i’ve somehow completed the emily austin universe (thus far) & i’m so happy to be here. this one is for all the lovers of the library, but especially for my fellow librarians!!!!!

we follow a librarian, darcy, coming back to work after a mental health break due to her ex boyfriend’s passing. she’s thrown into an absolute mess of a community protest & book ban over her library’s policies. in this slice-of-slice story into darcy’s world, we discover things right along with her. she’s heart-warming, sweet, & very human.

i found this book to be oh so comforting. the descriptions of her daily routine at the library (although at times disrupted), her home with joy, their cats, their books— it was all so beautiful to real. so real, but comforting in it’s realness. it was a perfect read as the weather has gotten cooler & the summer slowly peters out. it was cozy in a way i can’t really describe.

my only wish is that it was longer. i would’ve read 150 more pages of this. i think there was a lot of set-up for further plot exploration, but instead those things were never touched upon again. her early relationship with joy, joy’s relationship with her sister sophie, darcy’s relationship with her mom, etc. i understand they would’ve made this book a bit too adventurous in scope, but i loved the characters & wanted to know as much as i could about them.

in addition to just more of the book in general, i wish there would have been more chronicling the result/outcome of the book banners at darcy’s library. things were tied up rather quickly, even though it was made out to be a large point of tension for the plot & for darcy as a character. it’s also extremely interesting & relevant to our cultural moment.

this book touched on so many issues librarians and library staff face such as book banning, challenging of policies, problem patrons, & yes, even cooking meatballs in the bathroom. i thoroughly enjoyed the accurate depiction of a real day working at a public library. that being said, i do think it was interesting to me because i am a full-time library worker & someone who deals with the things mentioned everyday. i’m not sure how engaging this book would be for those not interested or with no connection to the library field. it was veryyyy niche which i very much enjoyed because it’s my niche, but i could see how it would be hard to get into.

special thanks to the publisher & netgalley for giving me this early, advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review of the book!!

i love books about books & i especially love books about librarians!!! pick this one up at your local library, please!

I've been following Emily on TikTok for quite some time and was very excited to finally read one of her books. I've had We Could be Rats on my TBR for awhile. I currently own Everyone in this Room will Someday be Dead but i've been too anxious to read it due to my death anxiety lol.

I read Is This a Cry for Help? in two quick sittings. I LOVED it, the characters, the cats, the description of their home (very jealous). I also really enjoyed getting to learn about all the extra services a library offers!

I'll be going out to purchase We Could be Rats this weekend because I fell in love with Emily's writing!

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC!

I received a free copy of, Is This a Cry for Help, by Emily Austin, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Darcy and her wife Joy, both work with books. Darcy is enjoying life, until she gets some bad news, that makes her spiral a little. I did not really care for the characters, and found this book to be depressing.

A wonderful story that gives us a glimpse into the world of librarians and libraries as a whole. With book bans and outrage about diversity, it’s a topical issue that Emiily Austin does a great job of approaching through narrator Darcy’s experience as a librarian.

Darcy deals with inane arguments, threats, and absolute absurdity with wit and humour while navigating her own mental health struggles and sexual identity.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Atria books for providing me with an ARC of this book for an honest review.*

The Emily Austin I know and love - with a healthy dose of this-shouldn’t-be-political-but-somehow-is . Our public libraries must be valued, saved, and cherished. We need them!

Darcy is a librarian who has just come back to work after a mental breakdown. She becomes embroiled in a scandal targeted at censoring the local library. The book tackles grief, strained familial relationships, censorship, extremism, etc. It is about the importance of all stories being told. One of my favorite passages:

“ I didn't read a book with a lesbian in it until I was twenty-five years old. Not seeing myself in books impacted how I understood myself and how I connected with others. I think I might have realized I was gay sooner if I'd been exposed to more stories with people like me in them. I'm grateful that there are books for kids today that feature the people and families they see mirrored in their own lives.
We need to see ourselves in stories. We need to see people who aren't like us too. Diverse books that feature characters of different races, cultures, gender, sexual orientation, ability, religion, and family structures help us develop understanding and empathy. What is the point of reading? What is the point of the library? We want to learn and connect with other people. Our library needs to be a community space that welcomes and values everyone. Please don't remove any of these books from our shelves.”


