Episode 480 || June New Release Rundown
This week on From the Front Porch, it’s another New Release Rundown! Annie, Erin, and Olivia are sharing the June releases they’re excited about to help you build your TBR. When you purchase or preorder any of the books they talk about, enter the code NEWRELEASEPLEASE at checkout for 10% off your order!
To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, stop by The Bookshelf in Thomasville, visit our website (type “Episode 480” into the search bar and tap enter to find the books mentioned in this episode), or shop on The Bookshelf’s official app:
Annie's books:
Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan (6/4)
Swift River by Essie Chambers (6/4)
Pearce Oysters by Joselyn Takacs (6/25)
Olivia's books:
One of Our Kind by Nicola Yoon (6/11)
Middle of the Night by Riley Sager (6/18)
Dinner at the Brake Fast by Renee Beauregard Lute (6/25)
Erin's books:
Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe (6/11)
Devil is Fine by John Vercher (6/18)
Same as it Ever Was by Claire Lombardo (6/18)
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, Tiktok, and Facebook, 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 Sandwich by Catherine Newman. Olivia is reading Juneberry Blue by Candice Ransom. Erin is reading Same As It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo.
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...Jennifer Bannerton, Stephanie Dean, Linda Lee Drozt, Ashley Ferrell, Susan Hulings, Wendi Jenkins, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Gene Queens, Cammy Tidwell, and Amanda Whigham.
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]
“Because that’s what life is — joy peppered by loss. It’s why you get a dog. And then you get another dog. Madness repeating itself just to get another taste of joy.” - Annabel Monaghan, Summer Romance
[as music fades out] I’m Annie Jones, owner of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia. Today, I’m joined by Bookshelf operations manager Olivia and online sales manager Erin to give you a rundown of our favorite new books releasing in June. If you’re a new or newish listener, you might not realize that From the Front Porch is a production of The Bookshelf, a small, independently-owned bookstore in rural South Georgia. By listening to our show and recommending it to friends, you’re helping to keep our indie bookstore in business. And if you like what you hear, one way you can financially support us is through Patreon. In 2024, we have been conquering the classic American novel Lonesome Dove together with monthly recap episodes. For $5 a month, you can access our conversations, as well as our Porch Visits, live Q&As where we talk about everything from pop culture to nail polish to what books you should take on your next vacation. To learn more about our Patreon tiers and benefits, just visit patreon.com/fromthefrontporch. I’d love for you to join us there! Now, back to the show. Hi, Olivia. Hi, Erin.
Olivia [00:01:52] Hey.
Erin [00:01:53] Good morning.
Annie Jones [00:01:54] Man. We're here. We're alive. We're doing it.
Erin [00:01:56] The sun is shining.
Olivia [00:01:57] We climbed mountains to get to this point today.
Erin [00:02:00] We did.
Annie Jones [00:02:03] We did. It's just obstacles on every side. If people only knew. Sometimes I do remind myself that some people podcast for a full-time job.
Olivia [00:02:11] That's nuts.
Annie Jones [00:02:13] Podcasting is all they do.
Olivia [00:02:14] Good job, you guys.
Annie Jones [00:02:15] But, alas, we have a store to run. We have lives to run. We have homes to run. We have children to raise. If you're Erin, you have children to raise.
Erin [00:02:23] Multiple children.
Annie Jones [00:02:27] So here we are. Here we are closing out May to bring you June releases. As usual, on this episode of From the Front Porch, we're each going to talk about three books that we like coming out in June. And as we go through those June new releases, keep in mind that Erin has made browsing our podcast book selections super easy. You can go to Bookshelfthomasville.com and type episode 480 into the search bar and you'll see all of today's books listed ready for you to preorder or purchase. You can use the code NEWRELEASEPLEASE at checkout for 10% off your order of today's titles. That's NEWRELEASEPLEASE. I feel like I said that weird. NEWRELEASEPLEASE.
Olivia [00:03:08] I was like, what's funny about new release please?
Annie Jones [00:03:11] I don't know. It sounded funny as I was saying it. It sounded like Chucky Cheese, which I think it just went bankrupt. If I'm not mistaken, or something.
Olivia [00:03:18] They only just went bankrupt?
Annie Jones [00:03:21] Or you know what? It might have been that they went bankrupt. It might have been that they were just membering the band.
Erin [00:03:28] Maybe that's what I heard. Yeah. They're doing away with the band.
Annie Jones [00:03:32] The band of the animatronic band.
Olivia [00:03:34] I'm not going to lie to you, I've only been there once in my entire life.
Annie Jones [00:03:38] I think I also went there once, maybe twice.
Erin [00:03:40] That was two times too many, in my opinion.
Annie Jones [00:03:47] Okay. Are we ready? I think we're ready.
Olivia [00:03:49] Yes.
Annie Jones [00:03:50] Okay. I'm going to kick us off. The first book I want to talk about is one we, I think, are all excited about, this is Summer Romance, which releases this week. It released on Tuesday. This is by Annabel Monaghan. I think we can safely say friend of the show, Annabel Monaghan.
Erin [00:04:08] Absolutely.
Olivia [00:04:10] I think that she'd say it.
Erin [00:04:12] Even if it's one sided, we will say it.
Annie Jones [00:04:16] Yeah. So, Annabel Monaghan, I discovered her through her debut novel Nora Goes Off Script, which I read and loved. Everybody knows I loved it. I've not been shy about that. Then I read Same Time Next Summer, which I really liked, and I felt like, oh, good, Annabel Monaghan is like Carrie Winfrey. She's consistent. I know what I'm getting. And then she has this new one called Summer Romance, which I was so grateful to receive an ARC for. I read it-- I don't know-- two months ago. I broke my own rules. I didn't read it during the summer and it was wonderful. I love it I think almost as much or as much as I loved Nora Goes Off Script. In the book we have main character Ali. She is an organizer for a living, and she is still reeling and recovering and grieving from the loss of her mother.
