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4.3 AVERAGE
4.3 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Two things I cannot let go in this review. Library staff are notorious for having strong arms and core, from lifting books and pushing carts all day, so Daphne’s inability to kayak very successfully makes no sense. Also, libraries do not smell amazing. We can count ourselves lucky when they don’t smell bad. Bookstores on the other hand smell like heaven.
Otherwise, I really enjoyed this book
Otherwise, I really enjoyed this book
This incredibly well-written romantic, platonic, and self love story by one of the greatest romance writers of this generation paired with a quick chat with Lilly and the beginnings of PMS means that I had a little epiphany in the last 50 or so pages. I am so quick to cry when I read, but the thing that immediately pricks my tear ducts is when I see something, anything, related to a story I'd want to tell about myself. That's not the epiphany -- that I get emotional seeing things I relate to -- but the why; that I get emotional seeing these relatable things because it means that a romance writer considered certain aspects of my/my family's lives that many could see as mundanities as worthy of fantasy. In this story, it's Western Michigan, seemingly between Grand Haven and truly Up North, both places I absolutely call home. To have this setting that I've tried so hard to convince my East Coast friends is one of the more magical places in the earth be so central to a protagonist's story is emotional!! And it's the same thing for Beach Read, also set in Michigan, or Book Lovers, set in North Carolina. I don't love or even like North Carolina, but when the place I grew up, that would be inherent to my own story, is part of this fantasy of love, it makes me fucking cry!! Yeah, Nora and Charlie danced to James Taylor on a summer night because you cannot go longer than an hour at any event in my home state without hearing Carolina on my Mind. The fundamentals of my life can be part of the sunny, starry, unattainable lives that make up romance books. That's why I like Emily and Meryl and Alicia so much more than romantasy or historical romance I think. So yeah, I loved this book and I love Michigan and I love Place as an essential part of narrative. And even beyond Place, Daphne is a fucking children's librarian so the climax of this story revolved around her pulling off an event at a public library and as not only a public library kid but also a library professional, that was going to pull at my heartstrings, even if it wasn't set in Western Michigan.
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
emotional
funny
fast-paced
A librarian as protagonist. What’s not to love? Light, easy pool or plane read.
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
✔ The banter is quick, witty, and so much fun! There were some definite laugh-out-loud moments.
✔ The characters actually communicate. Huzzah!
✔ The emotional balance of the story was spot on.
✔ The romance develops naturally so, when it does happen, it works.
✔ I loved the cozy, small-town setting.
✔ The characters actually communicate. Huzzah!
✔ The emotional balance of the story was spot on.
✔ The romance develops naturally so, when it does happen, it works.
✔ I loved the cozy, small-town setting.
challenging
funny
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes