Episode 463 || Annie Recommends: Romcoms
This week on From the Front Porch, we have a new series: Annie Recommends! In this series, Annie curates a stack of books in a certain genre or criteria for you – just as if you walked into our brick-and-mortar store, The Bookshelf. Sometimes, you just want a good book list. This month, in honor of February and Valentine’s Day, Annie recommends a short list of her favorite romcoms and romances.
To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, stop by The Bookshelf in Thomasville, visit our website (type “Episode 463” into the search bar and tap enter to find the books mentioned in this episode), or download and shop on The Bookshelf’s official app:
Betting on You by Lynn Painter
Check, Please! by Ngozi Ukazu
A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting by Sophie Irwin
Love Buzz by Neeli Tubati Alexander
The Bodyguard by Katherine Center
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 So Fetch: The Making of Mean Girls by Jennifer Keishin Armstong.
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.
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]
“Maybe karma was a girl in glasses.” - Lynn Painter, Betting on You
[as music fades out] I’m Annie Jones, owner of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia, and this week, we’re launching a new podcast series we’re calling Annie Recommends. 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:
Relaxing I absolutely adore Annie’s podcast. I turn it on every evening while I tidy the kitchen after dinner and fold laundry or piddle around. You should really narrate a book!
[00:01:12] Part of the reason I wanted to feature this review was because it sounds like my mom. I don't think my mom wrote this review, but I never hear anybody use the phrase piddle around except my mom. But maybe it's a southern thing, and I just want to thank whoever wrote this review because you made me smile. Thank you so much to all of the reviewers who've left kind words and thoughtful reviews for our show. We are so grateful any time you share From the Front Porch with your friends. Thank you for spreading the word about our podcast and as a result, our independent bookstore.
[00:01:42] Now back to the show! Sometimes you just want a good book list. We at the Bookshelf know this because customers come in store or email Erin all the time, asking for recommendations based on a specific genre or criteria. A bookseller's favorite task, at least in my experience, is to go around the shop and put together a stack of books for a customer who's on the hunt. Even if they wind up not buying every book we pick, the fun is in the discovery. So with the podcast, what we're always trying to do is mimic what's happening in the store. So what we're trying to mimic on these new episodes of From the Front porch, is every so often I'll come on the show and put together a book stack around a certain theme. This month, in honor of February and Valentine's Day, I've made a short list of my favorite romcoms and romances for your reading pleasure. Just like I would never overwhelm customers with a towering stack of titles, I don't want to overwhelm the listener either. I want to give you five books I think you'd love. Whether you're new to the romance genre or are trying to read outside of your typical box. So five books, five romcoms, romances. And if you are interested in purchasing any of the books you hear about today, as usual, you can go to bookshelfthomasville.com, and type 463 or episode 463 into the Search Bar, and all of today's books will appear there.
[00:03:08] First up is the book that I started the episode with, Betting on You by Lynn Painter. Lynn Painter is one of my very fun discoveries. I think I read her first in 2023 and I don't know what took me so long. What a delight. She reminds me a little bit of a Julie Buxbaum. And although Lynn Painter also writes adult romances, I have found that my sweet spot is really in her young adult genre. So this is a young adult romance I adored. And where I first discovered Lynn Painter was, for some reason, maybe somebody on Instagram. I had been seeing better than the movies, and somebody said it was like a real homage to kind of the 90s or 2000 era romcom. And so I listened to that audiobook and loved it. I have a distinct memory of listening to it, because I was listening to it when we went to see Taylor Swift in Atlanta. So just a really fun audiobook, fun memories associated with that book. And then in November or December of last year, during the chaos that was quarter four, I downloaded her new book, Betting on You. Again, another young adult romance. Really thought, okay, the first one worked for me, maybe this one will too. And I decided to do it in audiobook format because I really loved the narration. So it's narrated by Jesse Vilinsky. However, the book is told from the perspective of both the male and female leads. So Bailey is our female lead, she's narrated by Jesse Vilinsky. And then Charlie is narrated by Zachary Webber. I love Jesse Vilinsky. I think she's a fantastic audiobook narrator.
[00:04:48] I couldn't decide what I thought about Zachary Webber. And partly that is because even though this book is a young adult romance, they're juniors, seniors in high school. We meet them even younger. I really had trouble not picturing these people as true young adults, meaning early 20s. This book did not feel like high school students to me. Now, I know that I was a late bloomer. I also know that I am now an old. And so maybe I'm just old. And this is exactly how high schoolers talk and act. But I was listening to this, and maybe it's because Zachary Webber's voice was just so deep and manly, but I just thought, these people cannot possibly be in high school. And so that was just one of my-- I don't even know that I would call it a complaint. It's just in my head. These were a couple of college kids or people in their early 20s, and that made it make more sense to me in my head. However, in reality, they're in high school. What this book blurb did not say, and what I want to say to you, is that this book is a fantastic homage to When Harry Met Sally. So if Better Than the Movies was dedicated to or inspired by, the 90s, 2000 era romcom, I think Betting on You is very much-- I think the blurb on the back of the book describes it a little bit as she's all that, and I see that, but it is When Harry Met Sally. That is very much the vibe here. And I think that's why I fell in love with it so much.
[00:06:14] So Bailey and Charlie first meet. They have an encounter at the airport because Bailey's parents have just gotten divorced and she is flying back and forth from Alaska, I believe where her dad still lives. And so anyway, she's flying back and forth, I want to say to the Midwest, and she encounters Charlie who is kissing somebody in line, and he's a bit of a chaos muppet. And Bailey is the opposite. She's an order muppet, and she is just completely flummoxed by him and irritated by him. And so it's kind of hate at first sight. And then they meet again, just like in When Harry Met Sally. You get these kind of three vignettes of their different meetings, and they never really like each other. They never really click, but they also have some stuff in common. Their parents are both separated. They both are kids who have to kind of go back and forth between states, between homes, and there are some real similarities even though their personalities are quite different seeming. The chemistry that Lynn Painter creates between her characters is truly astounding. Obviously, chemistry is something we can see on screen, but I am always blown away when a writer conveys it without having these characters acted out in front of me. I'm not seeing Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal. I'm just having to go on Lynn Painter's writings that these two characters really hit it off and really care about each other.
[00:07:45] And even though they hate each other at first, of course, as the book progresses and as the two meet in the present day and spend time with one another, they become really good friends. And this book has so many-- I think in my notes I wrote maybe there's a smidge too much going on. So many romcom tropes are here. So you get the meet-cute or you get the hate at first sight. You get their friends to lovers energy. So they hate each other, but also they do become friends, especially after they re-meet in the present day. And then there's also a bedding component, which is where the book gets its title from. The betting component to me was the least interesting part of this book to me. But there is a betting component where Bailey and Charlie bet on a couple of their acquaintances and friends who work this summer job with them. That's kind of how they re-hit it off and become friends through working the summer job. Charlie winds up placing a bet about Bailey. There's a fake dating trope. There's almost a shared bed situation. So whatever boxes you have that you like to check off in a romance or a romcom, I do believe this will hit at least one of them. I think the audiobook is great, but because of my qualms with the male narrator, I also think you would equally enjoy the reading of this one. Kyndall on staff at the bookshelf is reading this now, and she's really enjoying it. It's just charming and delightful. If you have not really gotten into the romance genre before, and if you like me, you'll hear me talk about on the podcast fairly frequently that I'm a closed door reader. Shout out to my friend Lee for explaining that instead of just describing myself as a prude over and over again, I could just say that I prefer a closed-door romance.
[00:09:33] And what that means is that I like the door to shut before I'm given any details about what sexual encounters may occur. That is my preference in a real life movie romcom, TV romcom, and it's my preference in a book romcom. And so part of the reason I am drawn to young adult romance is because for the most part, those are pretty closed door. And that is certainly the case with Lynn Painter and with her young adult romances. So if you have never read the romance genre, I do think young adult romances could be a good place to start, because often one of the complaints you might hear about a romance is that it's unrealistic. Certainly that's what I hear when I talk about how much I love romcoms and film, is there's the complaint that they're not realistic. They set up an unrealistic portrayal of love, whatever. I think if you're going to suspend-- I always struggle with this phrase. If you're going to suspend your disbelief, then why not start with teenagers? I feel like that could be a really easy entry point into the genre. I already mentioned Julie Buxbaum, but Lynn Painter Betting on You or Better Than The Movies. Betting on You is her most recent. I really loved it. I loved Bailey and Charlie. I found them to be really fun and complicated characters. That's one thing I really like about Lynn Painter, is even though these are young people, they have the same troubles and issues and complications that adult people have. And I love that she paints her teens with real empathy. So Betting on You by Lynn Painter. It's a young adult romance. And if you are looking to start reading romance or romantic comedies in literature, I think I really do think that's a good place to start. Could be the young adult novel.
[00:11:24] Okay, next I really tried when I was thinking about creating a book stack and thinking about what that means at the Bookshelf, if a customer came in and asked for a good romance novel, I would grab a lot of books from our romance section. I would create a stack from our romance section, which we created last year, but I'd also want to make sure I include some diversity in the genre, which is why I started with a young adult romance, and it's why my next book is a graphic novel. So Check Please by Ngozi Ukazu. I love this book. It started as a web comic. It released back in 2018. I want to say so this is a backlist title, and I'm recommending it because of the Netflix show Heartstopper really. Gosh, how many episodes did I watch? I definitely started watching it and really thought it was sweet and lovely. I don't know that I finished, but Heartstopper is something so many of our customers and local readers became obsessed with, and so we did so well with the Heartstopper graphic novel series last year-- really maybe the last two years. It really took off for us in store. And one of the book series we recommend, if you loved Heartstopper, is Check Please and the Check Please book. So there are two of them. This is the first one. It is this great LGBTQ romance between Eric, who is a figure skater turned collegiate hockey player, and then Jack, his hockey team captain. The second book in the series is called Sticks and Scones. And that is because our main character, Eric, is not only this really great hockey player, but he is also an outstanding baker. And it's kind of this hidden talent that he shares with the people closest to him. So these books are so fun. I know Olivia has read them. Maybe Kate is who introduced them to us. Kate, who is now the manager at Bookmarks in Winston-Salem. Whatever the case, these really took off among our staff. And because they're backlist, a lot of the Heartstopper readers have not read them. I also like these because they are very much a sports book.
[00:13:32] That's another genre that I really like. I felt like I learned a lot about collegiate hockey. I was taken back to The Cutting Edge, if anybody watched that rom com back in the day. I felt like this collegiate, this figure skater turned collegiate hockey player was a really fun, transformation to witness. And then Jack and Eric are just adorable. And the different insecurities that they bring to their relationship and their hesitancy feel very real, very realistic. These books are just a delight. What I really enjoy about graphic novels is that if you're in a reading rut, sometimes it's a good idea to mix up your genres and a graphic novel because it's just, to me, a totally, completely different art form. Because not only do you have this really compelling story in word, but also in picture. And these I think sometimes readers are-- maybe they're not even scared of or intimidated by graphic novels, but maybe they just don't know where to start. And if you are one of those, I would suggest you could start with one of these. I just think these books are so charming. You can't see me. But as I'm telling you about this book, I have a big old grin on my face, because that's what I think of when I think of these books. And that's exactly how romance novel or a romantic comedy should make you feel. I think the conflict in these books is relatively low. The stakes are relatively low. But there's still, like I said, realistic and thoughtful in their dealings with Jack and Eric's different insecurities and the things they're trying to protect each other from in the books. Okay, that is Check Please by Ngozi Ukazu. Started as a web comic, now it's two books: Check Please and Sticks and Scones. Backlist titles perfect for Heartstopper fans.
