August is Read-a-Romance month!
Romance is a genre I don't read a lot of, although I don't dislike it. There were no big surprises in this standard boy-meets-girl tale, except perhaps the simple twist that the librarian is Ben who is trying to woo Samantha (Sam). A quick perusal of my previous "Romance" posts indicate that in all other romances with a male librarian, the love interest was also male. In hetero romances the woman is the librarian. Of course since most librarians are women, it makes some sense. Male librarians are not quite as unusual as Samantha thinks - "Those had to be rare in the female-dominated library world, mythical even, like unicorns".
What Sam probably doesn't realize is that a man in a leadership role at a library is de riguer. Interestingly there is no real social commentary in this work about the fact that a woman did the work of the former (male) director without pay while he played on his computer. Likewise, when Ben takes off suddenly Em does his work (without additional compensation). In the end Ben returns, takes back his job, and (hooray!) all is well and right in libraryland with the man in his rightful leadership role.😏
Ben is in fact the interim director of the public library. He is able to take the job because he has the summer off from his "academic research library position at MIT". Really? if I had the summer off from my academic library position I sure as hell wouldn't step into a temporary position. I would simply enjoy my time off.
Sam's best friend Emily (Em) is also a librarian. According to Sam she looks "very much the professional librarian" in
a cute sleeveless sage green dress with a lightweight white cardigan over it...Her wavy red hair...tied at the nape of her neck...glasses...perched on the end of her nose as she peered...over the computer monitor.
One reason I don't read a lot of standard romance (or other chick lit) is I tire of the endless descriptions of what people are wearing, what their hair looks like, and other details such as how fabulous their kitchens are, that do nothing to move the narrative along.
A dyslexic, Samantha has never enjoyed reading. She takes special joy in telling her bookish friends that "the movie was better than the book". Ben introduces her to the joy of audiobooks in the best way possible - he begins to read aloud to her. I must take this opportunity to say reading together is one of the things with which I credit my 36-year marriage. My husband (James) and I have been reading to each other since our earliest days together. It always gives us something to talk about, and sometimes gives us something to laugh about, too.
Our story takes place on Martha's Vineyard, a lovely place for a summer romance. Sam has been asked by her father and step-mother to stay with her half-brother Tyler (14 years her junior) while they (her parents) go on a tour of Europe. I am always excited to read a book about a library I've been to. James gave a coffee lecture there in February of 2020. Probably the last trip we took together before the pandemic shut down.
The library in our story is a busy place with programming that includes robotics camp and Samantha teaching a cooking class.
All in all, this was a fun summer read - standard plot points along with a lot of librarian stuff to critique
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