Episode 27: Escape and Put Your Face in a Book

Hello, Hi, and welcome to Medium Lady Reads this is episode 27, “Escape and Put Your Face in a Book.”

In this episode, Erin and Jillian are sharing a new selection of books. Books so good you’ll want to run to your library’s hold list and request them ASAP.

In This Episode:

• The episode begins with both woman checking-in on how their reading is going.
• Mentioned in this episode: The Joy of the Buddy Read
• Erin starts the episode off by sharing her first read of the episode.
• Jillian shares her first book, which kept her attention through the whole thing!
• The ladies share their final 2 books each.
• Mentioned in this episode: Episode 22: The BIPOC Alphabet
• @WeReadSmut IG page
• Next up - Hot Takes! Want to know what this week’s hot take is? Tune into this episode to find out. 
• Time to end the episode… Erin and Jillian share their library holds lists
• Mentioned in this Episode: Episode 23: The Best Books of 2024…so far

Books Mentioned in This Episode:

• Notes from a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuach
• Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan 
• The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown
• The Idea of You by Robinne Lee
• Love, Off the Record by Samantha Markum
• The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
• The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava
• The Mutual Friend by Carter Bays
• By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult
• Canadian Boyfriend by Jenny Holiday
• The Art of Catching Feelings by Alicia Thompson
• Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton
• The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman by Gennifer Choldenko 
• The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding by Holly Ringland
• Strong Female Character by Fern Brady
• Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro 
• A Love Like the Sun by Riss M. Neilson

Transcript

The idea of you would be a great summer book to read when you're at the cottage and you have the boys around and they're, you know, being obnoxious boys.

And I don't mean that in your kids.

I just, I just mean kids in general.

They're being kids.

And you're just like, oh my god, I need to escape and you put your face in a book.

That is exactly the type of book this is.

Maybe that's why I read 19 books in August because I just needed to like escape.

It could be.

Mama, mama, and I just put the book in my face.

Hello, hi and welcome to Medium Lady Reads.

This is episode 27.

We've got six new book reviews for you, so fire up your holds list.

Hi, everyone.

I'm Jillian and Instagram content strategist for bookish people.

A mom of two based in Buffalo, New York.

And I'm Erin, a mom of three, a hospital administrator in Ontario, Canada, and the host and founder of the Medium Lady Community and Medium Lady Talks podcast.

Together, we're thrilled to bring you another episode of Medium Lady Reads, a podcast about reading and self-care, a passionate love for the public library, and all of our thoughts and opinions on book culture having into moment.

Hi, everyone.

Welcome back to Medium Lady Reads.

This is episode 27 and airing the week of September 17th.

September is already half over and I'm well into our favorite time of the year, which is autumn.

Though technically it doesn't start until the 22nd.

We like to embrace it a little earlier around here.

Before we get into our reviews, Erin, let's check in.

How's your reading going?

Oh, my reading is going good, but I really felt a real drop in my pace, in my interest, in my wanting to pick up a book.

And I saw a very significant spike in my personal screen time, especially on my phone.

This week we went back to school.

My husband's a teacher.

He went back to school.

The kids went back to school.

And I just kind of felt like it just took so much out of me emotionally that I didn't really feel like reading was the escape that it usually is.

But I still like I finished a handful of books this week, really great books.

I've been really benefiting from like a very good rating of books for most of the summer.

I think everything was 3.5 or higher.

No, that's exciting.

Yeah, it's really, really like satisfying and rewarding.

I read insane amounts of books this summer, which is exactly what I wanted.

So I feel satisfied by that.

But I'm also like, okay, there's other things in life than reading.

I maybe feel like I need to swing the pendulum to like a place that has a little bit more balance, especially because my family needs me so much more now that schools all started.

Currently, I'm reading our buddy read notes from a young black chef by Kwame Anewachi.

And it's been nice, Jillian, to get our buddy read group back in the swing of our monthly book.

Yes.

And I've also been reading a really great audio book called Thank You for Listening by Julia Whalen.

And I'm really, she's an amazing performer Julia Whalen.

And I'm really enjoying that too.

So that's kind of what I have on the go.

But Jillian, how are you?

How's your reading going?

I know this is your favorite time of year.

I mean, not technically fault equinox yet.

But it's, it's more fall than it is summer right now.

Are you loving it?

I am.

I have to say today, the date we're recording this, it is only like 61 degrees here.

And I'm loving the chilly weather.

It's giving me football vibes, which I'm ready for, which kickoff is for the bills is tomorrow.

I'm doing well.

I'm doing well.

My reading has been pretty good.

I too feel like I did a lot of reading over the summer.

