Episode 432 || New Release Rundown: July

This week on From the Front Porch, it’s another New Release Rundown! Annie and Olivia are sharing the July releases they’re excited about to help you build your TBR.

When you purchase or preorder any of the books they talk about, you can enter the code NEWRELEASEPLEASE at checkout for 10% off your order!

To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, visit our website (type “Episode 432” into the search bar to easily find the books mentioned in this episode):

Annie's books:

Sunshine Nails by Mai Nguyen
Pete and Alice in Maine by Caitlin Shetterly
Excavations by Kate Myers
A Lady’s Guide to Scandal by Sophie Irwin (7/11)
Hello Stranger by Katherine Center (7/11)

Olivia's books:

The Housekeepers by Alex Hay
Wolfsong by TJ Klune
Mystery of the Radcliffe Riddle by Taryn Souders (7/11)
Cutting Teeth by Chandler Baker (7/18)
Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge by Spencer Quinn (7/25)

From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com

A full transcript of today’s episode can be found below.

Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Podcast Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations. 

This week, Annie is reading Freaks, Gleeks, & Dawson’s Creek by Thea Glassman. Olivia is reading Cutting Teeth by Chandler Baker.

If you liked what you heard in today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. You can also support us on Patreon, where you can access bonus content, monthly live Porch Visits with Annie, our monthly live Patreon Book Club with Bookshelf staffers, Conquer a Classic episodes with Hunter, and more. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch.

We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.

Our Executive Producers are...Ashley Ferrell, Cammy Tidwell, Chanta Combs, Chantalle C, Kate O’Connell, Kristin May, Laurie Johnson, Linda Lee Drozt, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Stacy Laue, Stephanie Dean, Susan Hulings, and Wendi Jenkins.

Thank you to this week’s sponsor, Visit Thomasville. Summer is a wonderful time to see Thomasville, Georgia!  If it’s time to hit the road for a quick getaway, we’re exactly what you’re looking for! You can rekindle your spark, explore historical sites, indulge in dining out, shop at amazing independent stores, and finally relax and unwind. There’s no better getaway than Thomasville!  Whether you live close by or are passing through, we hope you'll visit beautiful Thomasville, Georgia – it’s worth the trip! Plan your visit at ThomasvilleGa.com.

Transcript:

[squeaky porch swing] Welcome to From the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business, and life in the South. [music plays out]

“But I find the antidote to that is just keeping a sense of humor. And staying humble. And laughing a lot. And doubling down on smiling. We’re all just muddling through, after all. We’re all just doing the best we can. We’re all struggling with our struggles. Nobody has the answers. And everybody, deep down, is a little bit lost.”

- Katherine Center, Hello Stranger

[as music fades out]

I’m Annie Jones, owner of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia, and this week, I’m joined by Bookshelf floor manager Olivia Schaffer to give you a rundown of our favorite new books releasing in July. Do you love listening to From the Front Porch every week? Spread the word by leaving a review on Apple podcasts. 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.

Here’s a recent review from Caitlin:

Like a Good Friend Listening to this podcast feels like the rare long weekends I keep with my best friends from College. We sit around for hours chatting about what we are reading and what we think the others would love. This feels familiar in the best possible way!

Thank you, Caitlin, and thank you to all of the reviewers who’ve left kind words and thoughtful reviews about the show. We’re so grateful any time you share From the Front Porch with your friends; thanks for spreading the word about our podcast and our bookstore. Now, back to the show! Hi Olivia!

Olivia [00:01:58] Hey.

Annie Jones [00:02:00] Welcome back.

Olivia [00:02:01] Thanks.

Annie Jones [00:02:02] Every time I type the notes for these new release episodes, it takes me a minute to realize what month we're in.

Olivia [00:02:10] Yeah.

Annie Jones [00:02:12] Because we record these mid to late ends of one month, but we're previewing the books for the next month. But also we're reading Shelf Subscriptions for Fall. It's just very confusing. So we're here to talk about July new releases.

Olivia [00:02:28] Yeah, and I think they're fun.

Annie Jones [00:02:30] Okay, good.

Olivia [00:02:30] It felt like a great stack.

Annie Jones [00:02:32] Okay. I felt pretty good about my stack as well, because unlike other times when I have to preview books, I've actually read a lot of these, so they should be relatively easy to discuss. Okay. But I do want to ask a question that's unrelated but related, which is how is your June reading? What's your reading life look like right now? Make me feel better about mine.

Olivia [00:02:54] I mean, I had friends here for 10 days, so I feel like I haven't read for like half the month. And then I sat down last month somehow after Reader Retreat last week.

Annie Jones [00:03:06] Just a week ago.

Olivia [00:03:09] Last year more like. And I just plowed through like two or three books, of which are on this list.

Annie Jones [00:03:17] Oh, my gosh. Okay.

Olivia [00:03:18] But they were really good, which is the only reason why I was able to get through that many so quickly. And I ignored Fall.

Annie Jones [00:03:27] Okay. So there's a price to be paid. .

Olivia [00:03:29] Yeah.

Annie Jones [00:03:32] I was trying to finish a book-- well, this is hilarious. I was trying to finish a book before we got on this call, but that wasn't happening. I made it halfway through. But I was reading it, and I thought, "Oh, I last finished a book while I was on vacation," which now feels like a month ago. It wasn't. It was just two weeks ago.

Olivia [00:03:50] Yeah, but that gets stressful.

Annie Jones [00:03:52] Yes. I just realized, oh, no. And I was trying different audiobooks. I think I finally got an audiobook that I'm actually enjoying. But I just felt like I couldn't-- I don't know. I can't finish anything. And, I mean, I know why. My life is chaos. It's fine. But I did look at my June reading and thought, "It's June 14th. It's halfway through the month. I got to pick up the pace."