[00:15:24] Okay, then in my stack I would of course need a Regency romance, and the one that I have loved the most in the last couple of years is A Ladies Guide to Fortune-Hunting by Sophie Irwin. I read this on a whim when it released a couple of years ago because I loved the hardback cover. They have since re-released it in paperback, and the paperback cover is more of the what I would call traditional romance cover now, where it's kind of cartoonish and hand-drawn. But, man, y'all Google that hardback cover because it was beautiful. It was beautiful. And to be honest, that's part of the reason I read it was because I thought, well, this is unusual for a romcom or a romance. Because now so many of the romance books are paperback releases, which is great, and find makes them more accessible, but they're also kind of cartoonish or they have people on the cover. And this was released in hardcover. It had this really beautiful kind of artistic rendering on the front, it felt very of the time, almost like Regency wallpaper or something. Anyway, so that is why I initially picked it up. And then I was completely swept up in this world, and it was the kind of book that I could immediately hand my mom. And I know that sounds cheesy, and I have so many friends who love R-rated romance books and who love the smut, I think it's how they would describe themselves. Shout out to my friend Kimberly. But not everybody does. And I think what can be good about a Regency romance is it can be pretty closed door. That's not always the case looking at you Bridgerton on Netflix. But if you need a PG Regency book, if you like Suzanne Allain, who is somebody our local customers especially really like, she's an author based out of Tallahassee, but her book Mr. Malcolm's List became a movie. My mom really like Suzanne Allain. If you like that kind of book, I think you will really like Sophie Irwin.
[00:17:14] I read her second book, but I definitely think you need to start here. And I think this is the better of the two books. I suspect there will be many more in this series. This is a ladies guide to fortune hunting. It features Kitty, who is deeply concerned with her father's debts, and she knows that in order to pay those debts, she is going to have to find a husband. So it's very realistic to the time. And she knows that not only does she need to find a husband, she needs to find a very well-to-do, wealthy husband who can save her family from financial ruin and disaster. So she throws herself into the London season, and she doesn't really intend at all to fall in love, has no real desire to fall in love. This is purely a business proposition. In her role in her family, she is trying to save her family. And so she has no romantic ideals about what she might encounter or who she might meet in the London season. She is smart and witty. She's not exactly your stereotypical female lead. Of course, I'm sure there is some homage here to Elizabeth Bennet, definitely to Jane Austen. And I actually think we get a lot of books that are described as Jane Austen-esque, but I would argue that this one actually really does feel like a book that Jane Austen could put her stamp of approval on. So Kitty enters the London season, and one of the first men she meets or hears about is Lord Radcliffe. And Radcliffe immediately kind of sniffs out that Kitty does not have a true marriage in mind. She is nothing but a fortune hunter or a gold digger, and so he makes it his mission to deprive her of a match and to kind of undermine every relationship or very match she starts to have. And, of course, the two have intense and immense chemistry. This book, like Betting on You, is banter heavy. Which is what I personally am looking for. I love a book with smart, banter characters, and so Kitty and Radcliffe certainly fit the bill. I found this book to be really smart. It was one I recommended it to my friends after reading it, I was completely surprised by it. And I hope you will be too. That is A Ladies Guide to Fortune-Hunting by Sophie Irwin.
[00:19:47] Okay, next up, a much more modern romance. I always struggle with a romance versus a romcom. And one of our listeners has kind of helped me figure out when I say romcom, what do I mean? Because not all romance books are romcoms. So I would categorize Love Buzz by Neeli Tubati Alexander as leaning more romance than romcom. There are certainly some funny parts, but I think in general this is more of a straight romance novel. It features Serena and Julian. Serena is in New Orleans on a bachelorette weekend. She is having a miserable time, desperately ready to go back home to Seattle. But instead, at the bar, she meets a guy named Julian, and they really hit it off. They start flirting with each other. This is the best time Serena has had all weekend long. And then, of course, she is forced to go on to the next bachelorette activity, and she has to leave without getting Julian's number. Part of the reason I was drawn to this title is because the book opens with a quote from serendipity featuring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale, which is a movie that has really grown on me over the years. I think when I saw it in the theaters, I scoffed at it. But actually now I own it on DVD and I watch it every Christmas, so I guess I really like it. So the fact that she started this with a quote from serendipity really hooked me, because basically Serena then flies back home to New Orleans. Her seatmate is a wonderfully quirky older character who I absolutely adored. I thought she was excellent. A good romcom or romance to me has to have really interesting, fun side characters and Love Buzz does.
