Megan's Reads & Reviews

I would say that over the last two years I have allowed my reading choices to be greatly influenced by Reese Witherspoon’s celebrity book club. At first, I thought it was because I’ve probably seen Legally Blonde dozens of times, and follow Reese’s life frequently on socials, but now I know it goes much deeper than that. For starters, I first heard of many of these books Reese Witherspoon selected for her book club because her production company was adapting them for the screen, after googling some of these titles I learned of the book club. I soon noticed that the majority of these books have incredibly well-crafted strong female leads, and when you add this to the fact that Reese frequently speaks out on feminist topics, I started to feel her section and opinions on these books were incredibly trust worthy. Furthermore, the CEO of Reese’s production company, Hello Sunshine, says the following about the heart behind the book club , the heart of a book club hearkens back to groups of w...

To promote romance at my library, while also using integrated reader’s advisory. I would create a book display that would sit at the front of the library. I would select several popular romance movies, and pair them with a romance novel that has a similar essence to the movie I selected. This could be anything from similar plots to characters with similar personalities. The display would say if you like this movie try this book, with the cover art for both next to each other. Additionally, below the art, there would be a fact sheet telling you about the setting, characters, themes, plot etc. of each book, while explaining the similarities between the movie and the similar book. For example, I would pair my favorite rom com, Legally Blonde with Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood because they are both workplace romances with smart, feminist female leads. I have seen similar displays in many bookstores and libraries so I think this would be well received

Author: Ali Hazelwood Title: Love on the Brain Genre: Romance Publication Date: August 23, 2022 Number of Pages: 368 Geographical Setting: Texas  Time Period: present (2020s) Plot Summary: A rom com in which Bee, a neuroscientist who idolizes Marie Curie and often asks herself “What would Marie do? is forced to collaborate with Levi, an engineer, who just so happens to be her nemesis who picked her apart in grad school, on a groundbreaking project for NASA.  Over time,  Bee learns that she and Levi’s hatred isn’t mutual on his part, and things turn friendly, until finally the tension turns things into your typical steamy, bantering enemies to lover’s romance full of bantering, sex, and learning some of the most personal things about  each other. This novel is a masterclass in how people slowly learn that hatred isn’t always what it seems Subject Headings:  Neuroscience Scientists Sexism Sexual attraction Appeal:  Tone: Fuuny Storyline: Intricately plotted W...

Ebook only books, which are increasingly popular (especially in the romance genre) see little to no reviews in professional publications unless they have a big name author. How does this affect collection development? I would say this has a negative impact on collection development. My reasoning for this is as follows, without professional reviews there are few credible sources to tell librarians why they should add an eBook only item to their collection. However, if several reviews are positive, there can be in power recognizing something  as popular and making a decision based on that. How do these reviews of  Angela’s Ashes make you feel about the possibility of adding it to your collection? Because these reviews of the book are overwhelmingly positive, I would add this book to my collection. Another reason I would include this book in my collection is that the reviews do an excellent job of summarizing the book in a way that would make me curious to read it. Do you think i...

An extraordinary dark, suspenseful mystery where everyone has something to hide. Taking place on a remote island off the Irish coast that just so happens to be the location of a pervious massacre, Lucy Foley’s The Guest List chronicles the events leading up to and during the high-profile wedding of reality TV star, Will Slater, and online magazine editor, Julia Keegan During the reception, the lights go out unexpectedly and a terrifying scream is heard from a waiter at the reception who has apparently just seen a lot of blood. Many secrets are revealed through flashbacks of events from the previous day, most notably from Olivia, who is the bride’s sister and Maid of Honor, the bride, Johnno, who is the Best Man and, the groom. It is through these flashbacks that the finding of a body is revealed. Meanwhile, before the wedding, Julia has received an anonymous warning to not marry Will, stating that he is not who he says he is. This causes Julia to be on edge and start to question ever...

When looking for a book today, I went to the reference desk and asked the librarian to help me find some books that I would enjoy. First, she asked me what kind of books I liked, I said Romance and Historical Fiction, and she immediately led me to the special boxes of romance the library had specifically curated for Romance month (February).  I looked through those for a while, and then she asked me a few more questions, mostly whether or not I had read certain titles. Through asking those questions, she found me a few more choices. The last few suggestions were brought out after I told her I was curious about popular titles. Interestingly enough I didn't see her use any tools. It impressed me very much that she came up with so many suggestions off the top of her head. Another thing I was happy to see her do was show me around the fiction section since I mentioned I hadn't been there before. Overall, I think this was a successful experiment. I left the library with three checke...