Anne Bogel [00:00:00] I think it might be good, cheeky, murdery fun for you?

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:00:04] Yes. And you're reminding me why I put it on my holds list to begin with.

Anne Bogel [00:00:10] Hey readers, I'm Anne Bogel and this is What Should I Read Next?. Welcome to the show that's dedicated to answering the question that plagues every reader, what should I read next? We don't get bossy on the show. What we will do here is give you the information you need to choose your next read. Every week we'll talk all things books and reading and do a little literary matchmaking with one guest.

[00:00:44] Right now, summer is just around the corner and we have good stuff for you. We have the perfect tote bag for all of your warm-weather activities. Our What Should I Read Next? tote is a nice blend of cute and functional, which means it's a great choice no matter where you are toting your books this season. Take it on trips to the library or the bookstore, pack up a picnic for a day in the park or load the paperbacks, towels and sunscreen for a visit to the pool or the beach.

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[00:01:24] Readers, today's guest felt burned out on reading after completing an intense academic program, but rekindled the spark of readerly joy by reconnecting with her reading roots in young adult literature. Michelle Acierno Loftus is a veterinary radiologist who lives in Seattle with her husband and young son.

Despite and maybe even because of this busy season in her life, she has kept reading front and center by joining a YA book club. Michelle has discovered that the combination of a true readerly community and a book club dedicated to the section of the library that has always been her first love has helped her truly feel like the reader she wants to be.

I'm so excited to hear about the role these young adult books have played in her life and to maybe recommend a few titles that will continue to infuse this delight into her reading experience. Let's get to it.

Michelle, I'm so glad you're here. Welcome to the show.

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:02:16] I am so excited to be here and chatting books with you today.

Anne Bogel [00:02:21] I can't wait to jump in. And Michelle, before we hit record, you were just saying how it's not the most common thing to connect with readers and to talk to our wider audience who really get what it means to love books the way we do.

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:02:34] Yes. I feel like that was one thing that I really struggled to find, especially when we moved to Seattle in 2019. You know, immediately the world shut down after that. So I was kind of left with just book podcasts in my ears, but not a lot of people to talk book in my new community. So I was really excited to get to spend more time with a readerly community in person when I found my young adult book club specifically in 2021 when we moved across town in Seattle.

Anne Bogel [00:03:05] Oh, so we know you are a devoted reader, and I'm so excited to dig into that more today. Tell us a little more about yourself.

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:03:12] Yeah. So I'm originally from Omaha, Nebraska, and I find myself in Seattle, Washington now with my husband and six-month-old son. I've always loved reading from a young age, but that's looked different throughout my life.

Other things that I love to do besides reading include crocheting and card-making. I am a veterinary radiologist, as you mentioned. So I spent a lot of time in school up until 2019 doing internships and residencies after veterinary school to reading a lot of textbooks and not getting to really read for fun. It was exciting to be able to return back to reading for fun once I got settled in Seattle.

Anne Bogel [00:03:51] I'm so glad you're settled and back to reading more than textbooks again these days. Michelle, you mentioned you've always been a reader. Tell me a little bit more about falling in love with reading.

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:04:02] When I was a little girl, most of the things that I remember are just my insane love for books. In elementary school, I just was so excited about the Scholastic Book Fairs. I just wanted to get my hands on all the books when I was there.

And I still have this little stuffed penguin with a little bow tie that I got in elementary school. For one summer, I ended up being the kid that read the most books in some book challenge. I don't think I was even aware that there was a book challenge. I think my mom just like took me to get books from the school library and I would take them and read them home and return them. And then in the end, I found out that I had read the most. But I wasn't trying to win or anything. I really loved reading.

And then growing up, I was really into series. So I liked The Boxcar Children and Little House on the Prairie series. And I liked having my bookshelf in my room. I had all the little series lined up together. And I loved collecting them and seeing like, "Okay, I have like, you know, all 12 books in the series or whatever. I always wanted to get more.

And then when I was a little bit older, at the age when I could babysit and make a little bit extra money, I would always read to my parents when I had just that little bit extra cash and be like, "Can we please go to buy some novel? Can we please go look at some books?"

That was the only thing I wanted to spend my money on for years. I just wanted to go to Barnes and Noble. I was so excited when eventually I got myself a Nook when that first came out. And I was so excited to have access to even more books via the library that way. So I've always loved reading like that since I was little.

And when I was growing up, I feel like I read pretty narrowly. I really liked fantasy and mysteries. I think those tend to be ones that have longer series, the characters you meet them again and again and again. And I loved returning to those series over and over again.

Anne Bogel [00:05:51] Oh, that sounds amazing. And I have to tell you, I really relate to spending all my babysitting money at the bookstore. If you know anything about Louisville, Kentucky, that was Holly Cook Booksellers back in the day. They took all my money and I was happy to hand it over to the good guys.

Tell me about coming through the recreational reading slump that occurred, as it does to so many when you were in an intense period of professional training.

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:06:18] So I was able to get a few books here and there during my training. But, you know, when I was going through veterinary school, it was textbook after textbook, many hours of studying, and then clinical training. Then I went on to an internship where I was working overnight some week and then the next week working more normal hours and just, you know, trying to get my feet under me as a new doctor, not really knowing what I was doing.

