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A review by sandlynn
Falling for Trouble by Sarah Title
4.0
I really enjoyed Sarah Title’s Falling in Trouble, published in 2017. It was reviewed by All About Romance (AAR) here and was given an “A” : https://allaboutromance.com/book-review/falling-for-trouble-by-sarah-title/
Although AAR described this story well, I will encapsulate it. A rock n’ roll gal from a small town in New York State returns to stay with her grandmother after she walks away from her band — on stage — during one of their first big concerts. Joanna never really liked living in Halikarnassus, NY, where she was left by her parents in the hands of her grandmother. She was all punk and rock n’ roll and rebellion, while the town was much more staid and appalled by her actions. Years later, Joanna — who had achieved some success in music — has returned after a very bad disagreement with her band, feeling that they sold their souls to go mainstream.
Our hero, Liam Byrd, is the new director of the library in Halikarnassus. He’s also quite the geek when it comes to music and a fan of Joanna’s before she went commercial. When Joanna returns home, he is star struck, but what he doesn’t know is that many women in town, including Joanna’s grandma, thinks he is quite attractive and, before long, Joanna is reluctantly sharing their opinion. Leaving aside this dynamic, Liam also faces the problem of maintaining the library’s funding which is under assault by a football crazed mayor who wants to use library funds for a new stadium. (This dynamic becomes much more important than one might suspect.)
This is a very good book. The characters ring true. The hero seems like a librarian and the heroine is the funniest, snarkiest rock n’ roll chick. I really enjoyed it and chuckled many times. (I loved the gender switch from what we usually get in romance novels.) However, what knocked off a couple of points is that I felt the story left a lot of unanswered questions at the end without the possibility of a sequel to answer them. Plus, there was a time or two where I felt the story jumped (including at the end) without explanation, for instance, when Joanna came over to Liam’s to cook dinner for him. That seem to come out of nowhere, or at least, we never saw Joanna’s thought process beforehand. But, I liked this book very much and I’d give it an A-. I’ll look forward to reading more from this author.
Although AAR described this story well, I will encapsulate it. A rock n’ roll gal from a small town in New York State returns to stay with her grandmother after she walks away from her band — on stage — during one of their first big concerts. Joanna never really liked living in Halikarnassus, NY, where she was left by her parents in the hands of her grandmother. She was all punk and rock n’ roll and rebellion, while the town was much more staid and appalled by her actions. Years later, Joanna — who had achieved some success in music — has returned after a very bad disagreement with her band, feeling that they sold their souls to go mainstream.
Our hero, Liam Byrd, is the new director of the library in Halikarnassus. He’s also quite the geek when it comes to music and a fan of Joanna’s before she went commercial. When Joanna returns home, he is star struck, but what he doesn’t know is that many women in town, including Joanna’s grandma, thinks he is quite attractive and, before long, Joanna is reluctantly sharing their opinion. Leaving aside this dynamic, Liam also faces the problem of maintaining the library’s funding which is under assault by a football crazed mayor who wants to use library funds for a new stadium. (This dynamic becomes much more important than one might suspect.)
This is a very good book. The characters ring true. The hero seems like a librarian and the heroine is the funniest, snarkiest rock n’ roll chick. I really enjoyed it and chuckled many times. (I loved the gender switch from what we usually get in romance novels.) However, what knocked off a couple of points is that I felt the story left a lot of unanswered questions at the end without the possibility of a sequel to answer them. Plus, there was a time or two where I felt the story jumped (including at the end) without explanation, for instance, when Joanna came over to Liam’s to cook dinner for him. That seem to come out of nowhere, or at least, we never saw Joanna’s thought process beforehand. But, I liked this book very much and I’d give it an A-. I’ll look forward to reading more from this author.