Advanced Reading Copy
To Be Published: August 27th, 2013, Harlequin
My rating: 3 of 5⭐
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Only once in her life, had DJ ever let loose, and she will never forget that night eight years ago, or the hot fling she spent it with, or the mortifying 'morning after' as she slinked out if his motel room. But nothing brought the memories back to life faster, than coming face to face with the hot fling from all those years ago. It doesn't help that he turns out to be the son of the board member who hired her as librarian, to come and head up the rural library in Verdant, Kansas. Dressed to look the part in shapeless greys, pulled back knot and stern glasses, DJ looks nothing like the anonymous sparkly girl of that hot one night stand, but still it stung that he had no clue who she was.
DJ is determined to focus on the improvement of the library and not get distracted by Scott, town pharmacist and erstwhile hot fling, nor be waylaid by the interim librarian's ministrations to boycott any and every step DJ takes. Her friendly nature ensures that she quickly wins over the rest of her employees and most of the library's visitors who would welcome any improvement.
With her landlady's ongoing outrageous attempts to set her up with Scott, and the rumour mill rampant, DJ finds it virtually impossible to avoid him. Slowly the initial irritation turns into appreciation, and ultimately there is no denying the attraction anymore. Until finally that loose and open girl from eight years ago, starts fighting free from the dull and stodgy role DJ had cast herself in. Will Scott know her now??
***
I initially thought I would be reading a cute, but rather predictable 'love revisited' type story. But about a quarter into the book, all these wonderful delicate layers started becoming visible, making this so much more than just another easy romantic read!
The slow deepening of nuance around the characters, really brings them to life and makes the perhaps somewhat familiar plot, all that more compelling and believable.
However......there is a huge chasm between the last regular chapter and what can be constituted as the Epilogue....where we skip eight years ahead. I normally enjoy being able to peek into the future to see what has become of the characters, but in this case, I don't even know where we left off precisely? I mean, I can guess what happened, based on the facts of eight years later, but give that a huge part of this story was this previous connection DJ and Scott had. Scott didn't remember the previous encounter, at least not DJ's part in it and his reaction to that revelation, since the tension around that had been building throughout the story, was necessary for its completion. I feel we are missing an entire chapter. Now, unfortunately, we are left with this big, gaping hole.....a huge question mark, that mars an otherwise close to perfectly intricate country story.
I would have gladly give this book 4.5 of 5 stars in a rating, but I can't do it now.........and it doesn't feel right, because what IS there.....is so good!
Despite my comments above, I still thoroughly enjoyed reading LOVE OVERDUE.
**ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Harlequin in return for an honest review.**
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