[00:05:08] So the book actually deals quite a bit with grief. And also, her husband, if I'm not mistaken-- I read it a few months ago. But her husband has left her in part because he cannot really handle this new version of her. This version of her that can't "get over" the loss of her mom. So, Ali, one day while walking her dog, stumbled across this man named Ethan. Look, in Same Time Next Summe, part of my problem-- and it is my personal problem. It is no one else's problem. Part of my problem was the male protagonist was a blond guitar playing man. And that is not of interest to me. But this man is neither blond nor does he play the guitar. And so, I was very charmed. And they have a very funny meet cute with their two dogs.
[00:05:56] I think what I loved most about this book is as with most romcoms that I appreciate, there are great side characters. So, Ali has a really lovely relationship with her neighbor. So, there's not just a romance at the heart of this story. There's also some friendship and real community at the heart of the book. And then I also really liked in every romcom you get that third act miscommunication where your couple has been kind of happy, now they're kind of torn apart, and then they're happy again. And I get it. You kind of have to do that if you want a book of any length or a movie of any length, but it can get old after a while. And I felt like this third act kind of conflict felt totally natural, and it completely made sense to the book. It didn't feel like Annabel Monaghan was grasping at straws.
[00:06:46] The whole book just felt cohesive and lovely and tender. I read this at my dining room table. I did not cry at Nora Goes Off Script. I do not cry a very many books at all. But I did tear up at this book, which is unusual out of a romcom, but there was just some really lovely stuff about friendships and, yes, about dogs that I thought was really charming and wonderful. I loved this book. I suspect our listeners will as well. If you have been wondering about this one, if you've been hesitant, if you loved Nora as much as I did, I think you will love Summer Romance. It released this week. Paperback originals. So perfect for throwing in your beach bag, taking on an airplane, or reading at your dining room table because we can't all go places, so it's fine. So, summer Romance released this week, Annabel Monaghan.
Olivia [00:07:32] Do you read at your dining room table?
Annie Jones [00:07:34] No, I was reading it during dinner. It was during session, so Jordan was at home. So, I cooked myself dinner and read at the table.
Olivia [00:07:43] Okay. I was like that sounds like the most uncomfortable place to read.
Annie Jones [00:07:47] Yeah. It was not comfortable. Although our dining room chairs are okay. But it was that I was reading while eating, and then when I finished, I didn't want to move. I sat there until I finished the book. it was so good.
Olivia [00:07:58] Okay.
Annie Jones [00:08:00] I know. True testament to Annabel.
Olivia [00:08:01] I also kind of feel like maybe when you guys were in conversation when she was here for Reader Retreat, you did mention that you do not like blond haired guys. And I feel like maybe she heard that and just, like, rewrote the whole story. It was, like, brown, dark brown hair. Annie B. Jones, it was brown
Erin [00:08:20] Do not play any instruments.
Annie Jones [00:08:22] So much cascading brown hair.
Olivia [00:08:25] I just feel like she loves us that much that she'd do that.
Annie Jones [00:08:30] If she ever did that, if she ever changed a character or named a character because of this, I would pee my pants. I'd be so happy.
Olivia [00:08:37] Well, not a loving and tender story, this is One of Our Kind by Nicola Yoon. She mostly wrote YA. I think this might be her adult debut. But she wrote The Sun Is Also a Star. Everything Everything. She's a pretty prolific YA author. And now she wrote this one, One of Our Kind, and it's right up my alley. It was so good. I read it on my walking pad, which was really fun because I just kept going because I was, like, what is happening here?
Annie Jones [00:09:08] That was fun.
Olivia [00:09:10] It was like Get Out, which I haven't seen but I've heard about meets, The Other Black Girl, which I read but did not watch. And it's this couple, Jasmine and King, and they are from, I believe, somewhere in California. But they grew up pretty poor in neighborhoods that really weren't great. And they had a son there, and they had a run-in with the cops that really startled them. They are black couple. And so, when a cop approached their car, both of them were extremely nervous. Their son was young enough to not know to be nervous in front of these cops. And he was just being his little six-year-old self, and it scared them to their core because they were like he doesn't realize how fast this situation could possibly escalate. And so, after that, King was like we need to move.
[00:10:08] He had heard about this new town called Liberty in California, where it's this all-black community. So, all of the storefronts are run by black owners. All of the teachers are black. All the cops are black. Everyone there is black. And so, it's this community that's almost like this little utopia where you feel safe, you feel seen. And then there's this wellness center that's kind of like the heart of the whole town. So, they move there. And at first, Jasmine's like I don't need a wellness center. I don't need a spa. But King is all about it. It's almost like their country club, if you will. This is how you go to meet other people; is you join the wellness center. But he starts going there so often that he forgoes any sort of social justice activity that he used to do. So, he will go right from work and go to this wellness center.
[00:10:59] And Jasmine's, like, this is kind of weird. Why are we going there so often? And so, things start to come to a head right at the end of this book. And it's not very long. It's like 270 some pages. It's fast, but right at the end, the whole time you're, like, something's going up with that wellness center. Yeah, it has to be bad. And it just like comes to a head right at the end, because King and Jasmine are just completely divided on this front and what to do for their family. And for me, I kind of saw the end coming, but at the same time I was like, no, that can't be it. And then it was. It was so well done. Almost like a little creepy. So, it was good. It sucks you in.
Erin [00:11:50] Yeah. I like a little creepy. I think that is what keeps you reading. You're like, ooh, I like it when things are just a little bit off normal.
Olivia [00:11:59] Yeah. This is that.
Erin [00:12:01] Yeah, that sounds good.
Annie Jones [00:12:03] Okay.
Erin [00:12:04] Okay. My whole pitch for this book is-- hear me out. Okay, like, hear me out. Okay, so it's called Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe. It comes out June 11th. Margo, she's a college freshman. She's had a fling with her married, college English professor, and she becomes pregnant and he doesn't want anything to do with the baby. It gets worse.
Olivia [00:12:36] No, I think I remember you talking about this, and I was like, you're reading that?
Erin [00:12:41] Yes, that's what I mean. I think everyone's going to be like, wow, I can't believe Erin read that. But it's just hear me out. Hear me out. It's so good. Okay, so she becomes pregnant. She decides, you know what? I'm going to keep the baby no matter what. The guy doesn't want anything to do with it, so she's kind of left on her own. She's just working as a waitress, and she cannot find childcare. Of course, as a waitress. And she has two roommates that hate the baby being there, so they move out. So, she has all this rent to take care of herself. And I don't remember how she got into this, but she thought like-- she wants to write. She's an aspiring writer. That's what she was in college to do. She thinks, " Well, I can post stuff on OnlyFans to get to make money because that would be the easiest thing to do." And she also invites men to send her pictures.
Annie Jones [00:13:41] Margo, no!
Olivia [00:13:43] Never, never invite men to send you pictures.
Annie Jones [00:13:46] Margo, don't.
Erin [00:13:46] Hear me out.
Olivia [00:13:49] Rule number one.
Erin [00:13:50] No, but through OnlyFans she asked them to do that so she can rate the pictures that they sent her and compare things with Pokémon characters. Like, she writes a whole story for each person.
Annie Jones [00:14:03] Okay. Alright.
Olivia [00:14:03] Still listening.
Erin [00:14:04] I know. Hear me out.
Annie Jones [00:14:05] So weird, I love it.
Erin [00:14:08] Okay, you're still in? Okay. You haven't left? So, she starts to make money at this, and she realizes she doesn't really want to do it, obviously, like, she's. That's not her. She's kind of a nerd. She doesn't really want to do this, but it's the only thing she can think to do right now where she can also be home with her baby that she loves. She feels very alone. She has a mom, a senior vibe, and her mom is very judgmental. And since she decided to have the baby, she's out of the picture. And so, she's growing this business on only fans and enter her dad, who's been absent all of her life, comes back. And he's like a WWE promoter, like a World-Wide Wrestling promoter. So, he's really big. He's like an icon in the wrestling world. His name is Jinx. So he goes by Jinx, which I just love. He comes back into her life at the perfect time. And he is kind and he is loving. And he agrees to help her with the baby.
[00:15:05] And she gets connected with these other women who also have these large followings on only fans. And they kind of mentor her and take her in along with her child, they just befriend her. She also starts corresponding with this guy through OnlyFans, which at first you should be like, urgh, that's not a good idea. But he's a nerd too, and he's just lonely. And they start actually writing about their real lives and corresponding like pen pal style. And so, there's like a little bit of a love interest there. And so, and at the end of the book, her parenting and her custody of the child becomes tenuous because the father of the child is now saying, hey, she's doing OnlyFans. And I don't think that's right. And I want to take the baby from her. And so, she has to have this little custody fight with the father.
Annie Jones [00:15:57] With the English professor who got her pregnant?
Erin [00:16:00] With the English professor who has not wanted to be a part of it. Yeah, now he's back. Now he wants to be a part of the baby's life. But, anyway, all that being said, I just kept reading because the characters were so good. They are lovable. The relationship between her and her father is precious. Everything just felt very real. Not real in like a real-world kind of way. It just felt real like you just were rooting for her. You were rooting for her dad. You were rooting for even these friends, and you're rooting for her to fall in love with the guy she's corresponding with. And she writes parts of the book in first person and parts of it in third person based on if she's embarrassed about what she's doing, she writes it in third person. But if she's talking about herself, she writes it in. Person.
[00:16:48] So it got a Kirkus starred review. So, I'm not the only one that loved it. And I will say I'm not a super prude, but there were some-- it's real vague. It's not a crass. I would not say this book is crass at all, even given the subject matter. But things are talked about with euphemisms and so I read it and didn't feel like it was too crass. So, I would say, give it a shot. I know it's weird, but the characters are so amazing that you will just fall in love with them. And even though she's whatever you feel about OnlyFans. Whether you feel good about it. She's doing it. You just want to root for her. So, it's a great book. It's called Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe.
Annie Jones [00:17:43] I love the title and I do love a weird book. And also, you know what? If America would fix its childcare problems, she wouldn't have done this.
Erin [00:17:50] And we wouldn't have had this story.
Olivia [00:17:51] Thank you.
Annie Jones [00:18:00] My next one actually is a little bit about a single mother and her daughter. So perhaps some similar elements. This is Swift River it released this week. Swift River is by Essie Chambers. This is, I believe, a debut novel, and it is about a 17-- I think she's about 17-year-old girl named Diamond. She's a biracial teen living in the town of Swift River, which was a sundown town not very long ago. So, it has quite a racist past and racist history. And Diamond is one of the only black or biracial kids living in Swift River. And as the story unfolds, you kind of see why, and you kind of uncover the history of Swift River. But Diamond and her mom-- it is 1987-- and their dad/husband has been missing for seven years. So, he disappeared in 1980 and never came home. And so, in 1987, it's time to get him officially declared dead so that diamond and her mother can have access to his life insurance money. And so, they've been living pretty much in poverty ever since he disappeared.
