← From the Front Porch
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Welcome to from the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business, and life in the South. There is a heavy price we have to pay for seeing things as they are. The price is of our youth. Andrew Sean Greer Villa Coco I'm Annie Jones, owner of the Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia. Today, I'm joined by the Bookshelf's operations manager, Olivia, and Bookshelf floor manager Erin, to give you a rundown of our favorite new books releasing in June. Do you like hearing from Olivia and Erin each month? Well, what if I told you there was a way to have book selections by Bookshelf staffers like Olivia and Erin delivered to your door or your ears? Each month, our Shelf subscription program offers just that. Each month, members of our team select their favorite book of the month to mail out to Shelf subscribers. There's a local pickup option, too, for those closer to our home in downtown Thomasville. This year we're offering two adult shelf subscription the Annie, with lots of literary fiction and nonfiction, and the Revolving Shelf Subscription, which is perfect for the more adventurous, eclectic reader. Revolving Shelf subscribers will receive books chosen by Olivia, Shopmom, Susie, Shop Dad, Chris, and Nancy. If you're more of an audiobook listener, this year we have you covered with our audiobook subscription offered in partnership with our friends at Libro fm. You'll receive digital audiobooks selected each month by Bookshelf floor manager Erin. For more information about our Shelf subscription program, including Kid lit, selected each month by me and Isaac, visit bookshelfdomasville.com pages shelf subscriptions or just click Shelf Subscriptions at the top of our homepage. There's a link in our show notes, too. This year is the 10th anniversary of Shelf Subscriptions, and we're so proud of what literature we send out into the world each month. If you love our tastes here, I suspect you'd love them delivered to your mailbox, too. Now back to the show. Hi, guys.
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B
Hello.
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C
Hi.
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Are we ready for June?
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C
Yes.
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A
Yes.
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B
Yes. Yes. I don't know. It's already 90 degrees outside.
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C
I know.
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It is so hot already. We were working in our backyard two days ago and I was like, this is July temps like it. Really. I'm not exaggerating. It is too hot for May, but even for where we live, it is too hot. So I hope the heat breaks pretty soon because it was miserable the other day and we're not allowed. It's not okay to be this hot but also have prescribed burns, but also have a drought, but also have Gnats, like, you gotta pick one. They only sent one plague at a time. You know what I mean? Like. Like only one at a time.
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C
Too many plagues at once.
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A
Too many plagues. Read the room. We only need one plague for one moment. Thank you so much. Yeah, I'm. I am metaphorically ready for June. I will say. I. Erin, I am not the mother of four, but May. That's what I'm looking forward to.
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C
June.
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May has almost done me in, and I don't even have any. Like, I have no room to talk. But for some reason, May has felt chaotic to me as well.
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C
I think everyone feels it. I was talking to a friend whose kids are grown, and she was saying, everybody feels the May. There's something about it that just is. Like, everything's ending even if you don't have children. And everyone feels the tension and the stress of it. Yeah.
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A
Yeah. I think it's the frenzy. I. You know how we've watched some cities and school districts, like, ban cell phones? Like, we've seen that, right? Like, schools. Or there's, like, this tiny commun. Community in Ireland where, like, no cell phones for people under the age of whatever. Can we, like, ban plans? Like, just a suggestion. Like, could we all, as a community, agree we're done. We're not gonna do all.
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I'm not getting together. We're not having events.
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We're just gonna do.
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Come to our events at the bookshelf during this.
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Yeah. Banning all the events. But bookshelf. I just.
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Except ours.
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I feel like if, as a community, we could agree. We're gonna stop saying yes to everything. I'm just exhausted. I'm just exhausted. I looked at Jordan and I said, I think it's a problem. When I was trying to schedule a meeting, and the guy was like, what's your availability? And I sent him an hour and a half next Tuesday, and he wrote back, and he was like, is this your only availability? And I was like, no.
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Yeah.