And I'm now feeling a little bit.

I don't want to say burnout, but I want to say maybe a little of needing something different, something more variety in my life and just reading a book, which is okay.

But it feels weird because I my life really is just reading.

I don't watch a whole lot of TV.

Yeah, same.

I'm the same.

Like I will watch some TV, but I really like I don't watch much.

And that's only because I really am spending my free time reading.

And the kids are watching something or Nick's watching sports.

And, you know, I'm not often really doing like a lot of like serialized TV or movies or anything.

But what were you going to say?

I don't want to watch a lot of TV and it's it's I'm usually happy with that.

I'm usually content with, you know, the book and and sitting in my bed or on the couch and reading.

Like that's that's my preferred way to spend an evening.

But I've been missing.

I don't know.

I feel like something is missing.

So we'll see what happens in the coming weeks, whether I watch TV or maybe start going through some of the online courses I have and learning some things.

We'll see.

We'll see what happens.

Everybody's got that back to school energy happening right now.

Yeah, yeah.

Our kids went back to school this week too.

So it's been a little bit of an adjustment.

Thankfully, my kids sort of fell into the routine of school.

And we haven't had any big hiccups, but I know that that could change it any moment as soon as like maybe the reality of school hits them.

They'll be like, whoa, wait a minute.

That was too easy for mom.

We'll see.

School is such a wild card.

Like you never know what's going to happen there from day to day.

And when you're in the summer, you take that variable out of the equation and it really simplifies things.

It does.

I know for some people that gets replaced with other things like camps or whatever else your, you know, sports things that your kids have going on, but I really was like, whoa, I felt like our life had more chaos by like an exponent of four, like it just like it felt like it quadrupled even with that one addition of school.

Yeah, I guess I bet you this this week coming up is going to be a little bit more hectic because we have all of our activities like this past week.

We didn't have all of our activity evening activities.

So we'll see how it goes.

So my current read is also notes from a young black chef enjoying it quite a bit.

I hit our first milestone because when we do body reads, if you haven't listened to our buddy reads episode, I would recommend that you go back and do that.

I'll link in the show notes.

But we break it up into little sections so that we get together.

We read a section.

We read to talk about it.

We read another section.

We talk about it.

And that way it keeps us involved and engaged throughout the whole book.

And Aaron and I have gotten to our first section and I don't know.

I'm really enjoying it.

Yeah, I'm enjoying it too.

It's not what I expected.

And I like that.

I like when the book kind of like takes me by surprise.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's definitely not what I expected it to be at all.

So that's exciting.

Awesome.

I love I love the check in.

I really do.

I know me too.

I know there's so much to say.

I know it's really true.

Yeah.

All right.

Time for book chat in the heart of the episode.

So Aaron, tell me about the layout of your last three books.

What are we in for?

Okay.

So for this episode's books, I'm going to be sharing contemporary fantasy book that is perfect for book lovers.

So most of our listeners, I think, will want to hear about this book.

I have a contemporary romance by an indigenous author and a new adult romance featuring a plus size female main character.

What are your three books like?

Those sound like some good ones.

I can't wait to learn more.

For me, my books range from a sexy open door romance to a historical fiction with a some little bit of mystery mixed in.

And we're going to finish with a contemporary fiction, which definitely surprised me.

Oh, nice.

A little bit of everything.

Yeah.

So why don't you start us off?

Awesome.

My first book that I'm sharing today is going to be probably Jillian in contention for my top 10 books of the year.

It was definitely my favorite read in the month of August.

And I read 19 books.

So it was really, really up there, at least for me.

The book I'm going to talk about is the book of doors by Gareth Brown.

Here is the premise.

Cassie Andrews, a bookseller in New York City is living a quiet life.

Her grandfather recently passed away.

And she's in a bit of a holding pattern waiting for the next thing to come into her life.

While closing the New York City book shop where she works, she chats with her favorite customer, a sweet elderly man named Mr.

Weber to her shock.

He quietly passes away in his favorite spot in the store unexpectedly.

He leaves a gift for Cassie a mysterious book that she quietly pockets while the ambulance and police are on their way on the first page.

There's a simple inscription.

This is the book of doors hold it in your hand and any door is every door.

I just got a goose.

I've read this book and I just gave myself goosebumps.

So I don't want to share any more of that.

I really, I really don't want to share anything more than that in case of spoilers.

But please know I really, really want to I really want to tell you what happens next.

Gareth Brown does an amazing job blending fantasy adventure and thriller in a way that will have most readers completely satisfied.

This book is a slow burn to the heart of what I would consider some really masterful writing the development of a world that had me totally captivated.