[00:19:12] So most of the book, or a large portion of the book, takes place in 1987 and then flashes back to 1980, the year of the dad's disappearance. Those parts of the book to me are-- I'm not going to go so far. An author blurbed this book as funny and I do not find this book funny. But I do find it heartwarming. And the 1980 and 1987 chapters have a very summery feel. Like latchkey kid coming of age, stand by me kind of vibe. Because Diamond is getting her driver's license behind her mom's back. She's trying to figure out how she's going to leave Swift River one day. She has high aspirations. But her mother is kind of stuck in her grief. So then while that is happening, as they are trying to get Diamond's dad declared dead, diamond discovers she has a whole family of black relatives that she's never known and never met. And so, she begins corresponding with one of her aunts who lives in the South.
[00:20:13] And so, part of the novel takes place in letters. And we get the letters that the aunt writes to Diamond. And then we also get to learn the history of Diamond's father's family. And so, we get letters from 1916, 1950. And because one of the characters is a midwife, there's a little bit of frozen river vibes to it because she becomes a midwife in Swift River, and you learn about Swift River's history as well. So, you're learning about Diamond's personal history and about Swift River. So, it's part coming of age tale, part historical fiction, and then a little bit part mystery because you're trying to figure out what happened to Diamond's dad. Is he really dead? Is he missing? Where did he go?
[00:21:00] So I really liked this book. And I know perhaps on description you might be like, oh, my gosh, that's a lot. Like 1987, 1980, 1916. But I thought all of it actually flowed really smoothly and really well. Because Diamond and her family are kind of the through line, and the different sections the way Essie Chambers has paced everything and placed the different chapters is really well done. She does such a good job of telling the story. And you're never confused as a reader. And I really liked it. I also felt like it was pretty original. The only comp title I really thought of was, I think, Life and Other Love Songs by any Anissa Gray. There are some similarities there. Or maybe Decent People, which I read last year. But, anyway, I really liked this one a lot. It's got a gorgeous cover. That is Swift River by Essie Chambers. It came out this week.
Erin [00:21:52] The cover is really beautiful.
Olivia [00:21:54] There's so many river novels.
Erin [00:21:57] Yeah, that's true. There's like Knife River, Swift River.
Olivia [00:21:59] Frozen River.
Annie Jones [00:22:00] Long Bright River.
Olivia [00:22:02] Long bright river.
Annie Jones [00:22:03] We could play a game. I feel like this is a future staff game. Like, is that Scattergories? Where you name-- yeah.
Olivia [00:22:11] I remember that game.
Annie Jones [00:22:12] Yeah. Scattergories with books subject matter.
Erin [00:22:15] Name books with river in the title.
Olivia [00:22:17] Yeah, that'd be fun.
Annie Jones [00:22:20] It would be. Making it.
Olivia [00:22:24] If anyone wonders why we're running long. It's because we're playing book themes Scattergories. My next book is Middle of the Night by Riley Sager. This is his newest one. It was so good. I think it might be my favorite one by him.
Erin [00:22:41] Wow.
Annie Jones [00:22:41] Okay.
Olivia [00:22:42] I know, but I also didn't read The Only One Left, which I'm really upset about.
Annie Jones [00:22:48] Is The Only One Left the first?
Erin [00:22:50] The last one.
Olivia [00:22:51] No, that was the one that just came out last year. The red one.
Annie Jones [00:22:54] I don't know if I read that one. Did I read that one?
Olivia [00:22:57] You did. Did you not? I believe you did.
Annie Jones [00:22:59] Okay, I don't know.
Olivia [00:23:01] Because I think everyone did but me.
Annie Jones [00:23:04] Okay.
Olivia [00:23:05] Yeah. Everyone who normally reads Riley Sager read it but me.
Erin [00:23:08] I was like, no, I did not read it.
Annie Jones [00:23:11] It's weird because the last couple of years I've listened to them with Jordan, and so I can't remember. Listening books are harder for me to remember. And that is how my brain-- anyway. Okay. I'm excited. I'm excited about this new one.
Olivia [00:23:24] Yeah. It's so good. And this, in the long amount of titles that are coming out this summer with Missing People, is also one of those. But really well done. Guard your loved ones. Sorry, was that too much?
Erin [00:23:48] Wesley and I were just talking the other day about how everyone used to worry so much about being kidnaped. When we were growing up, that was a really big thing. And maybe that's just like clothes from the 80s. Maybe that's just coming back too, being kidnaped. So popular to write about again. Not popular to do-- to write about.
Annie Jones [00:24:09] Not coming back in vogue. Nobody get any ideas. Don't quote this podcast in your treatise and your kidnapers vlog.
Olivia [00:24:18] You heard it here first, folks. Anywho, so this is about two kids, Billy and Ethan. They're next-door neighbors. They were one of those friendships that are friends because of proximity, which I had growing up too. And so, it doesn't necessarily translate into school friendship or that sort of thing, but it's like that deep connection between neighbors. And Billy had just moved into their cul-de-sac neighborhood. And the way he would contact Ethan, to get Ethan to come over to play, was he would throw a baseball over the hedge. And if Ethan saw the baseball, he would act like he's bringing it back to Billy. And Billy would be like, okay, I'm ready to play. Which is really cute.
Annie Jones [00:25:04] That's so cute. I just found that really innocent because Billy didn't want to be the one to go over and ask to play, so he would throw the baseball. So, they did camping trips every Friday night. And by trips, I mean camping in their backyard. I don't mean actually going anywhere. And one of those nights Ethan woke up and Billy wasn't there. And there is a large knife slash in the tent on Billy's side. And from that point on, Billy has just disappeared. And you flash forward 30 years, Ethan is still kind of reeling from this moment because there was never any closure for him. But he moves back into his family home because his parents just retired to Florida, as one does. And Ethan needs a place to stay because he just left his wife and he's kind of dealing with other life things as well when this baseball continues to show up at his back doorstep.
