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Welcome to from the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business and life in the South. I don't know why I think I'll get extra points on my deathbed for going without. I want Gus to say what he wants to know. It's okay to want everything he can imagine. Annabelle Monahan, Dolly all the Time I'm Annie Jones, owner of the Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia, and this week I'm recapping the books I read in March. If you like my book reviews here on the podcast, you might be interested in joining my private, private Instagram account, Annie's Five Star Books. For $50 for the year, you can become a part of my bookish community online. Through the private Instagram account, you'll get access to my book reviews, both backlist and front list titles. I host monthly Instagram story Q&As and share about the books I start but never finish. If you follow me personally online, you've seen my reviews for years. And of course, from the Front Porch listeners will always have access to these free monthly Reading Recap episodes. The private Instagram is just a place separate from the Bookshelf where I get to be more detailed with my reviews, and Five Star Book Club members can also choose if they want to order my five Star reads each month from the store. There's a quarterly newsletter option as well for the social media averse, and that newsletter goes out at the end of this month. For more information or to sign up for the 2026 group visit, Annie B. Jones writes Five Star Book Club. There's a link in the show Notes. Now back to the show. Reading Recap episodes are some of my very favorite episodes to record. Each month I review the books I read that month I have been reviewing. Gosh, I've been doing monthly book reviews on the Internet in some form or fashion I think since like, I don't know, 2010. A long time. A long time. So these are some of my favorite episodes to record. I'm also having a really good reading year. I've had a little bit of, I wouldn't call it a slump, but I've had a little bit of maybe not reading as many books, maybe not as many books that I love. I've had a slight dip in March, But I read 12 books in January, 12 books in February and I as of this recording am on track to read, I think between 10 and 12 books for March. I don't know, we'll see, but I've just had a really good reading rhythm this year. And I had somebody at a literary lunch in person, in store, ask me how I am reading this many books or, you know, what my reading life looks like. And of course, reading is a part of my job. I mean, recording these episodes is a part of my job. Hand selling books is a part of my job. So reading is certainly work to me, but also it is a lifeline. And this quarter of the year, I have really done a good job. I think, intentionally and unintentionally, of reading in multiple formats. So I've read a lot of E galleys on my Kindle. I've read physical copies, which is, of course, my preferred way to read. And then I've listened to audiobooks as well. And I think by having at least one book going in each of those formats, I think I've been able to maintain a pretty steady reading rhythm. Like I said, March, I had a little bit of a dip, but I think that's also to be expected. I mean, life kind of picks up in March. It feels like we're coming out of hibernation. And so having to refind my rhythm makes a lot of sense. Anyway, let's get started with some of the books I finished this month. One book that you've probably heard me talk a lot about at this point is Upward Bound. This is by Woody Brown. I started this book in late November, early December of last year. Liked it so much that I didn't want to read it in December. And so I put it down and picked it back up again late February, early March. It releases on March 31st. It's a collection of connected short stories, though, honestly, as I have discussed with some, I think some staff members and maybe some in person readers, I'm not sure how accurate that is. I mean, it's a novel, and so is. So is the book that I loved earlier this year called this Is Not About Us. That is a book that is connected short stories technically. But it also reads like a novel. And I do wonder if some people, you know, are turned off by the short story concept. So if that's you, if you're a reader who is like, short stories aren't for me, try this one anyway, because it is. It's a novel. It's just told in different perspectives. So Upward Bound is about a home for disabled adults called Upward Bound. It's set in, I believe, Los Angeles, California. And the setting is great. And this home is not necessarily an overnight, like a place where people live, but it is where they come during the day and each chapter of this book is a different perspective. There is this really memorable character named Tom. Tom is like movie star handsome but he has cerebral palsy and he cannot talk and so he has to communicate in other ways. There's a chapter about the lifeguard at the facility. There's another chapter about one of the caregivers at the facility. So you get a variety of different perspectives. The other thing I think is important to note about this book is the author, Woody Brown. This is his debut and he is the first non speaking autistic graduate from ucla. I was just really impressed with Brown's storytelling capabilities. I loved a lot of these characters. I also appreciated that they are flawed, complicated, interesting, and the story. The book took a couple of turns that I wasn't expecting. And so it's not just that's why I'm like it's a short story collection. But also it's not. Also it's a novel. And so I think this one is going to get a lot of well deserved buzz when it releases next Tuesday. It wouldn't shock me if it was some kind of, I don't know, book club selection through GMA