The book based on the premise starts as one thing, but it ends up as something completely epic that unassuming and absorbing plot line was filled with characters that I was cheering for.

The writing on the plot is so elegant.

I never felt confused or annoyed by the complexity of this book.

The book also leans into violence when needed and then it's cozy when necessary.

I felt like the pacing between the action, the character development, the setting, and then those emotional scenes was so thoughtful and considerate.

My favorite part of the book is a beautiful friendship between Cassie and Izzy, her roommate and best friend.

And this relationship really takes center stage despite additional relationships storylines, including a romantic one.

And there is also a really significant villain timeline.

That's the book of doors by Gareth Brown.

I need to add this to my TDR list immediately.

This sounds so good.

When I was going through and getting everything ready from on my part for the script, I was like, yes, this sounds so good.

I need to read this.

So I'll be adding it to my TBR.

I also have to say the paperback cover that I got from a library is so beautiful.

It's this like rich deep indigo and there's something about like the dimensions of the illustration on the front that make it really feel like substantial.

It's so pretty.

The first cover that pops up on Goodreads is not the cover that I got.

There's this really like deep purple almost black cover and it was just beautiful.

It was a beautiful object.

I enjoyed reaching for the book.

I enjoyed seeing the book in my home while I was reading it.

I just loved it.

I really, really loved it.

I want to say so much more about it, but I really don't want to give spoilers for this.

Yes, please don't.

Normally I'm all four spoilers, but this just this just seems like it needs to leave the spoilers alone.

It's a new book too.

I didn't realize that.

Yeah, February of this year.

So it was kind of this unassuming gem that sort of popped up and I found out about it from the listener press episode from currently reads.

I love that.

Currently reading.

And I've had a couple of really great books come from that episode.

So thanks to Meredith and Katie for that awesome episode.

Awesome.

If you're not a listener of currently reading, it's a great great place to find more book recommendations.

Just be prepared to have a running list of books because you will walk away from there with new reads even more maybe than our show.

Yeah, they're they have mastered the art of the review.

They just celebrated their 300th episode and you can really tell they really know how to pitch a book to a reader.

They really know how to tell you what to look out for if you want to read it or don't and I just I really hold their reviews and high regard, which will hold off on chatting on that for our hot take later in the episode.

Okay, Jillian, what's your first book for today?

The first book I'm sharing today is a bit on the older side.

It came out in 2017, but has been super hot recently because of the release of the movie.

I'm referring to the idea of you by Robin Lee.

Here's the premise.

So Len, Marchan, a 39 year old art gallery owner and Los Angeles is hesitant to indulge her daughter is a bell's request to meet her favorite boy band August Moon.

However eager to strengthen their bond following their divorce.

So Len reluctantly agrees unexpectedly she finds herself drawn to Hayes Campbell, a charming and confident 21 year old member of the band.

Despite the age difference, their connection is undeniable leading to a passionate affair that transcends mere physical attraction.

As Solen and Hayes relationship deepens, they navigate the complexities of their vastly different worlds from the glamour of international tours to the refined art scene.

For Solen, the relationship becomes a journey of self discovery and a rickinling of love and happiness.

However, when their romance becomes public, the ensuing media frenzy threatens to end their lives.

So Len must confront the consequences of their relationship, especially as her daughter in loved ones become entangled in the mess.

I gave this book for stars because it kept me reading from page one to page 373.

I had a hard time putting it down Aaron.

I have to admit that I was I did find the movie a little bit better because I did watch the movie which is very odd for me that I watched a movie.

But I did watch the movie and I did find the movie better which doesn't often happen.

And I know there are people on Instagram when I shared that I finished this book that don't agree with me that they thought the book was way better, but maybe because I saw the movie first, I don't know.

But I found the movie way better, but it's still really, really good, but it isn't without its annoyances.

So Len, the mother, keeps information from her daughter, which of course if she just been open from the beginning, there would have been less drama.

But at the same time, then the book would lose some of its allore.

So it is what it is.

This is the idea of you by Robin Lee.

I haven't read this.

I haven't seen the movie.

I do really love Anne Hathaway.

I feel like like Jillian, what is it that kept you from putting it down because I feel like that.

Oh, I'm going to take my daughter to see her favorite boy band and oops, I have a bit of a thing for one of the performers, the singers feels like destined for like a good time, but not a long time.

You know what I mean?

Like, I would be reading to be like, how does this end?

Because there's no way this is going to work.

But what is it that kept you, what is it that kept you whipping through those pages?

It's just it's such a part of it is that it's in really easy read.

There are those books that are super easy to read.

And maybe it's a lower reading bracket or reading style.

I don't know.

But it was really easy to read.