Residency was a little bit better. I had a little bit more normal hours, but then I had to study for these huge board exams. So when I emerged from that in 2019, one of my very good friends, who is a pretty near book twin to me who I lived with previously, she recommended the Shadow and Bone trilogy to me and I immediately just bought it based off of recommendation.

I usually don't just buy books before I know if I like them or not, but I just went for it. And I just dove into that trilogy. And I was so glad that I had just bought the whole box set because when I got done with one, I could not wait to start the next one.

And I just had this feeling inside of me of like, "Oh yeah, I'm a reader. I love to read." And this is the joy that I felt. And so then I immediately just went into book after book after book. Went to Barnes and Noble, got some more books, went to the library. It just piled on from there.

Anne Bogel [00:07:34] The more things changed.

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:07:36] Yeah.

Anne Bogel [00:07:37] Oh, I love it. I'm glad to hear it. Now, we have a long-standing tradition, actually, in Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club of doing YA in May. I'm not even sure how this started. I think it began as an accident where we happened to read two YA books in back to back Mays, and then we made it a tradition. But we're not doing it this year. Instead, we're reading Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez. So we need to bring YA in May to the podcast.

And on that note, we were so interested when you sent in your submission and told us about the book club that's made a big difference in your life. Would you tell us a little more about it?

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:08:10] So I found my young adult book club in the summer of 2021. As I mentioned before, I'd just moved across town to the east side of Seattle. So I was on Meetup trying to look for ways to meet people kind of emerging from the pandemic.

And there were a lot of book club options, but the one that stood out to me was the young adult one. And specifically because it was a young adult one that was being run by a 20 and 30-somethings. So, you know, not necessarily the target audience for Y.A.. So I thought, "That's intriguing. I've always loved YA, can I get that feeling of Harry Potter back? And can we love books together like we did as kids?"

So we meet every month on a Sunday afternoon in a local coffee shop and we just chat books. What I love about this book club specifically is that it really is all book talk for a good hour and a half to 2 hours. We usually spend at least 30 to 45 minutes on the book that was selected.

And people can get into pretty nitty-gritty details about what's going on and what they thought about it and it doesn't just boil down to like, "Did you like it or not?" And then we move on to other discussions. That's not what I'm looking for. Some book clubs love to do that, and that's great. But when I go to a book club, since I'm making the time to do it in my busy schedule, I want to really talk books. So I love that.

When we pick books, we always do it by group consensus. So every month people bring nominations and then we vote on what we would be most interested in. The only requirements are that it has to be Y.A. and that no one can have read it before so we don't have any preconceived notions.

So what's really interesting is a lot of times the person who nominated it seems to be the most likely the person to not like it when we end up getting back together. So that's happened to me before. But currently the one that we're reading, I nominated and I'm enjoying it so far. So I don't think that'll be the case this time.

Anne Bogel [00:10:05] Can you tell us what it is?

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:10:07] The one that we're reading for this month is Skyward by Brandon Sanderson. I'm actually reading that aloud with my husband together because he's a big Brandon Sanderson fan. We're about 100 pages in and we're loving it so far.

Anne Bogel [00:10:19] Oh, that's fun. Is that something you all do very often?

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:10:22] Yeah. We started a few years ago back right when we met in Texas. And it was interesting because the first book we read was from the Millennium Series by Stieg Larsson, and that's been continued on. So I think it was The Girl in the Hornet's Nest was the one that we specifically read. And we can't remember that book at all, but we had such a good time reading it together.

And then we jumped to Fahrenheit 451 and both absolutely hated it. So it was interesting that we had that up and down. And then we just kept going from there. It's been a little bit harder having a newborn doing that. But yeah, we've kind of found a new rhythm to do it now.

Anne Bogel [00:11:00] Something I've enjoyed hearing about from you is how it seems like you've been determined to find that reading and find a way to make sure that it can remain a priority in your life. I'd love to hear a little bit about that decision if you're able.

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:11:15] A big part of that decision was actually driven by this podcast. Because at the end of 2019 was when one of my readerly friends from high school told me about this podcast. I had never even known that book podcasts were a thing. So she was like, "Oh, you should check out What Should I Read Next? It's a really interesting premise. They talk about three books you love, one book you don't, and then they recommend what they should read next." And I was like, "That sounds nice. Maybe that's a good way to hear about more books."

But the interesting thing that happened that I didn't expect was that listening to you chat with all the different guests was that there was such a thing as a reading life. I never thought of it that way before. I identified as a reader, but I didn't think like, Oh, this was something that I could actually work at and prioritize in my life. It's not something that just happens to me.

So all of 2020 when I was gobbling up backlist episodes off of this podcast, I was realizing like, "Oh, I can think critically about my reading. It doesn't just have to be like, Oh, this may work for me, it may not. I could actually go into a book and kind of look at the cover jacket and figure out, Does this sound like something that I actually want to read? Or is this just being talked about by everyone but this isn't my taste?

So I loved hearing you talk to different guests and how they were just so frank about what they loved and what they didn't. And I realized I could do the same thing with my reading life. So I've been so intentional about it ever since.

I'm using a book journal. I started that when I heard you talking about it. And I realized that when I reflected on books, I really understood more of what I loved as a reader and things that I didn't love as a reader, and then it would become more clear to me if I should DNF a book.

Anne Bogel [00:12:54] Was that a journey for you?

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:12:56] Yeah, it was about a year and a half long journey, but it was a great one because I feel like I've never been in a better place in my reading life than I am now. I just love it. I love reading even more than I thought I could before, even though I always would have described myself as a reader. Like now I truly feel it to my core.

