Lula Dean is a woman living in a small Southern town, one of those towns where everyone has known their neighbors their whole lives. She is older, but she still seethes with resentment of not making the cheerleading squad. She seizes her moment of revenge from her nemesis by banning books in the local school's library, then setting up her own little library with recommended titles. Only someone interferes with her plan and switches the books Lula has recommended with some of the banned titles.

Each chapter deals with a different character in the town who gets one of Lula's books, now the banned books, and how reading it affects and changes their lives. I enjoyed meeting a different character in each chapter and having spent quite a lot of time in my relative's small Southern towns, I felt the dynamics portrayed were pretty spot on. It always amazed me how everyone seemed to know their neighbor's business, and how much drama bubbled beneath the surface.

I enjoyed the story and wholeheartedly agree with its message against book bans, and against prejudices in general. I am sure there will be a large population who doesn't appreciate this book. If you are of the ilk that think your opinions and determinations should affect other people who disagree with you, then you won't like this story. Although the message in the book may be hammered home a bit heavily, that doesn't mean it is not an important message to portray. I found the way the author presented her story through multiple viewpoints in a small town kept me engaged in what otherwise might have become a repetitive storyline.

I would rate this book 4.2 stars and I enjoyed reading it. And don't ban books, people! Even the ones I don't approve of! Thank you!

Thanks to NetGalley, Kirsten Miller, and William Morrow Books for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Kristen Miller takes a highly charged topic and makes candid points with humor and a cast of delightful characters.

When Lula Dean convinces a small town to ban books of any substance (none of which she's actually read), she begins a little free library with ridiculous books. Lula's arch enemy Beverly Underwood is fighting her but not successfully until her daughter, Lindsay, sneaks banned books behind the covers in the little free library. The town begins changing as they start reading books that make them think. A showdown is coming as both women run for mayor.

This was ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me. I am using it as the literary fiction book club pick for my bookstore next month. These quirky, small town characters taking on this big subject just worked for this one! Kristen Miller did a fantastic job!

Thank you to @netgalley and @williammorrowbooks for an advance copy!

I love Kristen Miller and her writing. She always tells an entertaining and funny story with such important messages. The ending felt slightly rushed but otherwise a solid read from Kristen!

"Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books" by Kirsten Miller is a satirical novel set in the small town of Troy, Georgia. The story revolves around Lula Dean, a local busybody who embarks on a mission to cleanse public and school libraries of books she deems inappropriate, despite not having read them. To replace these books, she sets up her own Little Free Library filled with what she considers wholesome literature.

Unbeknownst to Lula, a local troublemaker swaps her chosen books with banned ones, including literary classics, gay romances, and books on Black history. As residents borrow these books, their lives begin to change in unexpected and profound ways. The novel humorously explores themes of censorship, prejudice, and the transformative power of literature, while also addressing serious issues such as racism, misogyny, and the rise of the alt-right movement.

The story is entertaining but certainly not "hilarious" as the publisher summary projects. While I appreciate the author's intent to reflect on significant societal issues (as explained in more detail in the author's note), it was a bit "much" for me as a reader - with every issues crammed together into one small town.

Kirsten Miller is the new queen of relevancy! This book is so important, but it’s also funny and sweet. I love how the author doesn’t really lecture or shove political topics down your throat, she makes it fun but also makes you think. Like The Change, this is a must-read for our times.

I enjoyed this book about books with a little twist to it. Small town setting. Central characters are Lula Dean and Beverly. Lula Dean sets off on a mission to rid the libraries of inappropriate books. She starts a little lending library with books she thinks people should read. Secretly, someone replaces her books with some of the banned books hidden under the original dust jackets. People start to take these books. Their lives are changed and the town is changed.

What a fun and entertaining book! I am team "stop banning books" so I knew I had to read this hysterical tale of a woman who, in an effort to provide wholesome books to her neighbors and fighting to ban inappropriate books from the town's libraries, inadvertently finds herself in the middle of a small-town scandal when it's discovered that the "good" books in her little lending library have been replaced with "pornographic" ones and the townspeople are loving it. Until someone blows the whistle and a showdown ensues. This is a great story about the power of books and the effect books, ALL books, can have on the people who read them.