That was one part of it.

And the other part of it was that it was really intriguing.

I wanted to know exactly what was going to happen at the end of the book.

I wanted to know how it was going to end.

Since I had watched the movie, I know how the movie ended, but I didn't know if the book ended the same way.

And I'm not going to say whether it does or not because that would be a spoiler.

But I definitely wanted to know how it ended.

So I think that's part of it.

I love it.

I don't have this on my list upcoming, but I could definitely see myself if it pops up.

And I need to like fit that slot or I need like a palette cleanser between books.

This is probably a really good one for me to keep in mind.

And for a romance, it's a little bit of a chonker.

I mean, 373 pages isn't.

Oh, yeah.

I saw 373.

So it's a little bit thicker, but like I said, it's easy reading.

So that kind of makes it a nice nice palette cleanser, like you said.

And in the summer, some of those books are like, pick up, put down, pick up, put down.

The less complicated the writing is the less complicated the plot is the easier it is to pick it up and put it down a book like the book of doors, which gets more complicated as you make your way through.

It's hard to pick up and put down actually.

And I really didn't make my way through as much as I wanted to until I had like really protected stretches for.

That's good to know.

I'll have to keep that in mind for when I read it.

It is, it would be a great, the idea of you would be a great summer book to read when you're at the cottage and you have the boys around and they're, you know, being obnoxious boys.

And I don't mean that in your kids.

I just, I just mean kids in general.

They're being kids.

And you're just like, oh my god, I need to escape and you put your face in a book that is exactly the type of book this is.

Maybe that's why I read 19 books in August because I just needed to like escape.

It could be mama, mama, and I just put the book in for my face.

Hey, it whatever works.

Sometimes you need that.

It definitely worked and I definitely needed it.

Okay, Erin, what is your next most recent read?

Okay, my next most recent read is probably the idea of you adjacent.

My next book is called Love Off the Record by Samantha Markham.

I cannot remember how I stumbled on this one.

It might have been an Instagram roundup of like new book releases and some synopsies.

But it popped up on Libby just when I needed a light fun romance in my reading rotation.

So it's another one that found me right when I needed it most.

Here's the premise.

When kicks off her freshman year at college, hoping to put all her high school awkwardness behind her.

As someone who's always been challenged to find her people, when keeps looking for opportunities to bond with her roommates and classmates.

But unfortunately, keeps feeling let down.

A familiar loneliness starts to creep in combined with her conflicted feelings about the constant competition with her infuriating colleague.

Three, his name is three.

It's, you just have to, it's so annoying that it's fine.

Three, at the college paper.

When starts to feel desperate for any kind of life line out of the increasing sense of otherness, she just can't seem to shake.

Samantha Markham, the author, really cleverly uses a predictable storyline, the sort of campus rivals storyline, to get the reader to a place of nostalgic vulnerability and tenderness.

I really found myself feeling for when as she manages college life and all of those cringy moments of new adulthood.

I went to university, I was 19 and you know, I wanted to feel really grown up, but the truth of the matter is, as I still had a lot of growing up to do.

This book really had me thinking back on my own freshman year of university, feeling like I was always kind of looking for something akin to the movies, but often coming up short.

The thing is a little bit prickly as a main character and she really yearns for closeness, but she also does a lot of work to keep people from seeing who she really is.

The thing I appreciated about this was how the author reminds us that most of the other characters in the story are doing the same thing as her.

Everybody's kind of putting up some walls and that makes relationships extra hard.

One of the book takes its time, thank goodness, there is no guy gets the girl straightforward simple way the end, which would have I think affected my ranking.

Win and three, make their way to each other through a few vulnerable conversations that progress their intimacy over time.

And this also felt really relatable and brought me a lot of joy.

Often, Jillian, you know, when you read a new adult romance, the love interests, they kind of crash together in a stunning display of fiery passion and then the next page is a cheesy epilogue.

Instead, Samantha Markham takes her time, she allows the hookup to progress, which also allows the relationship to progress while some of the more serious plot points can evolve.

And this was really, really satisfying and jumped out at me as being kind of different from all those other new adult romances and that increased my rating of what would have otherwise kind of been like a pretty straightforward campus romance enemies to lovers novel.

And that's love off the record by Samantha Markham.

I think this sounds so cute and it sounds absolutely perfect as a palette cleanser for myself when I need it.

Yeah, it's definitely very, very cute.

I'll have to pick it up.

I'll have to add it to my TBR.

All right, Jillian.

What is your next book?

My next book is a novel I waited a super long time to read, but when I finally read it, I was so happy I did.

I'm referring to the Frozen River by Ariel Lawson.

Here's the synopsis.