or Jenna Bush Hager or Rhys. Just wouldn't surprise me if it was selected for one of those. I do think it would make a great book club conversation. It opened my eyes to a lot of different types of people who you may interact with, I interact with on a daily basis. And so I loved this one. This is Upward Bound by Woody Brown. It release releases on Tuesday. You've heard me talk about this one in summer. I'm sorry, in spring. Literary first. Look, if you attended that event, I also believe I featured it in the new release episode for March. So you heard me talk about this one, but let me just put another plug in for it. I really liked it. I suspect it could be in my top 10 books of the year, though of course it's early. But I do think this one could be in my top 10 by year's end. Next up, I downloaded the digital copy of Dolly all the Time by Annabelle Monahan. This doesn't release until May 26, so bear with me. But it totally is worth pre ordering. You know, if you're a longtime listener of this podcast, how much I like Annabelle Monaghan, how much I love and appreciate her romance novels, her romantic comedies. I fell in love with her when I first read Nora Goes Off Script and I'd like to think we've been a champion of her work ever since. Annabel was also our guest author at our March reader retreat. So we have. I think we have a friendship, a kinship. She was kind enough to blurb my book. All that being said, I am entirely biased. And yet Dolly all the Time is so good. And I think I felt this way about last year's It's a Love Story, where a couple of these romances have really given Nora Goes off Script a run for its money. Like, that was always my favorite Annabel Monaghan book. I reread that one. I loved it. But a couple of these. It's a love story from last year. And then Dolly all the Time. I really have enjoyed. Have enjoyed her work so much, and I actually read quite a few romance novels and romantic comedies over the last few weeks. And Annabelle Monaghan's work stands above the rest, in my opinion. She's scratching all of my metaphorical itches, which is gross but true. So the main character in this book is obviously named Dolly. Dolly is a single mom who takes care of everyone. In fact, I specifically finished this book and texted one of my eldest daughter friends. I'm an eldest daughter, an elder daughter. And I texted my friend, who is also an elder daughter, elder sister. And I was like, hey, have you read Dolly all the Time yet? And she hadn't. And I said, please, just tell me when you do. And so she texted me when she was done, and I said, did you not think this was the best ode to eldest daughters and to big sisters everywhere? I just felt so seen by this book because Dolly moves back to Whitfield, Rhode island, for the summer. Whitfield is where she spent a lot of time growing up. It's where her dad still lives, her dad and her brother and her sister, kind of in of course, Dolly's opinion, gets to kind of live her life free of expectation or family obligation, Whereas Dolly wants winds up having to intervene quite a bit in her dad's life. Her dad owns a seafood restaurant in Whitfield. And so when kind of something goes wrong at the house, Dolly and her son Gus move back for the summer, and they take care of her dad, the house, the restaurant, her brother. And while they are there, Dolly runs into Stuart. And let me tell you something about Annabelle Monahan. A few books ago, her protagonist was, like, this blonde guitar player. And that is not my type on any level. Any level. Any level at all. And yet Annabelle Monaghan made me like him. Not love him, but like him. When I was first reading this book, I came across Dolly and Stuart's kind of meeting. And I thought to myself, well, surely this cannot be the male lead. Like, this cannot be the romantic love interest, because his name is Stuart. And I just thought, there is no way I am going to be able to fall in love with a character named Stuart. And lo and behold, I did. So Stuart and Dolly knew each other when they were kids. And what happens next is Dolly needs financial help to help fix her dad's repair, her dad's house, her childhood home. And Stuart is. His last name's Whitfield. He. Whitfield, of the same name as the town. And so. And so Stuart needs Dolly's help, kind of. They enter into this fake dating type pact because of course they do. And Stuart's like, I'll pay you. We'll get your roof fixed if you will just help me go on these dates. And so that. That is the plot of Dolly all the Time. I loved the summertime setting. I loved the Rhode island of it all. I loved the seafood restaurant. I especially loved. And this is what Annabelle Monaghan, I think is really, really good at. Not only is there a convincing romantic plot line that obviously drives the whole story, but the book is filled with side characters. The relationship between Dolly and her son Gus, I just adored. I just adored it as a new mom of a boy. And I've often wondered what kind of mom I will be to a little boy. I loved Dolly and Gus's relationship. I also loved Dolly's relationship with her dad. I loved the small town, small business aspect of the book. There are a lot of side characters, a lot of side plot lines that I find really realistic in Annabelle Monaghan's books. And I think they add a lot of depth to an already pretty fun romance. But they add an element of realism to her books that I really like. So it would be tough for me at this point to rank Annabel Monaghan's books. But I loved this one. I loved this. I will reread it probably this summer because it is a very summertime book. I was honestly just desperate for something to read and I didn't want to break my reading rhythm. And I saw that this was available as a digital galley, and so I immediately downloaded it and I was going to save it. And this is what often happens with me. I