This was an enjoyable read, which I found quite amusing in places. Each character worked well and I enjoyed what they bought to the story. Would recommend

This was a brilliantly crafted book that I really enjoyed.

The characters are well written and developed, The story is about Lula, who is n a mission to ensure the town people still have access to books that are deemed inappropriate. These books start to have an impact on the lives of the people who read them

As a School Librarian in the UK this book resonated to me. I am pleased the book ended on a positive note. The characters and the situations were drawn well with a light realistic touch.

A really beautiful novel on the power of books and the sway they can have on our lives. I loved the motivations in this book and it's way of showing multiple people and their struggles. My only gripe is the ending was too rushed and I wish Lula had perhaps found a book that would change her perspective rather than just a sudden change of mind, but it was still enjoyable!

Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller is perfect for our times and imho, sweet, funny, reflective, wholesome and thoughtful

Lula Dean sets up a free library of wholesome books in a small southern town when the books begin to be replaced by "banned" books. Battles on social media, confrontation and conversation in the streets and ultimately a compromise of why all books should be available to read

Timely, poignant, perfect

Thank you to NetGalley, HQ and the author Kirsten Miller for this ARC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own

A contemporary satire about what happens in a small Southern town after a woman campaigns against controversial books. Excellent if you read it as a satire. Might ruffle feathers of a few people. Better for those who enjoy character-oriented storytelling and are liberal in their thinking.
A great read I loved it. Funny!!

READ THIS BOOK! 🤩

Hands down one of the best books of 2024, it was funny, serious, heartbreaking, anger-inducing, heartwarming and everything in between.

Lula Dean’s making a mark for herself as she leads a book banning committee. Her ‘wholesome’ little free library falls victim to a prank though, as those wholesome book covers hide banned books that cause waves across the little town of Troy in Georgia.

It’s told in short chapters, focusing on different residents’ stories, and honestly what a book that sends some incredibly important messages.

Read this book!

Thank you to the author, publisher & Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

I actually really really disliked this book. I thought that it was full of cliches, the humour fell flat and it was really hard to figure out what exactly this book was trying to do. Was it trying to make a big point? Was it meant to feel like satire? I just found it very over-the-top, but perhaps it was written for a different audience. Maybe it's better suited to an American market?

I was quite surprised to see how many 5-star ratings this book received on Netgalley, so it's clear to me that it's perhaps just not my cup of tea?
From a merely technical point of view I found the prose a bit too simplistic and with a lack of any depth to it.

An unusual book but, one, that I really enjoyed. A clever series of interlocking stories about people and their lives and all coming together. Brilliant. My thanks to netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

"Aside from the fact that people should be free to read whatever they like, can't you see how fucking stupid this shit makes us look?"

Whenever I see an article of Instagram post about a book being banned it always saddens me. One of the main reasons I love to read is because it expands my view of the world and gives me new perspectives on topics I might not have previously considered. Some of my all time favourite books have been on a list of banned books, many remain on them. This is why I was so excited when I saw the blurb for Lula Dean's Library of Banned Books, and it lived up to every one of my expectations.

Lula Dean's Library of Banned Books is a love letter to books and reading, but it also repeatedly makes the point that whilst books explore ideas they don't make people do things. A book cannot make someone gay, for example. A book doesn't turn someone into a killer either, prejudice and hate have much more of an influence on whether someone turns to murder than a book ever could.

The book begins with two people taking books out of Lula Dean's little free library and swapping them for banned books. Lula Dean is a bitter and loney woman who starts her little free library after someone discovers a pornography book hidden among the bakery books in a local library. Lula takes to facebook and all hell breaks lose.

"What should we do with this filth? Lula asked her followers. Beverly scrolled down through the replies. The most common response appeared to be: Burn it!!!"

Lula Dean's Library of Banned Books follows the lives of a group of people who take a book out of Lula's library and instead of the book they expected they find one of the banned books in the cover of an approved title. The book then goes on to outline the positive impact these banned books have on their lives.

We soon learn that when Lula and her Concerned Parents Comittee pulled books of the shelves in the local and school libraries they were acting based on a list of banned books they found on the internet rather than of their own volition. Likewise, the books Lula replaced them with just happened to be the books she found cheapest in a thrift store. Netherless, the actions of Lula prove divisive in the small town of Troy, Georgia and tensions buid until the explosive conclusion.

The Little Library of Banned Books outlines the sheer absurbity of the reasons used to justify banning books. There is anger in there but also a lot of humour to balance it out.

"Recognize this?" Lula called out. "Y'all know who the Lord of the Flies is, don't you? You think it's a coincidence the book's named after the devil? He's been right here in Troy, and he's opened the door to a whole slew of demons. Anarchists and pedophiles and socialised health care. He's the reason your children complain about going to church. He's why your doors have to be locked when you leave the house. Without the Lord of the Flies, kids wouldn't be kidnapped or groomed or given double masectomies."



I think my favourite character was Wilma Jean Cummings, an elderly lady who is so fed up of her family scheming to get their inheritance that she has decided to just stop speaking...until she encounters one of the library books...

"It was round the age of her 80th birthday that WIlma Jean Cummings noticed a change. She was still the same, of course. It was everybody else in the family who'd lost their damn mind. They leaned in so close when they spoke to her that she could read their breath like a Chick-Fil-A menu. Then their voices would go soft and sweet as marshmallow fluff, and they'd avoid words with more than one syllable."

