
Hi friends! I know you have seen me mention starting my own podcast on the blog. Through many trials and tribulations, Lauren's Library was born! I am still terrified of putting myself out here, but I am taking the leap any way. I hope you will join me, but if not that's okay.
Here on Lauren's Library Podcast, everyone is welcome, but Black Women are specifically celebrated. Things we read. Stories we write. I hope to make this bookish podcast a safe space. Because we can never have too many safe spaces.
So, let's get started! Thank you for joining me. I can only hope that the material I bring to the table is enough to keep you coming back for more.

So, you've probably heard about The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. It came out eleven years ago and as a celebration of the book's birthday, the author, John Green made a Tik Tok about it. Another Tik Tok user under the name yayakampen stitched the video by John Green and told her own story that involved the book.
I thought it was going to be a sweet love story, since the book itself was supposed to be a romance. Instead, yayakampen (aka. Janine Kampen) told the story of how her ex-fiancé lied to her about having terminal bone cancer. Since Janine had never seen the movie or read the book, she was unaware of the similarities between the plot of the book and her fiancé's story.
Janine tells us that allegedly, the fiancé used some of the direct quotes from the book! When Janine discovered what was happening, she found out that her fiancé had something called Munchausen Syndrome. This is a syndrome that causes a person to fabricate or exaggerate medical symptoms in order to garner sympathy from people around them.
I go into detail about the story as well as share some of the quotes that Janine's fiancé allegedly stole straight from the book on the first episode of the podcast. You can find it wherever you stream podcasts, but I will link the Spotify, apple, and google links here in this article.

A few months ago, a new book popped up on the scene. It's called Everything's Fine by Cecilia Rabess. Everyone was up in arms about the content based on the blurb that was written for the book.
Jess and Josh are polar opposites- She’s black, he’s white; she’s liberal, he’s conservative- whose mutual hatred transforms into mutual attraction and love in this hilarious thought provoking about whether love can really trump all.
People saw this blurb and were a bit upset about it. Some had even gone as far as to give it a one star without even reading it. I wanted to give it a shot before I formed an opinion so I requested it on NetGalley to see if I could get the ARC of the ebook. I did give an in-depth review of the book so I won't go too far into it on this post, if you want to read my thoughts on it I will link that post here
Overall, I did not enjoy this book. I felt it was problematic and traumatic. I do understand the lesson it was trying to teach (maybe) but I feel like it could have been done much better had it not involved romance. The romance is what ruined it for me because I can't wrap my head around being attracted to someone that thinks you and people who look like you are less than. That will never be okay.
I think the marketing on this story did not do it justice. It's not a romance by any means. So putting it in that category doesn't give it a fair chance. Maybe this story will resonate with someone else, but for me? It was a strong no.
You can hear me go into a little bit more detail on the Lauren's Library episode, it is available wherever you listen to podcasts, but I will add a few of the popular links in this post so you can get to it if you're interested in hearing more of my thoughts.
But before you do, I must remind you that the thoughts and opinions expressed in this blog and on this podcast are my own. I do not expect everyone to agree with me and what I think. If you loved this book, that is great for you! You are entitled to your opinion, just as I am entitled to mine. I only ask that you remain respectful!


This segment, I have written a short story called Bruno. It's a longer story so I'm going to have to break it up into two parts. The first one will be on this episode and the second one will be on episode two. I did post a version of it on my blog. It's not the final version that will be read on the episode, but it is the same general story.
I will link it here just in case you want to read it and see the pictures I used in order to tell this story. I got the idea for it from Encanto. The song "We Don't Talk About Bruno" became super popular when the movie first came out. It's actually one of my favorite songs from the soundtrack. I was listening to it on my way to the gym one day and I was like
"Hmm...why don't they talk about Bruno? What if the real story is much deeper than what was told on the movie?"
So, during a lunch break at work, I sat down at my desk and started writing. I think what I came up with is pretty good, but I am most likely biased. You guys let me know what you think.
As always, you can find the episode wherever you listen to podcasts, but I will link a few of the most popular ones here in the blog post for easy access. Make sure you tune in every other Friday to hear me ramble on about fun things (and not so fun things) in the bookish community.
Make sure you rate and review this podcast on whatever platform you’re using. You can leave me a message on Instagram on the page dedicated to the podcast. I love to talk about books! You can also find me posting detailed reviews on thebookybabe_ instagram page.Basically, if you want to say hello there are multiple ways to contact me. Take your pick, but one way or another I will talk to you soon. Thank you so much for tuning in!
Happy Reading, Friends! ❤