was going to save it until a better season came along. But alas, I could not. I did not have any self control. I do not have any self control when it comes to Annabelle Monaghan books. And I loved this. It is Dolly all the time releases on May 26th. I do think there is some overlap between Nora. Nora goes off script. And this one because Nora is also a single mom. And maybe it's just because my own age is increasing, but I also love a love story with an older protagonist. And that is not to say that Dolly is old, But Dolly is 40, 39, turning 40. And I have found myself reading a lot of 39 year old turning 40 books. And I am grateful, I am grateful to see myself represented in literature. So Dolly all the Time by Annabelle Monaghan releases on May 26th. I loved it. Around the same time I was listening to another romance novel called One and Only by Maureen Goo. This is narrated by Gina Yee and it is a fantastic audiobook. So I really liked this in audiobook format. In particular, it was Jenna Bush Hager's pick for February. I would never have picked this up. Full disclosure, I would never pick this up. It's got a slight magical realism element we're going to talk about in a second. But I did pick it up because my friend recommended it particularly as an audiobook. She said if you're looking for an audiobook, the narrator of this one is great. So I downloaded it. And she was right. This is a book about Cassia. Cassia. Also, guys, this is another Los Angeles book. I think Upward Bound is set in LA as well. I love an LA setting. LA is one of my favorite places Jordan and I have ever visited. And I love being taken back there in books. So that was one of my favorite parts about this book. So Cassia lives in LA where she runs a business with her grandmother and her great aunt. They have this family matchmaking business. And the magical realism element to all this is that Cassia's family has always been able to see past loves and to determine someone's fated. So Cassia and her family have this matchmaking business where they act like they read people's faces and that is how they help put you with your great match. But really what they do is they kind of go back in time and they find who you were in love with in the past and they find that person in the present to find your fated. And Cassia has been told that her fated is this man named Daniel. And Cassia is speaking of protagonists who are turning 40. Cassia is turning 40 and she has yet to meet her fated. She knows his. She knows that his name is Daniel, but she has not come across him. She has. They have not crossed paths yet. And so I think on like the eve of her 40th birthday, Cassio winds up having this romantic encounter with a guy Young guy named Ellis. He's many years her junior, but they really hit it off. They have great chemistry. But she knows this is just a fling because she is waiting for her kind of one true love. Her one and only, if you will, named Daniel. Well, lo and behold, Ellis and Cassia are out one day and they see this guy who is Ellis's boss and his name is Daniel. And sure enough, he is Cassius Fated. So there's this love triangle. I would argue it's not the world's most convincing love triangle. And what I will say about this book, I love the LA setting. There's actually some really great food writing in this book. Cassia's family is really lovely. I struggle to care about the romantic triangle. Like to me it's just very clear. One of these men is more interesting than the other. That's what I will say. One of these men is more interesting than the other. And so I did not find the love triangle super convincing. But this kind of magical realism plot that I normally would not be interested in, I was very interested in it and I really liked it. So I liked that part about it. And then I loved 75% of this book. And then the last 25%, I was a little bit like, did we need this? And I would argue we didn't. But still very enjoyable four star book for me. If you need a good audiobook, I think it's great in audiobook format. I think Erin at the Bookshelf would also like this book. It is one and only by Maureen Goofy. If you're a Rebecca Searle fan, I definitely think there's some overlap here. And boy, guys, was I on a rom com kick. I was just. I don't know what was going on. I guess it was into February, going into early March. I was just reading a lot of romance, a lot of romance novels. And Annabelle Monahan is the goat as far as I'm concerned. However, we've got a debut summery rom com coming out July 27th. Okay, yes, I know, July 27th. It is called the Mashup. It's by Laura Marie Myers. Something that occurred to me as I finished this E galley. So I read this in digital format was I saw Laura Marie Meyers picture and I thought, I'm pretty sure I read her blog back in the day. And so I was very charmed to realize that. I'm like 90% sure Laura Marie Myers and I, I don't know if that's always been her name, but I think we followed each other online years and years ago. But I did not know she was still a person writing things. And lo and behold, this is her debut romance novel. It's called the Mashup and mash, all capital letters, M A S H. Because Laura Marie Myers is a millennial. And MASH refers to the game MASH that a lot of us played. Mansion, apartment, shack, or house. Do you guys know what I'm talking about? Surely you do. And so our main character is Ruby. Ruby is on the cusp of a milestone birthday. I believe it's 30. But now I'm like, did I read another book about a 40 year old? I think she's 30. I think she's younger than Dolly is in the Monahan book. So, Ruby, it's the night of her 30th birthday. She's out with friends, and her twin brother and her best friend gives her this MASH game that Ruby played when she was like 13. And of course, it's kind of this great nostalgia trip. They're laughing over it. They think it's