The small town of Troy is filled with secrets and the little library is about to blow them all up. Lula Dean's Library of Banned Books is a love letter to the joy of reading and has a host of characters that leave you wanting more. It is also absolutely hilarious. A definite hit!

Really enjoyed the interlocking stories and the idea behind the library of banned books. A great read

An absolute gem of a book that I am already pressing into customers’ hands. Fast-paced and genuinely funny, this is a powerful, feminist read that celebrates the power of education and the coming together of community. An engaging read that taught me a lot about American history and the lessons we should all be learning from the past so we don’t repeat them now.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the idea of the little library being filled with banned books and enjoyed all of the characters stories and how they changed by reading the banned books.
The book had a serious message but I was laughing out loud as I was reading it.
A great read that I will definitely recommend.

I can honestly say, that this is one of the best books I've ever read!! Wow! It really hit the emotions and I think everyone should read it! Powerful.

Thank you so much to netgalley, the author and publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

On the surface, a joyous light hearted read. But actually this book really makes the reader examine their own views on practices such as book banning. Thought provoking!

What a fabulous book this one is, I saw this and the synopsis and thought this looked good. While it has some humour, there is also a very serious message behind it.

The thought of having books banned is abhorrent to me, but in today's world, someone will always be offended by a book. Books challenge our opinions and they educate us, but what if a small group decided to ban books based on their own opinions? What if those opinions are more extreme than you realise?

This book started as a fun read, the thought of having a prim and proper selection of books outside someone's house to be exchanged for books that are completely different. The author uses a small southern US town that has a long history and has different backgrounds depending on who you are and what family you come from.

With each of the books that are borrowed from the "accepted" books in the little library, we are introduced to the character that borrows said book. This gradually builds up several characters and their stories intertwine and give the story the serious side to it. The characters have a range of backgrounds, abilities and beliefs. These beliefs can be challenging to others and there are mentions of racism, homophobia, woke society, far-right and many others. It is a crosshatch of stereotypes that may be found in communities anywhere in the world. The author does take this one further than would possibly happen, but then as the saying goes "You never know what goes on behind closed doors!"

I think this is where the crux of the story and people's beliefs come into their own. Living in an idea that one person believes is right, does not mean it is right for everyone. Having access to all the facts and not questioning what you read can lead to a selective idea of the world around us. This is where books come in, whether fact or fiction, they give readers alternative ideas, that is if you have access to them.

The author does mention at the end of her book how she came to write this book and the things she discovered along the way. It gives an eye-opening moment of reflection and it is well worth spending the extra time reading it.

This is a fabulous book that I soon became engrossed in, it is one of those books that was an unexpected one as the synopsis felt different to the actual story. Ideal for those who like contemporary fiction and one I would definitely recommend.

I really enjoyed this clever book with a satirical take on book banning.

Lula has decided that the children of Troy a fictional town in a southern US State are in danger from terrible wicked books which have no place in the town library. As well as starting a campaign to remove them from the library shelves Lula sets up her own wholesome library in from of her house. Someone deliberately swaps the books so that the original worthy dust jackets hide the new books and the town is exposed to books that really mean something to each of them.

The author delivers a strong message about the power of what we read and the dangers of hiding knowledge all deftly delivered with a good amount of humour. A novel to both enjoy and to make you think.

What an incredible Book it's inspiring , uplifting had me splitting my sides with laughter, crying, getting really angry at some of the characters whom I wanted to slap & others have put in uncomfortable situations until they changed their ways or else be locked up for committing so many wrongs against humanity in the 21st century & this is actually happening across the US & other Countries too. But enough of that, this book is beautifully written & I am recommending this book to lots of friends & it's a book I'm even going to get my almost 16 year old granddaughter to read too. #NetGally, #GoodReads, #FB, #Instagram, #Amazon.co.uk , #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/8a5b541512e66ae64954bdaab137035a5b2a89d2" width="80" height="80" alt="200 Book Reviews" title="200 Book Reviews"/>, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/ef856e6ce35e6d2d729539aa1808a5fb4326a415" width="80" height="80" alt="Reviews Published" title="Reviews Published"/>, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/aa60c7e77cc330186f26ea1f647542df8af8326a" width="80" height="80" alt="Professional Reader" title="Professional Reader"/>.

What an amazing read! I thoroughly enjoyed the story about the people living in Troy. It highlights the perception we have of people around the world and their behaviours of racism and homophonia. This book also highlights the past history of slavery and the treatment of people by men in power. Also very relevant in our current times is the book banning taking place in states across the USA.

The formidable and strong women in this book especially Wilma Crump and Beverly Underwood will make feminists out there want to be like them. Lindsay and Bella show that their role models are their mother and grandmother who have taught them to be strong and stand up to the bullies.

There's laughter, joy and sadness but mostly the coming together of a community in this wonderful book. I also loved each chapter title and at times had to try and remember all the characters as there were many. I loved Dr Chokshi and his words of wisdom to Mitch Sweeney.

It was lovely to have a beautiful ending to the story.

Easy read but brings together some interesting characters fighting against the American right. Each story features a character and a book which will change their lives. It shows how important education is to bring people together to fight Lulu Dean who wants to ban these, and many other, books. Makes you realise how much authoritarians try to restrict reading and knowledge.