Over on Book Riot this week…
If you’re wondering what a Toyota commercial has to do with books and reading, I promise you, there’s a connection. This year’s new holiday Toyota commercial is a cute one, following the story of a used bookstore that suffers a fire and the young girl who goes around her small town to collect books from residents. Those books are then given to the elderly bookstore owner, Sam, as a holiday present, presumably so his shop can be back up in the new year.
The cute town where the commercial takes place is fictional, but it was filmed in the town where I live. This isn’t the first commercial or even first car commercial filmed here. Bill Murray reprised his Groundhog Day role in a Jeep commercial for the Super Bowl in 2020, a film that was filmed here as well. In addition to those, my town’s been home to the filming of the Sissy Spacek Amazon joint, Light Years, and to scenes from the classic Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Familiar with Jordan Peele’s Lovecraft Country adaptation? Filmed here. The upcoming Amazon Paper Girls adaptation? Parts of it were also filmed locally.
I don’t live in Hollywood nor even a mid-size city. I’m in a semi-suburban area, right on the skirts of farm country. It’s easy to laugh about a town of 25,000 having so many shows, films, and commercials filmed here, but it’s much funnier once you realize that this is a small town, where people know people, people talk to people, and everyone has something to say or share about the goings on.
Imagine the surprise, then, of the Toyota commercial.
It’s the end of September, and I’m rolling up to teach yoga on a Tuesday night. My town is home to Read Between the Lynes, a few doors down from the yoga studio. As I park by car, I notice this:
There are signs about parking being inaccessible over the next couple of days, but since Light Years is filming and has been filming sporadically, these signs weren’t noteworthy. But otherwise, all that I could see was the facade for Sam’s bookstore, located right across the square from Read Between the Lynes. I sat in my car absolutely perplexed, wondering why another bookstore would move into our small town and why it’d even consider doing so right across from our beloved indie.
I went up to the yoga studio and everyone was talking: it was some kind of commercial being filmed and not an actual bookstore. The commercial’s subject wasn’t known, nor was the company for which it was being made. But some of the students talked about them being approached by the company producing the commercial, as they were soliciting local residences for filming. There was apparently decent money involved for the rights to use and film the outside of their homes.
You’ll see in the commercial what this means: the little girl rings the doorbells at a number of gorgeous Victorian homes in our town, all of which have a nice door, visible porches, and other aesthetically-pleasing features. It’s neat to see some of the best architecture in your community showcased like that, without any alterations or any set built to accomplish what it is that already sets this town apart.
There’s a beautiful shot of the town’s opera house, too, the same one which Bill Murray jumps from in Groundhog Day.
It was surprising, given the fact that all of the locations filmed were locations in town that they didn’t approach our own bookstore to do the commercial with their facade. They chose another building instead, one with a more modern exterior, even though the rest of the scenery and feel of the commercial is nostalgic.
After teaching, I went with one of my friends to check out Sam’s Books . . . as did many other people in town because again: small town. We had some fun peeping which books were in the store and the levels to which they were destroyed by the fire. We didn’t know the premise of the commercial or the company, but we easily figured out the fire aspect as the smoke damage and tape on the glass made it clear.
The store in which this was set up is a small children’s boutique, and if you peep through to the back of the interior, you might be able to see their goods behind it. That might be a little more evident in the following photos, all of which are shots of the window front bookshelves. See if you, too, can figure out what some of the books are.
(Yes, it’s been pointed out that this bookstore is selling ARCs, which was just one more questionable bit of the reality of the entire premise).
The week the commercial was filming in town, my in-laws came to visit, and we took them to eat at one of the outdoor dining restaurants up the square. We finished and took a walk by Sam’s Books, which by that point — Thursday — had been disassembled. They’d been in the final stages of removing the last of the books.
We took them over to Lynes then, where we had to pause to cross the street and where we had to get permission from the commercial team to enter the store. They were filming in front of the door. I stood inside the door with my mother in law while my husband and his dad were waiting to get the all-clear to enter because, as it turns out, businesses in town weren’t told about how the commercial would be filmed, how it would impact their hours or access to their facilities, or that the commercial would take priority to everyday activity.
Perhaps most frustrating, though, was that in our small town, people took to Facebook asking about what was being filmed (not a shock) and when they learned about the fake bookstore, wondered why we didn’t have a real one in town because we deserve it (we have one! We’ve had one for a long time! It’s right downtown!).
It’s funny to watch the commercial back, too, knowing that it was filmed at the end of September. We had a warm early fall, plenty of flora was still emerging, and yet, the commercial was set during the holidays. You can see when the girl is walking around town that there’s not snow on the ground and that the trees are showcasing their early fall colors. Then when you get to the scene where the girl presents the books to the book seller, there’s suddenly snow.