Olivia [00:04:18] Yeah. And it's like I'm not even trying to keep count of how many-- I normally keep count. And this year I'm just trying not to worry about what number I'm hitting. But still somehow those 10 days that I didn't read, I think I was getting angsty because I was just, like, I get a sense of accomplishment when I finish a book. Since I haven't for this long, I feel like I just a royal failure.

Annie Jones [00:04:45] Okay, I don't feel like a failure.

Olivia [00:04:48] Okay, that's good.

Annie Jones [00:04:50] But I do feel like reading is one of the activities that keeps me happy and sane. I enjoy reading, it's not just for work. I really enjoy it. And when I haven't finished something, two weeks is a long time for me not to have finished a book. And I just kept looking around going, "But I like the book I'm physically reading now. I like the book I'm listening to." But I think partly it's just summer and I knew. Erin knew. Erin laughed at me every time where I was like, "Summer is going to be so chill." And Erin laughed every time. Now here we are and I'm like, "Oh, Erin, you were right. It's not chill.".

Olivia [00:05:31] For her.

Annie Jones [00:05:34] You're correct. But now that Reader Retreat is done, then maybe my reading life will return to normal.

Olivia [00:05:40] Yeah.

Annie Jones [00:05:41] Okay, so we have several books we're going to be talking about today. Listeners, as we go through July's new releases, you can keep in mind that Erin has made browsing our podcast book selections easier than ever. You could just go to Bookshelfthomasville.com after listening to the episode, then type in episode 432 into the search bar and you'll see all of today's books listed ready for you to preorder. You can use the code NEWRELEASEPLEASE at checkout for 10% off your order of any of today's titles. Okay. How many do you have? Five.

Olivia [00:06:16] I have five.

Annie Jones [00:06:18] All right. Then I'm just going to kick us off.

Olivia [00:06:20] Okay.

Annie Jones [00:06:21] My first book released this week, it was-- oh, happy Independence Day, everyone. Happy July 4th. Who knew that books would release on July 4th? I was a little surprised by that, to be honest. But the first book on my list, released on July 4th, is Sunshine Nails by Mai Nguyen. And it is a debut novel about a Vietnamese Canadian family. And they run their own nail salon kind of small mom and pop nail salon. And while they're running the salon, two things happen. The first is that a national news organization or maybe even an international news organization starts to pay attention to nail salons and claims that a lot of unsanitary things are going on in nail salons, that maybe they don't clean their equipment and things like that. They kind of do an exposé. And of course, what happens in this book is that even though the exposé is about maybe more chain type of nail salons, but mom and pop stores are the ones that suffer. So that's the first thing that happens. And this Vietnamese Canadian family living in Toronto begins to worry about the future of their business. And then the second thing that happens is a big like high end, boujee, name brand nail salon (like a big box store nail salon) moves across the street from them. And while these kind of business crises are happening, the patriarch, matriarch of the family, their children come home and their children are not first generation immigrants. And so there is real tension between maybe the first generation immigrant experience that the mom and dad have as they have built this business from the ground up. And then their children, who really want no part of the nail business, who really don't like coming back home to visit, are only back home because of some misfortune. But now their parents are trying to convince basically the younger generation to take pride in this family-run business and to try to help make it succeed when these other things like gentrification are happening in their neighborhood. I started this one for our summer Lit Lunch Guide, and I really liked it. I liked the characters. I liked the family. It's dealing with a lot of different kinds of issues and family dynamics. And then also my little small business heart just really... I've had You've Got Mail flashbacks where you've got the small store versus the big box store and where you've got this little mom and pop nail salon that's trying to show that they run their business really well. They don't have maybe all of the boujee equipment that the new nail salon is going to have, but they know their clients by name; they take good care of their equipment. So they're also trying to fight against the rumors started by this news exposé. Anyway, so there's a lot going on, but I found the characters to be really enjoyable and it's a good kind of beach summery read because the stakes are like just high enough where there's good tension, but also it's not too terribly stressful to read. So it's called Sunshine Nails by Mai Nguyen, and it came out this week. It's got a great eye catching cover too.

Olivia [00:09:38] I think if it were a movie I'd totally watch it because I feel like it would have a really good montage of like turning the store around, you know?

Annie Jones [00:09:46] Yes, absolutely. I can picture it in my head. Their eldest daughter is like a marketing person, but I think she has lost her job at the start of the book-- I can't remember. So her parents are trying to convince her that she could help them if she would just turn her attention from herself to the business. There's some real interesting mother-daughter, father-daughter tense family dynamics. And then also the added thing of the immigrant experience. I think it's really lovely.

Olivia [00:10:14] My first book out this week is Housekeepers by Alex Hay. It is weird having the July 4th release. I have two.

Annie Jones [00:10:22] A lot of mine were July 4th.

Olivia [00:10:25] And I'm like, the post office won't run, but I guess the book world still does.

Annie Jones [00:10:30] I was about to say, but we won't even be open.

Olivia [00:10:33] Yeah, we're never open for the 4th of July.

Annie Jones [00:10:34] Obviously, we're recording this early. I'm sure everyone knows we're recording this early.

Olivia [00:10:41] It’s live, everyone.

Annie Jones [00:10:43] Time is so dumb.

Olivia [00:10:45] It's why I pause every time I say a date.

Annie Jones [00:10:49] It's why we're always so proud of ourselves when we're like, "This book released this week."

Olivia [00:10:54] Yeah, but you can hear my hesitation every time I say it because I'm like, is it this week? Is it next week? Who's to say?

