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emilyinlibraryland's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. Cute, and the library parts were really well done.
darkness223's review against another edition
4.0
A super book i really liked this book so much better than i thought iy would be.A great book that had me chuckling all the way through i loved it will be looking for more from this author and cant wait for the rest of the series would recommend it.
grecia_r's review against another edition
4.0
This was exactly the cute fluff sorbet palate cleanser I was looking for. Cute cast of supporting characters and likeable mains. I'd watch this movie.
carlyg123's review against another edition
4.0
Not at all my type of literature, but i found myself pleasantly surprised.
jackiehorne's review against another edition
3.0
I received an ARC from the author, who is a fan of my ROMANCE NOVELS FOR FEMIINSTS blog. Thanks, Sarah Title!
Despite its category romance-style cover, this is really more of a romantic comedy, or perhaps straight-out comedy, than a romance. Feminist college librarian Melissa "Bernie" Bernard gets caught frowning at some misbehaving students and finds herself the star of a "Disapproving Librarian" Internet meme which goes embarrassingly viral. Colin Rodriguez, a writer who works for Glaze.com, a women's fashion and lifestyle website, tries to impress his boss by getting Bernie to star in a new series for the site, one which includes giving her a makeover and finding dates for the "undateable" librarian. 30 dates in 30 days, most of the ridiculous variety, and lots of laugh-out loud humor, especially from feminist Bernie, give this story a lot of appeal. For example, from page 58:
He stood up and walked toward the door. She tried not to look at his butt. But she was a feminist, not a robot. He had a great butt.
He turned back to her and she quickly looked down at her keyboard. Totally not looking at your butt, Mr. Patriarchy.
Things about the story that didn't work as well for me:
• I never really got a handle on Colin's character. The story suggests he's a bit of a slacker, and rather unenlightened (although not overtly sexist) when it comes to women. But I never got a sense of who he was as a character, what his goals and motivations were. I'm not sure if he was meant to change and grow over the course of the story, but I didn't really see anything happening to him on the character development front.
• Colin writes a popular advice column for women, not as himself but as "Maria." Each chapter opens with a question and answer from the column, many of which are hilarious. But I wanted the author to unpack the power dynamics here more than she does, dynamics which permit a man to write a column for women, but only if he is pretending to be a woman. Would his readers feel differently if they knew Maria was really a 30-something guy?
• The romance between Colin and Bernie is not very fully developed. The two don't even meet until 50-odd pages into the book, and then most of the story has Bernie spending time with her friends and colleagues, or with her disastrous dates, not with Colin. The few times when Colin and Bernie are together, they fight like cats and dogs, largely for the pleasure of fighting. But both the lack of time they spend together and the constant bantering make it difficult to buy that they are slowly growing to like/love one another.
• Bernie espoused feminist principles articulately and accurately. But she doesn't seem to live by what she preaches to Colin, at least as far as the book's premise goes. Bernie gives him a long spiel about why she won't participate in the Glaze.com scheme when he first proposes it:
"I am currently the subject of a humiliating, but not life-ending, meme. You want me to capitalize on that humiliation to quote-unquote combat stereotypes, which really means just force me out of my comfortable, spinster life so I can be paraded around in front of the state of California and the world and find true love and the patriarchal definition of what is Good For Me." (57)
But then after a few paragraphs of advice from her boss, and from "Maria," Bernie does a complete about face, and agrees to participate. Made her feminist stance a little difficult to take seriously, even as she continues to zing Colin with feminist lines like "No putting women on a pedestal. It makes us helpless. Pedestals are for objects and prizes, not people" (219).
• Is the lesson Bernie learns by book's end meant to be that that to "make yourself vulnerable to love," as Colin avers, is not to sexist-ly diminish yourself to get a man? (226) Or that "You are you, whether you're single or in a relationship," so don't avoid dating? (279) Or that she's not a traitor to feminism if she enjoys dressing more femininely? ("She felt girly and good, and she did her best to ignore the part of her that said only a Bernie-bot would enjoy feeling girly and good" [201]? Or all three?
I'd love to read a romance with a main character who is as overtly feminist as Bernie is, but in which said character's feminism was not the issue she had to overcome...
Despite its category romance-style cover, this is really more of a romantic comedy, or perhaps straight-out comedy, than a romance. Feminist college librarian Melissa "Bernie" Bernard gets caught frowning at some misbehaving students and finds herself the star of a "Disapproving Librarian" Internet meme which goes embarrassingly viral. Colin Rodriguez, a writer who works for Glaze.com, a women's fashion and lifestyle website, tries to impress his boss by getting Bernie to star in a new series for the site, one which includes giving her a makeover and finding dates for the "undateable" librarian. 30 dates in 30 days, most of the ridiculous variety, and lots of laugh-out loud humor, especially from feminist Bernie, give this story a lot of appeal. For example, from page 58:
He stood up and walked toward the door. She tried not to look at his butt. But she was a feminist, not a robot. He had a great butt.
He turned back to her and she quickly looked down at her keyboard. Totally not looking at your butt, Mr. Patriarchy.
Things about the story that didn't work as well for me:
• I never really got a handle on Colin's character. The story suggests he's a bit of a slacker, and rather unenlightened (although not overtly sexist) when it comes to women. But I never got a sense of who he was as a character, what his goals and motivations were. I'm not sure if he was meant to change and grow over the course of the story, but I didn't really see anything happening to him on the character development front.