[00:21:37] So Serena gets on a plane, she asks this woman, well, what am I supposed to do? I really liked this guy. We really hit it off, but she was in New Orleans. All she knows about him is he, like she, lives in Seattle. So she knows that he's in Seattle. But, of course, Seattle is not Thomasville. Seattle is quite large. And so that's really all she knows, is that he lives in Seattle and she desperately wants to meet up with him again, but she does not know how. So the book is Serena trying to come back home to Seattle and track down Julian. At the same time, it's also about Serena herself and how she works in a small business. I love those aspects of the book because in the romantic comedies that I always loved back in the '90s and 2000, those women had the most interesting jobs that now we know were not at all realistic. But, man, they were fun to watch on screen. I'm thinking about Kate Hudson and how she worked for a magazine. Kathleen Kelly, quite frankly, is in her work at the bookstore. Most of these women worked in advertising, marketing or publishing, and therefore that was also my dream. And so I really like that in Love Buzz, there's a lot dedicated to Serena's career. Because I think that's exactly what the romances and the romantic comedies of our childhoods featured, was women trying to make it in the workplace as well. So Love Buzz is a definitely a more modern story than, for example, a Ladies Guide to Fortune-Hunting. I also think this is the most kind of typical romance.
[00:23:19] This one released last year. And I purposefully did not read as many romances last year, because in 2022 I read so many that I considered duds that just did not work for me. But in 2023, the ones that I read I really liked. The ones that I read and finished, I really enjoyed it. Love Buzz to me is the most typical. Meaning this is the book that I think Emily Henry fans would like. So it's not young adult. It's not entirely PG, it's not a graphic novel, this is the most standard modern romance. And I'm not sure why, I feel like it just didn't get the buzz it deserved (no pun intended on the title). I feel like it deserved more attention. So that is Love Buzz by Neeli Tubati Alexander. I hope you'll pick that one up. I think it's really fun, and I like how it really also a love story to the Pacific Northwest and to Seattle in particular. So if you're from that area, you might really enjoy this one as well. It reminded me, obviously, of serendipity because she's on the hunt, she's on the search for Julian. But it also weirdly reminded me a little bit-- did you guys ever receive Forces of Nature with Ben Affleck and Sandra Bullock? That's another movie I really liked. I'm not sure I should. I'm not sure it's great, but I really liked that movie. And there is not much in common with Love Buzz, except Serena just feels like she's constantly getting stopped at every turn, but also getting hints. So maybe Serendipity meets Forces of Nature a little bit. So Love Buzz by Neeli Tubati Alexander.
[00:24:54] Okay. And then last but not least, perhaps my other more typical book on this list, meaning the book that many of you may have read already, but I just wanted to mention it. It is The Bodyguard by Katherine Center. Look, you have heard me for years now rave about Nora Goes Off Script, one of my favorite books of the last five years. Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman. The View Was Exhausting, which is more romance than romcom, and even a little bit more literary. I really enjoyed When in Rome last year. What all of those books have in common is they are dealing with the celebrity dates a normal trope, which is a trope I did not know I enjoyed. I did not realize how much I loved it until I read Nora Goes Off Script. And I think part of the reason I loved Nora Goes Off Script was that the writing was excellent, and the characters were just so well drawn and completely and fully themselves. Nora was just a really great protagonist. But pretty quickly, after reading Nora, I read Funny You Should Ask. Which, if you're not familiar, is a really great story based on a magazine profile. I think it was a GQ profile done on Chris Evans several years ago. You got to Google it. It's fantastic. But, anyway, I just realized how much I loved picturing a Chris Evans type character dating a normal person. And in Funny You Should Ask, it's kind of a normal nerd. I'll give Nora a little bit more credit. I'm not sure she could entirely be classified as nerdy. But just loved it. It's like a little bit of a Cinderella story. So it turns out I really like that trope.