Annie Jones [00:11:02] Yeah. Who knows?

Olivia [00:11:05] Anyway, this is Alex Hay's debut novel, and it's about this woman, Mrs. King. And when we meet Mrs. King, she has just been relieved, aka fired from her job as the head housekeeper at this big ritzy house. It doesn't say exactly when it takes place, but I in my head pictured like 1800s type like almost Jane Austen era vibes. But Mrs. King originally had grown up around, like, a lot of con artists and thieves and pawn shop people. I don't mean to single out that group of people. I don't know any pawn shop. Sorry. But I'm pretty sure there is one lady in this book who runs a pawn shop that just felt like very just stereotype--.

Annie Jones [00:11:51] Aggressive to pawn shop people? Yes.

Olivia [00:11:57] Did you ever watch that show where they would go through those storage containers and they'd auction off the stuff.

Annie Jones [00:12:05] Did you? Because it very much seems like an Olivia and her dad show.

Olivia [00:12:09] I did.

Annie Jones [00:12:12] Seems like something you two would do.

Olivia [00:12:13] In my head you totally watched that show as well. In any case, Mrs. King just got fired. Kind of intentionally, though, she found out that the matriarch was holding this big ball at the end of the month, oddly right after her father passed away. So it's a weird ball to begin with. They don't know who's going to come and whatnot. And Mrs. King, because she's upset about being fired and other stuff that was going on there, decides that she's going to plan a heist for that day to literally steal everything in the house. So she coordinates with a group of other con artists, all women (and a woman who owns a pawn shop) and she has them all plan this super elaborate heist And there's like a pulley scene where they're lifting things up windows. Like, it is so elaborate and so well done. It's like watching an Ocean's 11 movie because you get these little snippets of scenes that are like set up for the heist and you're like, "I kind of think I know where this is going," but then it all comes together in the end. There's just so much little set up scenes that are just so well done. But this one was just so much fun. I think I even texted Erin while I was reading it because I was just like, I love it so much. But it was excellent.

Annie Jones [00:13:38] Did you ever watch Downton Abbey?

Olivia [00:13:41] No.

Annie Jones [00:13:42] Okay. And everybody's going to be yelling the name-- I shouldn't have even brought this up. But there's a character in that show, and she's kind of this sneaky, a little bit conniving, basically, like-- I shouldn't even start up with this girl. She's a chambermaid. Is that a word?

Olivia [00:14:06] Yeah.

Annie Jones [00:14:06] Yeah. To the woman of the house. And in my mind I have already pictured her as kind of the person who's, like, going to plan a heist against the people of Downton.

Olivia [00:14:16] Yeah. There is one girl in this book who like the seamstress, so she sews the matriarchs all of her dresses, and she is getting closer and closer to the matriarch. And I just pictured her as like Matt Damon's character with the big nose one.

Annie Jones [00:14:30] Oh, yeah.

Olivia [00:14:31] When he's just like in the inner circle, but totally playing it off. It was great.

Annie Jones [00:14:37] It's [inaudible] watch those movies. I love those movies.

Olivia [00:14:40] Well, and I recently re-watched them maybe last summer or something.

Annie Jones [00:14:44] Yeah, they're good summer movies.

Olivia [00:14:45] They hold up.

Annie Jones [00:14:46] All right, well, whenever you and I do these together, I do always laugh because your books are so plot-driven. And my next book is going to be like, "Two people who are married go to Maine. The end.".

Olivia [00:15:06] They really are.

Annie Jones [00:15:06] So the difference is striking. Well, how am I going to describe this? Okay, so my book also came out this week, and to me it is one of my more highly anticipated books of summer. I have waited to read this until I am going to the beach in a couple of weeks and just for a couple of days. And I have specifically held on to this book to read when I am at the beach. So it is called Pete and Alice in Maine by Caitlin Shetterly. This is a debut novel and it is a pandemic book. And so I know that's going to make some people feel a certain way. And it may not be for you, but basically Alice is married with kids and the pandemic hits March of 2020. They live in New York, and she decides the safest thing to do is to take the kids and her husband and they're going to go stay at their summer home in Maine. Of course, it's kind of during the off season. So in that way, it reminds me a little bit of Elizabeth Strout and some of the books she wrote set during the pandemic. The difference is perhaps that Alice and Pete, her husband, are not on great terms. And so she has to figure out while kind of holed up in this vacation home. I'm picturing like a cabin on the coast of Maine. While she's there with her kids and with her husband, she has to figure out what does family look like. What do people in crisis look like? Is her marriage worth holding on to? Is it something that she can kind of let go of? That like the pandemic can maybe be the catalyst for her life to change? And so I'm very intrigued by this. I'm intrigued with this for a lot of reasons. I feel like I know a lot of people who during the pandemic know or read about-- two things, but I just feel like a lot of people the pandemic either brought them closer to their spouses and closer to the people they love, or it made them feel like I got out of here. And so I think Alice is kind of at that crisis moment where her marriage was going along okay, but now there's a pandemic; and it's either going to bring her and her husband closer together or perhaps it's going to be what she needs to move beyond her marriage. So it's called Pete and Alice in Maine. I love a Maine setting. I love a book about next to nothing. Literally, I have nothing else to say about this book because it's all the book is. Literally, this woman kind of having a moment of crisis and re-examination. And boy, do I love that kind of book. So it's called Pete and Alice in Maine by Caitlin Shetterly came out this week. It also has a really fantastic beachy cover. I very much am hoping it's my this season's MidCoast. I don't know if you remember when I read MidCoast last year, but I loved that book. And so I'm hopeful that this will be the same kind of vibes.