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Like, I'm not trying to be a pill. That's literally. That's literally. I have that hour and a half anyway, that did not work for him or anyone else. So anyway. But it was. It was just a reminder that maybe I'm the problem. So maybe it's not. Maybe it's not May. Maybe this problem will follow me into June. I don't know. But I just wish, collectively, we as a society could be like, we're limiting ourselves to X amount of extracurricular activities or one thing at a time. I don't know. Feels like it could help me. So, as we go through our June new releases, do keep in mind the Bookshelf team has made browsing our podcast book selections super easy. Just go to bookshelfthomascill.com and type episode 584 into the search bar and you'll see all of today's books listed ready for you to pre order or purchase. As usual, you can use code new releaseplease at checkout and get 10% off your order of today's titles. A little programming note, we're also skipping our July new release rundown to give ourselves a little podcast break. Don't worry, we'll still have new episodes. They'll just be in a different format. So at the end of today's episode, we will lightning round a handful of titles we think you should pre order for July release as well. Okay, I'm going to kick us off with what is probably, I assume, one of the more highly anticipated books of the year. And I did read it because I did get a copy from the publisher, which. Kudos. Thank you. Thank you to the publisher. Whistler by Ann Patchett. If you love Ann Patchett, and who doesn't? I think I just recorded a different podcast episode where I referred to her essentially as the M and Ms. Of the book world, which is, she's consistent, she's reliable, she is the candy that everybody generally likes. And there different variations. You could keep the metaphor going. There are different variations. You could read Kidlit, Ann Patchett, Peanut, Peanut, M and Ms. You could read, I don't know, essay collection Ann Patchett Caramel M and Ms. Or you could read fiction Ann Patchett, which is probably the standard. So this is fiction Ann Patchett. This is Whistler has a beautiful painting of a horse on a cover. On the COVID But this is not a horse book. This is not Black Beauty. This is not Perestroika in Paris. This is a book about a woman named Daphne. Daphne and her husband are browsing the Met one afternoon, and her husband gently whispers to her, hey, there's some. Somebody looking at you, following you. And I admit that maybe I've been around Olivia too long. And I kept waiting for this to become nefarious. I thought this was gonna become. I thought this was kind of gonna become Ann Patchett, the thriller writer.
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For a second, I was like, do I wanna read Ann Patchett?
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No, let me. Let me stop you right there.
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I like Eminem's
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because I honestly, I was like, oh, what intrigue. What is this? And I want you all to know I loved Whistler. It's four and a half stars for me. I really liked it. But I spent the first 50 or so pages waiting. I kept thinking, oh, something nefarious is gonna happen. He's a stalker. He wants her money. He's in this for something gross and terrible. No, he's her former stepfather, Eddie Triplett. Great name. Eddie and Daphne. Their lives kind of crossed paths when Daphne was a little girl. And then her mother and Eddie divorced and so Daphne has not seen him since she was a little kid. And this is actually a really loving, tender book about the relationship. I'm going to call it a father daughter relationship. It's a stepfather stepdaughter relationship. But it is very much about a father daughter relationship and about people maybe we lose track of from one season in our lives and then we re encounter them in another season of our lives. This is not a thriller suspense novel in any way, shape or form. It's not a horse book. It is to me most similar in tone and storytelling to Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, where you're dealing with kind of people looking back on their past and kind of unpacking those stories from their former. I really liked it. I think it'll be five stars for a lot of folks. I think people who love Ann Patchett's more recent forays into fiction like Commonwealth, the Dutch House, where she's really, to me, dealing with family dynamics. I think they will like this book. The horse painting on the COVID will make sense, but I am not going to spoil it here. There is a horse story that will kind of come into play. But I loved this one. Four and a half stars. Just go into it knowing what it is so you don't spend the first 50 minutes or 50 pages waiting for the other shoe to drop. I really did keep waiting and I felt like this pit in my stomach, like, oh, no. And then I'm just. Just let me assuage your fears and any anxieties you might have. This isn't. This isn't that book. Nobody gets murdered in. Whistler by Ann Patchett. Out last out earlier this week.
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Well, if you do want some fears and nefarious family action, go read Tyfer's book.
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I'll read the book for you.
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I. I am like a 3/4 of the way through the Children by Melissa Albert and I am loving it. It's out earlier this week, June 2nd. Just like the Whistler. So, hey, you could have good family, bad family, read them all in one release day. Yeah, but this is about two kids, a brother and sister duo. Guinevere and Enos, I think. E N N I S. I think that's how you say it at least.
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Like Ennis.
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Ennis.
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Ennis.
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Neither here nor there.
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Yeah, not super important. They grew up with a mother who wrote this huge best selling fantasy children's book series. Think Harry Potter. Think Harry Potter. It grew to that level. But their mom used their names as like the two main characters in the book. Again, a brother, sister, duo, same names. And she definitely replicated parts of their personalities that she liked best in the book. And they went on all these adventures. So Guinevere is looking back at her childhood, kind of remembering two different childhoods. One that was in the book and then one that was her real life. And maybe not as pretty as the book. We know that their parents died in a fire. We don't know much more about that. But there is something behind it that's not great other than their parents dying, something even worse. And now it's modern day. Guinevere just wrote a memoir about her childhood because everyone's always interested in her mother and her father. And she kind of paints this really pretty picture of this idyllic childhood in this farmhouse with these two artistic parents and her lovely brother. And then she's in like a press interview and they ask about her brother's newest art expose. And the title of it is called Mother. And she just like stands up from her seat because she didn't know about it, and then like tries to pull herself together because what he remembered of a childhood is very different than what she remembered. And now her whole book seems like a lie.
