DJ is a stereotypical looking librarian in her boxy, unattractive clothing and glasses. She seems to strive to be as drab as pop culture expects a librarian to be. She's clearly most comfortable when she's hiding in plain sight. She's moved to a small farming town in Kansas to take a head librarian position that she's very excited about. But she had no idea that the library would be so dark and unwelcoming, that one of her staff members is firmly against change and therefore against any of DJ's ideas, or that the apartment that comes with the job is in the home of the town pharmacist's mother. This last fact might not be all bad except that Vivian (Viv) is determined to set DJ up with her son Scott, who just so happens to be the man DJ had a one night stand with eight years ago while on vacation. And he doesn't connect staid and conservative looking DJ with the sexy and appealing Sparkle at all.
Scott doesn't understand why the new librarian seems to dislike him on sight but once he looks past her façade, he rather likes what he sees. What DJ sees though, is a man who cheated on his wife, a man who plays the field even with a married woman, and a man who has had so many women in his past that he can't even recognize the one standing right in front of him. But even with her feelings about him, she can't avoid him in this small town, especially since his mother is on the library board, is her landlord, and keeps throwing them together any chance she gets. And when Scott shows DJ around town, explains the importance of the wheat harvest, and ultimately makes her dream for the library come true, she realizes that she's misjudged him.
This is a sweet, small town romance. The misunderstanding between DJ and Scott is an embarrassing one so it is perfectly understandable that it wouldn't be addressed as their relationship begins but the fact that the story is lacking a resolution to this vital piece of their shared history, skipping another eight years into the future at the very end rather than offering the reader a view of the confrontation/realization weakens it. Both the main characters are likable and the secondary characters each have their own quirky personalities so that their presence on the page is welcomed. It is nice to see a buttoned up heroine who comes out of her shell but not so far out as to be unrealistic or untrue to her introverted, quiet portrayal. And it is equally nice to see a hero who accepts this in the heroine and doesn't seek to change her but to support her in the ways that make her happy. The chapter titles as Dewey Decimal classifications are cute and well done. Aside from the missing piece in the ending, this is a winsome romance in the traditional sense.
Like the setting.
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