Customer Reviews

What the Librarian Did (Harlequin Super Romance)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Looking for a fresh start, rock star Devin Freedman returns to his native New Zealand and enrolls in college. Now in his thirties and sober for the first time in over a decade he has no desire to return to Los Angeles and its many temptations. Convinced that a life of relative anonymity is just what he wants he's chagrined to find that conservative Rachel Robinson has no idea who he is. What's more, she does not appear particularly impressed when she does learn of his notoriety. Not that the starchy librarian is Devin's type - or is she?

This was a fun read. I loved Devin - classic `bad boy' with rugged good looks and a surplus of sex appeal. It was interesting to watch him navigate the minefield of human relationships without his fame and rock star trappings as a buffer. His interactions with his mother were funny and quite touching. The author writes clever dialogue and does a nice job incorporating the setting into the story (having never visited New Zealand I can't comment on the authenticity!).

The only real problem I had was that a secondary plot involving a young student searching for his birth mother seemed to hijack the storyline in some places. I'm not a big fan of teen-age angst and would have rather seen more relationship development between Devin and Rachel.

Fans of the `Bad Boy Falls For Nice Girl' storyline (and what's not to love?) will probably enjoy this. If you're in need of a nice fantasy/escape this should do the trick.

Just a word about the cover...LOVED it! Exactly how I pictured Devin, although the female looks like an extra from a `Little House on the Prairie' episode...

Occasional swearing and mild sexual content.

Bliss does an excellent job in her portrayal of a rock star who has dropped out of his band and lifestyle to go back to college. We see Devin's charisma, sex appeal, and his difficulties in dealing with Rachel, the librarian, the total opposite of a groupie, who does not know who he is when she first meets him. However, Bliss saddles this book with characters with major problems, all of which she resolves by the end, which distract from the main romance. Rachel is a problem character. She is funny, but she's also extremely prickly and jumps to wrong conclusions too often, especially about Devin. This behavior is obviously a reflection of her insecurity, but it got to be annoying. Bliss also develops Rachel's son, given up for adoption at birth, as he tries to find his birth mother. Although his immaturity and impulsiveness are very believable in a 17 year old, it wasn't fun to read. IMO, Bliss would have been better off concentrating on the main romance and its barriers, instead of dragging in an adopted son, Devin's mother's romance (a little), Rachel's bad relationship with her mother, Devin's brother's problems, etc., etc.

I really enjoyed this book by Karina Bliss. This book reminded me a lot of the Susan Elizabeth Phillips style of contemporary romance. The characters were a lot of fun with good dialog. I also think this book would make a really good audiobook with the right narrator.

I'm not a fan of Harlequin, which I find very old-fashioned and cliched (poor, unassuming women who somehow marry rich and powerful men and live happily ever after, being taken care of and having babies), but I picked this book up just by chance, and it was really good. It's a perfect blend of fantasy and reality. Devin, an American rock star, has to give up the fast lane for his health, and he decides to go to college in his mother's home country of New Zealand, where he meets & falls in love with Rachel, a seemingly up-tight university librarian. Pure Harlequin-style cliche, right? What would a rock star from L.A. have in common with a librarian from Auckland? But Rachel is no stereotypical librarian (here's the fantasy part), and she really holds her own with the sophisticated and world-weary Devin. What feels realistic and modern is their interaction; they click in a convincing way, and they're both intelligent, humorous, and idiosyncratic. It's great fun to watch them battle and engage, and their first attempt at having sex is hilarious.

I've only given it 4 stars because I found the ending a little rushed (does Harlequin put a word limit on its authors?) - the subplot rather takes over from the main characters, and suddenly 3 months have passed and the couple have ironed things out. Given how skilled Bliss is at writing dialogue, it would have been entertaining to watch Rachel and Devin work out their relationship.

Karina Bliss creates charming characters, an interesting plot, and engaging relationships. She's good enough to make me look at Harlequin in a new light.

Both Devin and Rachel hit the ground running when they are both just seventeen. Rachel ends up pregnant and alone, while Devin ends up the newest member of a rock band that's really going places. Fast forward seventeen years and Rachel is a librarian at a university in New Zealand and Devin is one of it's most famous freshman. The band has broken up and Devin is back home in New Zealand to take care of his mother who is still recovering from a heart attack, and recovering from his own issues with drug and alcohol abuse. Being a thirty-four year old freshman isn't easy, and being famous doesn't help the matter. Devin has only one real friend, and that's Mark, but as it turns out Mark just happens to be Rachel's son she gave up for adoption.

The plot does sound rather convoluted, but while reading it, I never once questioned the authenticity of the set up. The characters are all real, likable and fun. Mark, Devin and Rachel are all trying to get over the trauma of their past where they lost trust in people they love. Devin was my favorite character (and I'm not the biggest fan of bad boys). He was honest with Rachel about his feelings for her and also not ashamed of his past. He's making a fresh start for himself and dealing with the new changes in his life while teasing Rachel along the way.

It started a little bit slow for me, because there was an introduction of three main characters, instead of just the standard two, but once the plot gets going it is funny, warm and wonderful. There are more than a few tears towards the end but the fact that both Rachel and Devin were willing to be honest with each other really made this work. Honesty didn't make their problems go away but it allowed them to try to work through them like adults, they even manage to get Mark to act like an adult after some arm twisting.

5 Stars.

Devin is a Rock Star who make it famous and after a health scare he moves back New Zealand to go back to school. Devin runs into Rachel Robinson who is a librarian at the university and they have sparks. Rachel was teenage mother who gave her child up for adoptions which is sub-plot to this story. I downloaded it for my plane trip - light fun book.

If you enjoy this genre I would also suggest; Baby Bonanza,Any Man of Mine , The Chase (Fast Track) and Slow Hands.

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.

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.

Over seventeen years ago in New Zealand, Steve O'Connell is home from college. He meets his younger sister's weirdo friend Rachel Robinson. They have sex as she is in love

At the same time in Long Beach, California, Zander Freedman is short a bass player so brings his sixteen years old brother Devin to play guitar with the band at a strip joint. He plays well enough to become a member of Rage. His love is music.

In the present, Devin is famous for rock, drugs, and sex, but has enrolled as a full time college student at the school where Rachel is the librarian who fails to recognize his name. Her son Mark White, whom she gave up for adoption when she was a teen, hero-worships Devin. Rachel hopes to soon tell Mark who she is even as she falls in love with rock's bad boy who considers her a fossil that he enjoys kissing.

What the Librarian Did is an enjoyable contemporary romance starring two likable leads and a strong secondary cast especially Mark. Devin is a fascinating protagonist whose attendance at college has stirred the school, but especially the prim and proper librarian with her secret. Fans will enjoy this thirties something romance as the rocker and the librarian write their own loving lyrical duet.

Harriet Klausner

i did not like this book. Rachel was a prude. The hero lived a life of trash and multiple marriages. Not my cup of tea. Left me with with a bad taste in my mouth.