Episode 36: Beware the Spoiler Police

Hello, hi, and welcome to Medium Lady Reads. This is episode 36, “Beware the Spoiler Police.”

Welcome back to Medium Lady Reads! Make sure you have your holds list ready because if one thing is certain, Erin and Jillian are bringing you loads more book recommendations in this episode.

In This Episode:

• Erin and Jillian start the episode like they usually do by sharing how they’re reading and life is going.
• The ladies share their reviews of 5 books. Jillian brings 2 and Erin has 3. 
• The Hot Take is up next and the ladies have a great one, this week. You’ll just need to tune in to find out what it is.
• Finally, the ladies wrap up with their Hold’s Lists and what they’re reading next.

Books Mentioned in This Episode:

• Private Rites by Julia Armfield
• For She is Wrath by Emily Varga 
• The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight
• A Torch in the Night by Sabaa Tahir
• Women Who Work Too Much by Tamu Thomas
• Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci
• I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette Mccurdy
• Red String Theory by  Lauren Kung Jessen
• The Book Club Hotel by Sarah Morgan 
• An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
• Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten
• Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
• John Dies At the End by Jason Pargin 
• Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros 
• We Should All Be Millionaires by Rachel Rodgers
• Missing White Woman by Kellye Garrett
• The Queen of Fives by Alex Hay 
• The Housekeepers by Alex Hay
• Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney
• The First State of Being by Erin Entrada Kelly
• The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin 
• Lunar New Year Love Story by Gene Luen Yang

Transcript

[Music] Hello, hi, and welcome to Medium Lady Reads.

This is episode 36.

Is it still winter?

Thankfully, when you read, it can be any season you wanted to be.

Hi, everyone.

I'm Jillian, an Instagram content strategist for "Pokush 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 a self-care, a passionate love for the public library, and all of our thoughts and opinions on both culture and having its moment.

[Music] Hi, everyone.

Welcome back to Medium Lady Reads.

This is episode 36, Erin, the week of February 19th.

Make sure you have your holds list ready because if one thing is certain, there's lots of good books coming in on this episode.

Hi, Erin.

It's good to see you.

I was your reading going.

Why reading's going great.

My reading's going really, really well.

I had hit a bit of a slump.

I was reading Private Rights by Julia Armfield.

Jillian knows all about this.

It was like a very angsty read for me.

I ended up giving that book five stars.

I'll bring that review to a future episode.

But I struggled through this book.

I was surprised that it kind of like trickled into affect other books that I was reading after that.

But I feel like I'm in the bounce back.

I feel like I'm in recovery right now in terms of life.

The weekends are so busy.

This weekend is a little more chill.

It's like chill busy.

So I really want to get more reading done.

I've been trying to be more mindful about my phone time.

I feel like with the current status of the world, my phone is always pulling me in.

But paying attention to screen time is really helping my mental health.

I did recently cave into the hype.

I got a Bluetooth page turner for my e-reader.

It's a game changer.

It's a game changer.

It's the kind of thing that for a long time, Jillian, I was like, do you really need that?

You don't really need that.

But like, do you need a remote control?

Do you need voice activated lights?

It's just like leveled up the comfort and ease of reading on my e-reader. 10 out of 10 I would recommend.

In terms of current reads, I just about finished the life cycle of the common octopus by Emma Knight.

This is a really great book.

I'm pretty sure it'll be five stars contemporary fiction about a character named Penn in her first semester of University abroad.

She's with her best friend Alice in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Penn is trying to navigate new adulthood while also satisfying her quest for answers about her parents past.

And I'm also reading for She Is Wrath by Emily Varga.

This is young adult fantasy set in Pakistan coming off the turbulence of finishing on extorm.

So it's been really fun to keep sampling from different worlds.

But Jillian, how's your reading going?

It's going good.

So it's been a little slow this week.

Esther had a cold and was home with me for a sick day, which always slows everything down.