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Ah, interesting.
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And so you're going back and forth in time into like modern day, because the modern day is like countdown to the art opening of his exhibit. So it's like two days before mother. One day before mother. And then they're looking back at their childhood leading up to the fire and what happened. It's really good so far. I am really enjoying it. I'm almost done. Short chapters, everybody.
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Okay.
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I like that.
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We can all love that. But the characters are really good and I'm interested to see how she's going to wrap it up.
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I think I'm intrigued by this. Yeah, this sounds one, like one I might pick up. Does it have the red cover? Is it that?
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Yes.
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Is it the one I've seen everywhere? Yes.
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Yes.
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Okay.
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Yeah, red cover. There's like a moon on it.
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Yeah, yeah, it's really pretty.
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Yeah. Okay. Yeah, it's really Good so far.
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Okay, well, we had a bad family, a good family, going back to a. We'll go, we'll call a dysfunctional family with my first book. It's called down with the Shipmans. It came out this past Tuesday by Meg Mitchell Moore. This is the first. Now I have not read this one. I am going to read this one. Probably even by the time this episode comes out, I will have read this book because my free time is about to get greater. But it is a perfect beachy cover. This is the author of Mansion beach, which I think came out two years ago. The paperback of Mansion beach is already out, so it must have been over a year ago. But Annie, have you read this one?
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Yeah, I loved this book.
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Okay, great. That makes me happy because I think I'm going to like it. But it's about three sisters, May, Natalie and Jordan, and they are at their family's beach home at the request of their father. Their father has requested like a family reunion of sorts. But this is no happy family summer reunion. There's a lot of obstacles and there's baggage that each sister is bringing to this trip. May is the youngest. She is from what it seems sort of drifting a bit like is couch surfing, you know, is working sort of odd jobs. And Natalie is the middle daughter and she's married. She has kids. She has a husband who's a farmer and sort of has this tradwife slash influencer social media gig that she's trying to do to make money on the side. And her husband said something and that was taken out of context in an interview. And it's, she's facing a lot of backlash for that. Jordan is the oldest daughter and she is like this, this high powered communication expert from New York and is being pressured presently by her employer to try to lie about a situation. And so it's placed her in a very awkward position. And besides all of that, their father tells them at this reunion that he is looking to sell this home, which I assume only brings out lots of frustration and angst in them about this, this change in their life and why their father is doing it. Their father also has a new wife. Their mother has passed away. And this new wife was like the nurse of the mother as she was dying. So that's an awkward situation. She's younger than the father. So to me, again, I haven't read it. Annie's read it. She probably could say more about it. But to me it seems like really the focus is on the sisters. And I love a good sister novel, almost like category Summer last summer that I recommended, where there's the three sisters, they have to go home to take care of their grandmother. This feels a lot like that where they're all coming, they're all very different, but they're coming together and they are bringing their problems together and sort of have to end up working them out together. It's a family being, learning how to be vulnerable and coming to terms with what's in their lives. So for me, since I haven't fully read this yet, but it seems like, like a Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson or maybe a Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett, like something where there is a journey of sorts to come together and the family has to work out their problems. So that is down with the Shipman's by Meg Mitchell Moore, out June 2nd.
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Yeah, I loved that book. And there I say this, this year, especially now, maybe it has been true in years past. Surely it has. But I felt like I was reading a beachy, like family story every week there for a minute trying to figure, like trying to figure out how do I differentiate the. Differentiate these from each.
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I've got another one sort of on my list for this. Yeah, a lot of very beachy family reads.
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So many. And I don't know if publishers are like, this is what the people want. Give them what they want. Or if it's always been like this. And I just noticed it this year, I don't know. But I think down with the Shipman's is the most easily hand sellable. Like you could give it to almost anybody and I think they would enjoy it. There's a little something for everyone. I really liked it. I think people will enjoy it this summer.
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Yay. I wonder if it's because last summer they didn't put out a ton besides like sandwich and sandwich sold like wildfire.
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Yeah. It just feels like we. I don't. And maybe it's because I was in Newborn Blur last summer, but I just don't remember the heavy like outpouring of beach books where it literally like has a beach house on the COVID or I don't know. And so I just felt like for a minute there, that's all I was reading. And not all of them are great, but this one I think is good.
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Good.
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My next book is also very summery. I mean, we are here in June releases. It comes out next week. It's called Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer. He's the Pulitzer Prize winning writer of Less. And if you liked Less, I think you will love Villa Coco. If you did not like Les, I do not think you will like Villa Coco. So that should be.
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That should be easy crossing off your list, everybody.