When the Kennebec River freezes and tooming a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death.

As a midwife and healer, she is deprived of much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hollow L.

Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close knit community.

Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town's most respective, respected gentlemen.

One of whom has now been found dead in the ice, but when a local position undermines her conclusion declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own.

Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears and whispers in prejudice's mount, Martha pursues the truth.

Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.

The Frozen River is thrilling, it's tense and tender, it's a story about a remarkable woman who left in an unparable legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.

I absolutely love this book, as I've mentioned in previous episodes.

I don't always love historical fiction, it needs to be a unique story told from a different perspective, something that you don't hear very often, and the Frozen River does that.

I absolutely highly recommend grabbing this book.

It is a bit of a chunker, I want to say 400 some pages, but it's well worth the time, and once you really get into it, it moves very, very quickly.

So yeah, grab it, grab it as soon as you can.

That's the Frozen River by Ariel LaHon.

I am definitely gonna add this to my TBR for the winter.

I'm gonna try to put it on hold now and maybe see how soon it's gonna come, because this is a new release, right?

This was 2024?

Yeah, February, I believe.

I love the idea of a historical thriller.

Is it thriller or is it mystery?

It's mystery.

It's definitely not a thriller, like it's not scary, there's no heart pounding type of feeling, but it is a mystery.

They're trying to identify who or how this man was killed.

So you just gotta buckle in for the long haul, because it goes through not only who the people could be that killed the man or how the man could have died, but it goes into her whole life, and how she plays a role in everything.

Plus it also discusses the rape of the woman.

So it's got all that in there, but it works so, so well.

Not cozy.

Not cozy.

There are moments in the book that are cozy, just like, I mean, kind of when you have a book that is written in the winter or takes place during the winter.

Yeah, it can have some cozy moments, but someone drinks a hot tea.

It's not.

Oh, yes, lots of hot tea.

There is lots of lots of fireplaces.

Definitely cozyness in it.

Is there a cat?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay, I don't think there are any cats.

There are chickens.

Okay.

What?

I don't know you.

I mean, I don't think chickens are cozy, but you might disagree.

That's fair.

That's totally fair.

I'm definitely going to read this in the winter.

I think it's perfect.

And in YouTube, Jillian and Buffalo, it's known for really, really cold winters.

And I mean, it's called the Frozen River.

I just, I think I'm going to really enjoy like atmospheric seasonal reading with this on my seasonal TBR, maybe like post Christmas January, tucking into this one.

I think that makes perfect sense.

All right, Aaron.

What's up for your next book?

Okay, my last book today is another probably really good palette cleanser.

So we got a lot of palette cleansers for you in today's episode.

This is the truth according to Ember by Dana Kanava.

This one, I know for sure I was waiting to read for a long time because of Instagram.

This is the first Indigenous Romance novel I've ever seen come across my feed.

And I pay attention to a lot of books and book talk.

I don't think I've ever seen a Indigenous authored romance novel ever.

So I've had it tagged in Libby for ages waiting for a notification when my library adds it to their catalog.

Some libraries will allow you to do that.

So make sure you're taking advantage of that feature in Libby.

Here's the premise.

Meet Ember Lee Cardinal, a Chick-Sov woman in Oklahoma who's been dealt more than her fair share of bad luck.

A brother in jail and enabling Auntie, a wild best friend and roommate not to mention a dead end job at the local dive in bowling alley.

But Ember has her sights on the upward climb and she's drawn to a job that will challenge her.

Unfortunately, her job search isn't going anywhere and after 37 rejections, Ember decides it's time to play a little loose with the truth on her resume.

As a biracial woman, Ember decides to select white on her application to her next job.

And to no one's surprise, she quickly secures a dream job at a local startup in downtown Oklahoma City.

Ember quickly adapts to corporate life and all it promises.

Not only that, but she finds herself unexpectedly drawn to Dan and Wacolson, the charming IT guy and fellow Native American.

Their secret romance starts heating up, but the stakes get even higher when the glamour of office life starts to reveal its ugly truths, nepotism, tech bros, cultural appropriation and racism.

Unfortunately, it's her lies that got her into the situation and it's getting harder and harder to be her real self, even as her affections for Dan and Wawa develop into something more.

So this book really grew on me and was an example of how a good book can take its time to draw you into the story.

I felt like this book did a really hard thing which is representing a voice that is poorly represented by the genre.

You kind of have to give readers what they're looking for while also gauging how much new you can introduce to the baseline story.

And I think that Dana Kanava did this so well.

Really had me enjoying all of the aspects of a typical romance novel that I might love, while also enjoying all of the point of views that I might not normally see in a romance novel and giving that indigenous voice to the genre.