hilarious. And then the next morning, Ruby wakes up and she is in her MASH game. She's. She's living her MASH game. So if you liked 13 going on 30 or the Barbie movie, this will be so fun for you. Like, you will love this book because it is just. It is. You just read the whole thing with a grin on your face. Because Ruby is living in a mansion. She has a tie, dyed jeep, and she is dating or in a relationship with Pennsylvania. Pen is her twin brother's best friend. In real life, Ruby and Pen do not get along. She cannot believe his name was even on the game. But sure enough, he is in this. In this version of her life, he is who she should have wound up with. And so what unfolds is Ruby trying to get out of the game and get back to her normal life. And also maybe falling in love with Pen. I mean, you know, maybe. And so I can't tell you how fun this was. Romp is the perfect word. This will be great tucked in your beach bag this summer. Now, if you are not a millennial, if MASH to you and this is no shade, I want you to know there is, I mean, no shade here. But if MASH to you is a TV show that you watched while growing up, if I say the word mash and what comes to your mind is a television show set during the Korean War, this book is not for you. Now, I say it with love. I mean, I mean this without any malice. This book is not for you. But if I say the word MASH and you think mansion, apartment, shack, house, this is for you. It was made for you. It's fun. There is not a ton of depth here. There's a little bit like Ruby and Pen have some things that they have to overcome together. And there was a point in this book where I did wonder, is she ever going to get out of this game? Like, there was a point where I thought, when does the game end? But it does end, and that's not a spoiler. I just want you to know you're not going to be stuck in a MASH game forever. The whole thing is just a delightful ride and kind of unexpected and fun out of a rom com I feel like I read a lot of romances, partly because I'm not a huge magical realism kind of fan. I read a lot of rom coms. They all have similar plot lines and I want to give a shout out to Laura Marie Myers because this is very original and very fun. And if you liked the movie 13 going on 30, I think you will love this. The COVID is delightful. It is called the Mashup by Laura Marie Myers. Okay then I picked up the book Joyful. Anyway, this is by Kate Bowler. It releases on April 7th, so you don't have too long to wait for this one. The other one you will have to pre order. It releases in July. I'm so sorry, but this book releases in April. You might know Kate Bowler from her work online, her work on her podcast, her book that was a New York Times bestseller called Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I've Loved. If you're not familiar with her, Kate Bowler is a theologian, a professor at Duke University, and when she was in her 30s she was diagnosed with colon cancer and she was not expected to survive. She is alive and and doing very well. But that premise, that diagnosis, was the basis of her book. Everything Happens for a Reason. And I would argue, even though she's written some books in between now and then, Joyful, anyway, is kind of her unpacking what happens when you survive something. But now you know, the world is painful and the world is full of grief and the world is hard. How are you supposed to be joyful? Halfway through this book I did again, and I don't know, maybe it was my headspace. But halfway through this book I wondered, is this necessary? Did we need this book? And then I just want to tell you that yes, as I kept reading, I really wound up enjoying it and appreciating it and needing it. It is a little bit of a memoir, but to me it is probably more self help personal growth, which is maybe why I struggled a little bit, especially in those initial few chapters. It's more like the book Wintering by Catherine May, maybe, but maybe less nonfiction. Does that make sense if I say that? Certainly there is a lot about her personal life, there's a lot about her friendship. And I do have I. I did have some qualms with this book, however, the premise, this idea that what happens when you realize life is hard and painful and how every day are you supposed to find joy? I did appreciate that because I do think the older you get, the more things happen to you and the more you do wonder how to wonder and how to find joy. And I liked her honesty about that. I'll tell you what else I really liked. Much like the Dolly all the time mother son relationship. She writes a little bit. She doesn't write a ton, but she writes a little bit about her relationship with her son and her role as a mother and I loved that. I'm finding myself not necessarily drawn to parenting books, much like I'm not drawn to business books, but I am finding little nuggets of wisdom about motherhood in other kinds of books. And this is one where I weirdly walked away with some truths I think, about mothering, which was not something I at all expected. I think this will for sure be a Susie read, though I think Susie and I would agree it's weird to call my mom Susie mom and I would agree that not a ton of this information is groundbreaking, but is it helpful? Is it good to hear it articulated? Yes. And I think the back half, I'm thinking if this is true. I do think it is true. I think the back half is stronger than the first half. I liked this one and maybe like a lot of books and movies right now, it's a little long, but overall enjoyed. I think it'll be really good to read this spring as maybe you're turning a page like I said earlier, coming out of Hibernation, this is Joyful Anyway by Kate Bowler. It releases on April 7th. Next up, another book that I think you're going to hear me talk about next week on from the Front Porch, but I also featured it in Spring