• Colin writes a popular advice column for women, not as himself but as "Maria." Each chapter opens with a question and answer from the column, many of which are hilarious. But I wanted the author to unpack the power dynamics here more than she does, dynamics which permit a man to write a column for women, but only if he is pretending to be a woman. Would his readers feel differently if they knew Maria was really a 30-something guy?
• The romance between Colin and Bernie is not very fully developed. The two don't even meet until 50-odd pages into the book, and then most of the story has Bernie spending time with her friends and colleagues, or with her disastrous dates, not with Colin. The few times when Colin and Bernie are together, they fight like cats and dogs, largely for the pleasure of fighting. But both the lack of time they spend together and the constant bantering make it difficult to buy that they are slowly growing to like/love one another.
• Bernie espoused feminist principles articulately and accurately. But she doesn't seem to live by what she preaches to Colin, at least as far as the book's premise goes. Bernie gives him a long spiel about why she won't participate in the Glaze.com scheme when he first proposes it:
"I am currently the subject of a humiliating, but not life-ending, meme. You want me to capitalize on that humiliation to quote-unquote combat stereotypes, which really means just force me out of my comfortable, spinster life so I can be paraded around in front of the state of California and the world and find true love and the patriarchal definition of what is Good For Me." (57)
But then after a few paragraphs of advice from her boss, and from "Maria," Bernie does a complete about face, and agrees to participate. Made her feminist stance a little difficult to take seriously, even as she continues to zing Colin with feminist lines like "No putting women on a pedestal. It makes us helpless. Pedestals are for objects and prizes, not people" (219).
• Is the lesson Bernie learns by book's end meant to be that that to "make yourself vulnerable to love," as Colin avers, is not to sexist-ly diminish yourself to get a man? (226) Or that "You are you, whether you're single or in a relationship," so don't avoid dating? (279) Or that she's not a traitor to feminism if she enjoys dressing more femininely? ("She felt girly and good, and she did her best to ignore the part of her that said only a Bernie-bot would enjoy feeling girly and good" [201]? Or all three?
I'd love to read a romance with a main character who is as overtly feminist as Bernie is, but in which said character's feminism was not the issue she had to overcome...
cassandra67b07's review against another edition
4.0
This was adorable. I appreciate happy books right now.
theamyleblanc's review against another edition
2.0
I received a copy of this story from Amazon and the publisher, Zebra Shout, in exchange for an honest review.
It had all the makings of a good book for me: libraries, a female lead who doesn't bow to societal norms, and an everyday, real life feel to it.
Unfortunately it didn't deliver. Or at least not well.
Bernie was so promising but as the story continued, she started to sound a bit too one-track for me. It's one thing to have principles and stick to them; it's another thing entirely to purposely take offense at every little sentence. It got old fast and I stopped looking forward to those moments.
Colin was a little better because he had a more obvious arc. You could see him growing and learning and changing throughout the story. I liked reading him more than I did anyone else. Though I didn't like Maria as much. Her tone was not consistent enough for me. Sometimes she sounded like a sassy old lady but other times she sounded like a bitter man pretending to be a lady.
My biggest issue with the story was the voice it was told in. I'm particular about point of view and don't always love first person but I think this could've benefited tremendously from that viewpoint. Much like the readers of Colin's articles were drawn in and could see themselves in Bernie, we the readers probably would've been more invested in a first person narrative. And it would have helped with those random PoV shifts where in one paragraph we were with Colin and the next we were with Bernie. It was annoying to keep track.
It wasn't terrible enough for me to put it down and walk away but I was certainly happy when I finished it.....because it was over.
It had all the makings of a good book for me: libraries, a female lead who doesn't bow to societal norms, and an everyday, real life feel to it.
Unfortunately it didn't deliver. Or at least not well.
Bernie was so promising but as the story continued, she started to sound a bit too one-track for me. It's one thing to have principles and stick to them; it's another thing entirely to purposely take offense at every little sentence. It got old fast and I stopped looking forward to those moments.
Colin was a little better because he had a more obvious arc. You could see him growing and learning and changing throughout the story. I liked reading him more than I did anyone else. Though I didn't like Maria as much. Her tone was not consistent enough for me. Sometimes she sounded like a sassy old lady but other times she sounded like a bitter man pretending to be a lady.
My biggest issue with the story was the voice it was told in. I'm particular about point of view and don't always love first person but I think this could've benefited tremendously from that viewpoint. Much like the readers of Colin's articles were drawn in and could see themselves in Bernie, we the readers probably would've been more invested in a first person narrative. And it would have helped with those random PoV shifts where in one paragraph we were with Colin and the next we were with Bernie. It was annoying to keep track.
It wasn't terrible enough for me to put it down and walk away but I was certainly happy when I finished it.....because it was over.
gilmoremk's review against another edition
5.0
Just an all around feel-good adorable read. The lead characters are fantastic, the terrible dates are hilariously believable, and the story is engaging.
maggiemaggio's review against another edition
4.0
So much better than the cover makes it look. Smart, engaging, with interesting social commentary. I wish we had gotten the know the characters a little more than on the superficial level, but still definitely worth picking up.
readerpants's review against another edition
2.0
Eh. Fun concepts but just kept falling short. And honestly the gender stuff was all... weird. Like, it knew enough to know that it shouldn't be reductive but it didn't know how not to.