Hi friends,

Hope you all had a great weekend. I celebrated Bookstore Romance Day at East City Bookshop, where I won a copy of Olivia Dade’s Zomromcom. At an event earlier in the week, she stressed it’s not that gory for a zombie book, so I’m looking forward to diving in.

And, now, what to read if …

“Freakier Friday” is Making You Nostalgic

Waiting for Britney Spears by Jeff Weiss

In the words of NBC News, “It's a good time to be a nostalgic millennial.” Lindsay Lohan is starring in another “Freaky Friday” movie (sidebar: so happy to see Lindsay appears to have come out on the other side). The Backstreet Boys are playing to sold out crowds in Vegas. Katie Holmes and Joshua Jackson (RIP Dr. Odessey) are reuniting for some sort of film project. If you’re feeling the early 2000s vibes, grab a copy of Jeff Weiss’s Waiting for Britney Spears.

It's a somewhat fictionalized take on the time Weiss, a veteran music journalist, spent as a paparazzo chasing the pop star through LA, Vegas and beyond. Fresh out of college and desperate for any sort of journalism job, Weiss joined a third-rate gossip magazine and was assigned the Britney beat. From there, he spends years documenting Spears’ rapid rise, mental health struggles and legal battles. His adventures take him from a Vegas diner — where he pays off a witness to Spears’ first wedding — to the LA club scene — where he posed as a trust fund kid to gain the trust of potential sources.

Waiting for Britney Spears really shines when Weiss reflects on the role he and his colleagues played in the singer’s very public meltdown and subsequent conservatorship. I’ve seen multiple reviews compare this one to Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and it’s easy see to see why. They share the same vibe — explosive, yet intimate, Gozno journalism.

You Believe Revenge is a Dish Best Served with Friends

The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club by Gloria Chao

After Kathryn Hu learns she and two other women — Elle and Oliva — are all dating Tucker Jones, she reluctantly agrees to their plan to trash her ex’s apartment in revenge. Kat really regrets her decision when she finds her ex’s body decomposing in his closet. Her situation grows worse the next day when a police detective finds