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That's right. You'll either like it or you won't, I hope. Now, I don't know. You know, you never know. But in the advanced reader copy I read, there was a letter to the reader. And it was from Andrew Sean Greer. And he talked about how we live in these really tough. This tough kind of political moment where we're bombarded by news, we're exhausted, as I was alluding to at the top of the episode. And he said, you know, years and years ago, decades ago, especially in Europe and in British literature, they had something called the charm novel where, like, nothing big bombastic happened. They were just these kind of quiet books set in the bucolic, you know, British countryside, whatever. And he was like, I want to bring the Charm novel back. And he said, it occurred to me that we aren't seeing these very often. And so I thought I would write one. And he did. I mean, and Villa Coco is the perfect charm novel. The main character is a young archivist. He's just graduated from college. He's a little bit aimless, and he gets this gig working as an archivist, like, kind of cataloging all of the things, the art, the furniture that belongs to this old Italian baronessa who lives in the Italian countryside. And when he arrives, I think he has visions that it's going to be like this sprawling Italian estate, and instead it's like this crumbling. I don't know, crumbling, like Villa. The Baronessa is so memorable, so multifaceted. Like, all of these characters, I think, could easily feel one note, and instead, they're all really nuanced and fun. The cast of characters. I know, Olivia, you really like. I don't think this book will be for you, but you like Found Family. And there is definitely a Found Family element to this book where this young, he goes unnamed for a period of time. So I want to kind of keep it that way. This young archivist kind of is trying to figure out who he is. And so through this casting of characters he meets, through the baronessa, he discovers who he is. I loved this book. I could not put it down. I took it with me everywhere. It is a quiet book, probably, I think, more character driven than plot driven, and yet I could not put it down. I took it with me everywhere. Like, I carried it in my purse. I read it at the garden club thing where I worked. I did book sales that day. I took it everywhere with me because I just liked the people so much. And I think if you are as overwhelmed as I have been, then you might also like to escape into the Italian countryside with Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Grier, out next week.
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Okay, I was trying. What's your segue? I know.
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Okay. How's she gonna turn this around? How's she gonna do this? Straight into it.
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The air should be left there. Just so we're all clear that sou. There's a way.
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A
Sounds good. Next.
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All right, so my next book, if you know you want some summer books, don't turn to me. This one is ya. It's called the Heirs, and it was out this past Tuesday. This is by. I had to write this down. I listened to her say her name 10 times. Caroline was also listening. So I could get this right because it deserves to be said correctly. Farida, abike imide.
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You're doing great.
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Yeah, Farida, I tried so hard. If you're listening, Farida, abike imide.
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There you go.
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There you go.
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All right.
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Beautiful.
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So this is ya. It's about these five siblings. They were fostered by this billionaire guy who had this idea that he could do nature over. Nurture and create and raise. Create in some ways. Five prodigies. So when they were 1 years old, they were all put into a room with these five objects, and whatever object they went towards that was what they were going to become a prodigy of. So, like music. One is a mathematician, I think she held like a chess piece, like all that sort of. All that sort of thing. And so now they're all in like college age and they're coming home because every year they have this prodigy ball that their father hosts at their estate where they kind of show off their talents, but then also celebrate other prodigies who are at this ball and like trying to be seen by their father and like get some money and sponsorships out of it. But this year is the 10 year anniversary of the prodigy ball, so there's a big press conference and we're slowly meeting all of the siblings and learning about them and that they. No one, no one here has a good relationship with their father for very obvious reasons. And then their dad dies at the ball, is murdered at the ball. And all of them in some ways could look extremely guilty, but also everyone at this ball could also be guilty because their father has made a lot of enemies. To me, it's very Olivey Blake, gifted and talented, which also hot take. Not enough people read that book.
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They didn't they were a little upset.
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They didn't. We didn't sell enough of that book.
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No. It makes me very upset. It's out in paperback now.
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Everybody, there's your hint. Go get that book.
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Great summer book.
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Olivia reads like it's winter all year long.
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It's like she wears sweaters all year long. She wears the book equivalent of a sweater all year long. Sleeves, 100 degrees outside.
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Yeah.
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The publishers comped it to Umbrella Academy, which I also think is accurate, but without, like, the magical element to it. These are. These are very real kids, but so far it's very good. I'm 20% in. And that was just from starting it night because I was just hooked immediately. I liked the characters. I like where we're headed. I love. I love a good murder, as we all know, especially in a closed room with a lot of suspects. Yeah.
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So it's a great premise. Yeah, that's a really good premise.
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It's very fun. That's the Heirs by Farida Abike Imide.
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A
Oh, well done.
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C
Thank you.
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B
It just got better and better.
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A
What object would you want Rory to grab?
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B
Like. Like, what if I say, like, I want him. I want him to be smart? Obviously, everyone wants their child to be smart. Maybe. Like, is it too cliche to say a spaceship?