Annie Jones [00:26:08] Okay.
Erin [00:26:10] You got me.
Olivia [00:26:13] Odd things start happening in the neighborhood. He will wake up in the middle of the night because lights are going off- like those motion sensor lights on people's garages. And they go off one by one in a line. And so, he's starting to think that Billy's after 30 years and he's trying to reach out to Ethan. So, he sets up like cameras in his backyard. He starts talking to all of the people who are also involved that day. And as this is happening in real time, you're getting flashbacks to the day of Billy's disappearance and everything that led to that camping trip that night. Which is a lot more than you think happened. It was so well done. It had me right from the start. I hate to say it, but I do love a good missing person's case.
Annie Jones [00:27:02] I do too.
Olivia [00:27:04] Not in real life. Fictional. Because we get resolutions there. But it was just one of those two. Where it was a really good friendship between the two of them. Complicated, but really well done. Riley Sager did a really good job of describing the relationship. And you are fully invested in both Ethan and Billy's side of the story, so it was really well done. I think it might be one of my favorites by Riley Sager. He's just an excellent writer. This one for me the writing was impeccable. The situation was so well thought through and everything was done really well.
Annie Jones [00:27:41] I'm so excited. It does sound vaguely like Stephen King-esque Let me be clear, I've not read a ton of Stephen King books, but I've seen film adaptations. And he does do a really good job with childhood friendships, I think, and this sounds like a book that pays homage to our childhood friends who we would camp in our backyards with.
Olivia [00:28:06] Yeah. And I think this one is a little maybe more tame for Riley. I feel like Riley can go off on a hinge sometimes, and you're just like how did we get here? I'm here for it, but how did we get here? And this one wasn't overly gruesome. There was no fantastical element thrown in there. This was purely set in real life, and focusing on these two boys and what happened 30 years ago. Which is probably why I really liked it by him. It's out June 18th. I feel like I maybe didn't say that. But on June 8th. The same day as Lucy Foley's book, so just grab him on the same day.
Annie Jones [00:28:41] Interesting. I do have a question for the group, which is if your childhood best friend went missing from your back yard, 30 years later, would you move into your childhood home?
Erin [00:28:52] I don't know. I guess in this situation he needs to do it because of money or whatnot.
Olivia [00:28:56] Wrong answer.
Erin [00:28:58] No.
Annie Jones [00:29:00] I'm just curious. I'm Jordan and I talk about this all the time. If somebody died in the house you're looking at, would you buy it? Like that kind of thing. We kind of debate this back-and-forth and. And I think Olivia, you and I have talked about that before. Would you do that? And so, when you said he moved back into his childhood home, my gut was like-- just like with the other book you were talking about, the Nicole Yoon, when you said Wellness Center, I was like, and that's where I'd be out.
Olivia [00:29:26] No.
Annie Jones [00:29:26] No wellness center for me. Thank you so much. Yeah. I was just curious, what would be your line for moving back?
Olivia [00:29:36] The reasons around him moving backward were well done. And you're just like, all right, I think that's fine. I get it. The community is really tight knit too. Like no one really moved away besides Billy's family. And that took them years to move away from the cul de sac. And he did frame it. He was, like, no one wanted to move away first because it feel like that would show guilt that they were the ones who did it something to Billy. So it's all like hold out.
Annie Jones [00:30:02] That's soft.
Erin [00:30:03] Yeah, I got goosebumps when you're talking about the baseball being thrown back over the house.
Annie Jones [00:30:07] Yeah, such a good detail.
Erin [00:30:08] So good. So, my next one is called Devil Is Fine by John Vercher. It comes out June 18th. I listened to this one. And the narrator is amazing. Annie and I were just talking about that yesterday, about what a good job this narrator did. This is a story of a biracial man. He is mourning the loss of his young son, the estrangement of his marriage. And then he gets this unexpected inheritance of land that he didn't know about. It was supposed to go to his son, and it has been passed down through his son's white grandmother's side of the family. But, obviously, now that he's passed away, it has come to this narrator-- which I love the narrator is unnamed. You don't even notice that throughout the whole book.
Annie Jones [00:30:58] Until you're trying to describe it and then you're like, wait.
Erin [00:31:01] Yeah. And then you're like, wait, he doesn't have a name. Well, I didn't really pick up on it-- and I'll talk about this later. But I didn't pick up on it until the author kind of does play with it a little bit. There's parts of the book where the narrator writes emails to other people about-- he's an author, so he's writing his book agent, and his email address is unnamednarrator@gmail.com or something. And so, you're like, wait a minute, I don't know a thing. You're right. So, I love that. I love that you can literally read an entire book and not miss that person has a name, you know? Anyway, so he's never named. But in his grief, he is constantly speaking to his son Malcolm. His son's name is Malcolm, and he's constantly talking to him, narrating what's happening. And wouldn't you think that was funny, Malcolm, if he were here? Or what would you think about that?
[00:31:54] And he's reeling from grief, but decides to go check out this land. This has been given to him. And I think they're going to prepare to sell. He wants to sell it. And it's not in a place where he lives. It's near the coast. And they start finding things. As they start preparing the land and finding out more about it, they found out it's a former slave plantation and that there are things on the land that require attention. That's all I'll say. And so, after he visits the land and in the midst of his grief, strange things start happening to him. He has panic attacks. He starts imagining that he can see things in his legs. He starts imagining himself as a jellyfish and seeing his legs as tentacles. So, in my mind, if you like Shark Heart and you are okay with the magical realism of Shark Heart, this would also be a good comp for that. Because it all has a metaphor. It's not just like, oh, this man is crazy. It's like he's seeing these things because of something that happened. He got stung by a jellyfish, so then he has these hallucinations where he starts imagining himself as a jellyfish.