They’d filmed fake snow on the streets and on some of the greenery, but in other scenes, it’s really clear where they didn’t and where it’s obvious this was not a cold season. The girl is wearing a winter coat, mittens, and a hat as she’s going door to door, but the grass is very green behind her.
Here are some other fun little facts and insights from the commercial vs. real life:
Over on Book Riot this week…
How about something fun?
One of my favorite annual roundup posts is a look at YA book titles that share their name with song titles. I like to call them YA earworms because any time I see one of these book titles, the song immediately latches onto my brain and I find myself singing. Last year, I put together not one, but two posts, featuring these books.
Let’s take a look at the 2022 YA book titles that are also song titles (or are the lines listeners would remember most from a song, even if the title isn’t identical). I’ve pulled descriptions for the books from Goodreads and note that not all of them have covers or publication dates yet. Given the reality of the pandemic and shipping timelines, the publication dates here might shift.
If you know of others, drop ’em in the comments! Chances are that we’ll see more books that fit this roundup as more YA books for 2022 are announced and finalized.
Links lead to Goodreads for easy TBR making.
Bad at Love by Gabriela Martin (August 2)Ever since Daniel moved to L.A. from Brazil to join the band Mischief & Mayhem, he’s become the tabloids’ bad boy. Paparazzi follow him and girls swoon over him . . . except for Sasha, who hates bad boys. When a chance encounter brings them together, Sasha sees an opportunity to get close to Daniel and write a story that will make a name for herself at the celebrity gossip magazine where she interns. But Daniel is surprisingly sweet and extremely cute—could she be falling for him?
The truth is: Daniel is hiding something. When Sasha discovers his secret, will she follow her heart or deliver the hottest story of the summer?
Of course, we’ve got Halsey singing “Bad at Love”:
Daughter by Kate McLaughlin (March 8)Scarlet’s life is pretty average. Overly protective mom. Great friends. Cute boy she’s interested in. And a father she’s never known – until she does.
When the FBI show up at Scarlet’s door, she is shocked to learn her father is infamous serial killer Jeffrey Robert Lake. And now, he’s dying and will only give the names and locations of his remaining victims to the one person, the daughter he hasn’t seen since she was a baby.
Scarlet’s mother has tried to protect her from Lake’s horrifying legacy, but there’s no way they can escape the media firestorm that erupts when they come out of hiding. Or the people who blame Scarlet for her father’s choices. When trying to do the right thing puts her life in danger, Scarlet is faced with a choice – go back into hiding or make the world see her as more than a monster’s daughter.
Kate McLaughlin’s Daughter is a novel about trying right deadly choices that were never yours to begin with.
I’ve never not have Pearl Jam’s “Daughter” in my mind.
But maybe you have John Mayer’s “Daughter(s)” in yours.
Killin’ Time by Brenna Ekrlich (March 8)A deathly warning to a generation of murderinos: What happens when the stories we’re chasing finally catch up with us?
Summer in Ferry, Connecticut, has always meant long, lazy days at the beach and wild nights partying in the abandoned mansions on the edge of town. Until now, that is.
Natalie Temple, who’s never been one for beaches or parties in the first place, is reeling from the murder of her favorite teacher, and there’s no way this true-crime-obsessed girl is going to sit back and let the rumor mill churn out lie after lie—even if she has to hide her investigation from her disapproving mom and team up with the new boy in town…
But the more Natalie uncovers, the more she realizes some secrets were never meant to be told.
Hello, Clint Black and “Killin’ Time”:
A Little Bit Country by Brian D. Kennedy (May 31)Emmett Maguire wants to be country music’s biggest gay superstar – a far reach when you’re seventeen and living in Illinois. But for now, he’s happy to do the next best thing: Stay with his aunt in Jackson Hollow, Tennessee, for the summer and perform at the amusement park owned by his idol, country legend Wanda Jean Stubbs.
Luke Barnes hates country music. As the grandson of Verna Rose, the disgraced singer who had a famous falling out with Wanda Jean, Luke knows how much pain country music has brought his family. But when his mom’s medical bills start piling up, he takes a job at the last place he wants: a restaurant at Wanda World.
Neither boy is looking for romance, but sparks fly when they meet – and soon they’re inseparable. Until a long-lost secret about Verna and Wanda comes to light, threatening to unravel everything.
Will Emmett and Luke be able get past the truths they discover…or will their relationship go down in history as just another Sad Country Love Song?