P.S. the Sammy character?! Someone talk to me about this! Brilliant.

This isn't just any old book, this is a love letter to libraries, to book lovers, and to humans who want to make this world a better place. Emily Austin invites us in to get a look at the life of your average librarian. We don't just sit and read all day, folks! We get to chat with the most amazing people every day and we often go home feeling like we've made a difference. But obviously there are the difficult patrons too, and the community members who would prefer to see our libraries empty rather than having them be inclusive. This book dives into all of that and more. This is a must-read for all who love their libraries.
Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read the free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Net Galley and Atria Books for this Arc!
This book was such a 5 star for me! I had never read a book by Emily Austin so this was my very first impression and I'm in love with her writing. Her characters feel so real and relatable. I found myself relating to Darcy so much through this book. Being a queer person myself I felt so seen with the navigation of feeling different especially "coming out" at an older age. The way this book navigates through grief even when you feel like you don't deserve is just impecable. I had a few laughs here and there because as I said the way Emily Austin writes her characters they just feel soo real, i felt like I was catching up on a friends life. I love how even though this book is about Darcy and her life it also creates awareness about how important libraries are in our community. The ending was just perfection, it rounded up the book so well. It was just excellent through and through! Make sure to add this to your beginning of year TBR!

I was hooked by this story from page one and finished it in less than 24 hours. This is only my second book by Emily Austin, but both have made me feel incredibly seen. The way Austin writes mental illness feels so real and relatable, and this was no exception. The writing style of this book was very unique in how the narrator’s thoughts and perspective flow almost seamlessly between the present and her memories, allowing the reader to understand the divide between her “old” self and her authentic self. Austin’s characters are so complex, which made this story feel all the more real. This book tackles heavy topics like grief, mental health, heteronormativity, and current radical conservatism/exclusionary beliefs without feeling overbearing or preachy and, somehow, leaves you with a sense of hope and optimism. Bonus points for the boygenius reference.

I absolutely loved Interesting Facts about Space and We are Rats, so I had very high expectations going into Is This a Cry for Help? I think this is a mostly enjoyable read, but I found myself wishing for a little more of the interiority and characterization that Austin nailed in her previous works.

Is This a Cry for Help focuses on the growing conservative attacks against libraries for their content and programming. Austin, through the voice of Darcy, counters this rhetoric and argues in favor of libraries. Don’t get me wrong, I wholeheartedly agree with Austin, but I couldn’t help but feel the book became a little…preachy? This book read to me more like an extended op-ed than a novel. Sadly, I think the people who would benefit most from its messages will likely never read it.

I found myself wishing for more time dedicated to Darcy’s relationship and her grief since Austin’s strength is crafting characters so well. The glimpses we got were very sensitive and heartwarming and ring true to Austin’s careful observations of what it’s like to suffer and start to heal.

I received an ARC from Atria via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This novel is both tender and timely, weaving together a deeply personal story of grief with urgent questions about community, identity, and the role of libraries in a changing world.

Darcy is a wonderfully complex protagonist—her love of books and her cozy home life with Joy contrast with the turmoil she faces after her ex’s death and the rise of censorship battles at her library. The writing beautifully captures the everyday intimacies of queer life while also tackling broader themes of intellectual freedom and social responsibility.

This book lingers in the heart long after the last page. It is thoughtful, moving, and quietly powerful—a must-read for anyone who believes in the transformative power of stories and community resilience.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Pretty spot on discussion of the job as a librarian. I enjoyed reading it along with the queer representation.

As the novel begins, Darcy, a librarian recovering from a nervous breakdown caused by the untimely death of an ex-boyfriend, finds herself back at work. A chance encounter with a patron and an offended right-wing journalist threatens to send the library reeling as talk about defunding, program changes, and ultimately, book-banning takes center stage. All the while, Darcy’s wife Joy has fled town to be with her expectant sister, leaving Darcy to navigate life on her own for now.

At this point, it’s no secret that Emily Austin is one of my favorite working authors. Her novels are deeply introspective, filled with characters who leap off the page and burrow deep into your mind long after you’ve put the book back on your shelf. They always feel like someone you know, or even carry parts of yourself; above all else, it's what keeps drawing me back to her work. IS THIS A CRY FOR HELP is of course, no exception. Like Astrid in EVERYONE IN THIS ROOM WILL SOMEDAY BE DEAD or Enid in INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT SPACE, Darcy is a titular Austin character who realises that healing from a traumatic event or past experience, is forever a work-in-progress with both ups and downs, and everything in-between. The book also feels especially timely given the neverending political discourse of “us vs. them” and the constant failure to empathize with others.

Much like Austin’s previous work, IS THIS A CRY FOR HELP is an exceptional novel by an author who can seemingly do no wrong right now. I can confidently say that this will easily find a spot on my year-end list. Look for it when it hits shelves in January 2026.

Darcy! How I feel for you!

This was such an amazing book, it hooked me right away and I couldn’t put it down. The characters were very realistic, they feel like they could be real people in my life. Highly recommend this book to anyone, especially queer women!

Another beautiful novel from Emily Austin, my favorite writer. Emily has a way of really showing the human experience and I can always latch on to something from her books that represent me completely. In this book it was Darcy's relationship with her mother. I loved the library setting and each intricate character.

4.5⭐️ A huge thank you to Netgalley for this ARC! Emily Austin writes complicated characters with so much honesty and originality that they feel like someone I truly know. When I was emailed this ARC, I dropped my planned tbr to read this immediately. While her other novels felt very “coming of age,” this one’s protagonist is much more mature. I loved the subplot of the main protagonist Darcy’s job as a librarian, and my heart ached for Darcy throughout the aftermath of her mental breakdown. I would suggest this to anyone who has liked her other books (obviously), or anyone looking for an emotional “slice of life” story.

Obsessed with this one! Emily Austin does it again. This felt more heartwarming (without being cheesy) than her other works and I was surprised how much I enjoyed that aspect.

It's so crazy how this book fully resonated with me. Our fmc is so different but at the same time that's just her, it's not for overt representation, she is just fully herself.

I was so invested in the separate plots and I love how I even feel like I learned a lot without having to research on the side to understand some of the themes being expressed

This book was everything : )

Is this a Cry for Help? By Emily Austin is a timely novel about a lesbian couple who both work with books, one is a librarian, the other is an old fashioned book binder. The librarian, Darcy, met and married Joy after spending 5 years living with a man named Ben. During her relationship with Ben, she spends one interlude with a woman, leading Darcy to start questioning her sexuality. She thinks she is probably gay, but what about Ben?

Eventually, she decides to leave Ben because she sees her life as more than spending it pleasing a man. She leaves, telling him she needs to spend time on her own. Fast forward to her happy marriage with Joy and she sees an obituary for Ben. She starts to spiral thinking it is partially her fault. She does not know what happened. She does not hate Ben, she just did not belong with a man.

Due to her guilt, she spends time in a mental facility, needing time off work at the library where she had hoped to get the manager job. After she is released, things start getting a little crazy at the library. She is sure she has no shot at the manager position but she finds herself doing manager type things, dealing with patrons that look at porn on the computers, people who want to ban books for everyone else, story times that people claim are not appropriate for children and homeless people in need of services. These are very real circumstances that are currently happening in libraries. Add in the fact that Darcy is married to a woman and things become tense.

Is This a Cry for Help? Is an apt title, it is like walking in different shoes for a while. Life gets a crazy at times, how best to deal with things that happen? Darcy’s internal dialogue is worth reading this book for.

This was my first Emily Austin book. I love reading as an escape but I think there were a lot of really important themes in this book and it is very timely and relevant for this moment

I didn’t resonate with this one as some of her others but I still enjoyed it. Her books always make me think about life and death and I had a great time pondering it.