I loved loved loved Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books! Definitely one of my 2024 top reads so far!

Wow! I was pleasantly surprised by this book. So many unique and well developed characters that come together to make this an interesting and enticing read. I couldn't put it down at times waiting to see what would happen next! An impactful story about the importance of stories in our lives.

This was my first book by Kirsten MIller and I absolutely LOVED IT. the story was a tough subject matter but I felt very educated and I didn’t realize how many ban books there actually is. The characters were a delight this was a funny story with likable characters. I cannot wait for more books by this author.

4.5/5 stars
This outrageous satire of a small southern town in Georgia is an homage to books and the freedom to read. Given the uptick in book banning across the country I am hopeful, that once again, the power of words - in a book - will create moments of conversation and help to change minds and hearts.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I just recently started to get into Little Free Libraries just before reading this book, which was a fun coincidence. One of the most fun things about looking at LFLs is seeing all the books that I'm excited that other people have the opportunity to read for FREE! Libraries of any sort are just magical places that really need to be protected at all costs, and it's a shame that books get banned that can provide a lot to a potential reader.

I LOVED this book! I think it brought up so many interesting and unique things about libraries and reading in general. The thought of someone switching dust jackets in a LFL was so fun and so funny and so clever!

I think the town in this book learned a lot about book banning, and I think this book is extremely important and one everyone should read.

Such a great idea for a book and so well written!! I loved all the characters, there were a lot of them, but the author did a good job making it clear who they all were. I liked reading stories from different perspectives, especially when they were opposing viewpoints. This inspired me to go buy banned books for my own Little Free Library! I just wish it was this easy to change people's minds in real life!!

An absolute delight! This is a love letter to all of us book loving southerners who refuse to give up on the south.

Loved all of the characters and the premise. Felt like maybe there were too many people and certain characters could be eliminated without affecting the story.

Lula Dean is the head of the Concerned Parents Committee in Troy, GA, a group responsible for the removal of boxes of books from the town's public library that the committee has deemed inappropriate. Lula then sets up a little free library in front of her house filled with the kinds of books she think are appropriate for the town to read. But the daughter of her bitter, lifetime rival decides to get back at Lula and removes the dust jackets of the books Lula has chosen and puts them instead on the books Lula and her committee banned and puts them back in the little library. These banned books then end up in the hands of Troy's citizens and in acts of fate, the right banned book finds its way to those who most need it.

First off, this is not a book for every reader and there will be readers who take offense to the political themes around some the characters and the titles mentioned. That being said, I'm not sure many of the people who would be offended would pick up a title mentioning banned books anyway. That being said, this was a campy, satirical story about how books that some would deem controversial can be beneficial to readers. I am always a fan of reading books that open minds and challenge beliefs so I mostly enjoyed this story, even if it was too much camp and too predictable at times for me.

Overall: 4/5

This was a great satire that reminded me why satire is such a vital part of our cultural history and how it propels people to think and engage with themselves and others. As with all satire, the lessons are offered in a rarified way that some may see as simplistic, idealistic, and with a very this or that humor...but for me that is part of the genre that makes satire so effective and memorable. Seeing a book that speaks to how you just can't stop or contain ideas that also showcases the interconnectedness of title, work, and cover art creates a multilayered and wonderful jigsaw puzzle of a community that seeks to find its way to understand what it means to live as individuaks and as a community.

Simply put, this book is a love letter to reading as much as it is an empathetic look into how reading and the free exchange of ideas, even by accident, can help people feel less alone.

CONTENT WARNING: book bans, prejudice, antisemitism, infidelity, xenophobia, suicide, brief mention of sexual assault, homophobia, white supremacy

I really loved Kirsten Miller’s other book, so naturally, I was thrilled to get approved for this one. Much like her previous work, this one felt very timely and relevant to what has been occurring in American society for the past few years. Miller’s satire takes on the topic of book bans with her trademark humor and heartwarming cast of characters.

Miller’s writing style is absolutely wonderful. There is an overarching story being told about a feud between Beverly Underwood and Lula Dean, but the majority of the story is told through an interconnected series of vignettes. I might be biased because I just finished watching the series, but I got Palm Royale vibes while reading this book.

Each of the characters is so well-crafted, despite having a large cast of characters. The main story revolves around the conflict between Beverly Underwood and Lula Dean. With Beverly on the school board and Lula Dean making it her mission to remove all the books she sees as “inappropriate” from public libraries, these two women with strong personalities are bound to clash. Lula Dean proceeds to build herself a little library hutch outside her house and stock it with wholesome books to replace the “pornographic” books she wants taken out of the libraries. But none of them know that Beverly’s daughter Lindsay has snuck out overnight and replaced these wholesome books with banned books, hiding them under the wholesome dust covers.