Let’s go wayyyyy back with “A Little Bit Country, A Little Rock ‘n Roll” with Donny and Marie:
Love Somebody by Rachel Roasek (January 11)Sam Dickson is a charismatic actress, ambitious and popular with big plans for her future. Ros Shew is one of the smartest people in school—but she’s a loner, and prefers to keep it that way. Then there’s Christian Powell, the darling of the high school soccer team. He’s not the best with communication, which is why he and Sam broke up after dating for six months; but he makes up for it by being genuine, effusive, and kind, which is why they’re still best friends.
When Christian falls for Ros on first sight, their first interaction is a disaster, so he enlists Sam’s help to get through to her. Sam, with motives of her own, agrees to coach Christian from the sidelines on how to soften Ros’s notorious walls. But as Ros starts to suspect Christian is acting differently, and Sam starts to realize the complexity of her own feelings, their fragile relationships threaten to fall apart.
This fresh romantic comedy from debut author Rachel Roasek is a heartfelt story about falling in love—with a partner, with your friends, or just with yourself—and about how maybe, the bravest thing to do in the face of change is just love somebody.
Maroon 5 has their own “Love Somebody,” too:
Melt With You by Jennifer Dugan (May 17)Fallon and Chloe used to be best friends. But last summer, the girls hooked up right before Chloe left for college, and after a series of misunderstandings, they aren’t even speaking to one another. Now, a year later, Chloe’s back home from school, and Fallon is doing everything in her power to avoid her. Which is especially difficult because their moms own a business together—a gourmet ice cream truck where both girls work.
But when their moms have the opportunity to make a presentation to some venture capitalists in Texas—something that could seriously expand their business and solve all their money problems to boot—it’s up to Fallon to work a series of food truck festivals across the country. But she can’t do it alone, and Chloe is the only one available to help. As tensions heat up again between the two girls, will Fallon be able to keep her cool?
I could have gone with Bowling for Soup’s version, but let’s stay with the classic from Modern English:
There is very little yet about this book, so I’m pulling the announcement from last week’s Publisher’s Weekly:
Tiffany Shelton and Carmen Johnson at Skyscape has bought world English rights to Somebody That I Used to Know, a YA contemporary novel by Dana L. Davis (Roman and Jewel). When Dylan Woods’ parents announce that her childhood best friend—who she hasn’t seen since he became the biggest teen musical artist in the world—is coming to stay with them, it turns her life upside down. But as they reconnect, Dylan not only finds that there is more to their friendship, she also finds there’s more to herself. Publication is set for fall 2022; Viana Siniscalchi at Alloy Entertainment handled the two-book deal and Uwe Stender at TriadaUS represented the author.
This one isn’t a perfect match, and yet, after the announcement, I couldn’t get this one out of my head. You know the song because this was everywhere back in the early 2010s. Thanks, Gotye:
Youngblood by Sasha Laurens (July 19)For fans of Vampire Diaries and dark academia, two queer teen bloodsuckers at an elite vampire-only boarding school must go up against all of Vampirdom when they uncover a frightening conspiracy on campus.
Kat Finn and her mother can barely make ends meet living among humans. Like all vampires, they must drink Hema, an expensive synthetic blood substitute, to survive, as nearly all of humanity has been infected by a virus that’s fatal to vampires. Kat isn’t looking forward to an immortal life of barely scraping by, but when she learns she’s been accepted to the Harcote School, a prestigious prep school that’s secretly vampires-only, she knows her fortune is about to change.
Taylor Sanger has grown up in the wealthy vampire world, but she’s tired of its backward, conservative values—especially when it comes to sexuality, since she’s an out-and-proud lesbian. She only has to suffer through a two more years of Harcote before she’s free. But when she discovers her new roommate is Kat Finn, she’s horrified. Because she and Kat used to be best friends, a long time ago, and it didn’t end well.
When Taylor stumbles upon the dead body of a vampire, and Kat makes a shocking discovery in the school’s archives, the two realize that there are deep secrets at Harcote—secrets that link them to the most powerful figures in Vampirdom and to the synthetic blood they all rely on.
I do not think 5 Seconds of Summer was singing about the creatures above, but it’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility:
Maybe some day I’ll put together a big Spotify list of YA book title songs for everyone to enjoy on repeat. It’s sure offer a ton of different genres!
Next Monday I’ll have a fresh piece here at STACKED! I’ve alluded to having a whole collection of drafts and I’m not kidding. My goal’s to knock ’em out in one big swoop and schedule through the end of this year.
Until then, here’s what I’ve been doing over on Book Riot: