Librarians will save the world.

I’m such a fan of the way Emily Austin writes her main characters and love the way she covers serious topics with levity. This felt incredibly timely considering what our libraries are facing at this moment in time in terms of censorship and felt like such a love letter to librarians, their resourcefulness and care for their patrons.

📖 𝕚𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕒 𝕔𝕣𝕪 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕙𝕖𝕝𝕡 📖

adult fiction | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️| by Emily Austin

*ARC: releases January 13, 2026

Publisher: Atria Books

This novel follows Darcy, a librarian, whose wife is a book binder; she’s happy. She loves her wife and their house near the lake and their cats, but when she learns unexpectedly that Ben, her ex-boyfriend, is deceased, her mental health spirals, causing her to take a leave of absence from work to work through her guilt and and her complex feelings towards Ben. Her return to the library is characterized by protests, enraged patrons, and the threats of book bans, challenging the intellectual freedom that libraries seek to protect.

This book was AMAZING. The conversations had about libraries, freedom, and intellectualism are so important, and I thought they were incredibly well written. I loved reading about Darcy’s work as a librarian; as a reader who’s just recently renewed my library card, it felt very timely! If mental health struggles, including panic attacks, are difficult topics for you, I’d advise being aware that they are a prominent aspect of the story, but I overall found Darcy’s character relatable, especially her desire to have processes and clear-cut instructions for things. I appreciated the therapy aspect- I loved how we got to see so much of Darcy’s character through both her therapy appointments and her inner monologue. I also really loved Joy as a side character, and I was intrigued by the smaller subplots going on (such as a potential new cat addition to the family, and a mysterious library patron asking question). As you can probably tell, I DEFINITELY recommend this one, and Emily Austin’s other work! Having also read 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘙𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘉𝘦 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘥 and 𝘞𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘉𝘦 𝘙𝘢𝘵𝘴, I can safely say she’s an auto-buy author, high on my list of favorites.

Thank you so much to Netgalley, Atria, and Emily Austin for my advanced reader copy! I’m so grateful of the chance to have read an early copy of such a complex, thought-provoking novel. 🤍

My only gripe as I read this book was that it was my first Emily Austen. I couldn't believe I'd gone so long without reading any of her work. I love that I have finally become acquainted with her writing. What a treat it was!

Although I didn't always understand or agree with Darcy's actions, she was ultimately relatable and lovable. The pacing worked, and the characters were dimensional without distracting me from the plot. Everything felt as if it was exactly where and how it should be. I can't wait to read more from Austen. I can't wait to encourage everyone to do the same.

Thanks to Atria for the free digital ARC!

Emily Austin does it again! No shocker here that they have written another easy 5 star read. I have never seen an author who is more in touch with their LGBTQIA+ community (specifically as a lesbian) and someone who is also neurodivergent, Austin's characters are just SO relatable and it really makes me feel seen. As a book lover, getting to read a story where the MC is a librarian was so much fun. I am a huge supporter of my local library, and this gave me a fun little insight of what I could imagine it is like working in the industry, with also so much more compassion and admiration for all they do for our community. I've learned so much from this book in ways to support my library and help share that knowledge with others. This story starts with a heavy punch, and for the first time this year I actually had to take a day off from reading it because the emotions ran so deep and close to home that I felt like it was only fair to myself and the book to fully process those emotions and how the MC was handling what they had going on. It is truly a gift when an author can write something so deep in a way that it makes the reader feel as if though they were right there in the room with the character, taking on the emotions as if this was a real person. As I jumped back into the story, I felt the need to keep going as there is a lot of suspense and a little mystery thriller going on which was so much fun for an Austin title. Austin did an unreal job of wrapping it all up in a nice bow at the end where we got a lot of great conclusions and deep feelings for everyone we encountered in this story, which again was not an easy task as some of these characters are truly ruthless. This will be one of those books I pick up and re-read again in the future. Now, I must get back to texting all my book loving friends telling them to pre-order this!

Emily Austin does it again. I know for a fact that her characters and stories will always resonate with me, however, her ability to weave characters with flaws, struggles and complicated relationships continues to grow and explore areas that leave me in a reflective state for days after finishing her work.

Is This a Cry For Help? was everything I knew it would be and so much more.

There is something about Emily Austin's books that make me feel so emotional. My favorite of hers is We Could Be Rats, but this will be a close second. As a librarian, I felt a special connection to Darcy. (Although, I am a school librarian, not a public librarian. And this book makes me appreciate public librarians even more than I did prior to reading it.) The character development was impressive and did not go unnoticed. This book was short and sweet and I can't wait for it to hit the shelves.

I love Emily Austin, and being able to read a digital ARC of her latest work was a treat. As a public librarian, I really appreciated this story. The way she was able to capture the complicated mix of emotions that go along with working as a librarian was spot on--from watching children experience the joy of storytime to witnessing patrons experience housing insecurity to being confronted by people determined to misunderstand the purpose of libraries, it was all there. The story overall felt a little quieter than her previous novels, and very internal monologue/flashback heavy. It was still very immersive, but it felt closer to reading a memoir intermixed with personal essays (which wasn't unpleasant but it did feel different from her other books). I'd recommend this one to fans of Emily Austin's other works, "I Hope This Finds You Well" by Natalie Sue, and "We Were the Universe" by Kimberly King Parsons.

I’ve been an avid Emily Austin fan since Everyone in this Room Will Someday be Dead, and I’m glad to say that Is This a Cry for Help? is one of her best works yet.

Austin’s direct, insightful prose works particularly well with this main character, a librarian committed to order and categorization. The closeness of the writing really allows the reader to step into the shoes of this woman and explore the eccentricities, issues, and joys of her life. I really understood Darcy and liked her, and I think a reader who was completely different than Darcy could come away understanding why she believed the things she did – and hopefully learn a thing or two from her perspective.

The characters felt real, which is another thing Emily Austin always excels at. Her characters and situations have that element of realism good literary fiction should. It tackles issues of book banning, freedom of speech, compulsory heterosexuality, and even adopting a stray cat with realistic yet satisfying resolutions. It’s both feel-good and frustrating at times, and it allows for genuine reader introspection regarding these issues in their own lives. None of these scenarios feel polished and predictable for an idealistic fictional world. Her books feel like they take place in our world, and that makes all the little victories and happy endings feel that much more possible and gratifying.

I’d recommend this book to anyone who’s ever enjoyed Austin’s work, anyone who’s struggled with comphet or the trained female tendency towards people pleasing, and librarians who struggle with the current political climate endangering their jobs. And everyone else. It’s just a good book. Darcy leads a rich, full life, and there’s a little something for everyone here.

And as always, I’m excited for whatever Emily Austin does next.

Thank you so much for allowing me to review this upcoming Emily Austin novel. This author, in my eyes, can do no wrong, and receiving this galley was like an early Christmas present!

Austin for me is an author who encapsulates my thoughts towards really challenging discussions regarding mental health - identity - sexual orientation - a partner you aren't sure how to grieve - a parent you aren't sure how to communicate with, and also, the general dumpster fire situation happening in America, responsible for the division existing within our community and beyond.

The way that this character is unfolded is delicate like origami - we meet Darcy as she is just returning to work after a two-week break following a mental collapse. I prefer collapse to breakdown because I think you do have to rebuild with new tools, versus a breakdown that would imply the tools you have just stopped functioning. Unfortunately, during this first week back at work, Darcy’s wife has to go help her sister with a newborn baby and leaves Darcy to handle an erratic series of events that would test even those with a strong disposition.

So much of Darcy's journey is about learning and sharpening new tools, while holding space and grace for the version of herself that functioned without them. The version of her that was straight. The version of her that was going to marry a man and have children. The version of her that realized she was gay. The version of her that is now married to a woman and continuing to glow and grow with a partner who illuminates her continued self-love and learning.

There is so much to Darcy and the layering that creates her world. She has two cats - she may potentially adopt a third - she loves categorisation and solutions that are well thought out. She enjoys safety and has a wife who ends every call with “Stay safe. I love you.” She has a marriage that is soft and aspiring, full of balance, beauty, and acceptance.

Without giving too much away, this novel takes on the fight against banning books and champions librarians and civil servants. Being a librarian may seem like a dream job to bookworms, but there are a lot of mundane and public-facing decisions that take up a lot of Darcy’s time. I’ll admit, I had never considered the administrative aspect of this role, but its impact on communities is not to be ignored.

Austin did a good job not “villainizing” anyone. Even though the novel touches on incendiary topics like grooming, age-gap relationships, sexuality, political views, and more, we don’t walk away thinking anyone is really on the wrong side - just that people will create their narratives that suit their beliefs and to interact with the public demands that we have patience, and grace for somebody else’s journey.

I wish I could read it again, not knowing what was waiting. I'm so excited for the rest of the world to receive another Emily Austin book!

“Is This a Cry for Help?” by Emily Austin delivered everything you would expect from a title like that, and more! The story follows Darcy, who has just returned to work at a library after taking leave for her mental health, following the death of a former partner. Hoping for a calm and gentle return to work, she is instead met with public outrage about censorship and debates over what media should be allowed in a public library.

Throughout the story, we see Darcy grow as a person. She finds a sense of purpose while healing and learning how to support both her community and herself.

This book is incredible. How Austin manages to make her writing so easy to read while also tackling such difficult topics will never stop amazing me. It speaks to why censorship and book bans only create barriers, especially for poor people and those in need. It also shows the importance of having full access to resources in a library. We do not know what other people are going through or what they might need, and taking away those resources can cause real harm. This book proves that, though I am keeping this review vague so as to be spoiler free (a lot happens!).
It also focuses a lot on grief and guilt. Watching Darcy begin to heal through therapy and self-care was such an important part of the story.

Beyond the main themes, Austin simply knows how to write. Her prose flows so naturally, and every one of her books feels personal. This one in particular made me feel like she might be living in my walls because it was so relatable.

If you are looking for a book that will make you think deeply and maybe even help you heal a little, I highly recommend this one. It focuses on book bans, grief, mental health, why libraries rock, and being LGBTQ+ during times like the present, with concerns of erasure through censorship.

Another successful, lesbian centered, non-romance novel from Austin. The thought process of Austin's protagonists mirror my own more than any other author I've read. This felt consistent with her catalogue, timely with the current political climate, and I appreciated the perspective of a thirty something, past the early twenties that literary fiction ( and media at large) fixtates on.

Despite agreeing entirely with some of the soap box rants, a few of them did get a bit too lengthy. It pulled me out of Darcy's world in those moments and felt like a social media post. I wanted as much time with Darcy as possible.

I found the themes of redemption very hopeful and relatable. Like Darcy I often find myself considering the ways in which folks become extremists. How community may have failed them and the ways we are all both good and bad. I found Austin's handling of these nuances very thoughtful and well structured.

The twist of Sammy was devastating.

a big thank you to NetGalley and Atria books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review 💚

I love Emily Austin with all my heart, at this point I think I'd give five stars to her to do list.

That being said, I ate this up at a time where my mind wasn't into reading at all so that's saying a lot.
It's a big more "educational" than her other titles, but I was totally here for it.

Darcy's big heart and open mindedness was so indearing and I'd gladly follow her thoughts along anything she goes through 💚

Emily Austin writes the kind of book that feels like someone sitting beside you on a hard day not fixing anything, just quietly saying, “Same.”

Her characters are so real. You know them because you experience them. Even the ones you have trouble acknowledging. She gives them dignity, humanity, warmth. She reminds us why public spaces and the people who haunt them matter. That kindness, even when awkward or accidental, still counts. Libraries are so cool.

There’s a pulse of humor running through every page, and it often arrives when you need it most like someone cracking a joke in a hospital room, not to be disrespectful, but to prove that life insists on continuing. The book is fast-paced and full of character moments that land with the force of a well-aimed truth. It’s also deeply topical, grappling with the kind of heavy things compulsory heterosexuality, systemic racism, immigration, censorship, reproductive rights, queer identity, mental illness that most of us carry quietly, hoping someone else will bring them up first.

But the miracle of this book is that it never feels preachy or performative. Instead, it feels like a friend pulling up a chair, offering you a cup of tea, and saying: “It’s okay if you’re not okay. Me too.”

Emily Austin has written something hard about grief and life. She has written a reminder that even the smallest acts of survival can feel like quiet revolutions.

This book made me laugh, ache, and want to hug someone. Maybe myself.

Put this one on your list. Circle January 13, 2026 (my birthday!) and make space on your shelf.


You’ll want to hold onto this one.

Thank you to the author, Atria Books, and NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you very much to NetGalley, Atria Books and Emily Austin for the opportunity to have read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Oh My Wow!!! A Freakin Love Letter to LIBRARIANS and LIBRARIES!!! Can’t get much better than that. After diving in head first, I soon came to realize that Darcy and myself are alot alike. She’s somewhat nerdy, beautifully broken, often overlooked and she has a big heart.
One of the things that I love about Emily Austin’s books is, they are written so beautifully and in such a way that you get drawn into the story and eventually the story starts to feel real (If that makes sense). Also, also…I felt as though the library was just as important and mattered to the story as much as Darcy.
***This book comes out January 13, 2026. I highly recommend adding this book to your TBR!! I promise you, you won’t be disappointed.

As someone who has worked in libraries since I was 15, I can tell you that everything that happens in this book is entirely plausible. Emily Austin approaches the wonderful, hilarious, and sometimes very draining and damaging experience of working in a public library with all of the heart that it deserves!

After returning to work at the public library after medical leave, Darcy's healing is challenged by the usual chaos of working with the public and a mounting unrest as right-wing patrons begin to protest against the library's values. At home, Darcy's marriage has ups and downs, and the death of her ex boyfriend leaves her lying awake at night.

