January TBR Challenge: What The Librarian Did

Book Blurb

Is Rachel Robinson the only one on campus who doesn't know who Devin Freedman is?

No big deal except that the bad-boy rock star gets a kick out of Rachel's refusal to worship at his feet. And that seems to have provoked his undivided attention.

Devin, the guy who gave new meaning to the phrase 'sex, drugs and rock 'n roll'.

Devin, the guy who somehow becomes wedged between her and the past she's kept hidden for years.

It's up to this librarian to find out first-hand just how 'bad' he really is. Because her secret - and her growing feelings for a man who claims he's bent on redemption - depend on his turning out to be as good as he seems.

Which is really, really good

Making the Grade: C

For My Thoughts

As part of the TBR Challenge hosted by Wendy the Super Librarian , our task this month was to read a category romance.

There was a lot of buzz and rave reviews about this book and although I had never read Karina Bliss before and the title and cover of this book would not have originally inspired me to purchase this book, I did based on past success reading Harlequin Super Romances and the good reviews. So when I joined this challenge to try and whittle down the TBR, I thought since January was a category romance read month, that What The Librarian Did was the perfect way to kick-off the challenge.

I should have known right off the bat that I wouldn’t like the character of Rachel (based solely on how she looks on the cover - much to prissy for me) and then to discover on page one she doesn’t like the color pink??? Big red flag right there that her and I weren’t going to see eye to eye since pink is my favourite color.

Prim, prissy librarian and bad boy rocker, What The Librarian Did is the perfect example of a story where opposites attract.

I loved the character of Devin, he’s the sole reason I kept reading this book and gave it a C grade. Although the story could have been clichéd (bad boy/good girl) there was much more to Devin than meets the eye.

Devin was the burnt out rocker , recovering from his own stint after rehab, returned home to New Zealand to escape the paparazzi, look after his mom who’s recovering from her own health scare and is trying to make positive changes in his life after being in the music business since he was sixteen years old. Deciding it’s time to take responsibility for his future and his finances, he enrols in a business course at the local university.

I could not connect with Rachel at all. I tried not to let the cover influence my feelings for her, but what you see - a prim, prissy uptight, vintage clothes wearing Librarian is what you get. She’s supposedly left a string of boyfriends in her wake earning her the nickname “Heartbreaker” but myself,  I had no problem seeing why she was still single. I liked when Devin called her Heartbreaker, but I didn’t believe it about her for a second.

I guess I can understand how Devin was initially attracted to Rachel, since she wasn’t a groupie and in fact had no idea who he was and could have cared less. Since Devin was so used to having women throw themselves at him, I can see why Rachel’s disinterest towards him would have seemed novel and intriguing.

I think I was supposed to empathize with Rachel since she’d gone through a very trying experience when she gave up a baby for adoption as a teenage but I just didn’t. Rachel was always quick to assume the worst about Devin whether it was in his interactions with his young protégé, his actions with her, or with other women, I don’t think the rock star would have put up with her for every long in real life. There was a scene in the book where I thought maybe we were going to see another side to Rachel, when we discovered she had a mountain bike. It was just a small mention when Devin tripped over it, but it seemed so out of character to imagine Rachel even riding a bike in her buttoned up clothes, but it turned out to mean nothing and it was never mentioned again. I would have liked to seen Rachel give that bike a spin maybe it would have loosened her up.

I also found it hard to swallow that an 18 year old boy would uproot his life and move to another part of the country to attend a university in the hopes of trying to ferret out his birth mother because he thinks she works there.

Devin was certainly the star of What The Librarian Did in my opinion. His touching moments with his mom, his big brother/mentor relationship with Mark, his contentious relationship with this brother and his numerous attempts to break through to Rachel made this book for me. I just wished I could have warmed up more to the Librarian. She tried his patience and mine and she should be glad he stuck around long enough to uncover the Rachel buried under her prudish clothing.

I will be reading more from Bliss and in fact have Here Comes The Groom waiting on my Kindle App.