You know, you love having the cuddly.

Well, you don't love having sick kids, but you love the cuddliness of that comes with the being a sick kid.

But it always slows down your reading.

The other thing that's been slowing down my reading is that IG introduced a new real feed, which I don't know if everybody has it yet or if it's just something they're sampling with few people.

But when you read or look at a real in the top right hand corner of your screen, there is like a picture of three of your friends.

And basically it's a feed of all your friends liked reels.

What?

And so I have been obsessed with this new feed where you can just scroll and see what all your friends have liked as far as reels are concerned.

Oh my gosh.

So I've seen it and I tapped into it.

But I guess I didn't make the connection that I was like peeping what my friends like.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And you feel like it's a different feed.

You feel like you're getting different content.

It's totally it's a totally different feed.

Because I'm seeing stuff and it'll show you in the little corner, down at the bottom of the screen, who liked it, like what are your friends liked it.

And I'm getting stuff that I, which is really fun because I know Z.

Yeah.

And I like to, you know, get to see what other people are seeing.

But it's cool to see what other people are liking.

You know, yours comes up a lot, which I almost always love because they're usually one of your, you know, something you'd probably choose for a Friday.

Oh yeah.

A Friday.

So that's been slowing down my reading because I've been really obsessed with this new feed.

I mean, I need to spend less time on my phone.

But after I check out the friends feed, that reminds me of threads because threads has this interesting feature where you don't have to be following somebody.

But if someone you follow comments on a post, you can see the thread where someone's commented.

And it's really a unique way to make connections based on like the follows of your, of your followers or the people you follow.

I've actually found some like cool podcast guests through that people that would not be visible to me unless my friends commented on their stuff.

That's cool.

That's great.

I should spend more time on threads.

Not well.

Should is a strong word.

I know.

But I should just because it's a great place to connect.

It's so, it's still so unfiltered.

That, you know, nothing is, I don't think there's a big algorithm over there.

I mean, there is some sort of algorithm, but it's not like, you know, they've not souped it up like they have with Instagram.

Anyway, overall, yeah, overall life is good.

I'm currently reading, well, that's not true.

I just finished a torch in the night by Sabati here.

Amazing book, second in the series of an Ember in the Ashes.

And I can't wait for the third one to come from the library.

I hope it comes soon.

I requested it yesterday.

I should have requested it sooner, but I didn't.

So now I just got away.

It will come quickly.

All right.

Let's jump into our reviews for today.

Aaron, what book are you sharing first on today's episode?

So my first review of for today's episode is a book that is so far brilliant.

My favorite book from 2025.

It's Women Who Work Too Much by Tamu Thomas.

This book is a wake up call for every woman who's ever tied her worth to her productivity.

Anyone, anyone, anyone, I'm raising my hand.

Yeah.

I know it's not just me.

I found this book thanks to the algorithm of all things.

I found Tamu Thomas.

I loved her posts.

Found out she'd written a book.

And so, you know, sometimes it can be a good thing to find new people on Instagram.

It can be a good thing to spend time on Instagram.

In this book, Tamu Thomas unpacks why so many of us feel exhausted, over committed and stretched to thin, and how we can finally break the cycle.

She challenges the idea that having it all in quotes is something we should even want and offers a powerful guide to setting boundaries, avoiding burnout and embracing joy.

It's part manifesto, part self-care manual, and really a must read for any woman ready to stop running on empty.

When I say I loved this book, it is not the right word to tell you about how much I loved it, how much I will continue to recommend it.

I did this book in multiple formats, print and audio.

I would recommend both.

There are guided meditations through the book that worked really, really well on audio.

And there's really encouraging affirmations, almost like poetry, that really, really work in print.

This is a book that helped me realize that no matter how much mindset work I do, and I've been doing that for quite a while, I will always have to pay attention to my system and my physical body to feel my best.

And that's my review of Women Who Work Too Much by Tamu Thomas.