Anne Bogel [00:13:15] Oh, I'm so happy to hear that, Michelle. And thank you, high school friend, for spreading the book love. Michelle, the question that I really want to ask next is, so what have you learned about your reading life? What do you really enjoy? And what have you found doesn't work for you? But I can see how that may come up when we really dig into your books. Is that the case? Should we jump on in?

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:13:34] Yeah. I think it'll probably become apparent then. Yeah.

Anne Bogel [00:13:36] Okay, Well, I'm excited to hear. You brought three YA books today you loved. How did you choose these?

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:13:45] So I flip back through my book journal from the past couple of years, and I just kind of saw which ones like very quickly flipping through it, if I were just like, "Oh yeah, that one, that was a great one." Or if there was one that I've been talking about or wanting to press into people's hands basically since then. But a lot of it was just like that feeling where I just had that spark like, "Oh, I wish I could read that for the first time again, I wish I could experience that anew."

Anne Bogel [00:14:15] Oh, books that have the spark. That's such a good way to put it. Okay, well, I can't wait to hear. Tell me about the first book you really love.

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:14:23] The first book is Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz. So this is set in Edinburgh in 1817, and it follows a young girl named Hazel, and she is from High Society. Her job is to get married and be a lady of the house, and she wants absolutely none of it. She wants to be a surgeon. And back in 1817, that is not an option as a woman.

So she decides that she is going to pose as a boy to go to school to become a surgeon. That is definitely catnip for me. A girl posing as a boy to go where women are not allowed in society, I have loved that since I was super young.

There's also a nice counterbalance with her love story with Jack, and he's a resurrection man, so he has to go around and like dig up bodies to be used by the surgeons to dissect and like teach. Because they don't have cadavers back in that time, they just need to go find dead bodies. So they just basically do a grave robbing.

So these two characters, Hazel and Jack, kind of come together because Hazel needs someone to find bodies to practice on because she's like really not supposed to be learning how to be a surgeon. And so Jack can get them for her.

There's a little bit of, you know, magic in this one, like just a touch. But really, this one surprised me because it is set in a historical time. And I wouldn't say that I'm a big fan of historical fiction, but I have found kind of the sweet spot where if it's historical fiction and it has a little bit of touch of magic, it's really been magical to me when I'm reading it. This one, just because it was so based on anatomy and that early time in medicine, which has always fascinated me, that just was the sweet spot for me.

Anne Bogel [00:16:12] I'm wondering... Michelle, I don't know a lot about veterinary science. It's only from taking Daisy, my childhood dog, to the vet. But I'm wondering how much overlap this book does have with your chosen profession.

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:16:25] I think it has a lot because actually when I was in veterinary school, I was very strongly considering becoming a surgeon. So I felt like I identified with Hazel immediately. Like, Oh, I want to do this thing. It's typically a boy's club, you know. But I really wanted to do it.

I ended up going the radiology route for multiple different reasons. But radiology is the most heavily steeped in anatomy outside of surgery. So the fact that this was so... Like when she was dissecting the bodies and talking about all the anatomy and all the actual anatomic Latin words for it, I was just like, "Oh." It was catnip for me. It was great.

Anne Bogel [00:17:02] That sounds made to order. Michelle, tell me about the second book you love.

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:17:08] The second book is called The Future of US by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler. This is set in 1996. And what's cool about this book is that I feel like it really speaks to my generation as a millennial. So it centers on Josh and Emma and they’re childhood friends and neighbors who are now in high school, and they're coming of age in a time when the internet is also coming of age.

So they get this AOL CD that they're going to put on their computer. But instead of just, you know, getting access to the internet, all of a sudden, they find themselves on Facebook. Well, it's 1996, Facebook doesn't exist yet. So they're looking at themself and their Facebook pages, they can only see their Facebook pages 15 years into the future. And they're like, what is this? We don't understand. Hey, I look like I'm in my late twenties. What's going on? Hey, it says that I'm married. Who is this person?"

One of them really likes what their future Facebook page looks like, and the other is very dissatisfied with it. And they find, as the story goes along, that as they make decisions in their present-day in high school, their Facebook page changes by the day. So then they're trying to game the system and decide should they be trying to worry about their future? Should they even be looking? Should they uninstall this program? And so it unravels from there.

So it was very interesting and I felt like really was made for my generation because I can remember what it was like to get on AOL and get on the chat messages with my friends. Like I would run home from school in high school and we'd all get online and we'd start talking to each other there. It reminded me of that time so much. I felt such nostalgia reading this book.

Anne Bogel [00:18:46] I mean, that is such an incredible premise.

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:18:48] Yes. And it was written very well. I felt like it was very true to being a high schooler. I felt like I was right back there. And the level of romance that they put in there I thought was just right, and the protagonist acted true to age, but not too angsty.

Anne Bogel [00:19:05] Oh, okay. I like that description. Why did you choose to complete your favorites list?

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:19:11] So the third book I love is called Steel Crow Saga by Paul Krueger. The thing that brought me to this book was I just randomly picked it off the shelf at Barnes and Noble because it had a pretty cover. And I looked at the back and one of the blurbs said, like, "A mashup of Pokemon and Avatar, The Last Airbender." And I was like, "Ooh, I like those things."