Olivia [00:17:57] I don't know if it's like more and more books are getting published in Maine or you're just like seeking them out.

Annie Jones [00:18:06] I think they find me.

Olivia [00:18:07] I feel like you've read so many books set in Maine and you live in southern Georgia. It's the opposite.

Annie Jones [00:18:16] It's desperation. It's like the book God's Knows She Needs This.

Olivia [00:18:23] The publishers are like, oh, Annie Jones will like this one.

Annie Jones [00:18:25] Yeah.

Olivia [00:18:29] Very different, set in Oregon, my next book is Wolfe Song by TJ Klune, which is out this week and was originally published, I want to say, in 2014. It was years ago, and I think he published by himself. And then McMillan picked him up and he did so well with like House in the Cerulean Sea, Under the Whispering Door, In the Lives of Puppets that they got the same cover artist for all of those to redo these books and republish them.

Annie Jones [00:19:00] Good for him.

Olivia [00:19:01] Yeah, I had this erk for like several months now and I was scared to pick it up because I was like, I don't know if I can do Werewolves.

Annie Jones [00:19:10] We all have our lines.

Olivia [00:19:12] But I love TJ so much that I was like, you know what, I'm going to give it a go. And then that was the book that sucked me in after Reader Retreat, and I read it till like 11 p.m. one night while I was sleeping on the couch. And then I woke up early the next morning and just finished it.

Annie Jones [00:19:30] Oh, okay.

Olivia [00:19:32] Apparently I do werewolves.

Annie Jones [00:19:35] Exceptions can be made.

Olivia [00:19:37] I guess so. As long as TJ is doing it, I will do it. But this is about this kid Ox, who is not a werewolf. But we meet him when he's 12 and his father has packed a bag and is leaving. He doesn't want to do anything with his wife and his son anymore. So Ox was just left with his mom and has a really wholesome relationship with his mother. Like, they are very close and it's kind of really beautiful just to see a son and mother relationship like that in a book. But Ox lives on this little road where it's just his house and then one other house. It's been vacant for a while, but when he's 16, this family moves in. The Bennett family. They are the werewolves. And he befriends this kid, Joe, and they start this beautiful friendship. And the Bennetts kind of take him in because they see he's kind of just lost in the world without his dad, and his dad did a lot of harm to his self-confidence. And he just hits it off with the son, Joe. But then all this stuff happens, drama ensues, murder, and the Bennetts have to leave. And they leave for like three years. And then when they come back, Ox and Joe finally are just like, well, we love each other.

Annie Jones [00:20:53] Okay.

Olivia [00:20:53] It is beautiful. It is adult. He has a YA series. This one is adult. There is, at the end of the book, pretty much the door is wide open sort of scene- just as a warning to everybody. But as we all know, T.J. Klune does amazingly. The found family in this book is just outstanding. It always makes me wonder who is T.J. Klunes found family and may I join? Because I just feel like he creates this found family where literally anyone can join. Anyone is welcome. You will be loved' you will be accepted. And I just feel like I would like to be a part of his family. T.J., do you have applications?

Annie Jones [00:21:42] I wonder if he's done any interviews about that, because that does seem to be the through line through all of his books.

Olivia [00:21:48] It's kind of how you know it's written by him.

Annie Jones [00:21:51] Yeah.

Olivia [00:21:51] This writing style is very different from House on the Cerulean Sea and his other adult novels. I don't know how to describe it. I'm not great at describing words, but it's like short sentences and it's written from Ox's point of view. And Ox is like a kid/man who speaks very little words. So when you hear his thoughts, it's very concise and very short.

Annie Jones [00:22:18] Okay.

Olivia [00:22:19] But it kind of speeds you up as you go through it because it's just like, I know exactly what Ox is thinking and it's just written right there for you. Yeah, he's great.

Annie Jones [00:22:28] I'm so glad to know. I was curious because I saw they were re-releasing these and I wondered if these would be too much for those fans. You know what I mean? Like too werewolfy (sic) I guess was my question. Too fantasy maybe.

Olivia [00:22:43] Yeah, it's werewolfy but if you can get through like In the Lives of Puppets or like House in the Celurean Sea where there's literally like a Phoenix, and a gnome and a fairy, and the Antichrist, I feel like it'll be fine.

Annie Jones [00:22:59] You'll be fine.

Olivia [00:23:00] You're welcome here.