You reviewed it where you mentioned it on Instagram, and I immediately added it to my TBR, and now after hearing your synopsis of it, I'm like, yeah, I definitely need this book.

I definitely need to request it.

And if my library doesn't own it yet, then we need to get it in there quick, because it sounds amazing.

Yeah, I'm on like a personal mission to make everyone I know read this book.

I think you're doing a good job of that, because like I said, oh, thank you.

The fact that you've got it on Instagram, now we're talking about it on the podcast, we'll talk about, we'll post about it in our feed with Book Chat.

We'll get it out as far and wide as we can.

All right, Jillian, what's the first book you're sharing with the pod for today?

My first book that I'm bringing to the show is Taste My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci.

I didn't love this book.

I didn't love this book.

I didn't, and I gave it three stars, which I feel like that's in the world of Stephanie Cunningham.

That is three stars is good, is like mediocre.

So I probably should have given it a little lower, but in my world of three is not great.

Here's the premise from award-winning actor and food obsessive, Stanley Tucci, comes an intimate and charming memoir of life in and out of the kitchen.

Before Stanley Tucci became a household name with the Devil Wears Prada, the Hunger Games, and the perfect Negroni, he grew up in an Italian-American family that spent every night around the table.

He shared the magic of those meals with us in the Tucci Cookbook and the Tucci Table, and now he takes us beyond the recipes and into the stories behind them.

Taste is a reflection on the intersection of food and life filled with anecdotes and growing up in Westchester, New York, preparing for and filming movie films, Big Night and Julie and Julia, falling in love over dinner and teaming up with his wife to create conversations starting meals for their children.

Each morsel of this gastronomic journey, through times and bad, five star meals and burnt dishes is a heartfelt and delicious as the last.

That synopsis makes it sound super exciting and fun, but I was mostly bored with this book.

I wanted to like it because I know it's been well reviewed by many people, but I was just so bored.

The last chapter of the book where he describes his cancer and treatment, I feel, should have been at the front of the book.

If I was his editor, I probably would have recommended that he put it at the front of his book.

If it had, I would have understood his whole purpose for writing the book and expressing so much love for food.

As it's written, I didn't understand why a whole book was being written about Stanley Tucci's love for food.

I just felt like, so what?

I also found it annoying that there were whole conversations and names of things that were written in Italian and no translation was given.

It would have been appreciated if those were there.

I don't understand Italian and you're writing a book for the average person.

You would think that they would have translations.

But that's my review of Taste, My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci.

So many deep-size during your review.

You're like, you know, yeah, we read this for our buddy read.

And I think we started like our first, our first foray into it.

We were like, oh yeah, I like this and I like this.

And it's like kind of inconsistent.

There are some parts of the book that are really fun and funny.

And then there are other parts of the book that are just like very boring, like very...

Very Hollywood, very like named dropy.

And he's self-deprecating and he's very charming.

And the writing comes across that way.

But there was something missing and it's like a little bit of heart is missing until like the very end of the book.

I think that's a spot on review.

I would agree.

Yeah.

And the funny thing is is that there are many...

Because I would say I don't really care about Stanley Tucci and the grand scheme.

He's not like an actor that I follow.

But then when I say that and I think...

But I read memoirs of people that I don't follow that closely either.

And I love them.

For instance, my...

What was the one?

Oh my goodness.

Now it's going to escape me.

I wish my mother...

I'm so glad my mother died.

Oh, I'm glad my mom died.

I'm glad my mom is dead.

Oh gosh.

What is that?

What is that?

Yeah, what is that?

What is that?

Janette...

Janette...

Well, hey mom.

Do your own reason.

And until recently, because my kids were watching her show, I didn't have any connection with it.

But I loved that book.

It's I'm glad my mom died by Janette McCurdy.

Yeah, you're right.

Yeah.

So, I don't know.