And then I looked at that further and read the jacket cover and could see that was from four different points of view. So one is a soldier that's dealing with a curse and trying to figure out how to go on with their life. One is a prince who's not really ready to take over the throne but has to.

Another is a really quirky detective who's always smoking a pipe, but she's also like a princess in disguise and doesn't want anyone to know that. But she was my favorite character. And then the fourth one is a thief who's always been, you know, trying to scrap by fending for herself. But of course, throughout the book has to lean on others to get things done.

What I loved about this book was every point of view was so strong. I always wanted to stay within the current point of view. But when the next one came up, I was like, "Oh, but I am excited to get back to that other character." All the storylines interwove so beautifully, the pacing was perfect.

I also did feel like the tie back to like manga and anime. And when I read the author's note at the end, it was clear that he spent his childhood watching as much anime as I did. And he loved all the references to food and anime. So there's a lot of descriptions of food in here.

And I just felt that the kind of made-up Asian world that touched on all those different Asian countries, you know, the heart of the book just felt like, again, it's kind of like this nostalgia feel for me. I can remember spending countless hours watching anime as a child. So this book kind of just encompassed all that love that I had for anime in a new form that I just did not see coming. So it was a surprising hit for me and one that I still want my husband to read because I think he would love it too, as an anime lover.

Anne Bogel [00:21:12] It sounds like that might be a kind of conversation that you all have had a time or two.

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:21:17] Yes. I have definitely recommended plenty of books to him. I've had to kind of get to know his reading preference a little bit, but it was actually really interesting. He would always talk about how he loved books, but I didn't see him reading so much in the early years of our relationship on his own. He would read the read-alouds with me, but not much else.

And then it was interesting, after listening to your podcast, I think you were talking about Ready Player One one time, and I was like, "You know what? That sounds like something that I think my husband would like." So I got him that for Christmas. He devoured the Christmas of 2020 and has nonstop been reading since. It was like the catalyst for his newfound reading life as an adult. So it's been so fun to read alongside him and then we find books that we want to read together. Like most recently, it was Project Hail Mary. He fell in love with that book.

I was rereading that a second time with him after I recommended it for like months on. And I was like, "You have to read this book, you'll love it." And he still talks about it to this day. He's still sad that it ended.

Anne Bogel [00:22:15] Which is sad, but also such a good way to feel about a book.

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:22:19] Yes.

Anne Bogel [00:22:20] Okay. Oh, I love that he found his book that sparked him as well.

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:22:23] Yes.

Anne Bogel [00:22:24] I mean, thanks to you, we need to acknowledge that.

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:22:29] It worked out.

Anne Bogel [00:22:30] So you said that you've identified the things that really work for you in your reading life with the books that you're drawn to and that you've also put your finger on some things that don't work as well for you. And that brings us to a book that didn't work out for you. What did you choose for this?

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:22:43] So for this I chose Alive by Scott Sigler. Basically what this came down to was that this was too reminiscent of the Lord of the Flies, which I never liked in school, and I just did not connect with. I don't like kids being pitted against each other and killing each other, basically, because they can't regulate their own emotions. They're kind of left to fend for themselves and... I don't know.

It did not work for me at all because it just gave those vibes and I've just learned that I don't like that kind of book. It had such an interesting premise that we were all excited about. This was one of our book club picks and it was almost universally disliked by the time we got to the discussion because it was like, "Oh, these teenagers wake up and they're in coffins.

So they get out of these coffins in this room and they have no memory of why they got there. So then they have to figure out why are they there, you know. So that sounds really interesting. Like, why would they be in coffins but they're still alive? Why are they all just a bunch of kids? It has such a great premise, but it left us wanting.

And I think part of the problem too was, as it was written, they had been put in these coffins when they were around 11 or 12, so more middle grade. But then physically they were, you know, young adult, so like 17, 18. But they didn't know how to be in a more mature body. So I think part of it was it wasn't as YA as I wanted it to be because the characters weren't mentally as mature. So I think I struggle with that as well, because even though technically it was a YA book, it almost more read middle grade to me.

Anne Bogel [00:24:21] Mm-hmm. Which is not what you're looking for right now, and definitely not for your book club either.

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:24:26] Yes.

Anne Bogel [00:24:27] Okay. So you said that the opinion on this one was near universal, but does that happen a lot in your book club?

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:24:33] No. Usually, there is a pretty good split, and I love that because there's always so much good discussion about it. Like inevitably when we start off like, Okay, just general feelings, what did everyone think? There's one person who immediately else, "I loved it," another person, "I hated it." So there is almost always that split. And then there's a lot of people that are just kind of like, "Oh, I like some parts and not others." But it's very rare that we almost all dislike it or really like it.

Anne Bogel [00:25:00] Well, that sounds like you will have in your group of readers together just the continual makings for a really amazing conversation.

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:25:08] Yes, exactly.

Anne Bogel [00:25:10] I'm so glad you have that. Michelle, what have you been reading lately?

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:25:14] So currently I'm reading All of Us Villains and All of Our Demise, which is a duology by Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman. And this is a really interesting take on The Hunger Games type story where these seven magical families send teenagers to a death match so that they can keep control of high magic within their community. And it's once every generation, so they don't have to do it every year, but every 20 years they do.

The interesting part about it is that, I mean, it's called All of US Villains because really these kids view themselves as villains. And some kids love it, like they want to be the champion and they want to go to this tournament and they really identify as a monster and really dark inside. And there's others who are... like it's thrust upon them and they just think, "Well, I'm just going to die. My family just forsaken me or whatever."