NetGalley Review

I definitely wasn't expecting anything in this book. It was fun, quirky and eye opening. The best way to describe this book would be Gilmore girls small town with quirky people mixed with current political issues. I enjoyed the book, but I also like to read books to escape the debates, issues and political views of real life so even though it was well written and eye opening I'm giving it 3.5 stars, but it didn't give me reality escape I like from books.

Thanks to @williammorrowbooks and @netgalley for the #gifted copy of this book.

“What matters is never letting people tell you what to think. Don't let them convince you that one way is right and another way is wrong. Gather as much knowledge as you can, because information is power. And choosing how to use it is freedom. The more you know, the freer you will be.”

Summary: In the tiny town of Troy, Georgia, Lula Dean is the self-imposed enforcement of appropriate books for their small community. To help her community read appropriate books, Lula created a lending library in her front yard. Lula's arch-enemy, Beverly Underwood, also lives in town and is on the school board. Beverly's daughter, Lindsay, one night replaces the wholesome books with banned books using dust jackets to hide the books within. From this moment, the people of the town find just the right book for them, and it changes their lives in so many different ways. Of course, Lula Dean is horrified once she finds out what has happened, and is determined to make Beverly and her daughter pay for their indiscretions.

Thoughts: After absolutely loving The Change, by the same author, I was excited to check out this book as well. I was a little overwhelmed at first with SO MANY characters throughout and introduced in each chapter. But what I loved is how each character's story built and led into the next character with them all converging at some point. This book covered so many topics that we are currently experiencing in our world today, and I liked the unique way of exploring these heavy topics. It was neat how she used the titles of banned books as the chapter titles, but those books also correlated with what was happening on the page. The end of this story had me gasping as I did not see certain events playing out the way they did.

This is a fantastic book for a book club, and I'm so glad I was able to read along with mine.

4.5/5 stars

This book follows a large cast of characters in small town Troy, Georgia. Lula Dean is banning as many books as humanly possible in this town and opens her own little free library on her lawn. One night a sneaky reader changes all the books in her library but leaves the old dust jackets on them. Unknowingly, people in the town start to read the banned books that were hidden in there and open their eyes to what is going on.

If this ain't the small town I grew up in... except people aren't all good in the end. This book was surprisingly light-hearted for how many heavy themes it explored. Almost everyone (except the Nazi's) were good in the end and become reasonable to logic. LOL we can only wish that would happen. If you don't like reading about current political topics you wouldn't enjoy this, the entire point of the book is facing racism, sexism, and classism through banning books. The book unravels so well and everyone's story meets in the end. Even though it was unrealistic I loved this book!!!!

Such a great book and message! It made me remember why I love reading. Sometimes, keeping track of the characters was difficult but the power of the story more than made up for it.

Book bans rattle a small Georgia town when empty-nester, Lula Dean, decides to use book banning as her way to make her mark on the town. She builds a little free library she fills with appropriate books for all the town to take, but lesbian teen, Lindsay Underwood, snags the band books and slides them into the dust jackets of the books in the little free library. The town begins to read the books and it makes changes, some good, some bad. The underlying white supremacy and anti-gay rhetoric. Some in the town grow and open their minds to more acceptance. Others fall hard into their negative beliefs and lash out. Beverly Underwood, Lindssay's mom, runs for mayor against Lula, making it her mission to stop the book bannings, to bring the town back to peace, and remove a confederate statue, her ancestor. Things get heated. Plot twists arise. Things are serious and comedic and a little zany, but a seriously fun read tackling topics affecting the US right now.

This is such an enjoyable read. The many cast of characters add so much and don't distract, as some times too many characters can. Very on topic with the news today.