Read it if you love Stanley Tucci and you love food.

There are whole recipes in there for things and all that.

But just not for me.

All right, Aaron, are you ready to share your next book?

My next book is a sweet romance about the push and pull between fate and facts.

I'm reviewing Red String Theory by Lauren Kong-Jesson.

Here's the setup.

Do you believe in Destiny?

Rooney Gow does.

She's built her career as an artist around the Chinese legend of the Red String of Fate.

Until a creative block shakes her belief in everything, including love.

Enter Jack Liu.

Brilliant.

Handsome.

Seemingly meant to be after one perfect night in New York.

But there's a catch.

Jack doesn't believe in fate.

And when they lose touch, it seems like their Red String might have snapped.

Until a second chance pulls them back together.

This book, honestly, Jillian, it's just like fun, heartwarming, exploration of love, art.

It's not too complicated.

It really centers around the theme of whether Destiny can actually play a role in bringing people together.

This is a really good pick if you're a fan of Catherine Center's books.

I think this book is like really underrated.

I was surprised I hadn't heard more about it.

Someone recommended it to me when I said my plan for January was to read a book, a romance novel by an Asian author.

One of my followers recommended this.

It's really sweet, not spicy.

For fun, I cast Simuliu and Yiren Ha as the leads.

Yiren Ha is playing the new lead in the next season of Bridgerton.

And I'd just like to put those people in my head because there was a lot of like dynamic banter and back and forth.

And the characters really come alive on the page.

Also supporting cast, I put Michelle Yo as Rooney's famous artist mother, who also like really holds her own on the page.

This is just like a nice book.

It's a nice way to spend time.

I gave it four stars.

It's an uncomplicated romance.

That's my review of Red String Theory by Lauren Cung-Jesson.

I love your casting.

I don't know.

I don't know the book, but I like the characters that you're the people that you've chosen.

It's one of my favorite things that you do for books.

And I have to say I've missed it with our buddy reads.

We haven't done it.

I feel like we haven't done it in a couple of books because I don't remember what we read in December, but it wasn't.

I don't think we cast it.

Oh, we should have that would have made it more fun.

We read the book the book club hotel.

Oh, that's right.

That's right.

That would have been easy to cast.

Yeah.

And obviously we didn't cast Stanley Tucci's book because you know, it's written to memoir.

Maybe that would have helped.

Yeah, that's fun.

Yeah.

I definitely have to think about picking that book up.

It is closed door.

So I know listeners a lot of the time we're bringing the open door romance to the table.

If you prefer closed door romance, you should definitely put this on your list.

All right, Jillian.

Share your next review with us.

All right.

The next book I'm bringing to the show is an Ember and the Ashes by Sabah to Here.

This is a fantasy novel and was amazing.

I gave it five stars.

Here's the premise under the Marshall empire defines is met with death those who do not bother blood and bodies to the empire risks the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.

It is in this brutal world inspired by ancient Rome that lay a lives with her grandparents and older brother.

The family eeks out in existence in the empires and poverty backstreet they do not challenge the empire.

They've seen what happens to those who do.

But when Leah's brother is arrested for treason, Leah is forced to make a decision in exchange for help from the rebels who promised to rescue her brother.

She will risk her life to spy for them from within the empire's greatest military academy.

Their lay a meets Elias, the school's finest soldier and secretly it's most unwilling.

Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he's been trained to enforce.

He and Leah will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined and their choices will change the fate of the empire itself.

This book wowed me.

I fell in love with the characters Leah, Elias, Izzy, even cook.

They all came to life for me with to hear his writing.

If you're looking for a fantasy novel where you can be completely absorbed into its dark and sinister world and Ember and the ashes is exactly what you want to read.

I enjoyed every single minute of this book.

And now the second book I cannot wait as I said in the beginning of the show for the third one and the fourth one.

And I will probably be so sad when the fourth one ends, but it's so good.