It's sort of loosely regs to Rich's point of view on an office romance.

It gave some of Ember's white lies which do feature heavily in this book.

It gave those lies more stakes and it felt a lot more believable while she was lying.

Ember is a really inspiring female main character.

I love the way she tackled her life circumstances.

I felt like I could see myself making the same decisions she made, though I certainly do not have any understanding of her like experience as an indigenous woman.

The male main character, Dana Wawa, was so dreamy, the chemistry was perfectly written.

And after reading my fair share of new romances in 2024, I can confidently say that I personally, I really dig a slow burn or a like will they or won't they trope.

The flirtation in this book is 10 out of 10.

The banter is doing a really good job to keep the calm balanced in the rom calm.

If you like Talia Hibbert who wrote the Brown Sisters book, I think you will really like this one.

It's the truth according to Ember by Danica Nava.

This would be the perfect book to read if you're doing the BIPOC alphabet with Alicia Galati and the we read we read smart Instagram page.

So I'll link that up in the show notes as well in case you decide you want to take part in that BIPOC's challenge or maybe you're new and you don't know what I'm talking about, but this would be perfect for that.

It sounds so good.

I think if you're diversifying your reading in general, this is a nice one to grab.

Sometimes some really popular books by diverse authors come with a heavy backstory or a heavy plot line.

They are emotionally moving.

They can come with a lot of trauma heart ache and that's always for good reason.

This story doesn't shy away from that, but it's not the central theme of the plot or the writing, which is also another way to enjoy a story by a diverse author.

Diversity includes diversity of experiences that also include joy and desire and romance.

And that really appealed to me to add that to the romance reading column of my reading life.

I love it.

I can't wait to read that one.

Jillian, are you ready with your last review for the episode?

I'm ready.

All right, I rated my last book 4.5 stars and it took me a little over 100 pages to get into it, but with all that, it was still really good.

I read The Mutual Friend by Carter Bayes.

It's a story of connectedness of people in the world and the world around us.

Here's the premise.

It's the summer of 2015 and Alice Quick needs to get to work.

She's 28 years old, grieving her mother, barely scraping by as a nanny and freshly kicked out of her apartment.

If she can just get her act together and sign up for the MCAT, she can start chasing her dreams of becoming a doctor.

But in the age of distraction, the distractions are so distracting.

There's her tech millionaire brothers, religious awakening, his picture perfect wife's emotional breakdown, her chaotic new roommates thirst for adventure.

And of course, there's the biggest distraction of all love.

Initially when I read this, I started reading this.

I thought I was going to DNF it.

I just could knock it into it.

It was annoying me.

Huh?

It was just there's just so much of the one character being in her face and her phone and just annoyed me.

I just I just couldn't do it.

But I kept reading and I know that goes against everything most people will say about when you read a book if you're just not enjoying it, you should let it go.

But something a friend told me about this book and I was I trust this friend.

I thought I'm going to keep reading it and I'm so glad I did.

Shortly after I hit 100 pages, I was hooked.

I began to care very deeply about all the characters about Alice, her collection of friends and family and where they were all going to end up.

It was so good.

Really heartwarming at the end.

It just was it was excellent.

The author Carter Bayes is actually the co creator of how I met your mother, which I personally have never watched.

But if you have you can expect that sort of flow to the book.

It's humorous and heartfelt and just playing good.

That's the mutual friend by Carter Bayes.

Oh, this is a 2022 publication.

It's available at my library right now.

Hold placed.

Yes, it's a little bit older.

Thanks, Jillian.

This really sounds really good.

I'm not sure if I'll make it through those 100 pages, but having your encouragement to persevere always helps as part of the review.

If you know you're in for a good payoff, then usually as a reader, you're willing to kind of paste yourself through something that might not be quite as like captivating or as immersive as you are hoping.

Exactly.

And you might not find it as annoying as I did.

It might have been the phase I was in.

I was in I had finished sandwich and I wasn't really sure what to read next.

And this is what I decided on and I just I don't know I wasn't really feeling it, but then I'm glad I stuck with it because it really was worth every minute that I spent on it.

That's awesome.

I love a hidden gem like that.

Yeah.

All right.

It's time for hot takes and our current thoughts on book culture.

A hot take is an opinion usually formed off the cuff and with little research sometimes provocative.

Today's hot take is this does anyone care about book reviews anymore.

This question came up from the last episodes hot take, which was all about tropes and led to a rant about quality of review in the bookish community.

How it seems different than what it once was.

So what do you think, Aaron?

Is the book review a thing of the past?

I mean, not for me, not for us with our podcast where we review books.

