WanderLust Mobile Bookstore

05/26/2026

This month we celebrate and honor the culture, traditions, and history of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Find our romance recs of books written by AAPI authors and featuring AAPI characters on the WanderLust bus now and all year long!

1 book we can’t put down:
Strange Familiars by Keshe Chow

2 books we rated 5 stars lately:
Behind Five Willows by June Hur (release date May 26!)
Katabasis by R.F. Kuang

3 books we highly recommend:
Tusk Love by Thea Guanzon
Fake Dates and Mooncakes by Sher Lee
Nine Tailed by Jayci Lee

4 books on our TBR pile:
Best I Never Had by Jeannie Choe
Julia Song is Undateable by Susan Lee
Enemies to Lovers by Alisha Rai
The Second You’re Single by Cara Tanamachi

5 books we love:
Time Loops and Meet Cutes by Jackie Lau
Lunar Love by Lauren Kung Jessen
Tastes Like Shakkar by Nisha Sharma
I Did Something Bad by Pyae Moe Thet War
Recipe for Persuasion by Sonali Dev

05/22/2026

The first-ever Wisconsin Indie Bookshop Quest starts June 1 and WanderLust is on the map 🗺️📚

✨ Pick up a Quest Map at any participating indie bookstore
✨ Starting June 1, visit as many indie shops across Wisconsin as you can throughout the month
✨ Each shop visit = one entry into the prize drawing
✨ Complete side quests (ask for a rec, attend an event, meet bookstore pets, road-trip to a shop 200+ miles away) for extra entries
✨ Visit 10 shops = free Libro.fm audiobook
✨ Prizes include gift cards up to $300, and $100 bookshop.org gift card

Stop by the bus at our May 25 and May 31 events to pick up your map and start your adventure. 💛

05/22/2026

May is National Get Caught Reading Month, and we’ve been, well, caught. 🙈

Swipe through for the most chaotic reading locations of us and our friends (who were not at all forced to do any of these!)

Be honest, how many of these places can you check off? No judgement, only solidarity 😆

05/22/2026

May is Small Business Month! We are excited to be a part of the small business community and have so much respect for everyone else out there doing THE WORK to run their small businesses. We are the heart of the communities in which we work and everyone has a favorite small business (or 10!)

Tag your favorites below to share the small business love! ⤵️

05/17/2026

Today we're celebrating International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia by giving our House Rep a call. No book bans. No singling out of transgender and intersex themes. No censorship.

"Hello, I am calling to leave a message for [lawmaker name and title] to please oppose any bills that discriminate against transgender people. This includes efforts to retract access to affirming healthcare, sports, and public facilities that match their gender identity. Discriminatory effects like these make the journeys of transgender people more difficult than they need to be. I will be watching closely to see what [lawmaker name] does to protect trans rights, and I will cast future votes accordingly. Thank you for your time and listening."

tracktranslegislation.com/script-generator

05/15/2026

05/14/2026

🎧 What We’re Listening To: Behind Five Willows by June Hur

This historical romance is Pride and Prejudice reimagined in 1790s Korea, where a secret book transcriber and a forbidden fiction writer fall for each other while fighting government book banning. A romance about people who risk everything for stories? Yes, please.

Ally’s listening to this one through Libro.fm as an Advanced Listening Copy (which is a bookseller perk I had NO idea we’d get access to and am genuinely giddy about). I’m in D.C. this month for a research program, and having audiobooks for the Metro commute has been an absolute gift. There’s something that hits different about listening to a story about government-imposed book bans while commuting through a capital where that’s not historical fiction anymore. Poetic isn’t the right word. Sobering? Enraging?

Michelle H. Lee’s narration is transporting, and this book is a reminder that people who love stories have always been the ones brave enough to protect them. Which is why we should all call our US House Reps to oppose HR 7661, the National Book Ban Bill. 📞

Behind Five Willows comes out May 26— preorder through our libro.fm or bookshop.org storefront (links in bio!)

05/09/2026

05/09/2026

Unpacking some recent releases and new paperbacks for our stop on Knickerbocker tomorrow! We'll be between Alimentari and Everly from 2p-6p. Stop by after graduation for a gift for your grad!

05/08/2026

She won. 🏆 And honestly? We’re not mad about it. 🌹
After 2 months, 16 titles, and more posts than we knew what to do with, WanderLust’s first ever Harlequin Madness Bracket has a winner.

🥇 Too Many Husbands is your Most Dramatically Problematic Harlequin title of all time!

Is it too many? We’ll never know; that’s still between her and herself.

Thank you for viewing, voting, and sliding into our comments. This bracket was chaos in the best way and we loved every second of it. See you at the next pop-up. 💋 🚌📚

05/06/2026

We’ve made it. The Harlequin Madness Bracket Final…is here. 🌹

Sixteen titles. Four divisions. One question remains: what is the Most Dramatically Problematic vintage Harlequin title of all time?

Too Many Husbands 🆚 The Wild Rose

Too Many Husbands asks, is quantity really the problem, or just a societal judgment of a woman who has options? The Wild Rose basks the heroine in heated candlelight and a thriving neckline but then a tagline undercuts reminding us none of it was actually about her power.

Two titles. Two very different kinds of problematic. One winner. Cast your final vote in our story to crown The Most Dramatically Problematic Harlequin title of all time.👇