This is my review of an Ember and the ashes by Sabah to hear.

Every time you bring not every time, but like just knowing that you're bringing these to the show makes me so happy.

This was like a standout reading experience for me last year.

I read all four of them over the summer.

There were definitely like my top 10 reading experience of last year.

And it's so satisfying that you agree.

You can't help, but like let's say I bring this experience to the show or to Jillian my friend and I say like, I just love these books and Jillian reads them and she's like, yeah, they were good.

Yeah.

You know, it's like it takes just a tiny bit out of your sales.

Yeah.

But to see that you love them too so much.

Oh, listeners like this is a really special series.

It's going to it just it gets better and better, Jillian.

Just you wait.

That's so good that I'm like, how can it get better?

It's already so good.

Yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

Exactly.

It gets really, really good.

Aaron, you have our last review of the show.

What are you sharing today?

Okay, my final book for the show is a good contrast to taste by Stanley Tucci.

This is when the luck happens by Ina Garten.

I gave this book four stars and I absolutely loved it on audio.

You know, we love our memoirs on audio, especially when they're read by the subject themselves.

Ina Garten's memoir is warm and inspiring look at the unexpected twists that shaped her remarkable career.

From a difficult childhood to bureaucratic job in Washington, D.C. to a bold decision to buy a small food shop in the Hamptons, Ina's journey is a testament to trusting your instincts and following your passion.

Ina's story starts with her painful childhood with parents, who were both distant, perfectionistic and abusive to her and her brother.

At age 15, she meets her future husband, Jeffree, by chance.

And what follows beyond their courtship is a life lived with purpose, intention, and fierce hard work.

With her signature charm and playfulness, Ina shares the highs and lows of before and after the barefoot contest a brand, becoming a best-selling author and hosting her beloved TV show.

More than a success story, this book is about embracing opportunities, taking risks, and always being ready when the luck finds you.

There are parts of Ina's story that will surprise and move you.

For example, she and Jeffree separated for quite a lengthy period, believing that they actually want to different things out of their idyllic marriage.

This is a cozy read, even though there are moments of hardship and struggle.

When you hear about her and her glamorous trips to Paris or her rubbing elbows with celebrities, it's a low stakes memoir, but it comes with a lot of resilience and heart.

Ina Garden is a bit of a frow cracker, and that comes through in the story.

Naturally, I did this like I said by audio, I really wouldn't recommend it any other way.

That's my review of When the Luck Happens by Ina Garden.

This is not on my radar.

I didn't even...

I mean, that's not true.

I knew it had been published, but I didn't really pay much attention to it.

But after your review and a couple of other people talking about it, I'm thinking maybe I will do it on audio.

I do have some credits available that I may as well use.

I definitely think it's worth putting in a slot.

Even worth putting on hold on Libby and listening to it when it comes up.

It's not going...

It's not like it's like propulsive or time sensitive to listen to and read, but it's a very good memoir.

I always kind of thought, like memoir is pretty much always five stars in up, but then we read Taste by Stanley Tucci.

And some other memoirs that are like, you know, I think actually, you know, obviously like any kind of genre, a memoir can be hit or miss.

And this is just like...

It's like a solid, it's an easy win in your TBR.

Definitely worth trying.

Alright, it's time for Hot Takes and our current thoughts on Book Culture.

Jillian and I went with a last minute take for today's episode.

Alright Jillian, here's the take.

How do you feel about book spoilers?

I don't hate them.

I don't have a problem with them.

I don't have a problem with spoilers in general.

My husband thinks I'm crazy, but I just...

I don't.

For me, when we are watching a really intense television show, and I know we're talking about book spoilers, but it's relevant.

We're watching a really intense television show.

I love going and looking up what's going to happen next.

Yeah.

It's comforting to me.

So it's the same with thing with books.

Like it doesn't ruin the book for me because I'm still getting to know the book.

I'm still reading it for myself.