[00:33:06] So, anyway, the whole book is him-- I read about this last night on my Instagram. I really just said the whole book is him trying to make things right in the present because he can no longer go back and make things right with his son. And so, the whole book is him trying to make things right that he can control, and also dealing with the things that happened in his past that he cannot control. It is beautiful. I listened to it. I was at work yesterday listening to it, and I cried at the end of it. So, it's really good. It's very moving, but it also has enough parts where you're just kind of like, what happening? He keeps repeating this phrase throughout the book and you don't know why. And then at the end, it kind of comes all together and you're like that's why he's repeating that phrase over and over again. But it's heartbreaking and it's about loss. It's about dealing with the sins of your past. It weren't even your sins, but they were the sins of your ancestors. All while his own life is kind of falling apart. But it has a good, solid ending and it's just really beautiful. It's called The Devil is Fine by John Vercher.
Annie Jones [00:34:13] I'm so excited to finish that one. I'm anxious to get back to it. I really liked what I had read so far.
Erin [00:34:20] It's pretty short too. I listened to it, but I think page count is maybe under 300. It's pretty short.
Annie Jones [00:34:25] Yeah. It seemed doable for the season. I felt like I could get to it.
Erin [00:34:29] Yeah, absolutely.
Annie Jones [00:34:30] Okay. My last book releases on June 25th. It is called Pearce Oysters. I originally picked this one up for two reasons. The first is I thought the cover was really beautiful. It felt retro Florida to me. It just felt like a book I read in childhood; I think it was called The Lions Paw. I don't know. There's just something about it that really spoke to me. I loved the colors. And then the description is about a family of oysterman living in Louisiana, and in 2010, they are massively affected by the horizon oil spill, the BP oil spill. And if you grew up near the coast, the Gulf Coast, like I did, or if you have friends who grew up-- really some of my friends grew up even closer than I did. But if you grew up vacationing along the Gulf Coast, the horizon oil spill was a huge, huge deal. And I realized I have never read a book about it. Which feels weird. It feels like I would have watched a documentary or read a nonfiction book about it, but I never had and nor have I ever, by the way, seen one.
[00:35:37] So this was exciting to me. I don't know if it counts as historical fiction. I would be a little sad if 2010 was considered historical fiction. But I was like, oh, this is a period in history that I lived through and know about, but I've never read anything in detail about it. And so, I was really anxious to read it, and I absolutely loved it. It is dysfunctional family lit. So, if you like a quiet novel about a complicated family, if you like beautiful nature writing, the author Joselyn Takacs, this is her debut novel. I was a little snotty about it because I was like, where she from? Because it's set in Louisiana and I just thought, are you from Louisiana? She lives currently in Portland, Oregon. And so, I was like, what are you know about the horizon oil spill? But to be fair, Joselyn Takacs lived in New Orleans during the horizon oil spill. And then she actually, through her MFA, I believe, was able to dive into the oral histories of the oystermen of Louisiana.
[00:36:45] And so, she knows about what she is writing. The nature writing is beautiful. And if you've ever been to that part of the country, or if you've been in similar parts of the country with marshland, the way she describes it, I felt like I could smell it. I was like, oh my gosh, I'm there. This is not particularly plot heavy. The biggest plot is, will this family, the Pearce family, oyster company survive the oil spill? That's really the overarching theme of the book. Jordan is our main character. He's like the good son, the elder son. He has taken over the family business. His father died unexpectedly. So, it's not necessarily that Jordan always wanted to take over the family business. That was just kind of the assumption, that he would always do that. And then May is the family matriarch. She is still grieving the loss of her husband, and you can see that something is going on with her. She's trying to date for the first time. She is a really interesting character.
[00:37:43] And then Benny is the younger son, a little bit more of a ne'er do well, hasn't quite grown up yet. Lives in New Orleans as a musician and now has to come back home to take care of the family business with his brother Jordan to see if they can survive the oil spill. This book is extremely poignant, realistic, thoughtful. I was never bored. I keep calling it a quiet book, but this one held my attention. I can tell when I like a book when, like, if we're watching TV or something and the TV has commercials I'm reading during commercials. If I'm picking it up, like, at every possible chance. And I was picking this book up at every possible chance. As Erin said about one of her books earlier, I just was rooting for them and desperate to know what happened to them. And also, I felt like I learned a lot-- Olivia, I think you recently read a book about fishing and maybe like deep sea fishing. I felt like I learned so much about farming oysters. And that is why I love fiction, because I was like this is really interesting. I don't know if I would have found it interesting, were it not for this book to kind of open that world to me. I'll also really like oysters, so it was interesting to learn how they actually come [inaudible].
Olivia [00:38:56] You lost us on that one.
Annie Jones [00:39:01] I love oysters. So, this is Pearce Oysters, it's by Joselyn Takacs. It releases on June 25th, and I absolutely loved it.
Erin [00:39:10] The cover is beautiful. I don't like oysters, but the cover is really lovely.
Olivia [00:39:16] Oysters.
Erin [00:39:21] Well, it made me laugh because you were, like, "I was really snotty about the author," and I thought you were making like a pun, like a joke.
Annie Jones [00:39:28] And then I said a deep dive into the oil spills.
Olivia [00:39:32] I'm sorry we missed that.
Annie Jones [00:39:34] You got it. I'm sure in passing you got it. Yeah.
Olivia [00:39:38] I didn't until you just said it right now. I'm not going to lie to you. But that was really clever. My next book also comes out June 25th. I feel like I always need to talk about at least one middle grade. And this was my favorite that's releasing in June. It's called Dinner at the Brake Fast, by Renee Beauregard Lute. And it's about like a little diner that's like for truckers called The Break Fast.