Annie Jones [00:23:03] Okay. My next work is excavations. This is by Kate Myers. There are two books coming out this summer called Excavations. This one is the one by Kate Myers. It is a book set in Athens, Greece during a modern archaeological dig. And you really have a variety of characters, but there are four who kind of tell this story. And it's Elise, Kara, Z and Patti. And basically these four women come to this archaeological digs site through different situations, different callings. So Elise is an archaeologist who goes on digs all over the world. And every summer she returns to this site in Athens. Kara is a woman who works in the lab. So she takes what's been found at the dig sites and kind of analyzes them. Z is a down on her luck millennial who several fictional summers ago, she worked on a dig and really loved it. And now she's trying to recapture that magic. So she signs up to kind of just be a helper on this dig site. And then Patti is this misfit Gen Z college kid who is just desperate to travel. And she gets an internship and comes to Greece as part of her internship. So these four women kind of convene on this dig site where this guy is kind of this misogynistic. I say misogynistic. He definitely is. But he's also just kind of this bumbling old man. I feel like I read this book and I was like, oh, yes, I know a million people like this. Where he is probably, I don't know, in his late sixties, maybe seventies and he is very accustomed to people kind of fawning all over him. He's like an archaeological expert and he's used to people kind of fawning all over him and giving him exactly what he wants. And he's worked on this dig site for years. It's the site of the first Olympics. And as the dig reconvenes for summer, the women and then other members of the dig realize that there are some pieces missing. So some pieces that have already been found that are missing and they kind of take it upon themselves to figure out what happens, where those pieces are. And then they start to wonder who on the dig is worthy of trust and who is maybe part of the reason these items are missing. At the same time, you get a whole lot of interesting stuff about archaeology, about Athenian history, about the history of the Olympics, which of course I loved. And then there is speculation in this book. I do not think there is speculation, although maybe there is, I don't know. But in this book there is speculation that what if the first Olympics were actually conducted and run by females? And so, that is some history that these women think might have been buried. So I really liked this book. I really have not read anything like it, it's part of the reason I enjoyed it. The writing wasn't always maybe my very favorite, but I just thought the storytelling was pretty original. The only camp I really could think of was the book We Keep the Dead Close, but there's no mystery element here other than kind of these missing artifacts. Because We Keep the Dead Close is kind of a work of true crime nonfiction. But the attention that Kate Myers gives to archaeology-- and in fact, she did study archaeology at UPenn. And so I think that's part of the reason those details are so vivid. But the setting is great. If you're one of those readers who during the summer you really like to read books set in far off places like Maine or like Greece, then I think this would be appealing to you. If you want to get to go on vacation, but you're not going to get to go on vacation, this should do the trick. Again, I thought the four voices of the four different women were all-- I feel like it can be rare to have four really unique, distinct female voices. But I thought all of these characters were really well-drawn out. So it is Excavations by Kate Myers. I think it's really an unusual little book that I thoroughly enjoyed. It came out this week.

Olivia [00:27:21] I like how the Gen Z one is named Patti.

Annie Jones [00:27:24] Yes, I do too. It reminds me-- did you watch Doug? I'm pretty sure Doug his friend was named Patti. Did you ever watch that show? Is that an elder [inaudible]?

Olivia [00:27:35] No, I did. I dated the son of the creator of Doug.

Annie Jones [00:27:44] What? I'm sorry...

Olivia [00:27:46] His father did all the voices. I feel maybe I shouldn't say that on the podcast.

Annie Jones [00:27:56] Oh, my gosh.

Olivia [00:27:58] It was very brief.

Annie Jones [00:27:59] I love that you could-- let me tell you. You can work five years with a person and not learn the most very important thing.

Olivia [00:28:06] I didn't know that would be super important.

Annie Jones [00:28:10] It's just so delightfully weird.

Olivia [00:28:13] Yeah, I saw him on a commercial the other day and I was freaked out.

Annie Jones [00:28:19] What a world. I love it so much. Oh, boy.

Olivia [00:28:25] Yeah. It was fun.

Annie Jones [00:28:27] Fun fact.

Olivia [00:28:30] My next book is middle grade. I feel like actually that's one of my June things, is I have read maybe like two middle grade books. Which is weird because normally in times of reading slumps, I turn to middle grade because I can get through them fast, because I know I'll like them. And I don't know, I just did not turn to middle grade this month. But I did read this one and it was fun. This is out next week. It's Mystery of the Radcliffe Riddle by Taryn Souders. And it's about this little boy, Grady, and his dad, who when we first meet them, they find out a centrist lady, oddball, if you will, in town. Her name is Eudora Klinch. Everyone calls her Kooky Klinch.

Annie Jones [00:29:15] Love it.

Olivia [00:29:16] She has just passed away and no one has any connections with Eudora Klinch. But when she passed away, Grady gets approached by her lawyer who is going through her will, and she left like several things to her last living relatives who she didn't know and who happened to be Grady's mother, who had passed away a little while ago. So Grady and his dad are now just like-- I think they get all of her cats.

Annie Jones [00:29:43] Okay.

Olivia [00:29:46] No. They get her cat food because her cats got left the house that she lived in, and now they're in charge of feeding the cats.

Annie Jones [00:29:54] I see. So the cats got the house.

Olivia [00:29:57] The cats the house. They're a lot of cats too. And that's me saying it was a lot of cats. Like two digit number cats.

Annie Jones [00:30:07] Okay.

Olivia [00:30:08] But on top of that, they got left this 300 year old tapestry in this frame. And at first they don't think anything of it. And then they realize that there has been this whole rumor theory about Eudora having a treasure map. And this old tapestry is the treasure map to a long lost treasure that her family owned, if you will. And so Grady and his dad are down on their luck. They're about to have to move into a trailer because Grady's dad makes cabinets for a living, and they live in a small town and now everyone has cabinets. And, like, whose cabinets are we supposed to do? And so Grady and his two best friends start to try to figure out, like, put the clues together on the treasure map to find the treasure. And it was just one of those middle grade books where you're just like, everything about this is delightful.

Annie Jones [00:31:02] For sure.

Olivia [00:31:03] I'm having so much fun. It's low stakes because it's middle grade and you know it's going to work out. So even if Grady's about to move into a trailer, you're like, "But he won't." Which is why I love middle grade so much. But I did really like this one. I liked the setting of it, and I liked the mystery behind it. And I really liked the three kids who were trying to solve the mystery. They were a very funny bunch altogether. it was delightful. Mystery of Redcliffe Riddle.