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No. That's why I was genuinely curious. I was like, what?
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Because, you know, you never go to space. I would be very happy.
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A
Yeah.
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I would be happy for him and for myself also.
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You would get in as. Since you would get to go to space.
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Yes.
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I could sit in the command center as he, like, went to space. Do you know how cool that would be?
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Yeah, it would be very cool.
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Yeah. So cool. I don't know how to, like. I'm about to talk. To talk about a very dark murder mystery, so I'm gonna turn this around here I am curious about your.
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This one.
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Olivia and I were just talking about it this morning. It's called Heather by Caitlyn Mullen. Listen, I saw this book everywhere. Like, it was on the COVID I think, of Indie Next or Indie Next pamphlets. Kendall had said she started it, and she was like, I think you would like it. You should. I don't know how far she got into. She's gotten into it. But when Kendall tells me to read a book that's or outside her genre, I think, okay, I should try this. And I had the alc. That's what I'm doing. I'm listening to it, so I'm probably about halfway finished, but it is. It's been calm, prompt to God of the woods and like all the colors of the dark, which I loved, a lot of people loved. We sold a lot of those. We still do. I mean, it remains to be seen. I'm not finished, so we'll see. But it. It does have that dark undertone to it. So the book is about this police chief named Callie who has come back to either come back to her hometown or has just become police chief. And so she's dealing with. With a department. Of course, this kind of sounds cliche, but a department full of male officers that don't respect her, don't want her to be the chief. And she's experiencing some. A little bit of like. Like people are doing things like living bad, like dead animals in her mailbox and stuff like that. And she thinks it's the police on her force. I have a feeling it's not, but that's. I'm not there yet, but. But the novel opens with Callie having to arrest her own mother for, like, a dui. Her mother has a history of, like, drug use and alcohol abuse and things like that. And so the mother is arrested. And while the mother is being arrested, she shares something with Cali about finding a dead baby. Sorry, I'm just like, we lost living. She shares a little bit about finding a dead baby in the forest when she was a teenager. And that was part of some of her trauma. And so of course, Callie is like, like, oh, well, let's open this case and find out what's happening. And Kelly's also opening a cold case about a two teenage girls that went missing around the same time. And she's trying to connect them, but. So she's dealing with her mother, she's dealing with the difficulties at the station, and her mother goes missing after she gets released from prison. So there's a missing mother, there's, you know, these cold cases. And then we get the point of view from the girls who went missing. Like, we go back in time, we're getting their point of view leading up to what I am imagining will be their disappearance. And so, like I was telling Olivia, this is dark. I mean, it has some descriptions of, you know, abuse and things like that that were hard to listen to. But I do think there is. It's not super graphic, and I do think there's redeeming parts to it. Overall, it's just this. It's sort of this slow burning mystery that has, like, a lot of really strong female characters. Not just Cie, but the girls that, you know, presumably go Missing are themselves dealing with stuff and are are themselves strong. So I do think if you like a good dark murder mystery, this is kind of going to be everywhere. And I'm now I'm glad that I've read it, too. So it's Heather by Caitlin mullen. It's out June 9th.
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A
Are you listening to it, Aaron?
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C
Yeah, I'm listening to it.
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A
Okay. This has a really striking cover. And you're right, it was everywhere for a minute. So I'm trying to decide if I want to listen to it or if I want to read it. I just loved my physical reading experience of God of the woods so much that sometimes I'm like, should I just wait? But okay. I'm very curious about that. Okay. My next book is one I have not read, but I finally got my copy yesterday. The publisher went ahead and sent me a finished copies. So it is the fervent whites by DeShawn Carl Winslow. This releases next week and he is the author. You guys, I just want to. I'm sorry, timeout. I just need to confirm that this is a male DeShawn Charles sound. But I don't know, guys.
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I know.
- [29:53]
A
You should check. All right, let me. The Fervent Whites by DeShawn Carl Swenslow comes out next week. He is the author of In West Mills, which came out out several years ago and was really popular. I'm pretty sure Hunter read it. I, I'm like, I don't know why I didn't read it. I think it was kind of great. Gatsby. Am I remembering that right? Like, Gatsby coded. Anyway, so I, I, that was one I feel like I should have read. Hunter really liked it, but I think we've been waiting for his new book. Like, I think he, I don't think he's published anything since In West Mills, and that's been a while now. So this is his new book. I am very intrigued by this. So it's 1982, and the people of this tiny community called Fervent are moving on from a murder homicide that kind of turned their tiny town upside down. And the neighbors who were found guilty of the crime, James and Ella White, have actually just been proven innocent and they have been released from prison and they have chosen to come back to Fervent, which is a choice that I'm not sure I would make. But they make it. And at the same time, Sylvia and her friend Lafayette. Jolly great character name. So many good character names are uneasy. Perhaps, I don't know. I want to say rightfully so, but maybe not. But they're uneasy about the whites returning to town because while the whites were in prison, Sylvia kind of revealed a secret to their adoption to the white's adopted son with some consequences. So it sounds like there's kind of neighborly secrets. Reminds me a little bit maybe of like a Celeste Ng kind of book where things are kind of simmering beneath the surface. So during the original murder trial, Lafayette's testimony is what helped kind of get them convicted. So will James and Ella let those betrayals kind of go unpunished, or now are they out for revenge on Sylvia and Lafayette? They quickly become Sylvia and Fate. Lafayette's nickname. Sylvia and Fate quickly become victims of harassment. And then there is another murder. So this does to me sound like an Aaron, Olivia, Annie mosh pit, or like smorgasbord of all the things we like. Because it's all just a picnic.
- [32:19]
C
We don't have to go to mosh pit.
- [32:22]
A
It's June. We gotta go to a mosh pit.
- [32:26]
B
Annie's punk side is coming out.
- [32:29]
A
My brother really did used to be in mosh pits and he was same with Walt. Yeah, Walt and Chet could probably exchange some stories. Maybe Walt and Chet actually interacted. I would love to find Chet will show pictures to his students of like him. He would be. What is it? When they crowd surfing? He'd be crowd surfing. And I would love if I could go back and see if Walt's in the crowd. That would delight me to no end. Anyway, this book sounds. I got it in the mail this week, and it's so short. It's way shorter than I would have thought. So I think I'm gonna fly through this. It's getting rave reviews. And I think kind of that underlying tension that exists in books like the Dinner or Among Friends where, you know, something is gonna happen. Like, you know this isn't gonna end well. Like the whites aren't just gonna come back to town and live happily ever after. Like something is gonna kind of explode. And so I'm interested in this very much. I will report back. It is the Fervent Whites by DeShawn Carlos Winslow comes out next week.
- [33:31]
B
Okay. You talked about charm novels, and I think this next one is my version of a charm novel where it's like, maybe not a lot happens in it it, but I loved every second. This is the Voyagers by Meg charlton. It's out June 16th. And this was a five star read for me, hands down. It was so good. And I haven't given a lot of Books, five stars this year, which maybe is a personal problem, but this one, this one got me also because I think aliens are in right now.
- [34:05]
C
Oh, yeah.
- [34:05]
A
They're having a moment.
- [34:07]
C
I'm excited.
- [34:08]
B
I really like it. I'm having a lot of fun. So this is about these two kids, Alex and Anna. They. They were. They were friends growing up, but only because they. On like maybe the second, third day they met each other. They hit it off immediately. They go to have a sleepover at where Anna's staying and they disappear for two days. And when they come back, both their stories are basically that they were abducted, but they didn't. They were six at the time, so they didn't have the language for it. Like abducted by aliens. And like they. They talk about this room that's like surrounded by stars, these people made of light. Both of them panicked because they. They couldn't find each other in these rooms. And so it's bonded them for life. They started going on press tours about this alien abduction. It was huge. It was like maybe the early 90s, late 80s at the time. So it was just a really. It was an era for like, people to latch onto that sort of thing.
- [35:16]
C
Yeah.
- [35:18]
B
And actually, wait, I'm think. I think. I'm kidding. I think it was in the 90s. Sorry. I think it was in the 90s because they did talk about 9. 11 happened like a couple years afterwards. And it kind of took the spotlight off of them.
- [35:36]
A
Yes. Because I read the first few pages of this. I think you're right.
- [35:39]
B
Yes. Yeah. And so that's not important at all. Everybody.
- [35:43]
C
Just so we're clear, people were like. She said it was the 80s, but it was the 90s.
- [35:48]
B
She's losing her mind.
- [35:50]
A
You can watch her disassociate in real time. Like, it's a good thing these are video recorded now because some do we
- [35:58]
C
need to stop while you.
- [35:59]
A
Did Olivia just get abducted by aliens? Did she just leave her body?
- [36:04]
B
She hopes
- [36:08]
C
so.