But, you know, I love The Hunger Games and I read that years ago, and I feel like it's hard to get that same kind of magic as that book did. But this is reminiscent of it, but in a totally different way. So I'm loving it. The characters are written so well. It's from four or five different points of view. I love every point of view. The chapters are kind of short, so you really like keep the pace going throughout it. So I'm about 100 pages out from finishing it and loving it so far.

And then the second thing that I'm reading right now, which I mentioned before, is Skyward by Brandon Sanderson. I'm reading that aloud with my husband. We're about 100 pages in. And this is about a girl who wants to go to pilot school but her family has a history that kind of prevents her from being accepted as first.[00:26:51]

So she kind of gets in on a loophole. So she is like going to school to become a pilot but can't access the dormitories, can't eat there, has to go live in a cave and stuff. So she's really fighting to become a pilot and she just wants to get into the sky. We just started this one, but it's really pulled us in, really enjoying it. So yeah, I'm looking forward to finishing that within the next couple of weeks before my next book club meeting.

Anne Bogel [00:27:17] Oh, it sounds like fun. Are you making notes for the things you know you want to talk about there?

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:27:22] I usually don't make any notes that all more than I would in my book journal. And it's interesting, sometimes if it's one for my book club, I will wait to make notes about it until we have our discussions so that I can include what I thought kind of before and after our discussion because it will change. Sometimes I would rate or like a book. But I don't go in with anything specific more than just kind of thinking about it. I never make any notes.

Anne Bogel [00:27:46] Okay, That is good to know. Michelle, I wonder if we would have an altogether different conversation if we were talking about books you liked in the adult section of the bookstore and library. Do you want to share what you might have chosen for your favorites if we were having that conversation today?

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:28:02] Sure. So, yeah, I have a few different options. So the first one is called The Art Forger by B. A. Shapiro. This is a novel that follows a woman who's an artist. And although she wants to have her own gallery and make a name in the art world, she's stuck having to do art forgeries as a living, as part of, you know, not something that's underground or anything, but, you know, just like the mass reproductions that you could go and buy at a home store nearby.

But she's kind of brought into this kind of shady business deal where a guy comes to her and says, "Hey, I have the original of this painting that was stolen years ago from an art gallery, and I want you to make a forgery of it." So she's trying to figure out like what's the morality of this? Should I do it?

And then as she's starting to make the forgery and researching to do it, she begins to think, I'm not sure that this is the real painting either. This doesn't fit. So then there's the whole mystery of where is the actual painting that was stolen and can they find it? So that drives the novel.

Another book that I've loved is called The Marrying Type by Laura Chapman. I discovered this book because the author went to the same high school as me a couple of years above me. And when I found out multiple years ago that she was writing books, I've been sure to check them out whenever they've been released and have been buying them as they come out over the years.

This book is a sweet romance and was kind of my first adventure into the romance genre. Before I read this book, I don't think I even had a proper concept of what a romance novel even was, what the genre could hold for me.

So this book is about Elliot, and she is a wedding planner and she is part of a family business and they're struggling. So she reluctantly takes an offer to be part of a reality TV show that's going to follow four different wedding planners. So she agrees to do this to save her family business. But what she doesn't expect is that she's going to be encountering her ex very shortly. The wedding that she has to cover involves her ex because the bride's brother is her ex-boyfriend from college. So, of course, sparks will fly, drama will happen. So this was just a really sweet romance.

Anne Bogel [00:30:27] Tell me more about not understanding romance.

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:30:30] I think my prior notion of the romance genre and portion of the bookstore was misconstrued based on certain types of cover art that has been common in romance, such as the, quote, bodice rippers. So when I would walk by that section of the bookstore, I would see these covers, these two bodies pressed together and, you know, the woman like partially undressed. And a lot of times they didn't even have like heads in the covers. So I thought, "That seems really racy. I don't really know that I'm interested in that type of book."

And a lot of the cover art made it seem like it was set in historical times. And as I mentioned before, I'm not really too into historical fiction. So those two things together just made it seem like romance really wasn't the genre for me.

Of course, I've since discovered that romance is a huge genre and has so many different things that it can offer. I've realized that really where the sweet spot for me with romance is, is that it has to be contemporary. So through books like The Marrying Type, I realized that I could really love this genre. And I have fallen head over heels for a lot of the books in this genre, so I actually read this quite extensively now. So I'm thankful for Laura Chapman for getting me into a genre that I didn't even know I would love and now I love a lot.

Anne Bogel [00:31:56] Well, that's so fun. I'm glad your connection to the author led you into the genre. That sounds really serendipitous.

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:32:02] Yes. The third book is called MWF Seeking BFF My Yearlong Search For A New Best Friend By Rachel Bertsche. This book was just a hoot. I read it in 2019 right when we had moved to Seattle, had no friends here, we have no connection here.

This is narrated by the author. So I read this as an audiobook, and she just had the best voice for this. But basically, she talks about how she wanted to make friends when she moved to a new city. So she had just moved to Chicago with her husband, she was like the same age that I was, and she was like, "How do I find a new best friend? All my best friends live far away, like states away. And it's great I could spend, like, you know, a couple of days a year seeing them on a trip. But how do I make friends that live where I live that I can call up and say, 'Hey, do you want to go to brunch in an hour?'"