Lula Dean makes it her mission to rid the library of books she thinks are offensive. It becomes a big thing in their little town. One young woman takes it upon herself to exchange all the wholesome books that Lula has in her little free library with some of those on the banned books list. She just exchanges the covers. This leads to the most fun mayhem. Secrets are revealed and the town sets to right some wrongs.

Perfect summer read. I read it very quickly.

Thanks to Netgalley and William Morrow for a copy for review.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book. Lulu Dean's Little Library of Banned Books was such a good read. I would definitely recommend it for fans of Kristen Millers previous work, and anyone interested in a little behind the scenes of banned books.

This was such a unique book! It was thought provoking, charming and sometimes funny. It's the perfect book for book lovers! It celebrates the power of books to open minds and challenge small-town prejudices. A must read for all!

5 *****

Clever concept, well executed.

I assume everyone reads the provided synopsis before looking at reviews so I won’t repeat the plot outline. Major and minor characters were well drawn; I was never confused among them though there were a good number of characters involved.

I read mostly for escapism, so some focus on real-life-current-events *initially* disappointed me (since I get plenty of that from the newspaper), BUT as the various storylines continued to develop, and the power-of-books-to-change-people thesis came to the fore, I understood why it was there.

The story was well written. The characters were initially sketched in broad strokes and then we got to know them better as scenes and plotlines unfolded. The complicated pasts of many of the characters were revealed gradually, so as I kept reading I got to know them better by how they responded to other characters and to events.

There were a lot of threads and they were very nicely pulled together at the end, and it all ended on a very positive note. I even enjoyed the afterword / author’s note at the end.

Despite involving current events, it was fun to read and well written and I recommend it for all who appreciate the power of books, and of readers.

My appreciation to the publisher and NetGalley for this advance review copy; my opinions are my own, and freely given.

This was an entertaining saga that illuminates an all-too-real possibility.
Who would have thought book banning would exist in our country?
Let's ban the bans, together.

Thank you William Morrow and NetGalley for this advance copy. I really appreciate what the author is trying to do here. I enjoy a small town setting and a cast of quirky characters, and as an avid reader I certainly don’t support banning books. I thought the premise was cute, but overall the execution was a little too simplistic for my taste. I think the author was going for a fairytale type satire, and I wanted something with more depth and character development. I’ve seen many reviewers absolutely loving this book, so it is definitely finding much success with the right reader.

Kristen Miller certainly knows how to beat the drum of the message she’s trying to get across and she does it with a dish a humor. But. She beats that drum so hard in this book that it almost distracts from what she’s trying to do.

Despite all this, it was a delight to read and I finished it in an afternoon. It did tie up into a nice bow that I certainly wish were real life but alas. Real life is a mess right now.

I wanted to love this and I’d say for the most part, I did, where it mattered. This novel about a community deeply impacted by a resident’s decision to place a LFL on her property with ONLY “approved” books (read: books not banned or considered offensive, as determined by her and her league of fellow book-banners) touches on the very serious topic of book banning. When one of the community’s youth decides to take it upon herself to replace the books with banned books, concealing them beneath the dust covers of the approved books, she begins a small ripple effect. Soon, others begin to follow her example, all the while not knowing who the original individual who started this rebellious act is. It is interesting to note that the community’s adults who did not necessarily agree with Lula Dean’s book banning all remained quiet and didn’t fight back or argue against her. Rather, it was the youth who resisted and rebelled in their own nonviolent ways. However, those most deeply affected positively by the secret book swaps are adults who had been beaten down, silenced, and had their own independence taken from them. The books awakened something in them, igniting a fire and re-empowering them, inspiring them to make changes and fight back against Lula Dean and those who backed her.

At a certain point, the political portion became too heavy and I know that may seem confusing because politics is so much a part of the book banning culture. But book banning has been an age old problem. From the time books have been made available to the public, there have been groups of people who have tried to control which books should and should not be available to our youth. The culture of book banning can best be fought not by taking a political side, but by speaking from the perspective of desiring that books of all topics be available to our youth. The same message is easily conveyed in the novel without the political aspect being quite as heavy.