Literary First Look Cleo Dong Would Rather Be Dead. This is by Mai Gwyn. She wrote the book Sunshine Nails, which came out of a couple of years ago. A few years ago and I really liked that book. It didn't get a ton of buzz, but I liked it this is her newest book out on April 14th. This is going to be a hard hand sell and you'll know why in just a second. But I really loved this book and I think it is beautiful and redemptive and it is very hard to read. It was very hard for me to read but I really loved it and I'd love for you to read it too. So the main character is Cleo. Cleo goes to give birth to her first little girl named Daisy and Daisy dies shortly after being born. At the same time, Cleo's best friend is giving birth across the hall and of course her child survives. So not only has Cleo faced this horrific reality, this horrific tragedy, but she now pretty regularly comes face to face with her best friend who has the thing she thought she'd have. The book is very sad. There's no getting around that there is this horrible tragedy at the center of this book. However, the publisher is billing it as darkly funny and I will agree there are some very funny parts. Cleo goes to her daughter Daisy's funeral and while she is there, the funeral director approaches her and lets her know there's a job opening at the funeral home. And of course, a few days later, Cleo, in the depths of despair and not quite sure what to do next, feeling aimless, purposeless, she decides she's going to apply for the job and go to work at the funeral home, much to the dismay, I think, of her husband. And working at the funeral home is Cleo's way of attempting to get back into the world. You get Cleo's grief, you get the grief of her husband, you also get the grief of her parents. And I really think Mai Gwyn did such a good job of showing how different people and different personality types cope with loss. The funeral home aspect of this book is funny. Cleo meets, of course, this quirky cast of characters. It almost. There are some chapters that almost feel like a workplace comedy. In particular her boss, Kenneth, who very much reminds me of the boss from Kerry Winfrey's Faking Christmas. Kenneth is kind of an oddball and he has assembled this very quirky group of people who all work at the fun home. And those parts of the book are the funniest parts of the book. Mai Gwyn did base this book on her own loss and her own grief. There's a really beautiful author's note in the back of the book and I will say I had moments where I was reading this one where I thought, should I keep reading this? You know, I'm relatively I'M only nine months postpartum. I did sob at my dining room table reading this book. Certainly Mai Gwyn is articulating and she herself lived through what would be most of our worst nightmares. And by the end, I was just so glad I had read it. I was so glad I read it. The writing is outstanding. The storytelling is profound. I think it's beautiful. It's tough subject matter, so I don't know what kind of buzz it's gonna get. I don't know who's going to buy this one, but I wish you would. I wish you would. I really think it's worth and again, there are redemptive stories in this book. Like there are redemptive plot lines. You don't just sit in the heaviness forever. And so I really liked this one. It is Cleo Dong Would Rather Be Dead by Mai Gwyn. It releases in a couple of weeks on April 14th.
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I am realizing I did read some. I might have read some rom coms, but I also read some tough stuff because the next book that I read was Unspeakable Things. This is by Brooke Nevills. I do not, I do not understand why I have not seen this book more places and I don't think it's just because I have my head buried in the sand. I really don't think this one has made the splash that I thought it would. So Unspeakable Things is the memoir of former Today show producer Brooke Nevills. She was not the only but I think she was the first woman I would argue she wasn't even the first, but she was a woman who came forward during the MeToo movement, I think 2017. She came forward about an affair. I'm using air quotes she had with Matt Lauer. Matt Lauer, the Today show host at that time, was subsequently fired and a lot of kind of chaos and upheaval at NBC News unfolded after that. Of course, Brooke Nevilles didn't just I would argue she did not just have an affair. She was sexually assaulted by Matt Lauer. Allegedly, I will say allegedly because he was never charged with anything. This book book is a gut punch as of course you might expect. But here's what I wasn't expecting. So part of this book is memoir. And each chapter is Brooke's story kind of leading up to her encounters plural with Matt Lauer and then the aftermath. But it is also deeply, heavily researched about sexual assault, about why victims don't often come forward, about what happens in, during, and after a courtroom experience. Like, there is so much research in this book about sexual assault, sexual violence, sexual harassment. And so I think the pacing of this is so well done because you'll get some of Brooke Neville's story and personal history, and then you will also have her kind of dive into the research. And she starts the book with this really great introduction where she says, look, I'm a journalist, and I wanted to figure out the. The interaction that she had. I keep. I'm not quite sure how to. How to talk about it, but the. The encounter that she had with Matt Lauer happened at the Sochi Olympics, which was in 2014. That's right. Right. She did not come forward and report what happened with Matt Lauer until 2017, maybe 2018. And so she. And it is important to note, after their initial encounter, she wound up having multiple encounters with him when she returned home to New York. And she really tackles. Maybe