And I was like, "Yes. I am this woman. I want to know what she did. This could be my playbook for how to make friends in my new city.

So she basically just treated it like dating, which I found so hilarious. She, like, went on a bajillion first best friend dates and kind of went through the struggles of what it's like to try and make friends when you're no longer in school and kind of have automatic friendships made because you're all put into the same pressure cooker together.

So I just connected with this author so much. And she just had a really funny way of telling her story. So I flew right through it and I loved listening to her in my ears.

Anne Bogel [00:33:33] That sounds like the right book at the right time. I'm so glad you found it.

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:33:37] Yes, it was exactly it.

Anne Bogel [00:33:40] Michelle, what are you looking for in your reading life right now?

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:33:42] So at this point, I'm really just looking to be surprised. Because what I've learned over the past few years of being more intentional about my reading life, that even though I've gotten a lot better about self-picking books and knowing what will work for me, inevitably, the books that come out of left corner that I think, "Ah, maybe, but I'm not sure," or books that I have no idea about, like I just literally pick off the shelf and just start reading, those ones I end up rating like five stars or even want to rate them higher. They take me by surprise and I just end up absolutely loving them. So I'm just looking for more of that whimsy and surprise in my reading life.

I would also love any recommendations that you could make specifically targeted at my YA book club. So we found that a lot of times we end up putting up a lot of recommendations of fantasy books more than anything else. And that may just be that there are just a lot of fantasy books in the YA genre book.

One of the great things about YA is that in and of itself it is a genre, but it actually encompasses nearly every other genre. So I would love to see if you could recommend something that's, you know, out of the fantasy and things like that, maybe more contemporary things. Because sometimes those kind of books have been the biggest hit among the group. And we're a little bit fatigued of fantasy, so we'd love to know about some lesser-known gems.

We also always want to get books that are readily available at the library, and so we're never picking the newest releases because we want everyone to be able to avoid having to buy the book if they wouldn't be able to afford that. So if we could get books that are a little bit more backlist then we would be able to bring them to book club sooner rather than later.

Anne Bogel [00:35:29] That's a great list of what you're looking for. In my line of work, I think it's probably useful that I'm always so excited to hear what is on the horizon. And like we're on the cusp of summer reading season, like we're talking about all the new summer titles, and yet it's so satisfying to find a book that's just right for you right now that's been around a while.

It's such a nerdy thrill to find a book that was like flying beneath the radar, but somehow you spotted it and you swooped in and you got it. And it was, oh, you're so glad you read it. So I really like your list here and also your affinity for the library as a group. That's really great to hear. And when people read as much as it sounds like people in your book club read, like the libraries [inaudible 00:36:11].

Thank you, first of all, for reminding me of all the great YA fantasy, because I'm getting so excited about it, like listening to you talk about some of these books. Unlike you, that is not my go-to genre. So I appreciate the opportunity to be reminded of the great books that are outside my typical lane that I gravitate towards.

You appreciate some sleeper hits. And this one is not a sleeper hit. It's fairly popular. But I need to make sure that you all have considered reading Legendborn by Tracy Deonn. Have you read that? Is that on your radar?

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:36:45] I have not yet read it, but my book club read it like about a couple of months before I joined and they loved it. And they keep recommending it to me. So it is actually on my nightstand right now.

Anne Bogel [00:36:56] Oh, my gosh. Is it really?

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:36:58] Yes, it's on my nightstand right now.

Anne Bogel [00:37:00] Okay. So as not to tease our listeners, I will tell you that this story is about a 16-year-old black girl in the South who leaves home after her mom dies and she enrolls in this early college program they have at a real school at USC, Chapel Hill. But when she arrives there, she gets swept up in this whole magical world.

And I can see why your book club is on you to read this, Michelle. Because you like that magical world. This is not historical. This is contemporary, plus the magic. Because when she's on campus, she witnesses what she comes to find out is a demon attack. And afterwards, the perpetrators... like she can't be walking around talking about what she saw. So they try to wipe her memory, but it doesn't work. Instead, what they do in that process is they uncover an important memory that she has buried that links her to a magical past that she hadn't previously consciously remembered.

And when that happens, you got to get some answers. So she infiltrates the secret society on campus called the Legendborn off the title in an effort to find out what is going on. This is actually a loose retelling of the King Arthur Legend. And it's multilayered. It really handles really deftly sensitive and important subject matters that really matter today. And it's got a great twisty plot.

And a sequel that came out in the fall. So this is not the nine-book series that's going to keep you occupied for months, but you have at least one more book to look forward to on the horizon. Was there anything your book club has told you that like really sold you on this to put it on your nightstand?

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:38:32] No, it was already like on my radar from listening to book podcasts. So I'd already thought about it. And then I think one time it came up because I think I tried to nominate it and they were like, "Oh, we to just read that right before you joined and we all loved it. You should definitely read it." And then it came up again when the sequel was coming out and people were like, "Have you read it yet? Have you read the sequel yet? And they were all excited to get their hands on it.

Anne Bogel [00:38:57] So you knew you were tracking with your book club when you're recommending a book that everybody loved?

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:39:02] Yes.

Anne Bogel [00:39:02] Michelle, I think this book may trend a little young for you, but since you did love The Future of US by Jay Asher, I just need to mention a book that has a plot that's like in the same universe. This is by Sarah Mlynowski, who does have a big series for younger kids. But this book is aimed at like a young YA.