- [36:09]
B
When Alex and Anna were 17, they stopped talking altogether, mostly because they both kind of split ways where Anna was dead set that this was an alien abduction. I think part of it was also she really liked the attention of it all. She came from a home that was a single mother. They weren't wealthy. This was making them money. Her mother was very camera crazy. She just wanted it all. And then Alex came from the exact opposite of the house. They don't want attention. No one believed him. And now it's present day and there's a signal transmitting to Earth from like Pluto, like, by Pluto. And it's slowly getting closer. And Alex just saw Anna, like, on an interview. And so he reaches out after all of these years of not talking to her, ends up making his way to her. And they. I not, like, hash things out, but it's kind of just, like, make peace with what happened and their differences as this signal gets closer and closer and closer. It was so good. It was so good because there was also. Alex is the youngest of four kids total, and there's a big age gap between him and his next oldest brother. And so there's a lot of family dynamics at play. Cause for a second, it was thought that that middle brother had something to do with their abduction. And so he holds a lot of resentments towards the family because that could have and maybe possibly did derail his own life. And now his siblings are like, what? Did. Did that actually happen? Now that there's a signal coming to Earth, they're like, do we actually need to believe Alex? And Alex is also like, oh, my God, did that actually happen to me? And so it's a lot of reckoning with the past. It's his relationship with Anna. It's what's going on between his siblings. There was both a lot and a little happening. It was so good. And the ending, it was really good.
- [38:11]
A
I kept this one because I started reading it as a possible shelf sub, and then I put it down to read something else, but I kept it because it's not long, and I really liked what I had read. So now I'm gonna go back and finish it. I think I'd like it.
- [38:24]
B
It's good. Cause it's one of those books where, like, you could either wrap this up and it's gonna be terrible and corny. Like, Signs the movie show the alien.
- [38:34]
A
Don't say the alien. I do love Signs, though.
- [38:36]
B
Any. That movie, too.
- [38:39]
A
I love that movie. I love it.
- [38:42]
B
Did not like any part of that movie anyways. It could have been bad. But the way she wrapped it up was just so perfectly done, where you're just like, yes, that is exactly how this book should end. And I. I just. I couldn't think more highly of it. It was great.
- [38:59]
A
Okay, good.
- [38:59]
B
It was great.
- [39:00]
C
I'm excited about this one because you're excited about it. I think I. Yeah, I think I want to read it too. It's got a great cover. Also.
- [39:07]
A
Good.
- [39:07]
B
Read it now while aliens are in.
- [39:09]
C
Okay.
- [39:11]
A
Don't let this moment pass Keep the tread.
- [39:14]
C
Everybody keep it alive. Okay. My last book is the Shampoo Effect by Jenny Jackson. It comes out June 30th. Listen, I, you know, she wrote Pineapple street. And I remember I started listening to Pineapple Street. I was driving to Plains, Georgia by myself for a field trip that Alice had had and I started listening to Pineapple street and I just wanted to stay in the car and just, I was like, do I have to get out? I mean, within a, within a chapter I was hooked. Like, I don't know what it is about her writing or her characters, but she, she gets me every time. And she's done it again with the shampoo effect within a chapter. I just wanted to keep reading and reading and reading. And that's what I've been doing. Like, I, any chance I get now I'm just reading this, I have it on an E galley. And that says a lot for what I've been through the past month. And I'm still finding time to try to read this one. So the story kind of, I won't say centers around this character because we do get a lot of different point of views. But the first character we meet is Caroline Lash. She is an assistant editor. She was an assistant editor with. She had kind of worked her way up within publishers and she had become an assistant editor who abruptly quits her job because she wants to write. And she or her mother is very, very famous author. And like everybody kind of says, oh, it's nepotism. Like, the only reason she's gotten into this is because her mother is this, you know, huge author. But on her own, she decides to quit to take up writing. She received some kind of like writing residency that allows her to go to this fictional Greenhead, Massachusetts, where there's like a cottage as part of the deal. Like she gets to live in this cottage and write and get paid to do it. And she very quickly, literally on the train to Green Head, sort of meets this cute guy. They have a little bit of a moment. Then she sees him again in Greenhead. And with all of these interactions, they start to kind of fall in love. And they fall in love pretty quickly. It's a, you know, within, truly within the first chapter. They've kind of already fallen in love and they move in together. And then her boyfriend Van is who she meets. And he has a group, group of 30 something year old friends who he's known since high school and college. And the news that he drops on Caroline is directly connected to this group of friends. And then we start to meet these group of friends. Like there's a chapter from, you Know this girl named Augusta. There's a. There's a chapter from a girl named Fran. We get all these chapters from these friends. And so I'm only about halfway through, but I'm loving it now. These are people. I think I heard you describe them, Annie, as just rich people behaving badly. It is. It is kind of rich people behaving badly, but not enough to make you, like, hate them. They're not, like, completely unlikable. Like, they have these redeeming qualities. And what I love about Jenny is she's so good about writing rich people that you also do kind of connect with. Like, you know, they. They have. Some of these people are parents. They have kids, so they're struggling with. With, you know, keeping a marriage alive while they have children. And some of them are single, and some of them are still dating. And then there's Van and Caroline, who have just met. And you. You're rooting for them. I'm rooting for Van and Carolina. I love their little love story, and I want it to work out. I don't know if it will, but I want it to work out so badly. But it is. The chemistry between them is so good. The. The setup is so good that you're just rooting for them. And. And she always does such a good job writing these characters that I cannot wait to finish this. So it's called the Shampoo Effect by Jenny Jackson. It's out June 30th.