your own assumptions, the reader's assumptions, maybe the accusations the reader is making in their head. She really tackles them head on. And I really want to commend her bravery for kind of asking the questions maybe we would also ask about, well, wait a minute. Well, why didn't you come forward? Why didn't you say anything? Why did it take you so long? Why did you keep seeing him? And I think she does a masterful, masterful job of unpacking the research and analyzing her own experience through a journalistic lens. Again, I'm not sure why. I don't know if we're air quotes over the MeToo movement. And so we're not reading about this stuff anymore. I don't know if we're overwhelmed by the current news cycle. And so this feels like old news. I don't know if Matt Lauer still has a hold on the morning show industry, the morning television industry, or the television industry. I did some Googling, and I did see that he went to the wedding of a Today show producer. So, you know, he faced consequences for his behavior. But also, maybe. Maybe not all the consequences you would have thought. I think this is. Oh, gosh, I think this is really worth your time. I do. I think it is a very powerful memoir. You will appreciate it if you appreciated Chanel Miller's Know My Name. Um, but I also think it's incredibly well researched and she kind of leaves it up to you what you want to think of her experience. Um, she kind of lets the reader know here, this is what happened to me. This is why I responded and reacted the way that I did. This is how it made an impact on my life. And you decide, you decide what you're going to think about me, what you're going to think about my decision making. I thought it was really powerful. I do think she was interviewed on npr, but like, that's about all I've seen publicity wise about this book. It released in early February and I ordered a few copies. It was kind of an embargoed title, meaning a book that they thought was going to make a big splash and they didn't release what it was going to be about until close to release date. And so I ordered a couple copies for the store. And I mean, last I checked we hadn't sold any and I didn't even know it was out. Like it just did not make. I just thought for sure this would be the headline for days. And I guess that's naive in 2026 to think that anything could be a sustained headline. But Unspeakable Things by Brooke Nevills if you appreciate the work Ronan Farrow did, the Pulitzer Prize winning work of Megan Tuohy and Jodi Cantor, then I think you will appreciate Unspeakable Things by Brooke Nevills. Y', all, I read a lot of books this month and they were kind of all over the place. They were kind of all over the place because next I read the novel look what yout Made Me do by John Lanchester. This releases on May 5th. It may already be out in the UK. I'm not 100% sure. This book is a wild ride and I refuse to tell you too much about it. What I will say is that Kate is one of our main characters. Kate and Jack have been married for decades. They are kind of the envy of their peers in that their marriage is kind of fun to watch. They really clearly like each other, maybe despite each other's obnoxious habits. And so they've been together a while and Jack dies. Jack dies pretty early in the book. That's not a spoiler. And Kate then is mourning his pretty sudden loss. She can't quite get her bearings. They were married for so long and now she's without her life partner. And while she's in the middle of grieving the loss of her husband. Her friends are trying to kind of pull her up, you know, help her re enter the world. And they start talking to her about this new show that is popular on Netflix in the UK called Cheating. And they're talking about the show around her, and they release some details, they divulge some details of the show that all of a sudden Kate's like, spidey senses go up and she thinks, wait a minute, that sounds like my marriage. And the whole. In fact, the opening line to this book is so good, because the opening line is something about every marriage has its own secret language. And doesn't it? I mean, I would argue friendships do too, of course, but. But I think about the shorthand that Jordan and I have adopted over the years and how honestly, if somebody were in our home, they probably wouldn't understand half of our references. Some of it comes with time, some of it comes from pop culture. Sometimes we're talking to each other in office quotes, you know, but it is our own language. And so that is why when Kate hears about the characters on this TV show talking and acting in ways that are remarkably similar to her and Jack, she is devastated because what does this mean about her marriage? Who knew these details other than Jack? So the book goes back and forth between Kate's perspective and then the TV show writer. Her name is Phoebe. Kate's and Phoebe's perspectives. I do not want to divulge any more than this, only to say I was hooked from the first page. That first line is so good. And the book is so wild and fun. It's weirdly fun. And I don't know if anything that I just described to you sounds like fun, but I assure you this is fun. And I. And dark and weird. And you will want to talk to somebody when you're done. This would be a great book club book. I suspect there will be some people who might hate it. I loved it. And I knew I loved it. And I knew it would make a good book club book when I finished it and immediately told Jordan Jones the entire plot. Like, I immediately shared the whole thing with him. So that is look what yout Made Me do by John Lanchester. It releases on May 5th. Next, I read a book recommended to me by my bookshelf staffer, Kendyl. Kendyl had just finished Phoebe Berman's Gonna Lose It. This is by Brooke Averick. It does not release until May 26. But rarely do staffers request