It's called Gimme a Call. This book came out at least ten years ago. My memory's a little fuzzy, but the main premise is this. A girl drops her cell phone in the fountain at the mall and breaks it in such a way that the only person that will call is her 14-year-old self. Right now she's 17, so she has the ability to call her younger self and tell her what to do. And it's fun, it's lighthearted, it's inventive. It doesn't grapple with deep, deep issues like some of the YA fantasy you love. But I just felt like I needed to mention that.

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:39:56] That actually sounds really good. I like that premise a lot.

Anne Bogel [00:40:00] I mean, honestly, that could be a really fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Okay. I have a book that might fill that bit of a departure slot for you. It's realistic fiction. It's called Picture Us in the Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert. Is this one you know?

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:40:20] I haven't heard of it.

Anne Bogel [00:40:21] Oh, good. I'm glad to hear it. This came out in the mid-2010s. And it is realistic fiction about a Chinese-American high school senior. His name is Danny. And like we are just joking about with Gimme a Call, this is a story that tackles some really hard topics, but it does so with such warmth and humanity and hopefulness that even though it's dealing with really hard and sensitive things, it doesn't feel bleak like it easily could. Because I don't see that in your fiction at all.

When the story opens, Danny is feeling pretty good about life. He wants to be an artist. That's what he's always wanted. And he has gotten a scholarship to the Rhode Island School of Design, like a real place that he's always wanted to go to. It's his dream school. And the scholarship is a very good thing for him because compared to the other kids at his high school, I think it's called Silicon Valley High School, his family doesn't have a lot of money, and that is a constant source of worry for him and his parents.

But then his father loses his job and Danny starts to realize that his parents are keeping some secrets that kind of seem like they're a big deal. Like something major has happened in the past and they've kept it a secret from him, so there's trouble at home.

But then he has trouble in his friend circle as well, because we find out that about a year ago something tragic happened in Danny's circle of friends, and he's been nursing his own private worries about the responsibility he's afraid he might have in that situation that people don't know about.

And Danny is also grappling with feelings for his best friend, Harry. Danny's closeted. He has no idea if these feelings might be reciprocated. And that's a lot for a high school senior to be holding in his heart by himself.

And then we're going to see all these issues swirl around Danny and the people in the book and what happens at home, at school, and in his heart as he tries to deal with all this stuff that he has been dealt. And there's a lot happening in this book, but it's handled with skill and care. I think this could be a sparky kind of book for you.

But I do want to warn you, many readers find the exposition, in the beginning, a little slow for the pieces to come into place. But I really want encourage you specifically, knowing what you love, to have a little patience, because Gilbert really pulls it together. And I think this might be a winner for you and outside your usual lanes.

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:42:40] Yeah, that definitely sounds different. Listening to you describe it, it kind of reminds me of a couple YA that I've read, including Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell and then Ace of Spades that we recently read for book club, kind of those more contemporary things that grapple with all sorts of different socio-economic things.

Anne Bogel [00:42:59] And it has that art angle. Like, I don't know if that was an oddball with you really enjoying The Art Forger by B. A Shapiro that does have that strong emphasis in the arts. But that is definitely in the pages of this book.

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:43:12] Oh yeah, that's so interesting. Yeah, The Art Forger, that was like kind of out of left field for me, I think, because I spend so much time thinking with my science, you know, left side of my brain. I never knew I could be so interested in art. And then it actually led me to... I was kind of searching for more books like that and then I ended up reading The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd because I needed to have that kind of feeling again of that book. So I'm always looking for things that are different and outside my wheelhouse.

Anne Bogel [00:43:37] Oh, that's so fun. How do you feel about a mystery?

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:43:41] Oh, I love mysteries. They're like my first love.

Anne Bogel [00:43:44] Okay, that's good to hear. I feel like I need to disclose... I mean, of course, I need to disclose that this is not actually a YA book. I think it reads like one. I think if I didn't tell you this is not YA, you might assume it's YA and never have any reason to think any differently, unless you found out it won an Alex Award, which goes to an adult novel that the librarians think teens will love. And that is Bellwether Rhapsody by Kate Racculia. Do you know this one?

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:44:08] Oh, I think that's on my holds list at the library. And it has been for a while.

Anne Bogel [00:44:11] Oh my gosh. Is it really?

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:44:12] Yeah.

Anne Bogel [00:44:13] Okay. Well, this is also maybe seven, eight years old and it is a mystery. The premise sounds grisly. The reading of the book is not because it has this really quirky sense of humor that keeps it feeling snappy and wry, even as objectively terrible things are happening on the page.

This is also a book with a strong arts component because the setting is a statewide music festival at a stately grand old, maybe haunted hotel, and that is called the Bellwether Hotel off the title. So what happens is there's the statewide music festival, and there are just scads of hormone-fueled teens gathered, staying in rooms, getting into trouble, and competing in a sometimes cutthroat manner during the day in this festival. And they have like fancy composers and conductors and people coming in to evaluate the kids and the pressure's on. But also it's kind of a party because that's how a festival like this is.

So what we find out is that many years before in a room, a notorious room of the Bellwether hotel, there was a murder-suicide. And ever since, that room has been believed to be haunted. So all those years later at this music festival with all these teenagers not really doing a great job of staying out of trouble, a teenage girl disappears from that very same room and everybody has to chase down what happened.