Annie Jones [00:31:34] Okay. My next book is A Lady's Guide to Scandal. This is by Sophie Irwin. Last summer, one of my favorite kind of surprise reads of the summer was a book called A Lady's Guide to Fortune Hunting that I picked up at the Bookshelf, not as an ARC, but as an already published work because I loved the cover. And so I brought it home one weekend and was just utterly delighted by it. It just took me by surprise. I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed it. And now this is Sophie Irwin's kind of follow up novel, completely standalone. You do not have to have read A Lady's Guide to Fortune Hunting. However, I really loved A Lady's Guide to Fortune Hunting, and I would recommend that you read that one as well, even if you don't read it first. So A Lady's Guide to Scandal is a paperback original. And these books are kind of supposed to be, I'm sure, inspired by Austen, but I'm calling them 'Bridgerton' but make it PG. So if you, like me, watched Bridgerton but were like, "Wow, what a lot of sex," then here I have the books for you. I was so calm about it. But I was like, "Wow, this is a lot of sex." And so I love these books because they have the sexual tension, the chemistry, the wit, the banter that Bridgerton has but closed door. So that I think is why I was drawn to these books. I did really like about this one. In fact, my last two books that I'm going to talk about this one and the following one dealt with art and portrait artistry, which I did not expect these books to be connected in any way, but I really liked that our protagonist, Eliza, is a portrait artist. But, of course, that's not something she has fully lived into or experimented with because all that was expected of her was that she marry to save her family from poverty. And so, she married a man 20 years her senior. He has now died. Eliza is a widow and she finally kind of gets to live on her own terms. Where the book gets its title is that she's allowed to live on her own terms and retain her husband's inheritance she has inherited, but only if she avoids scandal. And so, she and her cousin Margaret-- who is a fantastic side character, who should get her own book and maybe she will. She and her cousin Margaret go to Bath England, where they kind of live it up because Eliza is finally-- I think she's 27 in the book, but she's been married since she was 17 to this kind of skeezy old man. And now she's getting to just live the life of a single woman with her cousin. And their friendship is really lovely. But they meet Lord Melville and his sister and they are a couple of British Indian people who kind of gravitate towards scandal. And so Eliza and Margaret try to like stay away from them because of their reputations, but they just find themselves drawn to Lord Melville and his sister. What I liked about this book too was it has a really realistic love triangle. Not always are love triangles realistic. I feel like you always went up hating one of the suitors. And this one, at least initially I was like, oh, this is a really believable love triangle where you don't really know who she's going to end up with. Again, a lot of times in a love triangle, I feel like you can tell. I thought all of the characters were great. Lord Melville and his sister were really interesting and fun characters. They are both writers. She writes about the community that they live in and kind of draws a lot of flack for writing about these people and kind of making caricatures of them. And then he is also a writer, so all of these characters have other things going for them besides just their romantic relationships, which I also really appreciated. Again, I personally would probably start with the Lady's Guide to Fortune Hunting, but you can read them completely standalone and separately from one another. A Lady's Guide to Scandal is out on July 11th.

Olivia [00:35:48] See, I feel like the difference between you and I reading is like that book probably has a lot of plot happening, but you are so into the characters of the book and not necessarily the plot.

Annie Jones [00:36:01] Yeah, it's true. And many of my books aren't just not as plot-driven. I mean she paints a portrait-- like you know what I mean? She paints a portrait. She tries to keep her inheritance. That's about it. There's no heist. There's no murder.

Olivia [00:36:25] Then why are you reading it? Okay. Well. Hang on to your seat belts for the next story. Buckle up your seat belts for this next one.

Annie Jones [00:36:38] Hang on to your hats. Buckle up your seat belt is.

Olivia [00:36:43] It's hang on to your hat. Yeah. The wind.

Annie Jones [00:36:44] Yeah, you got it.

Olivia [00:36:47] My next book coming out July 18th, is Cutting Teeth by Chandler Baker. I haven't read anything by Chandler. She wrote the Whisper Network, and she wrote another book, but I can't remember the name of.

Annie Jones [00:36:57] I recognize her name.

Olivia [00:36:58] This one just looked super fun and intriguing to me because the cover of it is this like, bright blue background, and then it has this white picket fence with blood dripping down [crosstalk]. I heard it as I said it, but yeah, this is about this like little four-year-old preschool class. And you meet like a couple of different moms and a couple of the kids. In this class, they get a group of biters. So the first scene is like one of the mom is there to pick up her kid and her kid gets bitten by another kid. Which at first you're just like, okay, kids bite. They don't have the words, so they just bite. But then some of the kids start getting aggressive with the bites. And then some of the kids start craving blood.

Annie Jones [00:37:45] Oh, okay. I'm actually here for this.

Olivia [00:37:48] Yeah, it was like for the crowd who like Southern Book Clubs guide, but there's no horror involved. It's just like one of those suspend your belief a little bit and just follow follow along as we watch these little vampire children. But it's great because, okay, so first they start craving blood and then some of the moms just start like they like needles in the skin pulling blood so they can just feed their kids because then their kids are more manageable. And for a second, I was just like, "Okay, are we serious here?" And then I was like, "Wait, Olivia, I'm reading a book about children who are craving blood. You're not anywhere near reality."

Annie Jones [00:38:30] Yeah. You have to just let it go.

Olivia [00:38:32] Yeah. Then their preschool teacher gets murdered in the classroom. And so this investigation starts, and you'll see this detective throughout interview these little four-year-olds to try to piece together what happened. Because the teacher no one knows how she died, but two of her fingers are missing and there are little footprints walking away from the teacher where she was found. And so you're kind of just like, did these little four-year-olds kill their teacher? And then another teacher gets hired. And now I'm currently reading this part, but now they have a serial pooper in the classroom. It's been like four poops found around the classroom.

Annie Jones [00:39:19] You and I have been watching-- I think I am very much devoted at this point. I think you and I have been watching often on X-Files and this sounds like an X-Files episode, like one of the more Fun X-Files episode.

Olivia [00:39:31] Yes. We're like, what's happening? They think it's like Ryan Field Syndrome, which is Dracula's assistant, which is a 'clinical term', but has never been proven as like an actual diagnosis. But these parents are taking it pretty seriously.