- [42:55]
A
I'm so glad you liked this one. I did not like all of these characters.
- [42:59]
C
Okay.
- [43:00]
A
I struggled with them.
- [43:00]
C
I love them, but I'm just, like. I'm just fascinated by how they all fit together, you know?
- [43:05]
A
Yes. Their friendship, it feels very. Have you ever been a part. I don't know. Like, I think back to college or something where, like, you stumble upon this group of friends, and they're all kind of incestuous with one another, and you're just, like, trying to get everybody dated.
- [43:18]
C
There's brothers and sisters, not the brothers and David. Like, a sister's dating her best friend's brother and. Yeah, yeah.
- [43:24]
A
And I liked that aspect of it where you really do get the sense that Caroline is this outsider trying to, like, break.
- [43:30]
C
She's like, I'm just trying to understand the inside jokes and, like, what to talk about.
- [43:34]
A
I think Caroline is a good person to fill in for you, the reader.
- [43:38]
C
Yes.
- [43:38]
A
Because you, the reader, are like. Like, there just was a moment where I was like, how old are these people supposed to be? But they've all they've never left Green Head. And so they have this deep history. Yeah. So lots of this worked for me. There's a great author's note at the end that kind of brought the whole thing together for me. And Jenny Jackson is an excellent editor. Like I'll pay attention when I'm looking through the Edelweiss catalog. And if Jenny has edited a book, book, I am intrigued immediately in that book. So I think she's got a good sense of story.
- [44:11]
C
She's still doing that like it's her full time job. She's still editing.
- [44:14]
A
Yes. She's an editor. And then no wonder it's been because
- [44:18]
C
I look back, Pineapple street came out in 2023, so it's been three years since we've gotten. That would make sense. She's a little busy.
- [44:25]
B
Yeah.
- [44:27]
A
Okay. I'm really glad you like that one. Okay. Now those are the books for June so you can pre order those on the store website. Again, type 584 Episode 584 into the search bar and today's books will come up. Now we're each just going to briefly tell you about a July book that you may want to go ahead and put on your pre order list. And you can also pre order them using the same code on the website. My July pick is the Half Life. This is by Rachel Beanland. She's a great historical fiction writer. This is set in Vietnam era Italy. Fantastic, well researched historical fiction out on July 14th. Olivia, what have you got for July?
- [45:03]
B
Okay. My July pick is the Mortons by Justine Lar Bale Steer and Scott Westerfield. I don't know why I picked the authors with the hardest names to say.
- [45:14]
C
I'm just like, she's gonna do it again, bless her.
- [45:18]
B
Just a family dynasty of murderers. And it's fun so you'll like it.
- [45:23]
A
Fun murder. Aaron, what's your July pick?
- [45:27]
C
Mine is it's called not with a Bang by Temi O. It comes out July 14th. This is a paperback. I don't usually choose paperbacks, but it looks so good it's perfect for summer. It reminiscent of Tilt or Leave the World Behind. It's primarily a story of a family, but there's a little bit of a sci fi dystopian the world is ending backdrop. So I'm excited about this.
- [45:48]
A
Okay, great. Thanks everybody. We will see you with these kinds of episodes. We'll be back with an August new release rundown in a couple months. Have a great summer. This week I'm listening to our Perfect Storm by Carly for Fortune. Olivia what are you reading?
- [46:04]
B
I'm reading the Final Chapter by CB
- [46:06]
A
Everett and Erin what are you reading?
- [46:10]
C
I am listening to Heather by Caitlin Mullen
- [46:16]
A
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 @Bookshelf Te Ville and all the books from today's episode can be purchased online through our store website bookshelf thomasville.com a full transcript of today's podcast episode can be found at. From the frontporchpodcast.com Special thanks to Studio D Podcast Production for production of from the Front Porch and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations. Our executive producers of today's episode are Kami Tidwell, Beth Linda Lee Drost, Stephanie Dean, Ashley Farrell, Jean Queens, Jamie Treadwell, Joseph Shorter iv, Martha Linares, Nicole, Marcy,
- [47:10]
B
Wendy Jenkins, and Kimberly.
- [47:13]
A
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. Or if you're so inclined, support us over on Patreon, where we have three levels of support. Each level has an amazing number of benefits like bonus content, access to live events, discounts and giveaways. Just go to patreon.com from the front porch. We're so grateful for you and we look forward to meeting back here next week. Podbean, your message amplified Ready to share your message with the world?
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