specific arcs. I mean, sometimes they will, but Kendyl came to me and she was like, hey, I think we need to get this arc called Phoebe Berman's gonna lose it. Can you request it for me? So I requested it for her. Apparently, you know, I should have looked up before I got on here, but I think Brooke Averick is some kind of maybe influencer. Maybe she's a tiktoker. She was familiar to Kendall in some form or fashion. This is her debut novel and it is about Phoebe. Phoebe has a lot of anxiety, particularly around intimacy. Maybe even some OCD I think is divulged in the book. So Phoebe had a really horrible first kiss, a really just negative first kiss experience. And. And Phoebe has spent her entire adult life trying to recover from that experience. And she is on. She's another person, right, Headed into a milestone birthday. So she's about to turn 30 and her only kind of thing that her 18 year old self wanted before they turned 30, like the only item on her bucket list before turning 30 was to lose her virginity. And Phoebe has yet to do that because Phoebe has such anxiety around intimacy. This book is really fun because Phoebe makes a list of basically how to lose her virginity before 30 and like all the different kind of steps it could take. Like she. I think one of the things is to compliment a person or to ask for a guy's name at a bar. Like it's all these different things that might eventually lead to her having sex. And I could so see this as a Netflix movie. Like it was so vividly portrayed that I feel confident this could be a miniseries or a movie of some kind. Phoebe is charming. Her anxiety is palpable. You do understand where she's coming from. Ultimately there are kind of three different love interests who enter the picture and you, the reader, are trying to figure out who she's going to sleep with, if anybody, like, is she going to lose her virginity or not? And then there are some really lovely friend characters. Like it feels almost like a friends how I met your mother new girl. Like that's the kind of vibe you get from her, from her friend group. And they're all kind of rooting for her. And then they're also, you know, sometimes rightfully annoyed by her because Phoebe becomes. And shocking for somebody with OCD and anxiety. She becomes obsessed with this concept, this idea of losing her virginity. And so her friends kind of rightfully push back and push against her a little bit. This one was very fun. Kendall loved it. I really enjoyed it. It is Phoebe Berman's Gonna Lose it by Brooke averick releases on May 26 it's got a great cover. Would not shock me if eventually there's a film situation. Highly recommend. Then I picked up Celestial Lights by Cecile Penn. You heard me talk about this one, I believe on the March new release episode. And I finally picked it up. I had the physical arc, but I don't know, I was out or something. And so I started reading this on my Kindle. I could not put it down. I read it in less than 20. The main character is Oliver. Oliver was born on the same day the Challenger exploded. He's living in the uk. This obviously happens in America, but it almost sets Oliver on a path. Oliver eventually becomes an astronaut. And the book goes back and forth between Oliver in the present where he is on a 10 year mission to a moon off the coast of Jupiter. Do we say coast? Right outside Jupiter. And then it goes back in time to Oliver's growing up and kind of what set him on a path to become this world renowned astronaut who is willing to take on this 10 year mission. Meaning once he's on that shuttle, once he's on that flight, he cannot come home, cannot be communicated with for 10 years. I'm so glad I read this one before going to see Project Mary. It was a great space book to kind of get me in the right headspace. Pun intended for that movie. I adored this book. I immediately told Jordan. I didn't tell Jordan the plot because I want Jordan to read this book. I think Jordan would really like it. I think it is a really beautifully written story. It seems like one Olivia could enjoy, though it's not entirely plot driven. Like she asked me if it was, not if it was sciency enough for her. And I'm not sure it is. Although because Oliver is on this mission, you do get a lot of insight into the mission itself. What makes it possible, why they're on the mission, the training required. So I do think there's some sci fi elements to this book, though I would not shelve it in sci fi, let's put it that way. There was a book. Oh, gosh, hold on. Okay. It came out years ago. It was called the Wanderers by Megan Howery. And it was about these astronauts who were kind of prepping for mission and they had to participate in this like simulation in the desert. Okay. If you liked that, which I don't, which I know that's tough. That's a deep backlist cut. But if you liked the Wanderers, I think you will love Celestial Lights. If I had read this one in time, this would have been shelf Subscription material. This is top 10 of the year material. I do not know why more people aren't talking about it. Maybe it's because it releases next week, so it's not quite out yet. But if it gets buzz, just let me tell you. Deserving of all the buzz. I adored this. This is Celestial Lights by Cecile Penn. Five stars. Probably my favorite book of the month. Really, really liked it. Really, really liked it. Speaking of another book, I really liked all the World can hold by Jung Yoon. This released earlier in March. But I read. I listened to the audiobook and read the physical arc. If I were you, I would do the physical format on this one. Though if you are desperate for an audiobook, I do think this is a good audiobook. I just would prefer. I wound up preferring the physical format. This is historical fiction, but you're gonna cringe. This is historical fiction. Set in 2001. A cruise leaves Boston