this book brings a powerful message about the Right to Read. I recommend Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned books to readers who love books, are staunch advocates of public libraries and who read books as soon as they are banned to see what someone doesn't want them to read :)

I wanted to love this book because I adored Miller's first novel The Change, but this fell so flat for me. The characters felt more like caricatures and the dialogue felt cheesy and stilted.

Lula Dean is deemed the town lunatic when she took it upon herself to remove books from the school and local library because these books filled children’s minds with pornography and the knowledge of butt plugs.

Lula Dean created her own Free Little Library with wholesome books that the town of Troy would enjoy like Lord of the Flies, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Gone With the Wind and others. When residents started borrowing books, their lives were impacted by the stories within the pages. Lula’s books weren’t powerful, but the banned books snuggled inside her sinless dust jackets were the talk of the town.

Kirsten Miller holds nothing back in this hilarious, witty, & fun novel about one person being offended over something silly and an entire town coming together to take back their freedom of reading.

I would hurry and read this before someone is offended by its contents, and it too is placed on the list of banned books.

Excellent idea for a book. As a book lover, I was drawn to the title and the premise. It did not disappoint. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. I could see this as a Book Club pick.

This book looks like it's being marketed as a mainstream chick lit book, and if it is, it gives me so much hope. It manages to be light, funny, and entertaining while addressing the very pressing matters of racism, Christian Nationalism and violence that our society is grappling with. So glad to see this conversation being brought into the open and addressed with humor.

This was a fun little romp that lacked the zing and intensity of The Change but was still a most enjoyable ride.

In small town Troy, Georgia, Lula Dean leads the charge in banning all "inappropriate" books from public libraries. Residents inadvertently get their hands on these controversial selections anyway, and each chapter follows how these books impacted their new owner. Topics that Lula Dean and her band of followers try to shove under the rug are now emerging front and center, ranging from LGBT+ issues, white supremacy, withcraft, and basic human biology. Awareness is rippling throughout the streets, and the book banners are swiftly realizing silence may not be the best answer.

This book was both fun and heartwarming and powerful and deep. Similar to The Change, Kirsten Miller doesn't shy away from hard truths. Lula Dean was written as a caricature of a southern conservative in this day and age, but these sorts of people are alarmingly real. I loved the raw honesty and appreciated just how topical the story was. As someone who thinks banning books for children/adults/anyone is abysmal, I was primarily amused while reading this book. But, I do hope that those that think differently might learn something from this story.

This was a quick, entertaining read that hit a ton of impactful notes. I'm looking forward to whatever Miller puts out next.

I can’t remember another book that made me laugh out loud…ever! One of the many zany characters, an 80-year old named Wilma, gave her family a surprise by making a dirty cake - and that was just one of the stories within a story that was tied together in this intricate and character-driven plot about what happens when one town “Karen” attempts to have all “controversial” books in the school library removed. A five star page-turner and a must read for anyone interested in how misinformation spreads and what can be done to fight it.

Thank you Netgalley. This is my favorite book of this year so far!! A fun and quirky storyline that revolves around a small town. The issues presented in this story are prime for these troubled times we are in now. The author perfectly portrays how we can get through it if we try. Beautiful characters and an uplifting story. I adored The Change and this book is an outstanding follow up. Highly, highly recommend

This was a smart, funny, feel-good read perfect for our uncertain and troubling times. The characters were more than just caricatures of what a liberal or a conservative might be - they had some nuance. And they were able to learn and grow. I loved the come-uppance and the future casting. I loved everything about this one, and will definitely be recommending it far and wide come June.

2.5 ⭐️ round up

Ok…here we go…writing this review hurts a little…

I LOVED Kirsten Miller’s first book, The Change. Like top books ever I’ve read kind of love. The magical realism and TWISTS made a subject matter that isn’t easy or really talked about compelling and compulsive to read.

So here we have Lula Dean….and it just did not hit the same. At first I was intrigued by the story structure of each chapter being themed around a banned book. Maybe this is personal preference for too many POVs, but introducing so many new character got old and confusing at parts.

All the charm of The Change was just lost in this book, and maybe that’s because the subject matter in Lula Dean is so much more serious.

It’s in the middle for me because the creativity of the idea is great and most of the writing is exceptional. I knocked off quite a bit of my rating because of the last few chapters bringing all the stories together felt so rushed and borderline cheesy/cringey.

I REALLY had high hopes for this one, and this won’t stop me from trying her next book.

Thank you to Kirsten Miller, Harper Collins, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Fun book and the topic is one that is near and dear to my heart. My only complaint is that the author portrays Lula and her ilk as ignorant, bombastic, and generally "bad" and I think issues like this really do have more nuance and more perspectives than most people are willing to consider. It's a lot to ask of an upbeat book but I would have liked to see more balance.