No, I mean, I I still love many content creators who provide quality reviews.

But for me, it's more about how you do that review than what what you're actually going to be saying about the book.

And for me, you know, I love currently reading that reviews books all the time.

There's a few really reliable Instagram creators.

I have a few people on YouTube that I really love.

And, you know, I also have friends on good reads who write great reviews and who are doing a really thoughtful thing about taking their reading and their reading life to a mindful level of examining why they may or may not have liked a book.

But that's just my experience.

And I do think there seems to be more space than ever for discourse on books that is sometimes like really super polarizing.

It feels like some reviews are trying to bait people to engage in like a battle in the comments.

People will hate review something.

I saw somebody reading bride by Ali Hazelwood.

And they're basically said, I read this because I knew I was going to hate it.

And I did hate it.

I just like it just catches my breath because it's such a for me, you've lost credibility instantly.

I want to hear from people who love reading not people who love to hate reading.

It just makes no sense to me reading should be for joy and pleasure.

Even if you're not loving the book that you're reading in the moment, you should be finding satisfaction and rest and reflection and a host of other things out of that experience.

I personally actually have started sharing more of my own reviews on good reads, which is also very satisfying to kind of write about a book, to talk about a book.

If you're interested in that, you can find me on good reads, Aaron Van Devin and send me a request to follow along.

But Julian, what do you think?

What do you think about book reviews?

Do you think the book review is a thing of the past?

No, I don't.

I enjoy a good book review, but it's got to be from someone I respect.

I don't often read the reviews on good reads unless there's someone I know for that exact reason.

Probably for the same reason that you're saying, Aaron, I don't want someone who is hate reviewing something to influence my opinion of the book because I know exactly who you're talking about in regards to the book bride.

Had I watched or read that review regarding bride, I may not have ever read it because I had up until that point trusted this reviewer.

But now I knowing that and knowing that she hate reviews things, I'm like, hmm, not so much.

I think I even unfollowed her.

But I can't remember her name, otherwise I would share it just so people knew what I was talking about.

But so reviews matter to me.

I think that they're important in instances like you had mentioned in our podcast and instances like currently reading.

They're all places where I get ideas on what to read.

And if they don't exist, then how am I going to find out what to read?

So so yes, the review is important to me.

Can you imagine for our parents 40 years ago, they would just walk into a library.

Maybe they would read newspaper reviews or what have you.

But like you'd walk into a bookstore without all of this like context and opinion that might have helped you like filter filter your reading life.

I don't know.

Yeah, it's it's hard to believe or hard to imagine.

I would I would assume that was probably when the if a librarian or staff member of the library read a book and then they recommended it.

I would feel like that would probably be when those would be would have been very important.

But you're right.

That's a really, really good thought.

I hadn't had looked at it that way.

I love that when I go into a bookstore and they have like shelf reviews.

The book is up and it's like this is Brianna's favorite book and Brianna's done a thing.

A review of the book.

I do love that.

That feels like really personal and appealing in the store.

But you're never going to have somebody be like, I hated this book.

And then it's a stack of Colleen Hoover books in it's just not.

Yeah, you have to take the risk and read at least one yourself.

Because that's true.

That's true.

I do feel like Colleen Hoover is an author that really drives that kind of like I am writer die for Colleen Hoover and or I will trash Colleen Hoover readers to no end.

It's like there's no middle ground when it comes to an author like that.

And I also was going to say it's like reviewing has also become for content creators.

A means of livelihood and a way of kind of like driving viewership.

That's true.

And when that is influenced by virality, if you're what you're aiming for is virality, then I can't imagine a book review that would go viral unless it was purposefully baiting people into a specific kind of reaction.

And we do see people do that all the time.

They'll be like holding up a book and they'll be like everybody loved this.

And I'm going to tell you why I thought it was terrible.

And they're kind of provoking a reaction.

And listen, if that's like if that's your livelihood, I don't know.

Maybe I can't really fault people for doing that kind of thing because they've they've turned that into like a personality and a vibe.

Yeah.

And I mean, we the people have created that.

You know, they're creating that type of content because we'll eat it up.

Absolutely true.

I'm guilty.

I'm guilty of that.

Not guilty of creating it guilty of consuming it.

Yes.

Absolutely.

And I mean, there's nothing wrong with creating it either.

It's just it's it's very click baity.

Yeah, when it comes to when it comes to book reviews for sure.

All right, let us know what you think.

Do you think that the book review is the thing of the past.

And we'd love to hear from you.

You can always drop into our DMs on Instagram at medium lady reads.

We want to know what you think.

Okay, we're going to wrap up with the holds list.

Jillian and I are very passionate about the library.

