diff --git a/DataLayer/EfClasses/Book.cs b/DataLayer/EfClasses/Book.cs
index 7688baf4..4da6a5bb 100644
--- a/DataLayer/EfClasses/Book.cs
+++ b/DataLayer/EfClasses/Book.cs
@@ -99,8 +99,8 @@ namespace DataLayer
 			Category = category;
 
             // simple assigns
-            Title = title.Trim();
-            Description = description?.Trim();
+            Title = title.Trim() ?? "";
+            Description = description?.Trim() ?? "";
             LengthInMinutes = lengthInMinutes;
             ContentType = contentType;
 
diff --git a/LibationWinForms/GridEntry.cs b/LibationWinForms/GridEntry.cs
index 5396cac2..54f4d488 100644
--- a/LibationWinForms/GridEntry.cs
+++ b/LibationWinForms/GridEntry.cs
@@ -252,7 +252,7 @@ namespace LibationWinForms
 		private static string GetDescriptionDisplay(Book book)
 		{
 			var doc = new HtmlAgilityPack.HtmlDocument();
-			doc.LoadHtml(book.Description);
+			doc.LoadHtml(book?.Description ?? "");
 			var noHtml = doc.DocumentNode.InnerText;
 			return
 				noHtml.Length < 63 ?