Annie Jones [00:40:09] Nice.
Olivia [00:40:11] Which if we're talking about puns.
Erin [00:40:11] I love that.
Annie Jones [00:40:12] Yeah, nice.
Olivia [00:40:14] But there's a girl who lives there. Her family runs it. Her mom and dad run it. Her name's Tacoma Jones. And all they ever serve at the Brake Fast is breakfast. Because whenever truckers stop by, they're stopping by it's like their morning. And so, they only ever serve breakfast. And so, she's sick and tired of breakfast. She wants to cook a dinner. And her and her dad had planned this big dinner that they were going to serve to whoever comes in and for the family. But her dad was going through a bout of depression that he suffers with regularly. And so, Tacoma is like, well, I'm still going to cook this dinner no matter what. And she's hoping that it kind of lifts her father's spirits because she knows he'll come around eventually. It's just getting through that lull. That's always the hardest part. But Tacoma, while she's doing all this is reminded-- there's this trucker that comes by Crocodile Kyle.
Annie Jones [00:41:15] Just great names all around. I'm already like, should I name a future child Tacoma? Tacoma Jones. Sounds great.
Erin [00:41:21] Yeah, Tacoma Jones.
Olivia [00:41:24] Maybe. Crocodile Kyle is as what he seems. He's not a great guy. And her dad had this famous story of when he met this famous musician. I feel like I was supposed to know who it is. And I can't tell you at the moment who it was. But it was a big deal. And he always tells the story, and it's like the few times that Tacoma sees her dad full energy, super happy, it's when he's telling the story. And there's a picture of it that they had on their dinner wall that Crocodile Kyle stole. So, Tacoma is like, I'm going sneak into Crocodile Kyle's truck. I'm going to get this picture back. I'm going to cook this dinner, and my dad's going to be happy. And as we all assume, hijinks ensued. Tacoma grabs his two boys and they come with her. They hide in his truck at one point. They meet a very aggressive rooster.
[00:42:22] They do a lot of fun things. It felt like a classic story. There's a heart that has a lot of depth to it. You do get a lot of back history into what's going on with Tacoma and her dad, and what's going on with these two other boys. But then throughout the story, you have all of these fun moments of just kids being kids throughout it, almost like a kid to Camillo or like The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise. It felt very much like that. No, I did not cry during this book as I did during Coyote Sunrise. But it was just very heartfelt, adventurous. It was everything you want in a summer book where you're just, like, I'm going to get a nice bow at the end and I'm going to feel things throughout it. It was good.
Annie Jones [00:43:11] Sounds lovely.
Erin [00:43:12] It does sound cute. Was the rooster inside the truck?
Olivia [00:43:16] No. Funny story. They go to this guy who sells-- I feel like I forgot all words. What do you do when you sell produce on the side of the road? Like, what's your job? That's your job. What is that called?
Annie Jones [00:43:35] A farmer?
Olivia [00:43:38] Yes.
Annie Jones [00:43:39] Farmer is the word.
Erin [00:43:41] Well, I don't know. Maybe you didn't grow the fruit, you just sell it.
Annie Jones [00:43:45] That's right.
Olivia [00:43:46] No, he definitely grew it.
Annie Jones [00:43:49] Olivia's like, no, no, farmer is the word.
Olivia [00:43:51] Thank you for trying to dig me out of that hole I just threw myself into. But no, he definitely grew it. He sells it at a produce stand, and he has this rooster that's fairly aggressive. But the man loves the rooster. And so, he attacks the one little boy because the boy smashes pumpkins and now the rooster doesn't like him. But in the end, things turn out fine. The rooster, I mean, it's still aggressive, but under control.
Erin [00:44:19] They learn to leave the rooster.
Olivia [00:44:20] Exactly.
Erin [00:44:24] Okay. Also, I feel like Crocodile Kyle is a name that could go either way. Like it could be evil or it could be fun.
Annie Jones [00:44:28] Yeah, like a [inaudible].
Erin [00:44:30] Yeah. Ol’ Crocodile Kyle.
Olivia [00:44:32] Okay, I just never really think of crocodile as a good thing.
Annie Jones [00:44:36] Like Crocodile Dundee.
Erin [00:44:38] Yeah. He's fun.
Annie Jones [00:44:39] Yeah, Australian.
Erin [00:44:41] Yeah. Olivia's like [crosstalk].
Olivia [00:44:43] I know the name. I just don't know actually who that is. But I know that I know the name. I've heard it said.
Annie Jones [00:44:52] I think he's fine.
Olivia [00:44:53] That's not Steve Irwin.
Erin [00:44:55] No.
Olivia [00:44:56] Okay.
Annie Jones [00:44:57] No, but in my heart, Crocodile Dundee and Steve Irwin we're the same.
Olivia [00:45:01] Okay.
Erin [00:45:04] It's true.
Annie Jones [00:45:04] I mean, you're not wrong. I mean, they were, but also not.
Olivia [00:45:08] They're both Australian. Not that we should reduce people to a place.
Annie Jones [00:45:12] To their places.
Olivia [00:45:14] But I actually don't want to know a lot about, to be perfectly honest with you.
Annie Jones [00:45:20] Do we have any Australian listeners? Did you know that's where Ann Patchett is right now?
Olivia [00:45:23] Yes, I saw that.
Annie Jones [00:45:24] I'm like, is she writing. I wonder if she's doing research or if she's just having fun.
Olivia [00:45:28] That's the one place where I don't think I could ever travel to.
Erin [00:45:30] Too many extremely wild things, yeah.
Annie Jones [00:45:32] It's because of the bugs for you.