Annie Jones [00:39:51] Well, yeah, so they don't die probably.

Olivia [00:39:56] But it's great because the moms drama is pretty fun.

Annie Jones [00:40:00] Yeah. Are you reading this or listening to it?

Olivia [00:40:03] I'm reading it.

Annie Jones [00:40:04] Okay, that sounds actually really-- I don't know what that says about me that of all the books Olivia's talked about today, this one is the one that [crosstalk].

Olivia [00:40:12] Children vampires. That's what I'm going to go for. I don't know what it is about it. I think because there is an air of humor to it. But the writing it's almost like satirical humor where the writing is very serious and the book is like... I mean they're taking it seriously. But then you step outside of the book and you're like, "These children are just being fed blood. What's happening?"

Annie Jones [00:40:39] Okay, I think I am going to have to read that. Felicia came into my office the other day and said, "Annie, you like satire, right?" And I said yes. And then she started talking about the office. And I was like, indeed. Yes.

Olivia [00:40:52] Perfect example.

Annie Jones [00:40:54] And so, yes, I do like satire. And I guess I also like vampires. I don't know. I like Southern Books Guide.

Olivia [00:41:04] Yeah, it was great.

Annie Jones [00:41:05] Okay, My last book is Hello Stranger by Katherine Center. This also comes out on July 11th. I listened to this book. And I am going to try harder on the podcast to name narrators when I can remember to do so. So this audiobook was narrated by Patti Murin. She is a fantastic audiobook narrator. I thoroughly enjoyed this book because of her narration. I read Hello Stranger because earlier this year I fell in love with The Bodyguard, which is a book that Nancy read and loved last year, and I really had no intention of reading it. But then I downloaded the audiobook and really, really liked it. For me, I think I preferred The Bodyguard to Hello Stranger; however, a really great audiobook. And because I had just read A Lady's Guide to Scandal (which was about this portrait artist Eliza) Sadie, our main character in Hello Stranger is also a portrait artist. The difference is that one day she realizes-- this is going to sound bleak, but she realizes she has a brain tumor. It's an operable brain tumor. It's not cancerous. I don't believe it was, just like something that had to be removed. Maybe a tumor isn't even the right word. Anyway, cyst, tumor, whatever. So she has surgery to remove the thing from her brain. And when she comes to, everything is fine except she has temporary onset face blindness. And face blindness is a real thing. Katherine Center has a great author's note at the end of the book that talks about face blindness and the kind of two different types of facial blindness. But, anyway, Sadie is in the middle of getting ready for this portrait contest, and it's like her chance for a big break. She's kind of living the artist's life and she's kind of broke and is trying to prove to her dad that in her late twenties, as she approaches 30, that she really does have her life together. She can live as an artist. She can support herself. So she's getting to submit work to this big art competition. But now she is face blind, and so how is she supposed to draw a portrait when she cannot really differentiate people's facial features? And, of course, at the same time, she has a really obnoxious neighbor who she finds to be super annoying. But he's very helpful. He comes to her aid many times throughout the book. She also has a handsome veterinarian who helps her take care of her dog. So there's some obvious romantic comedy elements as well. There's some romantic elements. This is a closed door romcom. It is a romcom but it almost reads more like-- and I hate this publisher descriptor, but I really don't know what else we're supposed to call it. It very much reads like women's fiction where the story really does belong more to Sadie. And then the romantic elements I think are more subplots than anything else. I mean, they're interesting, but really it's about Sadie and her trying to navigate her new world. I thought the stuff about face blindness was fascinating. Erin listen to this as well and really loved it. I think this was her first Katherine Center book, but she thoroughly enjoyed it. And I think for the same reasons I did. There's also, again, just a great author's note at the end, not only about face blindness, but just about hopeful books and why writing hopeful books is important. And I think Katherine Center, that author's note just made the book really special. So I really liked this. If you like Katherine Center, I think this is more of what you've come to expect from her. I think that this one is pretty enjoyable. It's called Hello Stranger and it's out on July 11th.

Olivia [00:44:48] Stuff you Should Know has a great podcast on facial blindness. I listened to it last summer. It was great. It's super fascinating.

Annie Jones [00:44:57] It is really interesting because she in the book says she can't like-- I really felt for her. And there's one character in the book that I felt like was under drawn, like she's really villainous. It's Sadie's stepsister. But Sadie is going about her business and she starts interacting, but she doesn't even recognize her own stepsister. She soon has to realize, like, tricks around it. So she really pays attention to people's hair. She pays attention to what they wear. She really comes to rely on voices and things like that. It was really interesting how the character in the book had to just to interact in daily life with a real challenge because you forget how much you rely-- because I think we've all said before, "Oh, I know your face, but not your name" or something like that. And she doesn't have that. Like, it's almost like you're missing social cues then if you can't know somebody's face. And if you also can't read a facial expression, we forget how much facial expression is so important. So, yeah, I may have to listen to that podcast. Sadie was a great protagonist because of these challenges she was kind of having to overcome.