harbor on September 16, 2001. And obviously 911 has just happened and all of these people are on this cruise. And this is pre, you know, the abundance, abundant use of cell phones, et cetera. And so we get these three different characters. We get Franny. Who is she? She's almost who I would call the main character. She is on this cruise for her mother's 70th birthday. She is trying to create a celebratory atmosphere with her mom, her brother, her brother's girlfriend, and her own husband. But of course, nobody's in a super celebratory mood, including Frannie herself, because Franny was in New York and in midtown the day of the 911 tragedy. And so. And that's something kind of Franny is keeping close to her chest. She's not really telling people that she was there. And she bore witness to some obviously truly horrible things. Things. Then we have Doug. Doug is kind of a comedic character, but also has a lot of depth. So Doug is a former TV star. He starred in a show like the Love Boat, if you grew up watching the Love Boat. And so he is on this cruise kind of as his character to sign autographs, to interact with, to interact with fans. This is almost a reunion type cruise. So he is one perspective we get. And then we also get the perspective of Lucy. Lucy is a black graduate of mit, currently looking for a job. And she's doing these interviews on the boat with like, for example, this brand new organization, this brand new company called Google. So it's a great time capsule of 2001. Like, it's a really convincing time capsule of that era. Era of the cruise ship books I have read this year that includes American Fantasy by Emma Straub, Man Overboard by Kathleen Rooney, the Shippers by Katherine Center. This is my favorite cruise ship book I've read. This is by far my favorite cruise ship book I've read this year. I was very invested in each of the characters. I was very curious. The book is set obviously over the course of a few days because it's on a cruise. I think it's like an eight day cruise. And so you get eight days with these characters. The backdrop of 911 is. What is the word that I'm looking for? It's both a stabilizing force to the novel and it's also kind of this dark cloud over the novel. I loved this. I really did love this. It went a few directions that I wasn't quite expecting with those three characters. It's almost. It's almost like a dysfunctional family story, but it's three different families. Franny is on the boat with her with her family, as I've already mentioned. Doug is on the boat with his nephew and Lucy is on the boat with her roommate. And so it's kind of all these dysfunctional relationships and they're on this cruise trying to figure out, you know, what's going on. Like at one point they land in Bermuda and they all feel kind of guilty for like enjoying their trip while when they arrive in Bermuda, kind of reality hits. And anyway, while I was talking about this one, I was talking about this one in store. At a literary lunch. One of our customers told me that her parents were actually on a cruise during 9 11. Like when 911 happened and all they got was like a note slid under their door. And they were so befuddled and almost. I mean, this is horrible, but they almost thought it was a joke. Like, what do you mean? And on the cruise ship. In this book, phone service is air quotes. I used a lot of air quotes this episode. But it's kind of spotty. But you don't really know is it spotty or has the cruise line just decided, you know what to keep the atmosphere like it needs to be. We gotta cut off communication. Like, you're not quite sure. You're never quite sure. Yeah, I really like this one. I'm a little unclear why we haven't heard more about it. This is one that I also think is deserving of way more buzz than it's getting. So that is all the World can hold by Jung Yoon. Whew. That was a lot of books that was a lot of books and honestly a lot of different territory. I feel like a lot of different content. So surely, surely this week or this month there is something here for everyone. Those are the books I read in March. As usual with our Reading Recap episodes, we are offering a Reading Recap bundle for this month. The March Reading recap bundle is $83 and it includes three books, celestial lights, Unspeakable Things, and All the World Can Hold. This is a really good bundle you guys. This is is. This is a legit bundle. You can find more details and the full bundle online through the link in our show notes or go to bookshelfthomasville.com and type today's episode number 574 in the search bar. You of course can also order or pre order any of the other titles I mentioned as well. This week I'm reading Abby off sides by Anna McAlley from the front Porch is a weekly podcast production of the Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in Thomasville, Georgia. You can follow the Bookshelf's daily happenings on Instagram ookshelftville, and all the books from today's episode can be purchased online through our store website bookshelf thomasville.com Special thanks to Studio D Podcast Production for production of from the Front Porch and for our theme theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations. Our executive producers of today's Episode are Cami Tidwell, Beth Martha Linda Lee Drost, Stephanie Dean, Ashley Farrell, Jean Queens, Jamie Treadwell, Joseph Shorter iv, Nicole, Marcy, Wendy Jenkins, and Kimberly. Thank you all for your support of from the Front Porch. If you'd like to support from the Front Porch, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Your input helps us make the show even better and helps us reach new listeners. All you have to do is open up the podcast app on your phone. Look for from the Front Porch. Scroll down until you see. Write a review and tell us what you think. 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