But the real story lies in this vignettes—the books are ironic opposites of the dust covers that they’re hiding under, and when each person takes a book out of Lula Dean’s lending library, we are given a front row seat into how these books change their lives. We first learn about what may have led them to the book they chose, whether this is a recommendation from a friend or just an interest in the subject matter, and then the little ways that reading a book they might not have normally chosen creates big changes in their behaviors and life.

If you take a peek at the content warnings, this story discusses some heavy topics. Book bans by nature try to censor out the elements our society wants to deny taking accountability for, to avoid having a reckoning with, and to continue to pretend are no longer a problem. So is it any surprise that book bans tend to focus overwhelmingly on books written by and about people of color, indigenous people, people who are immigrants/migrants/refugees, ethnic and/or religious minorities, and the LGBTQI2S+ community?

Overall, this was another fantastic read from Kirsten Miller, who has just earned a spot on my auto-buy list! The story was fun and felt lighthearted for the most part, yet there is space held for exploration of how the different ideas held affect all the people within the town. These ideas have the power to alter a dynamic within a town, whether for good or ill, and we get to see both sides of this over the course of the book. Ultimately, it wound up being a powerful story, and I love how everything worked out. I will enthusiastically recommend this one to all fans of reading and anyone who is against book bans, especially when they’re initiated by people like Lula Dean, who admits that she hadn’t read a single one of the books she felt were “inappropriate and pornographic.” So don’t be like Lula Dean, and give this book a read!

"𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨?"

That's the question Kirsten Miller asks in the author's note of 𝗟𝗨𝗟𝗔 𝗗𝗘𝗔𝗡'𝗦 𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗧𝗟𝗘 𝗟𝗜𝗕𝗥𝗔𝗥𝗬 𝗢𝗙 𝗕𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗗 𝗕𝗢𝗢𝗞𝗦. Her wonderful novel explores this via a small Georgia town grappling with a book ban that turns into so much more.

“𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘶𝘹𝘶𝘳𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴.”

Miller uses a large cast of characters and a healthy dose of humor to deal with heavy topics like censorship, anti-Semitism, rape, misogyny, racism and more. It's a difficult line to walk but she does it beautifully. Through various subplots that cleverly converge, the reader sees the story from many different points of view, and I appreciated how multi-dimensional the characters are - even the ones you know are wrong aren't stereotypes.

"𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘭𝘥, 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 - 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥, 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦? 𝘉𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮: 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦. 𝘉𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦."

It's unfortunate just how timely this book is - the anti-Semitism in particular feels almost ripped from the headlines - but it gives me hope that books and good people can help turn things in the world around. Now let's hope this one doesn't get banned...

Thanks to William Morrow for the copy to review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Did not finish this book. It's a little bit too cutesy for a serious topic. I kept wondering if the author was directing her focus towards pre-teens through young adults.

What a delightful way to show the power of books. And that all books have value, even if the lesson we learn from reading them is to not do something. One of the things that we value about America is the freedom to read whatever we choose and no one should try to limit what someone else reads just because they don't agree with it. This book lays that out very clearly.

Thank you @netgalley for the ARC of this quirky, unique novel that captivated me all the way through. The creative premise held through until the end, and I loved how the books were intertwined in the story, which vacillated between charming and humorous, and deep and relatable. 4/5 stars.

This is such a perfect summer book! It's a lighthearted read, but with serious edge. It's set in a small town in Georgia and the story starts with local busybody, Lula Dean, proposing a book ban in the town's schools after finding an objectionable title at the library. She chairs a committee to remove "questionable" books and puts a Little Free Library outside of her home to share the positive, godly books that made her who she is. Unbeknownst to her, banned books are placed the dustjackets. Each chapter focuses on a different resident and how the banned book they read changes the trajectory of their lives or thinking. It was a little hard to keep all the characters straight since there were so many, but I loved seeing the power of books. The characters were a bit over the top at times, but I found the novel very enjoyable.

Thank you, William Morrow, and NetGalley for providing this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

Loved this one! Great and fun read. Highly recommend.
Many thanks to the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for my ARC.

I work at a Library, and this was such a great book for these weird times concerning banned books, etc... I tend to avoid books that have a specific agenda or political cause, but this book wasn't like that. It's a satire and had me laughing a lot! It was a solid four-star read for me, and I enjoyed it immensely.

I appreciate the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was like several stories within a story with life lessons taken from the content of banned books and good versus evil in which of course the evil people want to ban the books and the good people want others to be able to read whatever the fuck they want and it all plays out in a small town full of all sorts of people and yes. Yes. If a book is created for an audience, I am the audience for this book. Free advanced copy from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

While I agree that books can change attitudes and lives, the characters were just too “us against them” for me. Most of us fall somewhere more moderate in our politics and ideologies.