And I'm going to learn what's going to happen anyway.

So what's the big deal?

But so that's where I stand.

I think this is like such a hot take.

I think there's like so few people listening to this episode right now who are like, yeah, I agree with Jillian.

I think that's true.

I have no problem with spoilers.

And I feel like it's really hard.

I feel like...

And I can't remember if we've talked about this on the show before.

But I feel like we've created this culture for books for like, who's going to read it first?

Yeah.

And that means that...

And TV's kind of like this too is like, if you're not binging new content right away, then you need to be scared of spoilers.

It perpetuates this disconnect from your own interests.

It disconnects from your own satisfaction.

Exactly what you said.

It's like, I'm going to read it.

What does the spoiler make a difference in my experience of the characters, the plot, the way the writing is, you know, knowing what's going to happen is only one part of experiencing the movie or the TV or the TV show or the book.

Now what I will say is like, personally, I don't like spoilers.

But I also feel like I have a pretty high bar for what's considered a spoiler.

The other day I was on Mike for a guest on Medium Lady Talks and we were talking about books.

And I was about to say what happens at the end of Project Hail Mary.

And the guest was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no spoilers, no spoilers, no, don't, don't, don't.

And I wasn't going to say like what happens plot-wise, I was going to say like, somatically that the book comes to good resolution is what I was going to say.

And she was like, no, I don't want any, I don't want anything.

Like, I don't want to know like how it's going to make me feel at the end.

I don't want to know if I'm going to cry.

You know, it was like a very like adamant stance on things.

So I feel like I'm kind of in the middle.

I guess it's like a tepid take, not a hot take.

Whereas if you tell me that like everything resolves in the end, that's not, is that a spoiler?

I mean, I guess it technically is.

My husband would think so, especially when it comes to something new, some new TV show that he's been dying to watch, he would probably, he would probably be upset about that.

And if you're like, everybody dies.

Oh my god, he would be a livid.

He sets up his, not his Instagram queue, but his like Google feed, he'll make sure he puts on blocks and stuff when a new show comes out that he's dying to watch and doesn't want any spoilers for.

Wow, he's very careful.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

I do think we've talked about this on the show before, but I don't know that you actually said that like you really don't, I think you're in like the 10% of people who don't mind spoilers.

People really hate spoilers, but it's made me think actually there's a book called John dies at the end by Jason Pargin, who wrote the book that I recommended I'm starting to worry about this black box of doom and it's called John dies at the end.

And part of me wants to read it being like the audacity to tell me that John dies at the end.

How could you?

I'm just like, it's a really, it's a really kind of like gimmicky funny, funny thing.

I think it's like horror comedy genre.

And I guess you can kind of get away with it with that.

Depending on the genre, I guess too.

The reason I want to bring this to the show is because I did recently finish on Xtorm.

And there's such a huge fandom of the fourth wing books that then when I was on Instagram, thankfully I had read it because I started being flooded, probably because of the algorithm.

I started being flooded with like content.

And there is a very aggressive part of the fandom who will go after creators if they don't label their content with spoilers to the point where some reels will say on Xtorm spoiler in five, four, three, two, one.

And it's like you're supposed to know as the person watching the reel, whether you need to swipe quickly so that you don't see an on Xtorm spoiler.

And then sometimes it's like, okay, I warned you.

Oh my goodness.

Some kind of joke meme about characters in the store that might allude to what's going to happen, but it's not like I'm about to read chapter 14 of on Xtorm spoiler.

Like some people think even the jokes are spoilers.

There's a lot of there's a lot of of fourth wing jokes out there.

So I just feel like this spoiler.

It's like, you know, policing spoiler police.

There's a lot of spoiler police out there.

Yeah.

I do.

And then I accidentally I was texting back and forth.

Yeah, go ahead.

No, I was just going to say and I just don't.

I mean, I understand that people are not like me and that I'm the small minority of people that feel this way.