And because we're both avid users, we both have very active holds lists.

You've heard us adding things to holds during this exact episode.

We feel like that's something we don't really hear a lot about on other book podcasts or book talk or IG.

We know it's something we can offer the bookish community.

And I would actually say Jillian in over the year that we've been doing this.

I have seen more people referencing reading at the library than I ever have before.

So that's a trend that I'm happy to jump on.

Remember for season two, we're going to add on what's up next to let you the listener know what we'll be reaching for on our TBR.

Jillian, what's on your holds list.

All right, I actually have five things waiting for me at the library, which I'm very excited about.

I will probably go pick everything up on Monday.

I would go tomorrow, but our library, at least this location that I go to is an open until Monday again.

Okay.

So I have by any other name by Jody Pico, Canadian boyfriend by Jenny holiday, the art of catching feelings by Alicia Thompson, ducks two years in the oil, sans by Kate Beaton.

And then I have the 10th mistake of Hank Hooperman by Jennifer Choldenko, which is a middle grade book.

I was recommended by a friend that is supposed to be really good.

They said it had happy and sad.

So I'm excited about that.

What a stack.

Yeah, I know most of them thankfully, except for maybe two are going to be seven day or won't won't be seven day books.

So I'll be able to read them at my leisure rather than rushing through them.

Nice.

All right.

And my up next I will be reading the seven skins of Esther Wilding by Holly Ringland.

This book is about the struggles of family deals with in the wake of the loss of Esther's sister, aura and how life can transform when you find the courage to feel both grief and joy.

Erin, you actually read this book and gave more detail about it back in episode 23, which I will make sure to link up.

And I am very excited about it.

I started it last night.

I'm sort of hooked already and Esther, my daughter, Esther loves that her name is on the cover.

So I cannot DNF this book now.

Oh, I hope you enjoy it.

I hope you enjoy it.

It's a bit of a fairy tale of a book definitely a heroine's dreamy which I love.

So I will be I'm sure I'll be just fine.

All right, Erin, what are you waiting for from the library and what do you have coming up next on your TBR?

Okay.

So because this is an odd episode, I'll share my physical hold list.

I have waiting for me at the library's strong female character by Fern Brady.

This is a memoir by a comedian from the UK who was diagnosed with autism at age 34.

I'm reading this because of the fold reading challenge.

The prompt for September was to read a book by a neurodivergent author.

And my second book waiting for me is a novel called Elena Nose by Claudia Piniero.

This is a book in translation.

It's about an elderly mother who's investigating her daughter's suspicious suicide.

I don't read a lot of books in translation, but this one was again from that listener press episode of currently reading.

And I think it's a short one.

So we'll see how it goes.

Next up, I'm going to be starting for the month of September a DNF challenge.

I'm going to try to read 20 ish percent of a book, read it.

And if that rating is less than four stars, I'm going to DNF the book.

So I'll be sharing more about this on Instagram if you want to follow along.

And I'm sure I'll have more to say by episode 28 about how this is going.

It makes me a little bit nervous.

Jillian, you've become a DNF master, but I've only DNF one book this year.

And I really am curious to see if this actually impacts like the overall rating that I get from my books, just like dropping the ones that I know I'm not going to love.

Next is a love like the sun by Riz Nelson, but this is a contemporary YA.

It's about best friends who decide to pretend to date just for the course of one faithful summer.

This has had writing comparisons to Emily Henry and Kennedy Ryan, authors I love.

So hopefully it delivers by that 20% mark.

But if you want to follow along at medium.lady, I will be sharing more about that in my stories for the month of September.

I am so excited for your challenge.

I cannot wait to hear how it goes because it inspires me to DNF even more like when I was probably would have led to me DNFing the mutual friend because by 20, well, maybe not by 20% I might have been good.

Anyway, I'm excited to see how that goes for you.

Who knows it might be a disaster.

But we'll get to hear all about it on the show.

So that is exciting and on Instagram.

That's true.

That's true.

Okay, that wraps up episode 27 of medium lady reads.

Medium lady reads is a spinoff of the medium lady talks podcast and Instagram community.

You can find me Jillian at Jillian finding happy and you can find Aaron at medium.lady for more of our current reads and other shenanigans.

And of course you can follow the podcast itself on Instagram at medium lady reads.

If you'd like this episode, please share it with another bookish friend or post on Instagram and be sure to tag us.

We would be tickled pink to hear from you.

Thank you for listening.

I'm your host Aaron.

And I'm your other host Jillian.

Until next time we hope that your hold to rive quickly.

And your next book finds you right when you need it most.

We'll talk to you soon.

Bye.

Bye.

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