[00:26:36] So I read Nora, I read Funny You Should Ask. The View Was Exhausting was a few years ago. When in Rome. But what the bodyguard does differently, I think, is it also almost incorporates a Finley Donovan-esque element in that it gender swaps the bodyguard concept. So our main character is Hannah, she is the bodyguard, and then Jack is the celebrity that she is required to protect. As an aside, is Jack the best male romcom protagonist name? I feel like it's the one we see all the time. Maybe it's because I have While You Were Sleeping on the brain, but that's neither here or there. That's just me thinking out loud. So, anyway, you kind of get this gender swapped bodyguard situation. Speaking of women who are good at their jobs, Hannah is an excellent bodyguard, and that's part of the reason she is called upon to protect Jack. Of course, he is not at all interested. This book takes place in the heart of Texas, which made for a very fun setting. They are on Jack's parents ranch, and because he does not want to have a bodyguard, there's like a fake dating element and a fake dating trope to this as well. I have not read Katherine Center very much. This is only, I think, one of the two of hers I've read, but this was excellent. It was recommended to me by Bookshelf staffer Nancy, and it did not disappoint. I thought it was utterly charming and fun. I also listened to this. So the audiobook is narrated by Patti Murin and she does a fantastic job. She actually narrates quite a few romcom, so if the audiobook format is something you're interested in, you might want to just search by her name and see what all pops up. That's right.
[00:28:24] The other romcom I have read by Katherine Center was Hello Stranger, and I personally did not enjoy that one as much. So if you're looking for a place to start with her, I do think The Bodyguard would be a great place to start. I love that particular trope, and I think that's part of the reason this one worked for me. But also all of those side characters, the side characters are important. All of them were really fun and Texas, and I just really fell in love with all of them. I fell in love with Jack's family. And then with Hannah, as part of the reason she kind of takes this gig is because she's recovering from a tough breakup. But I really like that this is a woman who's good at the work she does. Olivia and I talk a lot in terms of another genre, in terms of thrillers, how sometimes in thrillers female detectives aren't good at their jobs or make mistakes or really detectives in general. So I like reading books where people are actually good at what they do. And Hannah is really good at what she does. And that's never the joke that's being made, is that Hannah's not good at her work. In fact, it's quite the opposite. And so I really liked that part of the book as well.
[00:29:27] Okay. So if you were in the Bookshelf and you were coming in February and you were like, hey, I need a new romance novel, these are the ones that I would pick for you. Now, I would be remiss if I didn't say, of course I love Emily Henry. Of course, we love and handsell constantly Kerry Winfrey, Annabel Monaghan. But I was really trying to think outside of the books that you hear me recommend all the time. Some backlist titles, books across the genre to show you and to remind you that romance is not one thing. Romance actually has lots of sub genres and subcategories that we kind of forget about. And so I wanted to make sure we hit young adult romance, wanted to make sure to include a graphic novel and some LGBTQ romance, plus some Regency era stuff. And then more modern takes on the genre itself. So I hope this gives you a good place to start. At the Bookshelf we are really excited because we added romance section to our shelves last year. Previously, it was just something we had shelved with fiction. And as it turns out, readers really like there being an entire section devoted to this genre, and that was a huge bestseller for us in 2023. So that's been interesting to see as well. So if you're in the store anytime soon, be sure to check out that section. And if you can't come in, I hope this gives you a good start on the genre itself, and helps you find a book that you might want to read this Valentine's season.
[00:30:54] This week I'm reading So Fetch: The Making of Mean Girls by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong.
Annie Jones: 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:
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 Annie Jones: If you’d like to support From the Front Porch, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Your input helps us make the show even better and reach new listeners. All you have to do is open up the Podcast App on your phone, look for From the Front Porch, scroll down until you see ‘Write a Review’ and tell us what you think. Or, if you’re so inclined, support us over on Patreon, where we have 3 levels of support - Front Porch Friends, Book Club Companions, and Bookshelf Benefactors. Each level has an amazing number of benefits like bonus content, access to live events, discounts, and giveaways. Just go to: patreon.com/fromthefrontporch We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.