I've seen people watch porn at the library where I worked. I've found food in the stacks, kept an eye on children whose parents left them alone, helped elderly people navigate technology, cleaned up after a regular without stable housing became very sick and an ambulance had to be called, watched the cops show up because people were drinking on the premises, avoided the community rooms when Moms for Liberty (a notorious book banning group) was having a meeting, and noticed when a security guard stopped working there after he found a man dead in one of the bathrooms. Crucially, I was trained for none of this. Libraries have to be educational institutions, community centers, childcare, old folks homes, and homeless shelters all at once without the appropriate funding or infrastructure for any of it. And of course, as happens in this book, there are always individuals in a community that don't appreciate the value of free spaces and the privilege of access to information. I seen books and movies turned around, dropped between shelves, or thrown away for having queer characters or discussing systematic racism. We even had free amendment auditors come by which caused a whole mess (look that up if you want to get mad, it's ridiculous). Most people don't realize the extent to which library workers are essentially social service workers, or the range of programs libraries offer for non-native english speakers, low income families, mentally or physically disabled people, and people without housing.

You get it, it's a hard job. It can be extremely rewarding, but like a lot of public-facing social service job it can also be extremely exhausting. Darcy's relationship with her job is very familiar to me because of that, and between the mess at work and her struggles in her personal life the overwhelm is tangible. I really liked following her experience with compulsory heterosexuality and all the justifications she made while in a relationship with Ben, as well as how she had grown after realizing that she was queer. I think her relationship with Joy felt realistic, but the usual problem with established relationships is still there since we're kind of entering in the middle of their story and Joy can come off as unlikable since we don't know all the history of their relationship. In a similar way, the ending felt realistic but kind of abrupt and unsatisfying, though there was one big reveal that really made me tear up and I really wish there had been some follow-up.

Still, this story lies close to my heart and I'm always in favor of educating people about libraries because I feel very deeply that they are a crucial resource especially in the US right now. This is my second Emily Austin book and I can't wait to read more, I love her writing!

Thank you to Emily Austin and Atria Books for this ARC in exchange for my full, honest review!

Happy reading!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and publisher for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This story is so beautiful. Darcy is a complex, complicated main character and she feels incredibly real and human. Her feelings about her life, her identity, and her past (and current) relationships are so relatable. As usual, Austin weaves humor throughout her profound writing and I found myself laughing out loud many times while reading this book. There is just something about the way this author puts humanity into words that really leaves a lasting effect. Darcy’s realization that life does not have to have specific meaning or purpose at all times to still be worthwhile is something that will stay with me for a long time to come.

It was such an honor to have the opportunity to read this early and as with both the author’s other books that I read, I absolutely loved this.

I knew I could count on Emily Austin to get me out of my awful reading slump and that she did! As always, I found the main character to be incredibly relatable and just so real. Her writing style is easy to follow but still so engaging and poignant, which always makes it hard for me to put her books down. With this one specifically, I really enjoyed the commentary on censorship. It obviously felt very current and it’s super important to pay attention to. The only small complaint I can think of is that Emily Austin’s main characters have all felt very similar. It obviously it works for me because I’ve loved all of her books, but I would enjoy seeing her branch out as well!

Absolutely devoured this in 2 days! Another 5-star, super-relatable piece of work from Emily Austin. She’s done it again!

Darcy is a librarian returning to work after a recent mental health crisis. Upon returning to work, an event happens at the library that upsets a segment of the community. She’s unfairly made the face of the community’s unrest and must navigate defending intellectual rights and the library’s community programs. Emily Austin’s take on the divisive nature of the world we live in today is refreshing and insightful. I appreciate her ability to convey the situation and toxicity without relying on invoking pure rage. ;)

Beyond the importance of the message, Darcy is an incredibly likable, grounded, and complex main character. She’s a realistic representation of a gay woman with mental health issues without any sensationalism. I love Emily Austin’s ability to really place the reader inside her character’s heads and paint a whole picture of who they are. Very few authors make me feel like I’m inside the main character’s head as they move about the world. It’s like watching a movie in first person inside my brain.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for the ARC! All thoughts are my own.

I really enjoyed this book. Seeing life through the eyes of someone who lives an entirely different lifestyle than mine was AMAZING!
I laughed out loud, fell in love with the characters, but most of all, I felt anger at the characters who were cruel.
This is such a well-written story that readers of all genres will enjoy. I highly recommend it.
Thank you to Emily Austin, Atria Books, and NetGalley for the gift of this advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own and truly honest.

What a beautiful beautiful book. I absolutely went blindly here but I was hopeful. I've read only one book before by Emily Austin which I loved.
This sapphic book touches so many important topics, like mental health, public library system in the States, communication in a relationship. It was actually an easy read, even with all the heavy topics. I absolutely loved it. And I can't wait for others to read it when it comes out next year