But is it really that serious?

I mean, what's going to happen if you get something that's spoiled for you?

Yeah, you're right.

You're right.

You're right.

You're right.

And I did actually accidentally because I was texting back and forth with Steph Cunningham while we were reading it.

And I thought she was ahead of me, but she wasn't and I texted her about something that was like a pretty key plot point.

And she was like, oh, I'm not there yet.

And I was like, and she was like two pages away from it.

And then I like totally beat myself up about it.

And she was very gracious.

She was like, it's not a big deal.

It's okay.

Oh no.

So maybe she falls into my camp too.

We have to ask her.

We have to ask her.

Well, find out when she listens to the episode.

Yeah, she'll let us know exactly.

All right.

What do you folks listening?

What do you guys think about books, spoilers, books in particular, books, spoilers?

We'd love to know what you think.

We'd love to know what's important to you when you hear a book recommendation.

How much information do you need to want to read the book without feeling like it's a spoiler?

Hopefully we're finding that sweet spot here on the show.

But yeah.

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

Aaron and I are very passionate about the library.

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

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

So we know with something we can offer the bookish community.

Plus we'll also be sharing what's up next to let you the listener know what we'll be reaching for on our TBR.

All right, Aaron, your first.

What's on your holds list.

Okay, right now I have three books waiting for me at the library.

I have, we should all be millionaires, a woman's guide to earning more building wealth and gaining economic power by Rachel Rogers.

Good book.

Oh great.

Great.

I also have missing white woman by Kelly Garrett.

This is a book I put on hold in the spring of last year.

And my library was like not available yet, not purchased yet, not purchased yet.

But it was in their catalog in the spring.

And it's finally ready for pickup.

So I'll be going to get those probably later this afternoon in terms of what's up next.

I'm going to be reading the Queen of fives by Alex Hay London's most talented conwoman has five days to pull off her most ambitious plot yet trap a highly eligible Duke into marriage and lift a fortune from the richest family in England.

This is by the author of a book called the Housekeepers that came up maybe came out maybe two years ago, which was kind of like a Downton Abbey meets oceans 11.

And I'm excited to read it.

It should be like a nice easygoing historical kind of comedy.

And that's what I've got going on.

Jillian, what are you waiting for from the library and what do you have coming up on your TBR?

Well, I don't have anything waiting for me at the library, but that's because I went earlier today to pick up three books.

I had beautiful ugly by Alice Feney waiting for me.

The first state of being by Aaron and Trata Kelly and the city we became by N.

K.

Jemisin, which is our buddy read for the month.

And then as for what's up next, I am going to be reading Lunar New Year love story by Jean Luan Yang.

It's a graphic novel that I've been waiting a year to read like you mentioned you put that one on hold and spring.

This is I think I put on hold back in December of 23.

I want to say so over a year.

But here's a brief synopsis.

After learning her family is cursed to be unlucky in love Valentina Tran is ready to accept her fate until a lion dancer hands her a paper heart at Lunar New Year at a Lunar New Year festival.

As Val pursues love and J seeks connection through lion dancing, their lives intertwine and ways neither can explain haunted by the past and drawn by destiny.

They must uncover the truth behind their bond in this heartfelt and magical love story.

It's going to be good.

I have heard good things about it.

And it's my first graphic novel of 2025.

So that's exciting.

Very exciting graphic novel like romance.

Yeah.

That sounds fun.

I believe it is young adult.

Great.

Well, I can't wait to hear what you think of it.

All right.

That wraps up episode 36 of medium lady reads.

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

On Instagram you can find me Aaron at medium. lady and you can find Jillian at Jillian finding happy 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 like this episode, please share it with another bookish friend.

It really helps us continue to grow the show to reach more readers.

Thank you for listening.

I'm your host Jillian.

And I'm your other host, Aaron.

Until next time we hope that your holds arrive quickly.

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

We'll talk to you soon.

Bye.

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