What you find out, as they start investigating, is the kids start investigating, is that everybody is keeping secrets and there's just scandals left and right and no one can be trusted. I think it might be good, cheeky, murderly fun for you, and definitely not in your normal YA fantasy lane.

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:46:05] Yes. And you're reminding me why I put it on my holds list to begin with. As you described it, I was like, "Oh, yes, this had all the things." You know, like the mystery. I was in band in high school, so that music element really spoke to me and stuff like that. And going on trips with the band and stuff. I was just thinking like, "Oh, that had to be why I put it on my holds list to begin with. As you were saying, I was like, "Of course, I still want to read this book." It had kind of fallen way down on my holds list, but now I'm going to definitely bump it up for sure.

Anne Bogel [00:46:36] I am so glad to hear it. And I feel like since we started by you talking about the historical fantasies you love with a touch of magic, if they have a touch of magic, maybe we should say because you said that historically isn't what you're drawn to. But apparently an older setting plus that magical element has really... I think you used the word catnip, Michelle.

I have a book in mind. I'm sorry to say there's no surgery, there's nothing that's going to make me think of veterinary medicine, but also, it's not a sleeper hit. This is very popular. But it also means the library will have a whole lot of copies. And that is the Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi. Is this a book that you've read?

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:47:15] I haven't heard of it.

Anne Bogel [00:47:16] Oh, really? Okay, well, I'm happy to hear it. This is a historical fantasy. It's set in 1899 Paris, and it's a little bit of high story, a little bit a treasure hunt, and at its center is a crew of friends. And you've mentioned a couple of times that you really enjoy stories that are told from multiple points of view. And something I like about the story for you is it has four.

So in this world, the Order of Babel rules. And what that means is that some people have these forging affinities that they are divinely gifted with. And what this means is that they are able to change or enhance creation. So at the center of this group of friends is this young man named Séverin, and they are involved in exploits together, and in rotating points of view, there's four of them.

We get to find out what they're up to and all about the magic in the world and the competing interests. I think you'll find it a good kind of trouble that they are creating and also trying to overcome. That's not a lot of words for a complex story, but how does that sound? How does that time period heist, adventure...? Do you like the sound of that?

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:48:29] It sounds good to me. You are saying words that describe the stuff I like.

Anne Bogel [00:48:35] You're saying words that I like. I'm tempted to pile on. If I was going to pile on the titles that I would throw out for you are... I keep coming back to A Short History of the Girl Next Door by Jared Reck, who is an eighth-grade language arts teacher himself, which makes me trust him as a storyteller.

But this is a book that is not what I think it first appears to be to a lot of readers. It's a realistic fiction, deals with young love and angst and friendship and grief. It's really well done. I can see how you could talk about it for a long time in book club and have a really meaningful conversation.

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea is a fantasy that has, I think, roots in Korean mythology that I think you could really enjoy, given what you do enjoy. And of course, I say, of course, but maybe it's not on your radar. There's the Jasmine Throne series that I think would be a big hit for you, given what you've loved. It is more squarely in the fantasy lane and you want to step out of that. So we're giving you those options. But also, this isn't a series that you've yet stumbled upon. I feel like it belongs on your radar.

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:49:44] Yeah. No, I haven't heard of it.

Anne Bogel [00:49:45] Oh, good. I'm glad to hear it. That's the Jasmine Throne series by Tasha Suri. Michelle, we covered a lot of ground today.

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:49:54] Yes.

Anne Bogel [00:49:55] How's that feeling?

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:49:56] Oh, it's feeling great. It's so great to be able to talk books with you and just exude my love for reading with a fellow book nerd.

Anne Bogel [00:50:05] Well, I really enjoyed the conversation. Now, Michelle, of the books we talked about today, and there were a lot of them, but the ones we spent the most time with were the Legendborn, first and second books by Tracy Deonn, Picture US in the Light by Kelly Lloyd Gilberts, we mentioned Gimme a Call by Sarah Mlynowski, Bellwether Rhapsody by Kate Racculia, and then The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi. Of those books, what do you think you may enjoy reading next?

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:50:42] Well, I think because it's on my nightstand, Legendborn is the next obvious choice to read when I finish my current book.

Anne Bogel [00:50:49] That does feel like an obvious pick to me.

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:50:51] But of the ones that just immediately I wanted to just go random pick up was actually Gimme a Call. It just seems like I really want something just light to just jump into this weekend. So I'm also going to look for that in my library. So those two will be up next.

Anne Bogel [00:51:08] I think that sounds delightful. Michelle, thank you so much for talking books and book clubs with me today. It's been a pleasure.

Michelle Acierno Loftus [00:51:14] Oh, pleasure for me too, Anne. Thank you.

Anne Bogel [00:51:21] Hey readers, I hope you enjoyed my discussion with Michelle and I'd love to hear what you think she should read next. Find the full list of titles we talked about today at whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com. And if you have recommendations for Michelle, please leave them there in our show notes post.

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Thanks to the people who make this show happen. What Should I Read Next? is created each week by Will Bogel, Holly Wielkoszewski, and Studio D Podcast Production. Readers, that's it for this episode. Thanks so much for listening. And as Rainer Maria Rilke said, "Ah! how good it is to be among people who are reading." Happy reading, everyone.

[a]Her full name is "Michelle Acierno Loftus". The attribution needs to be updated.

[b]Thanks Leigh. I just updated that.