Olivia [00:46:09] Yeah. Speaking of great protagonists, my next book is Mrs. Plansky's Revenge by Spencer Quinn, and it's out at the very end of the month, July 25th. And this is about a woman, Loretta Plansky who has a big fortune behind her name because she made this invention. I'm pretty sure she did like the knife that heats up and toasts the bread as you slice it kind of thing. And so, her and her husband made a fortune off of it. He passed away. And now Loretta has two kids and lives by herself in southern Florida. She's a part of the country club. She plays tennis. Like Loretta is a whole vibe. I love her so much. But Loretta has two children who have now asked her for huge sums of money. Her daughter asked for startup money for this business that her and her new boyfriend concocted. And then her son asked her for money for-- I forget what. I think it was business related as well. But she was like, yeah, absolutely. Because Loretta is this yes person. Loretta goes to bed and at the middle of the night she gets a call from one of her grandsons and he has just been arrested. He needs like $9,000 to post bail. And he gets her bank account information and hangs up. And Loretta doesn't think twice about it because she's like, of course, I'm going to help my grandchild. So she wakes up and she gets a call from her accountant and was just like, "Hey, did you mean to take all of your money out of your account?" She was like, "No, why would I do that?" And so then they start to piece together, Loretta got scammed. And so, the FBI gets involved, like all of her accountants get involved and her lawyer, and basically they're just like, "Yeah, there's nothing we can do. You gave them the information willingly. We can try to track it down as far as we can, but there's no hope of getting your money back. And Loretta did not take that answer. And so she flew to Romania, tracked them down herself to go get her money back.

Annie Jones [00:48:21] I love it so much.

Olivia [00:48:25] For fans of Killers of a Certain Age, it was just so much fun. And Loretta was just a great character. She meets a journalist over there who knew about this ring of con artists in this small town in Romania. And he" was just like, If you want to team up with me, I can write about it and you can get your money back. And we'd be a great team." And Loretta is like, "Yeah, let's do it."

Annie Jones [00:48:49] I love this because nothing makes me more angry than somebody taking advantage of an older person. It makes me furious because Jordan and I-- I'm sure you guys-- well, I don't know where you live or not, but we'll get mail that looks official but you know it's not. Do you know what I mean? And we always look at it and we're like, somebody is going to think this is legit. Like, an older person is going to look at this piece of mail and think it's legit. And Jordan's grandmother, who now suffers from dementia, but when she lived at her home and not not an assisted living facility, she would get phone calls and she would just say, "I've got to talk to my lawyer." And she meant Jordan. Like she would just use him as like an excuse because the amount of people trying to take advantage of the elderly is ridiculous. And so I love that Spencer Quinn was like, you know what? Let's have an older woman now take revenge. Let's let's have her stand her ground against these con artists. I love it

Olivia [00:49:50] And she did great. At one point, she retells out of her window in her hotel. She rescues these two little Romanian boys that were caught up in the con and they escaped to Ukraine on motorcycles. Like, Loretta is just the best.

Annie Jones [00:50:06] Okay. This is another book that I might have to read. I remember seeing this in the catalog and I thought, "Oh, this sounds good, because I loved Killers of a Certain Age so much.

Olivia [00:50:15] Yeah. This one is less violent, I think. I mean, yeah. No, I know. Violence goes over my head sometimes.

Annie Jones [00:50:23] Killers of a Certain Age, you forget that that book is violent until you start describing it. And then how all the different characters die is rather gruesome. But it's really entertaining.

Olivia [00:50:35] This is a woman who plays tennis at her country club, you know?

Annie Jones [00:50:40] Okay. I think I'm going to have to read that as well. Okay. So those are the books that we are looking forward to releasing in July. Don't forget that you can go to Bookshelfthomasville.com and type 432 into the search bar where you can see all of today's books listed ready for you to purchase or preorder. You can use the code NEWRELEASEPLEASE at checkout for 10% off your order of any titles.

[00:51:06] This week. What I'm reading is brought to you by visit Thomasville. Summer is a wonderful time to see Thomasville, Georgia. If it's time to hit the road for a quick getaway, we are exactly what you're looking for. You can rekindle your spark, explore historical sites, indulge in dining out, shop at amazing independent stores, and finally relax and unwind. There's no better getaway than Thomasville. Whether you live close by or are just passing through, we hope you'll visit beautiful Thomasville, Georgia. It's worth the trip. Plan your visit at ThomasvilleGA.com. I wanted to say that I think on the last episode I recorded, I talked about Reader Retreat and getting to see Thomasville through visitors eyes, and it was so fun. Now that kind of reviews and pictures and photographs and Instagram posts of Reader Retreat are coming in, I am really loving seeing what different people picked up on when they came. And so one of our retreater, Stephanie, posted some really beautiful pictures just of her walk from the Marriott to downtown. The Marriott is literally located just, I think, two blocks from downtown. And so pictures from the Episcopal Church from Georgia and Louis is really fun kind of antique looking sign. And you just forget how walkable and photogenic Thomasville is. And I loved seeing that little brief walk from the Marriott to Thomasville. I also want to let visitors know that we have some really great Airbnbs downtown. Some of our podcast listeners visited and stayed in an Airbnb located right above South Life. So if you come to town in the Marriott is already booked, there are so many within walking distance Airbnbs near to downtown Thomasville. So you can come plan your summer getaway and just live like a local for a little bit, which I think would be really fun. This week I'm listening to Fleaks Geeks and Dawson's Creek by Thea Glassman. Olivia, what are you reading?

Olivia [00:53:10] I'm reading Cutting Teeth by Chandler Baker.

Annie Jones [00:53:13] Thank you again to our sponsor. Visit Thomasville. Plan your visit at ThomasvilleGA.com.

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 at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website: bookshelfthomasville.com A full transcript of today’s episode can be found at:

fromthefrontporchpodcast.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…

Cammy Tidwell, Chantalle Carl, Kate O'Connell, Kristin May, Linda Lee Drozt, Martha, Stacy Laue, Chanta Combs, Stephanie Dean, Ashley Ferrell

Executive Producers (Read Their Own Names): Nicole Marsee, Wendi Jenkins, Laurie Johnson, Susan Hulings

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Caroline Weeks