Olivia [00:45:32] Yeah. And I'm scared that any time anything happens in Australia that if I go to watch it or read about it or anything, I'm going to see a spider.
Erin [00:45:46] That's...
Olivia [00:45:47] That's not dumb. There's a lot of big spiders out there, so I avoid anything Australian.
Erin [00:45:53] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:45:53] Just the whole country it's a no.
Olivia [00:45:54] It's a real fear, everyone. Ye
Erin [00:45:58] It's legit. Oh, well, I'll save you from your...
Annie Jones [00:46:00] I think I would enjoy it, but it's a lot to get there. It's just so much to-- from Thomasville, it takes so long to get to Australia.
Olivia [00:46:07] Twenty-four hours.
Annie Jones [00:46:09] Do you think any Australian listeners exists?
Erin [00:46:11] It feels like we have had Australian listeners. Yes, for sure.
Annie Jones [00:46:17] Living in Australia?
Olivia [00:46:18] Write in, how many spiders do you see on a daily basis?
Annie Jones [00:46:23] First of all tell us if you live in Australia. Second of all, tell us how many spiders you see.
Olivia [00:46:27] Start off with that. Yeah.
Erin [00:46:30] My last book is Same as it Ever Was by Claire Lombardo. It comes out June 18th. This is a large book. I didn't know that going in. I'm glad I'm still in the middle of reading it, so I'm going to finish it. But I would say it's probably, almost 500 pages, I want to say.
Annie Jones [00:46:50] It is the same size as Long Island Compromised. It's about 500.
Erin [00:46:54] So that being said, just prepare yourself. If you're going in, just know that. I told Annie, I do think some of it could probably have been condensed because it's just a lot of internal monologues. But, anyway, I'll get into that. It's about Julia. We meet Julia. She is a part time librarian, married to Mark, who's a wonderful guy. They live in the suburbs. They're about to be empty nesters. Their son is getting married, and he is in college and their daughter is graduating high school. She's about to be in college. And she has a chance encounter with an older woman in a grocery store. And its tense, but we don't know why as readers. And so, that's how the book starts. And so, the fallout from that meeting with her is that we get a lot of back and forth between Julia and the present time and Julia in the past, where we start to figure out that there was something that happened between her and Mark, something in their marriage that went wrong, that Helen, who's the older woman, is responsible for or had a hand in.
[00:47:59] So, it's really just story about Julia, being young, being a new mother. She meets Helen when she's having a super bad day with her young toddler son. They meet at like a botanical garden. And Helen kind of takes her under her wing and becomes this fun mentor that she just spends a lot of time around. Could be kind of a little bit of a toxic relationship. It's not necessarily healthy for Julia. But, anyway, lots of things unfold as a part of that friendship culminating in some mistakes that Julia made. And then they just leave. They just move away and they never see Helen again until she sees her in that grocery store. So that is kind of the whole premise of the book, but a lot of it is just, again, the back and forth between how did you get here?
[00:48:51] Like, what happened? What led up to these mistakes she made? How have she and Mark dealt with it since? How is she as a mother? She had a really a poor mother herself and has a complicated relationship with her own mother. She doesn't know who her father is. And so, she also, feels like she has a hard time being a mother, and she thinks a lot about that and how can she be a better mother? But she never really actually tries to be a better mother. She just thinks about it a lot. But if you love dysfunctional families, complicated characters, there's a little bit of mystery-- not mystery in the typical sense, but there is a little bit of anticipation to find out what happened. I just kept reading because I thought, I kind of know what happened, but I've got to figure out exactly what happened.
[00:49:41] And so I'm halfway in this, and I don't know where the rest of the book is going to go, but I will report back and let you know. But it's really beautiful. There's a lot of passages that I highlighted, which to me is means I love it. It's good writing if I take the time on my e-reader to highlight the passages because I want to go back and read them. So, it's just a lot of internal monologues, a lot of beautiful writing about a dysfunctional family and complicated family. And that's The Same as it Ever Was by Claire Lombardo.
Annie Jones [00:50:12] I will be reading that. I've got the ARC here. I'm really excited.
Erin [00:50:14] Yeah, it's totally up your alley.
Annie Jones [00:50:15] Yeah, I'm excited about that.
Olivia [00:50:16] Then can you guys just let me know what [inaudible].
Annie Jones [00:50:20] Let me know why Julia was the way that she was?
Olivia [00:50:23] Yeah, just give me the tea you in that novel.
Annie Jones [00:50:26] That's the great thing about bookselling, is we can just tell each other and it's like we've read the books.
Erin [00:50:31] Yeah.
Olivia [00:50:31] It's just it's like these big, like, can you believe she did that type stories? But it's a book, and you're just like, just recap for me. Like, what exactly?
Erin [00:50:40] Sometimes I know y'all read a book and I know I'm not going to finish it, I'll just say, "Can you just tell me what happened?" Because that's just really what I want to know.
Annie Jones [00:50:47] Yeah. Okay. So those are nine books releasing in June. If you are interested in pre-ordering or purchasing any of them, you can go to Bookshelfthomasville.com, type 480 into the search bar and then use that code NEWRELEASEPLEASE at checkout for 10% off your order. This week I'm reading Sandwich by Catherine Newman. Olivia, what are you reading?
Olivia [00:51:10] I'm reading Juneberry Blue by Candice F. Ransom.
Annie Jones [00:51:13] And Erin what are you reading?
Erin [00:51:14] I'm smack dab in the middle of Same as It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo.
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, Linda Lee Drozt, Martha, Stephanie Dean, Ashley Ferrell, Jennifer Bannerton
Executive Producers (Read Their Own Names): Nicole Marsee, Wendi Jenkins, 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.