I loved this book! Kirsten Miller has crafted a story that is absolutely relevant, humorously entertaining and very engaging. Every character was very realistic. Everyone's story within the story was captivating. This book is a must read! Thanks #NetGalley #WilliamMorrow #KirstenMiller

I love books where everything feels interconnected and you feel as though we're all part of this world together. This book took the idea of a little private library and used it to change the entire community. The person in charge of the library is an unhappy person who has spent her life trying to inflict her unhappiness on others, and she is the reason there are so many books banned in the area. She also has other prejudices, so it's a surprise when people take books out and find that the banned books are there with different covers.
People read the books and their lives are changed; in the end, everyone has to confront who they really are. There is humor here, and tension, and I laughed and teared up sometimes. This is a good story. but I also wanted to visit and meet the people I'd come to care for.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this.

Lula Dean is the head of the Concerned Parents Committee in Troy, GA. They have tasked themselves with the removal of boxes of books from the town's public library that the committee has decided to be inappropriate. Lula then sets up a little free library in front of her house filled with the kinds of books she thinks are appropriate for the town to read.

Here’s the clever part. Someone decides to get back at Lula by removing 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 her little library. These banned books then end up in the hands of Troy's citizens and as fate would have it, the right banned book finds its way to those who most need it.

This is a story of satire, about how books that some would find controversial can be beneficial to different readers.

Not a page turner but still an enjoyable read.

Oh my word! This book was so so good! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️! So well written. Loved how everything intertwined and connected in the end. Belly splitting laughter and so very relevant to what is happening right now in our society. Thank you, Kirsten Miller, for this work of art. You knocked it out of the park!

LOVED this book!!! Hilarious, irreverent and timely! Read it. That is all. I loved the writing, the characters, the messages in each chapter. It was funny, heartwarming, it also made me think. This would be a great book club book. It would have so many good discussion points!

4.40 stars for me! I thought this book was great fun. It was a small town feud with Lulu leading the charge. I loved how each chapter was based on a real book and the impact that book had on the characters of that particular chapter and eventually, the town. It was a small town drama but one with laughter, growth, changing relationships and a new perspective on seeing those around you. It was sweet, sassy, and thought provoking with characters of all ages and genders. Relationships and perspective grew throughout the story and you were cheering right along with the characters.

I was excited to read this book. Everything about it SCREAMED that it was something I had to pick up, and I'm so glad I did. The first couple chapters were a bit hard for me to connect with but, once they all started to connect, I couldn't put the book down.

Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books is both hilarious and terrifying. Kristen Miller tackles topics like racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and sexual assault with a cast of strong female characters who are fiercely intelligent, disarmingly eccentric, and bracingly funny. If only the people, events, and dialogue in the book were exaggerations. I enjoyed every minute of the book - I read it in less than a day - and although it pains me to know that many Americans would stand by Lula Dean in her misguided attempts to “protect” the children of her town, it also gives me hope that one small choice can change the trajectory of a community. Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

One of my favorite books of 2024! In a world full of hate and ignorance, Kristen Miller has hit the perfect balance in Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books. As someone who's been in love with reading from a young age, the idea of banning books has always been abhorrent to me, so I was excited to see how this book unfolded. We've got Lula Dean, who is trying to take control of her town by banning all books she deems "unfit" against all the other people in the town who don't want to see her get away with it. Through multiple view points of characters on both sides of the debate, Kristen Miller does a great job of showing the reader how a little ignorance goes a long way, and the lasting impact it can have on a town. It's a scary reminder how quickly the vocal minority can rise up and truly impact a town and its people.

Thank you so much to Kristen Miller, NetGalley and William Morrow for this ARC, it is one of my favorite reads of the year!

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!